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The phenomenon – final part
Post 1995, koramangala slowly started picking up to being one of the favourite haunts of many an IT company. This is also rougly the timeframe when Electronics city was parallely contemplated and put into place. EC was a natural extended version of Koramangala itself. Those companies who could not afford the would-be-slowly-posh neighbourhood, had to think of EC as their next choice. EC brought about expanding Koramangala southwards towards madiwala. Another popular destination chosen by some famous software companies including Texas instruments, HP were Wind tunnel road, nearby ISRO and old airport, and this expanded Koramangala eastwards to bring out what is currently the Intermediate Ring road. the west and north were already bustling entries and exits to Koramangala.
The next most important turning point for the locality was the Forum Mall. Businesses, apartments, paying guests, eateries, offices, everything mushroomed around Forum making 7th and 8th blocks most wanted. The 1st and 2nd blocks maintained their charm due to the rather famous Raheja Residency and a few other apartments around the place. Today it serves as an important link to outer ring road, HSR Layout, and madiwala for thousands of people. What were once huge (120×80, 120×120) residences in 3rd and 4th blocks, are now serviced homes, and/or costly restaurants which lend themselves rather well to the decor of the entire locality. With peaceful surroundings, they make the best spots to be in for visitors from both within and outside the country. 5th and 6th blocks were mostly middle class who were typically from the public sector companies and at best these are now influenced by the 80' road running through 6th block, and the two 60' roads binding 5th blocks in a deadly business grip !!
The 80' road itself has proved a lifeline for the esrtwhile lakebeds of National Games village, and ST bed, to become jam packed with apartments offering paying guest options and business conference rooms who make hay even when the sun won't shine. Of course this kind of development also presents tens of thousands of employment opportunities to a wide variety of people who naturally then become the floating population of the place. This means they also use their vehicle to criss cross the locality which is already congested with some serious traffic. Every single IT company has a bus running through this place during peak hours and this only adds to the chaos. An area which starts off its calm mornings by 6am turns into a traffic nightmare by 8am. Same holds good during the evenings. The residential tag of Koramangala is slowly and steadily reaching its logical end. So much that people are unmindful that them causing noise pollution and vehicular disturbance would harm the peace and tranquility enjoyed by erstwhile residents.
Pubs and shops have only added to the chaos which brings about scores of boys and girls who occupy every park bench everyday bunking their daily routines denying residents a chance to enjoy anything around. Paying guest accomodation only means vehicular disturbance beyond the acceptable night hours. Call centre mania is no less glorified as well here. And with so many people for the 12 hours in a day and their palates to satisfy, have only meant literally hundreds of restaurants mushroom on every street possible – the shanti sagars, the sukh sagars, the amritsars, the delhi's, the paratas, the andhra messes, the kerala food joints, why only indian, even all the way upto chinese, korean, american and even europians have invaded the place lapping up every piece and parcel of real estate available. There are no less than about 200+ restaurants dotting the locality making it a logistical nightmare.
Without proper infrastructure plans, without proper connectivity which was faster, safer and more effecient, Koramangala has silently suffered through the changes in times. What I enjoyed in terms of my schooling, my friends' circle, my games sessions, and the tranquility around during my youth are things which I cannot provide for my children at this stage. The evolving change Koramangala has brought about has forced even a few of the hardcore Koramangalites who have known the localities' roots to look out for other options. There can be hundreds of good things to enjoy nearby but all that becomes meaningless if one cannot get one nights' worth of sound sleep at the end of it.
It is at this juncture that I take a deep bow to salute and respect a locality that has meant so much to me and my childhood, a locality that has gained so much respect for globalization and its cosmopolitan nature, a place whose great things will forever be etched in the minds of its original residents. The years spent in the locality Koramangala originally was are something no one in future can understand, and no one in the past can forget. This is the true phenomenon I was part of and will never forget. Goodbye Koramangala. Goodbye forever.
The phenomenon – part two
I noticed this article from the times of india, which captured the essence of Koramangala through the mind of Balbir Singh, the owner of Koramangala.com.
Around 17 years ago, Koramangala was nothing short of a pocket of villages. For every small purchase, we had to drive down to Brigade Road. Instances where a Koramangalite would go outdoors after 7 pm were sparse. It was unsafe and autorickshaw drivers always refused to come to Koramangala. This place was dead," says Balbir Singh, who quit his job in the printing & packaging industry to launch the portal koramangala.com along with his wife Amrit Sethi.
Way back in 1984, if someone went out after 7pm, there was no guarantee of him returning home be it a kid or an adult. The biggest set of marshy land regions included what is now the National Games Village, and ST Bed (behind the Maharaja hotel). Everything beyond that were just groves and groves of cocount trees which could trap an unassuming individual if he trespassed into an unending maze of no-return. From our home, we could see the Mantons crane factory (today otherwise called Raheja Arcade), and St.John’s hospital. While the first five years of my stay did not see anyone owning a television set in Koramangala, after that stage the first few black and white sets started arriving on the scene. Chitrahaar, Chitramanjari, Vartegalu, Blockbuster movies, and the famous moon mission by Rakesh Sharma – were some of the things that raked in crowds. Hordes of children descended on the only house(s) that had TVs and settled down like we were one family, with one goal – watch TV.
Open spaces, tall grasses, St John’s Hospital, service roads and, yes, cows. Nobody thought this quiet suburb would be transformed so much. It was more like a brick & mortar village with the typical ration shops around it," recollects Santhosh Kumar, an HR professional, who has been residing in Koramangala since 1984
The Koramangala club membership was a near miss for my father. To keep up the socializing habit, the membership was offered at a mere 500 bucks which those days amounted to a monthly salary of people living there. The founder members had to pitch in about 2000 bucks each with which they would build what is otherwise today called the Koramangala Club with a mind boggling membership amount running into lakhs of rupees.
The entire set of people living in Koramangala 6th Block used to play badminton, shuttle, ring, kho-kho and what not and this included all the adults in each family. Boy, it was such a pleasure to be living here. After my dad, I was the next undisputed badminton champ out here. The next ten years was sheer bliss upto 1995. The locality slowly gained ground in terms of development, and infrastructure to support the growing population was slowly being put in place. Post offices, schools, bus stops, banks, water tanks, electricity board offices, small shops to meet the grocery needs.
Some of the famous names to do business with were Krishna medicals, Vaishnavi stores for stationery (and those new famous pens and pencils), fashion center (for your clothing needs), modern stores and balaji stores (for groceries). The only good hotels years down the line were Sukh sagar, and Utsav Veg. Bethany and Neena schools were the only schools that have withstood the test of time for over 25 years now. So much so was the nostalgia that I can say I could reach my school as the crow flies (diagonally) from my home.
1995 was ushering in the software era, into india, into bangalore, into koramangala in full swing. This was the turning point for the poshness of the locality to start exposing itself. In full glory. for the next ten years. Few of the earliest names to move into Koramangala were Wipro and Infosys.
The phenomenon was now being created.
The phenomenon – part one
I always wanted to pen down this story, but time was at premium. It finally finds its way into this blog. This is not a story of a place. Its an article about the phenomenon called Koramangala and my gratitude for a chance to breathe, live and loathe it.
The year was 1983. But we were living in 1682. The mood wasn’t exactly one of jubilation but more of an urgency. An urgency to find a place which we could call our own, in anticipation of a family which would shortly burst at its seams. With many siblings of my father yet to be married, there was never a perfect time for this shift. Our then rented home 1682, in Rajajinagar had a reason to be vacated. With burgeoning rental demands, and for reasons beyond my comprehension when I was just six, and with pressure from everyone around, we had to vacate the place.
Koramangala was neither in the city, nor was a village. At best it wasn’t even lands that belonged to the rich and powerful Reddys those days. It was more of unexplored forest, which BDA decided to tame in the name of site allotments. My father had been allotted a site for five thousand rupees. Five thousand was like a current day fifty lakh figure to him with his rather abysmal salary levels and the last thing he could do was cough up this amount for the property. He had two choices – Koramangala and Indiranagar. While he could somehow locate the former, he was afraid to go to the latter area !! 
After a lot of discussion and math crunching all the brothers decided to pitch in for the house so that my dad could enable the change in life. This in my opinion was the beginning and end of a joint family. The beginning was one of happiness and the seeds for the end were being sown not withstanding my oblivion about it.
The nearest bus stop to Koramangala those days (80’s era) was can-you-believe-it Diary Circle which is a good 3-4 kms away. I would say its good for a heart patient as such, but for the good-for-nothing health freaks that we are, this was way too much. This also is the sole reason why my dad and grandpa are living/lived a healthy life. They walked this distance at least for a couple to three years before the phenomenon started happening. With just six houses for the entire eight blocks of Koramangala, this was nowhere near a phenomenon in the making.
From there what happened until now is the phenomenon.
Bye Bye Cheapos, Hi Smartphones – Blackberry Storm 2, Motorola Milestone, Apple iPhone 3GS
Once upon a time touch screen phones were considered luxury. If they had 2MP cameras, they were worshipped, and if they possessed Wi-Fi, it was not meant for the middle class. All that is now passe. With the entry of the BIG 3 super hit phones, the Indian market just heated up to get exciting. So who are these three and what’s on offer? Find out more below.
Image source: www.gsmarena.com
Image sources: www.boygeniusreport.com , http://img.xataka.com
The last one month has seen some hot launches in the smartphone market from none other than Research in Motion (RIM – Blackberry), Motorola, and Apple. Each has unleashed a turf war with their best selling products – the Storm 2 Blackberry touch, the Milestone, and the 3GS iPhone. A brief comparison of the specs are as below:
If we compare the Moto Milestone, and apple iPhone 3gs briefly with Blackberry Storm 2 9520, these are the features available:
| Features | Milestone | Storm 2 | iPhone 3GS |
| Price | 28,500 | 31,000 | 35,500 |
| 3g Networks | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| Capacitive touchscreen | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Resolution | 480×854 !! | 360×480 | 320×480 |
| Sensors | Yes | No proximity sensor | Yes |
| Internal memory | 256MB | 2GB !! | 256 MB |
| 3g Speed | Upto 10.2 Mbps !! | 7.2 Mbps | 7.2 Mbps |
| Camera | 5 MP !! | 3.2 MP | 3.2 MP |
| Video | 24 fps | 24 fps | 30 fps !! |
| Flash | Dual LED !! | LED | None  |
| Processor | 600 Mhz, lesser graphics | 528 Mhz | 600 Mhz, better graphics !! |
| GPS with maps | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Battery | 1400 mAh | 1400 mAh | 1200 mAh |
From this comparison you can see that for the price point under question the best value for money phone would most naturally be the Moto Milestone. However, more of everything does not mean a better phone.
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For example if you look at the table, graphics is much better in iPhone which means their user interface will needless to say be the best among the three.
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Also if you look at video recording, the iPhone surpasses its competition by a good 5fps more.
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So also with the bands supported for 3G. In this department the blackberry is the worst.
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Again if you see the camera, the Moto beats competition hands down with 5 mega pixels with dual LED flash and the apple is not even worth talking about
So which one must you consider? Well frankly, for me, these are my opinions considering I have or will be using atleast two among the three titans of smartphones, the storm and the 3GS.
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When it comes to price the Milestone from Motorola kicks everyone else out
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When it comes to navigation and usability for all people of the house, the apple iPhone wins by a big margin. One should also not forget the 1,50,000 applications that the appStore has for users compared to Google and Blackberry
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For pure business applications, the Motorola milestone has the potential to keep people happy for a long time, perhaps until Google itself releases its 1GHz Nexus One (which it does not intend to in India)
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One another important thing is that while Apple iPhone 3GS in India is locked to Airtel or Vodafone, the Motorola Milestone and Blackberry Storm 2 will be available unlocked for any operator in the country which is a huge plus point at that price.
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With good 3g data services support from BSNL and the impending 3G spectrum auctions, all other private operators will shortly follow with their 3G services, all these phones are set to harness the power of 3G from various operators to provide video calling and other such facilities. These phones support 3G quite well as expected and this is a good feature in all phones in comparison
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All these phones have 3.5mm standard headset jack making them all multimedia ready by nature of design
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All these phones are GPS enabled with the Moto supporting free turn by turn navigation which is a big boon to finding your way in a lost place.
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If you are the person who likes physical qwerty keypad, Moto is for you, if you like both touch and press (surepress) keypad, the storm is for you and if you like the touch only keypad, iPhone is for you. I am used to touch typing, so both Storm and iPhone 3gs appeal to me more than the physical QWERTY of Moto.
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Google has only 30000 applications, compared to Apple’s 1,50,000 which is a huge marketing plus for Apple. Blackberry apps are not worth mentioning at all frankly
For any comparison there have to be negatives, so here they are:
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Though the Moto Milestone sports 5MP camera, there is no 30fps video recording which is a shame
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The RAM in both Moto and Apple is only 256 as compared to 2GB in Blackberry. This is a vast difference
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None of the handsets support dual camera (front and back facing) which are most necessary for video calls, and this is a shame for the price paid.
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Limited support for each of these handsets in terms of warranty repairs and the limited reach to the customers is slightly disheartening.
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Blackberry and Apple have no clear maps usage policy which makes it difficult for a normal user
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Locking to operator is going to hurt Apple’s fortunes compared to the other two competitors
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Non removable battery is bad for Apple whereas not for the other two since they also sport more powerful batteries
In SUMMARY, if you love core technology, want huge features for low price, with Google’s famed Android 2.1 OS, look no further than the Motorola Milestone. If you are the business conscious user who have been a fan of RIM and their products and appreciate their push email technology and still need other commonly found features, then the Storm 2 is a refreshing change from RIM with their touch based screen and surepress typing technology. The large memory, and slick business features will appeal the business community for sure. If you want ease of use, large amount of apps to chose from, and don’t mind the extra cost, for what you get in return – the famed apple popularity, at the cost of some missing features, then the iPhone 3GS is for you.
Take your pick, for now mine is the iPhone 3GS since I feel Google has some catching up to do with Apple. As for blackberry, I enjoyed it as long as I had it, and would recommend it even though I don’t own it now.
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Hippo try pleasing you – the war of non fried chips
India is finally getting competitive, and one can see it even in chips that we eat. These are the days of no-oil chips, those that are baked instead of fried. Aliva crackers, Smart chips are some of the more famous ones who advertise like there’s no end on the idiot box. While aliva is only masala, Smart chipse could have been better called as masala-fied biscuits.
This is where I tried Hippo and I must say I am impressed. With the way they attract customers, their pricing, and needless to say their taste. With atleast 3-4 flavours the chips are something to get easily addicted to. Tangy tomato, Yoghurt and mint (the maharaja’s recipe), Italian pizza, chinese Manchurian and other varieties have been lined up by Hippo to tickle your taste buds. 
Ready for some “OYE” treatment in our very own Bengaluru?
Bengaluru has not been called cosmopolitan for no silly reasons. Moreso, the cosmopolitization has further gnawed into Bengaluru’s very own IT locality – Koramangala. The locality is already known for some 300 odd good restaurants to eat in, and just when you thought it may not grow further, the Punjabi’s decided otherwise!
Enter “OYE Amritsar”. The very own Punjabi joint to tickle your palates one step further. We decided to check out on this restaurant for lunch a couple of days ago. It was an office team lunch and time to dig into what OYE had to offer us. After a good long walk, we reached the place. Thinking it would be like any other restaurant, I walked in. And the first thing I notice – is the language. Punjabis are known to misspell English and as far as they put forth the point, they don’t really care how the language is used. My apologies to the grammatically correct Punjabi friends, but this misspellings are the things that make OYE an interesting place to eat in.
The food is only half the story. The shiny old Lambretta scooter at the front, the BarBar shop shutters depicting the types of hair cuts offered, the references to bollywood, London, and finally the big bold Sardar with his Kudi depicted on the walls – everything is part of the dining experience. One word – this place is a must go, since its mood changing. It has the potential to uplift even people with the worst of moods to uncover the grin on their faces.
Coming to the food, the customary drink was I think Jaljeera, but it was so intriguingly tangy with twists in every sip. Now a drink must leave you wondering, and thats what it was at OYE. The usual salads later, came the rotis and rajma dal, with butter panneer masala without which its nothing is a complete Punjabi restaurant. Some sweets and ice creams, and after a heavy dose of meals, came the knockout punch for those who dared it – sweet lassi. I would say this lassi alone is enough for lunch. Drinking it along with the buffet means you are either a hardcore punjabi, or you’re sure to swoon into a heavenly nap after the lunch.
And for those whose stomachs cant hold more, there is always the TOLET, oops – I mean the toilet for the JENTS and LADISS.
If you guys and gals want something seriously different for the first visit, OYE Amritsar is the place. In short its full paisa vasool. Just ensure someone’s around to drive you back home, coz I dont think anyone would want to attend office after something like this as a meal. The charges are reasonable as well, so nothing incomparable with other restaurants. Eat your fill!
And while you are there dont forget to notice the posters, subtly hinting that our current prime minister is also a singh, RELAX SINGH to be precise
Seasons greetings
Its time to bid adieu to the old year and usher in the new once more. Lets hope that in the next year all of this years losses are made good for, all the lessons learnt this year are practised more efficiently and that the new year 2009 generates the same joy and enthusiasm that the recession of 2008 has subdued; all once more again.
Wish you all my dear readers, a very happy and fun filled prosperous year 2009!
The society collection exhibition national games village indoor stadium – an overview.
My wife was back from office early on Saturday (its been two decades since I believed others work on saturdays ) and asked me to come along to the Society collection exhibition in the indoor stadium at NGV. Her hopes of having a free entry was shortlived when the counter guys charged us 100 bucks to enter the place. Its advertised as india’s biggest handicrafts exhibition, so you have to expect such nuisances as entry fees and the likes. I would like to call it Indias biggest exhibition in India’s smallest enclosure Thats perhaps more fitting.
The exhbition did have good amount of fashion fabrics, paintings, knicknacks, all ladies fashion accessories, bathroom items, wooden furtniture and antiques, a lot of jewelry, and some interesting stuff which I ll talk about later. For now here are some snaps of the place
There were only two things that impressed me in this exhibition, one was the hose pipe that had innumerable amount of fittings with different threadings for fitting different taps, different spray types, easy portability – this costed 1900 and though I was very much inclined to buy it for my dad, I decided not to go for it right now (yes the recession bug has bitten me too ).
So then what was the other thing that impressed me: – an electromagnetic induction based gas stove based on Eddy currents. It had no heat, no shocks, no smoke, no fire principle. Awesome. Just to prove the point, the guy there put a 10-buck note inbetween the pan and the stove. And nothing happened to it even though the water in the pan was boiling and steaming. Just to cross check I even put my hand on the stove and nothing happened as promised!
The stove comes in different varieties and typically based on weight that be loaded onto it, 30kg, 20kg, 10kg, 5kg, etc. The prices varied between 3,500 bucks to 9000 bucks for a double stove. And there was another caveat. He would sell only to corporates or to those who had orders of three and above units. No single units except when booked at the exhibition. Having said that, I was not in the mood to buy, (recession!), so I took down their contact details and walked out of the place. I am leaving it here in case you are interested.
If you need the numbers, here they are:
Bilwaa marketing inc, 2334 6440/1, 99164 24880, 99866 22106, 99803 68612, & 99028 77075. Their address is 133, 11 cross, sampige road, malleshwaram, bangalore 03.
Finally to sum up on the exhibition: It had some good food stalls at the end much better than what I have seen before in the same stadium. But for paying 50 bucks, I ended up buying some earrings for my wife, if not anything costiler (again the recession ). My suggestion : if you really want to see the two items I mentioned by paying 50 bucks, go there, else go only if you want to seriously end up buying something. The entry cost is pretty exhorbidant and is in other terms called daylight robbery!
