I grew up in Bangalore. I was born in Vani Vilas Hospital in 1963 and spent my first 20 years here. Five of those years were in Malleshwaram and 15 around St. Mark’s Road. In those years I got to experience both traditional Bangalore and Cantonment. I had a great time growing up, cycling around town, catching buses to school, playing cricket matches with “pencils” as trophies, rejoicing in our Ranji trophy victories and the great test cricketers we produced—Vishy, Chandra, Prasanna, Kirmani, Brijesh, Binny, etc. That was a simple Bangalore: unpretentious, unflashy, simple living, and world-conquering, at least in cricket! When people talk about “two Bangalore’s”, I have to admit that I really belong to a bit of both.
I left this nurturing environment when I got the opportunity to learn and teach political science in the US. There, I studied critical issues concerning public policy and governance and these quickly became my areas of passion. I returned to India brimming with ideas and began work at the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore, where I am now a Professor.
The Bangalore I returned to was very different. If this Bangalore is what Jawaharlal Nehru meant when he said that Bangalore is “India’s city of the future,” it’s a decidedly mixed bag. On the one hand, the old pleasures of a tonga ride or bicycle ride through the city are long gone but on the other hand this is a city brimming with entrepreneurial energy; India’s Silicon Valley. As an old Bangalorean, I want to preserve the gentleness and sheer ‘livability’ of the city that I grew up in. High on my agenda are issues of roads and infrastructure, but I also dream of neighbourhood parks for children to play in and outdoor activities in large open spaces that will bring families and communities together within this buzzing metropolis. I envision Bangalore as a mix of high-growth around patches of green and oases of calm: a combination of the old and new Bangalores.
As an IT-BT hub and a city centred around industry, I know that for many of you these next few years will be plagued by job uncertainty. For those of you in Bangalore’s over 350 engineering colleges, there is the worry that you will enter a market which may have less opportunities than before. As a Professor, I understand the need for training and skills to be adapted to match the changing requirements of a tough market. I envision my role as one that links the training that the Government can offer you, with the needs of the international market so that as citizens you have all of the opportunities and challenges that I myself have enjoyed.
In these uncertain times, we need to come together to build on our experiences. Let us combine the best of Bengaluru: our entrepreneurial spirit, our young energy, our unique identity as Bangaloreans to build a city of the future that retains the best of our past.
