Back In Bangalore

I’m back in Bangalore.

It’s been a little over a year since my first visit, and this time, I knew what I was getting into in terms of the travel.

I calculated that from Austin to India, as the crow flies, it’s a little over 8,000 miles…or was that kilometers??

The Sri Shiva temple in Bangalore is currently under renovation during my visit, but that certainly hasn't stopped hoardes of faithful Hindus paying a visit to Lord Shiva.

In either case, it’s a longgg way on an airplane traveling 500+ MPH. But I found myself eager with anticipation.

Not only in terms of meeting a new team we had put together, but in also seeing the friends I had already met here, and also visiting the vibrant (and now 3rd largest city in India, in terms of population) metropolis that is Bangalore.

The traffic is crazier than ever…there’s still plenty of dust in the streets, not to mention sacred (literally) cows…but I also sense an incredible energy and vibrancy here that has long ago worn off other major cities in the world.

And then there’s the food, which I wish I could just pack into my suitcase and bring back to America.

There’s also the serious business that is cricket (tonight it was the Mumbai Indians against Trinidad & Tobago, playing in the first round of the CLT20…UPDATE: Mumbai won, but just barely…The Trinidadian cricketers didn’t look too happy at breakfast this morning…They were staying at the same hotel as us.), a game I won’t pretend (yet) to fully comprehend but an excitement around which is palpable.

And then, of course, there are the people of India, and the Bangaloreans in particular, whose grace and courtesy and humbleness are unmatched around the globe.

I discovered from a taxi driver on the ride in from the airport here that 3M citizens in 2003 has grown to 9+M in 2011, and though the growth here may have overmatched the infrastructure, it is the chaos and verve and tenacity of its citizenry which suggests a nation that continues on the rise even despite the global gloom and doom headlined in newspapers and websites around the world.

Though my visit this year will be a week shorter, I have a distinct feeling that my learning and understanding will belie my time on the ground, and I’m very much looking forward to the four full days I have left in this week.

As for the content of the meetings and discussions going on here, I cannot relate those due to competitive reasons…the old CIA, “If I told you I’d have to kill ya.”

But rest assured it’s with great anticipation and expectations that we move through the rest of this week.

Beyond that, I’ll have to save the sordid stories for my as-of-yet unpublished memoirs…but know that the memories of my second sojourn to “Bengalaru” being stored in my human RAM will not be erased or forgotten anytime soon.

P.S. I’m blogging on my new portable guerilla platform, an iPod 4 with an Apple bluetooth keyboard. With some luck and some precious spare time, I’ll also hope to share some of what’s being witnessed here in some semblance of video content.