Reflections

Bangalore garbage : picture borrowed from the Hindu website Calcutta is known worldwide as a terrible place. The infrastructure is crumbling, there are no proper roads, and the transport system is in a mess and so on. And how has this impression been carried all over the country and the world? Mainly by the efforts of the Calcutta newspapers, media and the self disparaging denizens of Bengal. I was recently in Bangalore for a short one day visit. I flew in on a Sunday and out at midnight on Monday. I now often have to visit the city mainly for business purposes. I have always been of the opinion that this most favoured of Indian cities (in the media) is actually one of India’s worst. And this visit firmly confirmed these impressions. It was raining heavily as we disembarked at the airport, admittedly a nice place, though not really nice enough to be voted the best in Asia or something as was heavily reported in the newspapers recently. The rain poured down as my car took me towards...