Bangalore Ahoy !

* The first thing that I noticed about the city is the stress on safety and regulation by the BTC ( Bangalore Traffic Police ) . Hardly a junction passed by where I would not sight a small board or post encouraging commuters to follow safety measures. I remember seeing one board with a tabular form - showing numbers for the past 3 years' accident record in the city and the causes for it.

I got a snap of this one massive hoarding which defined all the offences as well as the penalty amount. Take a look.

* People there are very docile, friendly and extremely helpful too. Initially, whilst making use of the public transport there, my sense of roads was almost a clean slate, barring the immediate area where I was staying. In the 9 days that I spent in the city, I covered more or less the entire network of roads. With outsiders, the locals prefer to speak English as opposed to Hindi. There were numerous occassions when I'd start off in Hindi and gradually switch over English in a couple of sentences. Haha.

* Friends and family had warned me about the infamous Hosur Road. It's the "aorta" road on the outskirts of the city having a whole bunch of industries located on either side of it. And further down, it moves into Tamil Nadu. On the right side of Hosur lie most of the sofware biggies while the left comprises of the traditional manufacturing entities and stuff.

The notoriety that Hosur is renowned for is the unbearable traffic jams that it hosts during peak hours. Along the road are many small junctions every now and then, all of which are managed by the traffic police. Chaotic. People are stuck for hours before they escape Hosur's limelight. I was kinda lucky though, clocking only a 25 min gridlock the day I travelled via the stretch.

* Malls. Alright, Mumbai has many of the same but not quite like the Bangalore ones. The number of brands that buy space inside is overwhelming. Mumbai has more mall space with fewer brands, so that gives us a dedicated and wider range of products under one name. Bangalore believes in variety, at the same time cutting down on space for each store. I feel thats better. Gaining exposure to more brands and products gives a better idea of what is really needed. After narrowing down on the final pick, you can locate an exclusive store to do your purchases.

Secondly, there's always some form of extempore entertainment outside the mall or on the ground floor. When I visited Garuda Mall over 3 days, I noticed Radio Mirchi had set up a small podium outside and was interacting with the crowd and playing fun games. It's also a time killer, say if you're waiting for a friend who never fails to turn up late. People seemed to be more involved in the social outings than what I've observed in Mumbai. Here people get inside go buy their stuff and head elsewhere, or a few may invest their time window shopping -- hmmm.. but then Mumbai is a hustle bustle environment. 'Keep moving' types.

* Well, I did do a bit of sightseeing. Yes, typical "touristgiri" but its a must. So I went and saw the Vidhan Soudha -- great piece of architecture. Opposite that was the High Court (in reddish pink ) which was also well maintained.

I'm adding a pic of the text that I read on the VS building...heeeheee. Check it out.

I visited 4 plants/units there.

Sansera -- mfg rocker arms,gear shifter forks, connecting rods, crank shafts for Maruti, Honda, TVS, LML etc. Export products to Yamaha and Piaggio too !! Some incredible CNC stuff and yea.. i guess all my mech theory was seen in practical aspects here.

GE Consumer & Industrial --- electrical equipment like MCC's, PCC's, CNR's etc. Also components like switches, relays, fuse links etc. Lotsa management fundas were seen in action here, Kanban, Lean Manufacturing, Poka Yoke, TQM, Zero defects, Six Sigma ( I got to meet a Master Black Belt too !!) etc etc... damn good.

John F. Welch Technology Centre -- GE's largest R&D centre in the world after the States. Over 3000+ Phd/MS students from IIT/USA work together to produce breakthroughs in the industry.

Dynamatic Technologies Ltd. -- Largest producer of Hydraulic Gear Pumps in Asia. Have other divisions for Aerospace, Automotive, Mettalurgy etc.

And yup, after all this.. I made sure I met up with good old friends from college who're now working in Bangalore. Had a blast with them.