The India that's rising

I came this weekend to Bangalore to visit an old friend. He manages an offshore unit of a multinational. He pointed out for me the complex where he works. Besides Sony, Vodaphone, etc. that you see listed on the building in the photograph, the complex also hosts IBM, ANZ, Fidelity and Yahoo. This, of course, is the India that is competing with American skilled workers on price.

In my parents' rural corner of India, there are 4 hours of power cuts everyday. The roads are unpaved, potholed or dumped with stones. Mosquitoes and open sewers are everywhere. Schools are horrible and the state of business seems to be no different from what it was 15 years ago.

Bangalore (from what I see) doesn't suffer from power cuts. Water flows out of taps. Homes have solar panels on the roofs to heat their water. There's a nice clean lake in the center of the city. Schools are good, business is booming.

If rural India ever gets the kind of governance Bangalore gets, watch out.