Bangalore: Garden City to Garbage City

Bangalore has gone from a "garden city" to a "garbage city," according to German consul Joem Rohde, who spoke at the Rotary Club of Bangalore on Lavalle Road. Wayne Lewis, the Commissioner for Victoria, Australia, who is returning home after two stints in Bangalore, said his wife had developed severe sinus problems from the pollution.  More people should "become grumpy" and say we won't take it anymore, he added; then something would be done about it. 

Rotary Club of Bangalore

Both men were answering questions on whether they would like to come back to Bangalore or live in Bangalore at the Rotary Club's "Night of the Consuls" event that dealt with trade relations between their two countries and India and how the world looks at India's $2 trillion economy. The Commissioner for Queensland, who was also present, agreed with their assessment saying there were many more Lavalle Roads to be cleaned.  He was referring to a report earlier in the program about how a Rotarian team had cleaned up Lavalle Road by moving out garbage, rocks and other debris. 

Founded in 1905 by Paul Harris, an American, the Rotary Club is made up mainly of business professionals and other civic-minded people who volunteer their time to provide social and other philanthropic services such as education for poor children and clean-up services in communities while also encouraging high ethical standards. The Rotary Club of Bangalore is the oldest in India, dating back to 1934.  It has done some "excellent work" in the area of education, said our host in Bangalore, Peter Laser.  

Thanks to Peter, whose guests we were at the Rotary Club event, my sister Lorna and I were honored at the club: our names were read out and we were presented with bouquets! 

Traffic Nightmares

We asked Peter what he saw as the most troublesome issues of living in the city.  Refreshingly, he was as "non-PC" (non-politically correct) as the consuls. "I come from northern Germany where people speak their truth (their minds)," he said. According to him, the main problem is that people do not like to obey rules, traffic rules or otherwise and hence the city's daily traffic nightmares. Giving bribes to get away from paying for one's crimes is another.  The third was public littering - hence the many garbage dumps that spoil the erstwhile garden city. 

It takes an hour or more in traffic to get from one point to another. The distance might be only a few kilometers but every road is jammed with buses, cars and auto-rickshaws going every which way with two-wheelers darting about in between!  Few people bother to wear seat belts.  It is terrifying to see how people drive - and it is a wonder there aren't more accidents!  Having just flown in from Bombay where the traffic is also rather dreadful, we are saddened to see the general deterioration of the once beautiful garden city. 

Lots of Moolah!

Retuning to Bangalore after nine years, the first thing one notices is the swanky new airport (ditto for Mumbai and Delhi), a lot more wealth, more luxury serviced apartments, a lot more cars but - unfortunately - not many roads!  The roads (where they exist) are in a sad state of disrepair and sidewalks are worse - even in the better neighborhoods.  If pedestrians don't watch their step, they could easily fall between large rocks on the broken footpaths and break their limbs!  I wonder, when will Bangalore get the roads it needs or India start to see infrastructure to match China's?  

UB City

We walked around UB City - UB stands for United Breweries, the manufacturers of Kingfisher Beer. The huge mall with brand name stores (Louis Vuitton, Dior, L'Occitane, Gucci, Chanel, Omega, Tissot) could be anywhere in the world.  We could've been in Las Vegas or Fifth Avenue in Manhattan - only, this was nicer! On St. Mark's Road, one can see several luxury car showrooms: Lamborghini, Porsche, BMW; and were told there is a long waiting list. Each of those cars could easily set one back $300,000! The liquor store too had interesting Scotches and other attractive looking local brands! That's when I knew that Bangalore had really changed - no more "dry days," we were told, except Election Day!

Back to the Rotary Event: "Modi Fever" in Oz! 

In his remarks, Australian Commissioner for Victoria, Wayne Lewis said that Australia looks at India because we "need to" even though it's not the biggest trade partner.  India is important, he added, we're both "victims of the British" although India "took Britain's bureaucracy - and took it to a whole new level!"  

He said his country had also caught "Modi fever!" Hundreds of people were clamoring to attend the Indian PM's address to the public - a hot ticket in Melbourne! The "Modi Express" (train) was bringing hundreds of people from Sydney to Melbourne and he was being besieged with phone calls from Australians (mainly of Indian origin) asking for tickets to attend!  He himself had just received his own invitation by courier, he added (a day before the event), remarking that bureaucracies are no different anywhere in the world!  He added ironically that, overnight, all Oz-based Indians claimed that they voted for Modi!  

India has a lot to learn from Germany

Explaining his country's interest in India, German Consul Rohde said "Germany has the products and India has the market."  India will also be a partner country for the Hannover Fair, the "biggest industrial show on earth." Most of the 170 German companies in Karnataka are manufacturing companies; all the big car companies were represented in Bangalore and Mercedes had its only R&D plant outside Germany in Karnataka. Germans were not just here for trade, but also for education and science. We want Indian talent going to Germany, he said, adding that Germany had a lot more to offer in terms of best practice and SMEs. There was less youth unemployment in Germany than other countries because young men were being trained as plumbers, welders and auto mechanics. 

With the largest youth population in the world, India could learn a good deal from Germany! 

Bangalore, India

November 19, 2014