While the IT industry is spearheading the boom, in its trail follows a long list of service areas and other industries that are reaping the benefits of the activity generated in the IT sector. As mentioned above, the construction industry in Bangalore cannot keep pace with demand for housing. Then there are the peripheral service industries — restaurants, grocery stores, malls, clothes shops, book stores, relocation agencies, transportation (there's a whole new industry in transporting the call center employees to and from work every day) even down to drivers, house maids, etc. who all see an increase in business stemming from the IT sector activity.
You can just imagine just how much employment is generated not just in the areas mentioned above, but also in each of the offshoots of those areas. "Outsiders" are not coming in to take every single job in every one of these sectors and their offshoots, are they?
Ironically, while the idea that the "city's sensibilities are being invaded" is making its rounds in certain quarters, the most striking sensibility of this city has been its arms-open-wide welcome it affords to anyone coming here, whether from Tamil Nadu or Andhra or Maharashtra or America or Africa, whether a menial laborer or a billion-dollar multinational company. Just as a community cannot thrive by suppressing a portion of its members, so cannot a city thrive by negating the contributions of a portion of its citizenry, newcomers or not.
And these are not small contributions, mind you. The newcomers to this city are, each in his/her own way, contributing to the financial health of this city. The companies are bringing jobs, jobs are bringing people, people are bringing money that they are spending in the shops and theaters and restaurants, and as mentioned earlier, the money is bringing construction, and more jobs. I dare say the companies are also driving a lot of the improvements we are seeing in the city today (Bannerghatta Road being a fine example, perhaps the only one of public-private partnership in Bangalore).
It is this financial health that will encourage people to look beyond their immediate basic necessities and move on to the dolls' exhibitions and jazz festivals and Sunday beers and the lifestyle of "grace" and "charm." And why blame the newcomers for these habits fading away? Why did this "community" of one million let go of that lifestyle in the first place? Maybe it's because all the old timers, who had property in the heart of Bangalore city, in Charmarajpet and Basavangudi and Gandhi Bazar, have sold out to the highest bidder (in bidding wars brought on by the IT boom) and are now living out in what used to be the boonies and find it too far to make it to the dolls' exhibitions.
Article comments
1 - Matthew Milam
IT Industry booming? I think not. Chicago for instance consistently pushes the PC tech jobs to the suburbs. Why? They can't get anyone out there willing to drive to east hell to get there. People from the city will do it because the jobs are few are far between, but they won't do it for 17 an hour and have to cough up alot for gas.
2 - sujatha
Matthew, the NY Times article talked about the IT industry booming in Bangalore, and it is. The growth is so fast and so large here, that every IT company has jobs to be filled in the hundreds, if not thousands.
3 - abcd
Hi,
Good judgement, i see its the biggest problem bangalore is facing, ppl who do not like anything south indian are coming in search of food but once they have it, why not my family and they too dont like anything south indian, setting up a small community, forget it .. they keep cribing all the time. Same thing in US also, they move in here and crib cos ppl dont eat dal here..
but Bangalore is more hit by the tamil migration starting from SEs to gate keepers.. but Tamils eventully learn & adapt and co-exist without much destruction of ppls pride and ways of life.
4 - Umesh
Hi,
I personally believe that when different people meet there will be a clash of cultures.But this clash was expected to result in new trends in a place like bangalore.
It is the people of the place which make a clash of cultures and opportunity as opposed to a disaster. In 1453 the conquest of constantinople heralded the Reanissance becuase of which we had great advancements in fields of art, science etc.
The biggest example is 'Mona lisa' the greatest work of art in the world. But then,The same clash results in incidents like September 11.
Finally, it is bangalore which will decide where it wants to go.
I used to sincerely believe that bangalore was that sort of place. I'm not so sure anymore. Maybe it is the politics.
5 - sujatha
Umesh and ABCD, thank you very much for your comments.
ABCD, I agree that the "outsiders" have as much responsibility to integrate themselves into the life of a city as do the "indigenous" people to not keep harping on how the "outsiders" are destroying their way of life. That is part of the deal when we travel away from our homes and try to make a living elsewhere.
Umesh, from my vantage point, the riots in Bangalore was the work of a few miscreants looking to create trouble. I don't think they had any agenda in mind other than to smash glass windows (as is the popular notion, these were not just the glass windows of IT companies - many of those windows belonged to "indigenous" companies as well) and create trouble no matter what the circumstances, no matter what the occassion, no matter what the consequences. I wouldn't go so far as to characterize this as a clash of civilizations or cultures although people like Dattani would like to have you belive that.
6 - Kaustav Das
Interesting reading.
I have lived 15 years in Bangalore and pretty much consider Bangalore my home.
And yet barely 3 hrs ago I was assaulted by a group of 20-30 people because I dared to lower the window of my car and admonish a biker because he had come on the wrong side of the road and scratched my car.
This was on the Sharjapur Road - Electronic City connecter road.
My mistake (according to the crowd) was that I was an outsider and that I drove a big car. "We are locals, this is our road you are driving on our road, we will do what we want"
And this is not my predicament alone. Yes, I happen to be the South Head of an MNC and I recruit several well paid people every year.
Should it surprise anyone if my retaliation (in sheer helplessness) is to actually get biased and quietly stop giving Kannadigas jobs.
I think I will do that with glee. And many of you will call it racism. But isn't that exactly how it all begins.