Tuesday, March 27, 2007

So where do I stand?

Been over two months since I ve moved back from the US. Getting used to the Indian day to day life. So much has happened, finally got myself a new car, known as the Chevy Aveo - Red in color, reason being, my son and I both love red, wifey is not too concerned with the color of the car. We have moved into our rented apartment in bangalore, which is quite near the airport literally walking distance. Have also gotten a driver and a local maid, who will help out (hey what is the point of living in India if one has to drive by him/herself)?

The son is growing up, and is learning the local languages, sounds quite cute since he is speaking 3-4 languages now and they are all jumbled up, tough to explain it out. The little baby daughter is now 4 months old and she is holding onto things, still amazes me as to how much little babies learn and pick up new things.

So what else is happening in my life, i have finally been approved for a credit card (too a freaking 6 weeks), now keeping my fingers crossed that i ll get my first card. Learning the new industry of mapping, which helps me understand mapmyindia.com, working on branding these days, quite a difficult task since it involves so many channels. Getting to spend some quality time with parents, as have not had the chance to spend so much time with them in the past 14 years. Had a chance to fly one of the low cost Indian carrier (Go-Air), was pleasantly surprised with the service. It seems lots of folks who work in the IT industry in Bangalore, fly up and down (delhi-Bangalore) each weekend on their own expense, mostly young folks around 24-25 types.

Was a bit disappointed last week (like other Indians) as India got their butt kicked out of the cricket world cup. Folks in different parts of the country were burning the effigies of the sportspersons - lol, Indians take their cricket (gentleman's game) quite seriously. Will be opening up my office in Bangalore next week, looking forward to that, will be a completely new experience as I wil have to procure everythign from chairs-table, to internet connection, telephones, resources etc. Dauting but will be fun. Of course shall keep you posted. So Namaste till the next blog (dont know when that will happen).

Sayo Nara
Shiva

Wednesday, March 7, 2007

Finally in Bangalore, India

All, My apologies for the late blog, but finally here I am. Reached Bangalore yesterday and have picked up an apartment on airport road (You have to experience the traffic to realize how bad it is). Well in this past one month, I have travelled to Bihar (Bhagalpur) for a friends wedding, logged in 3500 KM (~2600 miles) city driving, finally opened a bank account, and managed to get high speed internet connection at my parents place. So I treat each of these as achievements, however small they might be.

Bihar was fun, took a train journey after 10 years along with my good friend who joined me from Patna. For the cost of an extra large Dominos pizza ($20), one can get a nice sleeper air conditioned ticket that takes you 900 miles. May not be the cleanest conditions but it is cheap. Bhagalpur is the 3rd or 4th largest city in Bihar on the banks of Ganga river, sleepy little town but is experiencing the great Indian boom as the government is spending 100s of millions of $$ for road development.

So back to Bangalore (Blr), it is an interesting place, for those who have not been here, it is a 2 tier city, outsourcing related people, and normal industry related people. Since I am in the normal industry category, am finding things a bit expensive here.

My www.Mapmyindia.com is coming up with a new version, we are going to be launching all India with better algorithms for navigation, plus better local search. So really looking forward to that. India really needs car navigation, 99% of people on the street give you wrong directions when you ask them for a locations address etc. Officially we have a presence in Blr, since I now live here. In the process of finding office space, local tel numbers and some staff, setting up office is a pretty tedious process (ask those who have recently setup back offices in India).


For all you NRI's (Non-Resident Indian) living abroad, I would highly recommend buying some property in India, as the prices will start looking like Tokyo in the next 10 years, there is way too much money chasing too little real estate. Things do get frustating at times, as customer service SUCKS in India, but if you scream loud enough people listen :).

Rest is fine, watch out for the updated site (hopefully it opens up).

Cheers till then,
Shiva