If you're looking for instant enlightenment, Bangalore is not the place. The booming tech industry has drawn millions to this city where noise, pollution, corruption, construction and traffic make simple, everyday tasks stressful, difficult and expensive.

After 3 months in Bangalore, my spirituality has not been enhanced, my soul has not been stirred and my senses have not been awakened. My lungs have, however, been loaded with toxins, and my head reels from the incessant honks, beeps, and other noises from enthusiastically delivered from drivers of all sorts of vehicles.

Bangalore used to be famous for its mild climate, mellow and relaxed streets where retirees spent their twilight years.

Now, the average mean temperature has gone up, the streets are clogged, the sidewalks are ankle-busters if they exist, and the incessant horn honking and night-time howls of the feral, rabid dogs only add to the 'mystery' of India.

We listened to the suggestions, advice and proclamations delivered by well meaning friends before we left Portland, Oregon for Bangalore. These friends must have envisioned us living amidst mystics, gurus and swamis that India is reputed to have. We were told, "You need to keep a journal." "Tell us what it is like...send pictures." "Gosh, it is going to be so different there. "It (India) is going to change your life."

Although my wife Maria and I have been in Bangalore for 3 months, I haven't had a satori, met a guru, or even been to a yoga class. I'm sure the mysterious India does exist but getting out of Bangalore seems to be a problem for us. My sensibilities, however, have been aroused as this is country is a paradox: corruption is rampant and there are serious problems of air, water and noise pollution, yet it also produces many world class engineers, doctors, and computer industry specialists, many of whom have left India and have prospered. Some of these highly successful people have returned to their homeland and are trying to make a difference by trying to improve living conditions for the very poor while calling attention to the need for a better roads, sewer system and water supply.

Teeming with about 6 million people (although the unofficial estimate is much higher), Bangalore's polluted air burns people's eyes, nose and throat, much of it caused by the two-stroke engines of two-wheelers (as motorcycles and scooters are called) and the ubiquitous autorickshaws, called "autos" or "ricks" by the locals. The "ricks" and two-wheelers belch smog, while drivers of all sorts incessantly sound shrill horns while weaving their way through traffic. They not only cause most of the foul air, but clog lanes, and create chaos.

The quality of air in Bangalore is getting worse: According to December 2003 article in the Deccan Herald quoting Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) Chairman Upendra Tripathy "The Suspended Particulate Matter (SPM) level in the atmosphere in Bangalore has gone up three to four times in the last 10 years. Vehicular pollution constituted 74 per cent of the total pollution in the City, which is high compared to Delhi (66 percent); Mumbai (50 percent) and Kolkata (33 percent)".

The Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) isn’t helping matters. BDA commissioner Jayakar Jerome is just one of many public officials who believes that Bangalore's declining air quality is just a sign of progress. The BDA is building over a hundred flyovers, which are elevated road ramps that rise above the surface streets at highly congested areas to create arterials that allow vehicles to bypass the intersections. (Apparently, the BDA has not considered traffic signals and enforcing traffic laws to make traffic smoother.) According to an article published in the Times of India on 12 January 2004, Jerome stated that suggestions to transplant trees removed during the construction of the flyover at one of the city's main bottlenecks at Airport Road and 100 ft Road was an absurd thought. "The question of transplantation does not arise. I don't even intend to try it out. People should decide whether they want the flyovers or not. It (the price of development) is like a mother going through the pain while delivering a child. The child cannot be born without the pain," said Jerome.

Others disagree like S G Neginhal, a former forestry officer who feels transplantation of trees is worth it citing the benefits of trees bring to the urban environment and cost of only 3000 - 4000 Rupees (Rs) per tree (Note: RS 4500 is about USD$100).

A coordinator with the environmental Support Group, Leo Saldanha, feels that the BDA should create pedestrian and bicycling lanes without removing the tree. Jerome disagrees and says that pedestrian and bike lanes don’t work citing motor vehicle parking on such lanes on MG Road. BDA’s Jerome also has opinions reflecting a pervasive attitude that ignores pedestrian safety in the name of progress. Most locals would probably agree as the more aggressive side of Bangaloreans reveals itself as soon as they sit behind the wheel or hop on to their two wheelers. Other vehicles, and especially bicyclists and pedestrians beware…those horns mean ‘get outta the way'.

An overwhelming percentage of motor vehicle drivers use their horn frequently when they drive using it incessantly and don’t stop until the turn off their motors. Soft-spoken Bangaloreans turn into a raving, honking maniacs on the road. For example, on one 6 kilometer trip in moderate traffic, I counted every time that my Rick driver sounded short beeps, two short beeps or long honking blasts. He sounded his horn about every 30 seconds over a ten minute period or 23 times. On yet another trip from my apartment to the main shopping area, the rick driver used his horn about 17 times…often, for no apparent reason.

Luckily, the city shuts down about midnight, but that’s when the dogs pick up the noise pollution banner and you can still hear drivers throughout the night sound their horns by instinct rather than necessity as they motor along virtually deserted streets.

Casting for your own Caste
In India, knowing your place in the societal hierarchy is accepted as the norm. It's more than just a caste system, it's a ritualized and somewhat predictable set of behavior patterns that dictate and influence interaction with anyone from rick drivers, merchants, co-workers, policemen, and doctors.

Add to the mix, PIOs (Persons of Indian Origin), NRIs(Non Resident Indian), and foreigners like me, whom have spent time outside of India in the US, Dubai, England and other countries, where the caste system is less defined. When the NRIs, PIOs, return to India, the caste system becomes a little more confusing as some things, like arranged marriages, get more scrutiny...but not much more.

Two college educated gents in their twenties, one of whom was educated in the US and plans to live there for at least 10 years upon getting his medical residency, told me that they plan to marry within their caste. They have to, in essence. “I’m the only son. I have to marry in my caste. My parents expect me to and I will,” said one.

The other guy told me basically the same thing. “My parents are looking for a wife for me.”

But some men may have a problem finding a wife for one reason; There are not enough women.

The practice of murdering infant girls over the last 40 years has lead to a mind-boggling discrepancy in the gender ratio. According to an article in The Hindu on October 20, 2003, the Minister for Health and Family Welfare, Sushma Swaraj said, “India has reported a child sex ratio of 927 girls to 1000 boys in the 2001 census, against a world average of 1045 women to 1000 men."

The practice of murdering infant girls over the last 40 years has lead to a mind-boggling discrepancy in the gender ratio. According to an article in The Hindu on October 20, 2003, the Minister for Health and Family Welfare, Sushma Swaraj said, “India has reported a child sex ratio of 927 girls to 1000 boys in the 2001 census, against a world average of 1045 women to 1000 men. In some States including Punjab, Haryana, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Delhi, some districts of Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and recently Karnataka, the sex ratio has declined to about 900 girls per 1000 boys in the 0-6 age group. In some districts, the ratio has plummeted to less than about 850 to 1000 boys.”

There is even a report titled, “Missing", that maps the adverse child sex (gender) ratio in India.

In an article about the adverse child sex (gender) ratio in India, dated 7 July 2003, by CNN noted , “Social scientists say the severity of the problem of selective abortions is so bad, the country's gender birth ratio shows there are 880 females for every 1,000 males.”

So this is what Salman Rushdie is saying when he writes, “The murder of children is somewhat of an Indian specialty.”

Corruption
So far, Bangalore has reminded me a lot of Detroit and Portland, Oregon: Like Detroit, it has a decaying infrastructure, corrupt politicians and, like Portland, it has development agencies that approve projects with marginal or detrimental environmental impact or benefit the already wealthy developers. Bangalore does have works in progress like new sewer systems in some areas, and "flyovers" or bridges that are designed to keep traffic moving on main arterials, but these and other public work projects are considered a joke by many. Bangalore is also loaded with politicians or civil servants (a misnomer if there ever was one in this corrupted burg) and civic leaders proposing remedies while siphoning funds and arranging for kickbacks. Streets, sidewalks, and public areas are in serious disrepair, there are empty lots littered with trash, people urinate and defecate by the side of road, against fences, anywhere that's convenient.

Corruption is king in India, everyone's got their hand out for a piece of the pie. How bad? In late January 2004, a television reporter paid a magistrate a little less than $900 (40,000 rupees) to issue warrants for fictitious fraud against, get this, the President of India, the head of India’s bar association, and two Supreme Court justices. The reporter filmed the money handoff and everyone is shocked and dismayed by this absurd revelation.

On the local level, a recent survey released by the Bangalore Agenda Task Force (BATF) cited corruption as one of major problems in this bustling burg along with air pollution and the availability of water.

The corruption is so pervasive it is easier to speculate on what is not compromised. For example, a reporter for the Times of India went to a Bangalore court house to see if he could obtain a certificate stating he had been a resident in the state of Karnataka for 10 years in order to qualify for tax breaks. The reporter could not prove that fact, but easily obtained his certificate. But that day’s front page news changed nothing. As the article noted, you can still get one of these certificates from of the touts with the connections if you have the cash.

My experience with corruption came recently when the local telephone company installation guys came to my apartment, asked for 100 rupees to buy a junction box and then demanded that I tip them. I gave them a 100 rupees each – almost 10 times the normal tip – and their grubby paws reached closer to me….that’s when I asked my wife to take them from our apartment and she tactfully suggested a discussion with the apartment manager.

Another opportunity to participate in the culture of corruption may exist when I go to pick up my Indian drivers license...

Poverty
Friends, acquaintances and veteran travelers told me that one of the first things I would notice about India is that the poverty would be shocking, depressing, downright pitiful. Poverty in India, it was insisted by some, is much worse than anywhere else in the world. When I told these well meaning folks that I've been to poor countries, and that I’ve seen poverty, they told me, 'wait, you'll see...it's different in India.”

But it's not different. Poor people, that is, humans living below the poverty line, is a tragic condition wherever they live and the poverty of India hasn't made me re-examine my core definition of “poor”. Not having a decent place to sleep, the lack of clean water, sanitation, money or the promise of a job is a very real situation for many humans worldwide. India does not have the patent on poverty. In fact, according to Nationmaster.com, drawing on information from the 2002 CIA Factbook, India ranks a mere 80th worldwide with 30% of the country’s people in people below the poverty level. Many of the world’s poorest nations have 86% - 70% of the population of people below the poverty line. (The United States has 13% of its population living below the poverty line.)

There are temporary tenement towns scattered all over thriving Bangalore many adjacent to one of the four shopping malls, numerous office buildings, and one building that is claimed to be one of the world's tallest buildings, that are being built in this boomtown. All of these projects employ laborers who live adjacent to the sites in camps and conditions that I cannot help but compare to the living conditions I've seen in South America's poorest country, Bolivia. And like the indigent of Zambia, Chad, Haiti, Moldovia, Liberia, Ecuador or Brazil, the poor people of India live in small dwellings - many no bigger than a tent one might use for camping - and they are made of a variety of materials - tin panels, nylon or polypropylene tarps, palm leaves, and cardboard boxes.

In Bangalore, India's high-tech darling, young, tech savvy urban professionals on their two wheelers zip by children hauling water, lifting bricks and digging holes. Just visit any construction site where workers have set up makeshift colonies, where entire families live in tin shacks, nylon tents, and assorted other habitats - where the father, mother and kids are all employed as menial laborers earning enough rupees to buy some rice and peas to last another day. Don't stay too long, because you might see a 6 year old child carrying a container of water on her head that weighs more than she does. You might see a filthy, undernourished 7 year old boy digging a trench with grown men. The fact that this youngster should be in school learning math, reading, writing and other skills most Westerners - and higher caste Indians – is taken for granted by most locals.

One U.S. executive working in Bangalore on a temporary assignment claims child labor has existed since the beginning of time, and families do it as a matter of survival. ‘It’s simple - they need the money,” he noted.

Others like an Indian born and educated computer engineer with 5 years experience in the heart of Silicon Valley who has recently returned to Bangalore, is wondering if he and the other returnees will make a positive impact. He wonders how poverty, child labor and many other issues will be addressed the newly returned Indians, often called PIOs (Persons of Indian Origin) or NRIs (Non-Resident Indians) many of whom have spent time working in the U.S., Dubai, England, Australia, South Africa, and other places from which the Indian diaspora has spread.

I wonder, too , if the PIOs and NRIs upon returning to their native land are trying to change things…but it is my observation that most are ignoring child labor and unsafe working conditions as the norm.

Unwashed lepers, barefoot scruffy kids, dirty mothers carrying scraggly children often approach me when I’m on the street or stuck in traffic in an autorickshaw. So, before I drawing on my own experience of dealing with tweaked out street urchins or, rough looking, homeless men drifting in and out of stupor only long enough to panhandle some money to buy a bit a food and a pint of Thunderbird, I asked some local Indians and our PIO friends in the States on how to deal with beggars. They advised me to either ignore the beggars or give them some food. Like the poor of the U.S., some are actual mentally handicapped individuals who have been tossed onto the street, others are genuine poverty stricken, while some have chose this vocation over others.

Given this advice, I decide I know how to deal with these beggars. They can’t get to me. So, it is the same, if you've lived in Portland, Oregon, as I have, or been to Seattle, Washington, or San Francisco. Telling panhandlers to bug off is easy.

So when the vacant, hollow eyes of beggars stare into my eyes as gaunt hands are shoved into my face, the palm and fingers cupped in anticipation of a few rupees, I either ignore them or use a Hindi phrase I've learned, 'chele jao' which means 'go away'.

I'm becoming quite proud of myself. Maybe I am fooling myself by believing that I'm thinking like an Indian; ignore the problem until you are forced to deal with it. Then, cut off their head (India leads the world in murders) or at least try and make some money or get a kickback if you have to deal with it.

CRIME
India tops the list in number of people murdered annually but not per capita with Columbia claiming that dubious distinction with .65 per 1,000 people while India ranks in at 27 place with .004 people murdered per 1,000 people. But with a billion people in an area one-third the size of the US, quarrels can escalate rapidly, and, given the violent past, the murder rate of over 37,000 people should not be too shocking.

My wife has also been told to get a real taxi – not an autorickshaw – after 8:30pm. It’s too dangerous, she’s been told as they might “take her for a ride”, a phrase coined by Chicago gangsters in the late 1920’s, now being told to my wife almost 80 years later. I guess it is like the US in the 1920s.

U.S. Central Intelligence Agency
http://cia.gov/
http://cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/index.html