“Your point on Devanahalli airport is well taken, but it is not as far as you are making it out to be. As a regular visitor to the site I would say that it takes 1 hour to get there from downtown bangalore at most times and may be 1.5 hours in peak hours.

The 6 lane highway is at an advanced stage of completion and this should reduce travel time further when completed. NICE is a private company which is laying a beautiful peripheral road from the Tumkur road to Hosur road cutting across the Magadi road, Mysore road, Kanakapura road etc. And wants to link uptill Devanahalli and also lay a monorail on its median. And believe me it will be ready well before the airport.

NICE is also building an elevated link to the (Bangalore) city center from Mysore road so you can possibly get to Devanahalli in 45 mins max from any corner in Bangalore. The scenario from the current airport is no better as it is. It takes us 2 full hours to get to Mysore road at peak hours and we believe we can be in Devanahalli in 45 mins from Mysore road if the NICE road is completed.”

Thank you Sir for your clarification. That brings hope to us that the city is in safe hands.

Links:
Builders Association of India, Mysore
Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprises Limited

So, what could we do? Since already millions of dollars have been invested into this can we find some way of making this a win-win for everyone involved? Is it possible? Of course, it is going to be the most developed and high-tech airport the country has ever seen and all that. So, can we also make it accessible please?

Few options:
1. Have an elevated road built throughout the way from the airport to electronic city with relevant landings into key areas. Okay okay, I know it will cost a bomb. But then think of the intangible benefits that it will give. Any person landing at the airport would want to just rush to the electronic city (IT hub of Bangalore/ India). If he sees that you have taken pains to ensure his travel takes place smoothly, he will be damn pleased and extremely bullish about India. And this will turn into the best tangible i.e. money in the form of investment into the city/ country. Assumming he is an investor and most of the visitors to Bangalore do think about investing.

2. Retain the HAL airport for domestic flights and divert the international flights to the new airport. And have an elevated road connecting the domestic and international airports otherwise the traveler trying to get from one airport to the other will find himself on one of the famous jams near the maratahalli bridge! We might even want to provide chopper transfers for those who can afford it. Yeah, too costly, but then people who might afford it might love it! And who knows, Air Deccan might offer that for 50ps or something with Rs.1250/- surcharge and taxes of course! ;)

3. Have exclusive luxury (Mind you! Air travellers won’t mind paying for that I guess!) buses running directly from various areas in the city to the airport. Classify them according to luxury and also the road on which they operate. For example a Pushpak running on city roads could be #1, Pushpak running on the elevated road could be #2, airawata running on elevated road could be #3. There could be three types or even more as far as out imagination and finance goes! On another note, maybe the airlines would like to provide these services as a special service to board their flights.

4. Anyway, they have been planning for an Elevated Light-rail Transport System. (ELTS) But the problem is this airport will be complete by 2008/2009 and that ELTS project might take twill 2012. So, for 3 to 4 years how do we get to the airport? If we start making the road now, maybe there’s a possibility. Otherwise we are just going to increase the misery of our air travellers.

My tata (Grandfather) recommended it to me. My appa (father) has spent his schooldays eating at this place. My chikappa (father’s younger brother) took me to this place for the first time when I was still in my diapers. Masala dosa is what comes to your table if you don’t even look at a waiter. But he generally comes to you to confirm the number you are going to have. (My minimum is 3) Yeah yeah see me to know how much I eat! ;)

A view of the narrow and always crowded interior!

Vidyarthi Bhavan is in the heart of Gandhi Bazaar off Netkalappa circle. If you haven’t been there yet, I tell you you have missed the best eat-out in Bangalore.

Mostly, unless you are there at 6AM or something, you will have to wait to get your seat. The hotel looks like a extended 2+2 seater bus. While waiting you can only stand. You cannot sit in an AC lobby and wait for the head waiter to come and tell you the table is ready! You will have to, well, grab your seat. Eat and leave. I know I make it sound very bad, but then that’s the way it is.

Also, if you look at the Hotel from outside you will see that it’s a very old building. And something tells me that he has followed the original rules of the game by putting his hotel at the legal place where it should be. You can see the buildings of every other complex on the road butting out into the main road. Now, that’s what I value most in a hotel – ethics! I actually did confirm that with the owner who sits at the counter everyday.

So, now rush! Get your masala dosa. I was inspired by Usha’s post on Hotel Brindavan. I got hungry and got reminded of Vidyarthi Bhavan!

When he setup Infosys with the now proverbial Rs. 10,000/- borrowed from his wife, along with a handful of friends, Bangalore was called “The Pensioners’ Paradise”. The roads were empty and wide. Flyovers weren’t even on the radar. Airport was laughed at for being there and was used by HAL to test their various experiments most of the time.

It was in 1991-92, when Infy (Infosys pet name!) went public is when it came into the public eye. But it was during the 1994-97 period when the BSE Sensex boomed and Infosys’ market capitalization touched the levels that HLL (considered to be the undisputed emperor of BSE) held and even went past that was when Infy caught the public eye.

Wealth creation became the buzz word and every management graduate worth his salt seemed to be using it. Infosys had suddenly become the Dream that the Great Indian Middle Class looked upto. Entrepreneurship was in. It no longer belonged to the crooks or the traditionally rich. NRN made it trendy to be on our own. His driver was a millionaire. And what not!

The success of Infy brought every other IT company to make Bangalore its HQ. Even start-ups began blooming like it was the best-ever time to do business. Every IITian, every IIMite who had seen a bit of the technology and had been to the US came back to Bangalore and started an IT company. With Infy having close to 60,000 employees (58,000 to be approximately precise!), TCS also around the same number maybe more, Wipro gathering junta at quite the same pace, Satyam was languishing in the nearby wanna-be-Bangalore-city Hyderabad.

Influx of companies into Bangalore was met with considerable enthusiasm by the Bangaloreans as it ensured more chances at a job to them atleast. Engineering colleges started to spring up around the state offering engineers at the rate of 75,000 (in number) per year. Quality was doubted, checked, corrected and celebrated. The software engineering profession was the latest fad. Every kid wanted to grow up and become a software engineer. And this is where NRN’s real success is. He put the profession ahead of himself or his company.

NRN owns 5.9% of Infy. One of those magazines that like telling the world that you are not exactly billionaire that you thought you were has valued NRN at $1.2 billion!

NRN is my idol. Not Shah Rukh Khan or Aamir Khan. Not because NRN made so much money and is so rich and hence he is so cool. NRN has showed people like me a way to succeed and make this country of mine convert its inherent potential to performance and be the Most Developed Coutnry in the World. He has conveyed to us that successful entrepreneurship is definitely the best way to making India a developed country.

By retiring NRN has also shown us that there has to be an end to whatever you choose to do. You need to develop successors good enough to take over and give them a chance at the top. You need to develop processes and systems that are good enough to carry on the company’s operations whether you are at the helm or not. Finally, NRN is my hero because he has put India on the world’s map of IT.