Bangalore- The Silicon Valley of India

Bangalore is said to be “The silicon valley of India”, the IT hub , cosmopolitan city and what not. Statistics reveal that there are about half a million software engineers in bangalore. The real estate prices are sky-rocketed, cost of living has increased, there are big big malls coming up at every corner……but this is all just one side of the coin. Does bangalore really qualify to be the silicon valley of India? Can the infrastructure over here support for it? A simple example reveals the real situation…..these days a broadband internet connection has become the basic need and that too in a city like bangalore with so many software professionals, atleast it must be treated as a basic need. But the fact is that one must be really lucky to get a connection here. The irony is that there are still many places in bangalore where there are no broadband providers (maybe bsnl is an exception to this…but one needs to have a phone connection to get bsnl broadband) and ppl still have to use the internet connection thru cable network like sify, hathway, etc.

Now getting a bsnl broadband connection is not going to be tht easy as initially we need to wait for a landline connection and then only if there are ports available in that area (for which the probability is really really low) we can get a connection…and wherever the private players are there, the ports are already full 😀 . With so many software ppl here why can’t the companies upgrade their infrastructure. My woes started like this-

I stay on airport road, supposed to be a decent place in bangalore. Initially I applied for an airtel connection and I was told they would get back to me with the feasibility report within 3 days. And they did come back to me promptly and said we cannot provide the connection. Then I turned to tata indicom (though I know their service is hopeless, I was left with no other option). These guys also promised to get back in 3 days and gave me a reference number. And after 3 days when I called them,  the call centre guy just raised a new complaint and gave me a new complaint number and asked me to wait for 3 more days. Then after 3 more days I got another complaint number and this way atlast I was left out with a ref num and 3 complaint numbers but no progress in the connection. Then atlast I had to go for a realiance data card. Now after a month I got a mail from tata indicom saying that we cannot provide you the service in that area right now.

So, this is wht the state of infrastructure is in bangalore.  I don’t think it is really greedy to expect a broadband connection. Ok…lets leave getting a broadband connection… but expecting to get a normal lan cable (cat5 cable) should not be a problem. But you know even that is not an easy thing in bangalore. My friend got a new reliance broadband connection yesterday. We wanted to use a linksys router so that both of us can work in parallel. So, we set out to buy an ethernet cable. But to our surprise, we had to go almost 5 km to find a shop that sells it. That too we could find that shop after parking our bike and walking for almost a kilometer near the place. Some of the ppl did not even understand wht we were asking for.  So, this is the plight of silicon valley of india.

Is it only about a broadband connection or an ethernet cable?? No…thts not the end, ask anyone staying in bangalore abt the traffic situation here, abt the pollution, the cost of living, the real estate prices, the house rents, auto fares….the list will go on. This place used to be a quiet pensioner’s paradise but right now its no where nearer to a paradise.

I think some serious thought has to be given to the situation in bangalore or else the days are not far where it might just become the garbage valley of india.

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