Day 162 | June 11 2007 | Elevated highway construction

I pass the Hosur road every day to and from home and office. The elevated highway, a parallel highway, 20 feet about the ground is being constructed to connect Electronic City and Bangalore.A 12Km stretch of road.

The work is in full swing, so I decided to visit the site and get a few snaps. Taken through a long pipe, you can see workers with orange high visibility jackets on the far side, working hard.

Infractucture development is hot in India.. a sign of India Shining!

Day 155 | June 4 2007 | Electronics City Over-Bridge

Lush green lawns welcoming visitors to the Electronic city. Taken from the bridge connecting Bannergattha and Hosur bridge.

Day 137 | May 17 2007 | Common cold, No cure yet!

I recently read that there is still no cure for the common cold. Then what do all these 'cold' medicines available off the shelf do? I guess they only provide comfort to the patient and generate revenue for the pharma companies. But, the Indian government (National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) has recently put in price regulations on a lot of drugs, bringing them to the common mans reach. Perhaps India might be the only developed country where most medicines are still available without a proper prescription, and chemist shops are as treated as daily or retail essentials.... India shining!

Thats a close up of the meds prescribed to be by the doc. Now thats a lot of meds right..

Day 126 | May 06 2007 | Inside an IT training room

This week was hectic, with lots of trainings going on. Taken inside the training room of a popular IT training institute in Bangalore. Such institutes do good business training not only corporates, but also students who are fresh out of college.

The trainer was a bit perplexed after my colleague asked him a tough technical question. Funny? No. The 'trainer', we found out later, was a non technical person who has started his carrier working as a camera salesman in Dubai. He too did a technical course from an IT institute and was now riding the IT boom, teaching others. Now that's India Shining!

Day 122 | May 02 2007 | Jai Jawan !

Thats a soldiers monument outside the Southern Command HQ - Pune. A symbol of 'Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan', meaning 'praise the soldier, praise the farmer'. A popular slogan during the Indian Independence movement.

Day 119 | April 29 2007 | Celebrations with Champagne

Traveling from Pune to a weekend getaway, my family and I passed by through Narayangao. This is the astronomically important place hosting India's ambitious GMRT project, the world's largest radio telescope at metre wavelengths.

Narayangao also is a host to Chateau Indage Estate Vineyards, which produces and exports internationally, world class wines and champagnes. Now thats India Shining! For a small fee, visitors are allowed to see the wine making process and a wine tasting session.

Thats the 'Marquise De Pompadour' Champagne, we were having to celebrate. Cheers!

Day 106 | April 16 2007 | Hard Days Work - IT Engineer

Information Technology is still a major growth driver not only in India, but also in the Asian subcontinent. Thousands of new jobs are migrating into the Asian region. The reasons are obvious.. cheaper and higher quality outputs from the region. This is IT outsourcing to BPO's. India has revenues of 6.4 Billion USD from offshore BPO and 36 Billion USD from IT and total BPO. Now thats India Shining!!

That is Sandip, my colleague and friend working on a case with a North American customer, for a leading IT firm in Bangalore.

Day 95 | April 5 2007 | Brand Recall - Portable Ads

Are we there yet? I guess we are.. We are in a place where marketers are grabbing our attention. Its apparent by all such portable vans, with power backup, parked strategically in high volume places. They make sure that you pass by them and 'look' at them, and do recall the brand on your next shopping trip. Brand Recall!

Taken on the busy Koramangala main, while bicycling back home from my evening cycling sessions.

Day 77 | March 18 2007 | P.S.L.V - Jawaharlal Nehru Planetarium

Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle or PSLV, is India's primary satellite launch vehicle, developed indigenously by ISRO. First launched in 1993, it has since sucessfully lauched 11 times, catapulting India in the big league of space technology. The PSLV also carries foreign payload at competitive prcies. India Shining!

This one is a to-scale model replica in the premises of the Jawaharlal Nehru Planetarium Bangalore. The Planetarium has a wonderful show in the sky theater, which I'm sure children as well as adults would love to watch. I was awestruck to see a beautiful replica of the real sky, stars and constellations, being projected on the darkened sky dome. The show also highlights Einstein and his valuable work. Do visit and catch the 4.30Pm English language show.

Day 73 | March 14 2007 | Rusty!

Rusty old steam engine lying all alone in a park in Bangalore.

Discontinued in the 1990 by the Indian Railways, this must be the fate of the retired steam engines. Many of them will be lying in parks, railway museums across the country and even a few in some government engineering colleges. A few are still in use, but mostly at tourist places like Darjeeling, Matheran and even the Royal Orient. There is a huge fan following for steam locomotives in India. More info here.

BTW, Indian Railways is one of the largest and busiest rail networks in the world, spread across 63000 Km and growing fast! India Shining !

Day 31 | Jan 31 2007 | India Shining - Internet Penetration

India Shining - Internet Penetration.
This is a typical commercial complex building. You can find a lot of internet cafe's in such settings. This particular one was buried deep down in a jungle of boards and hoardings. Browsing speeds have gone up and rates per hour have come down over all these years. Have a look at internet penetration/usage in India reports here and here.

Day 26 | Jan 26 2007 | India's 58th Republic Day - Jai Hind !

Jai Hind ! Its India's 58th Republic Day. Early morning, I eagerly watched the Republic Day Speech by His Highness, President of India, DR. A.P.J. ABDUL KALAM on national TV (DD-1). Have a look at what he has to say here, where he presents his Mission of a Developed India by 2020.

I was at Garuda mall this evening. The celebrations are everywhere, flags flying high; people pinning flags on their clothes, flag paints on the faces. And there is another interesting campaign going on around.. its called India Poised, being run by by the Times Of India group.

This photo is of Vijay, a guard manning one of the lifts in the mall, who seemed happy on this great day. And why not, its a great time to be here in India. Jai Hind!

Day 13 | Jan 13 2007 | India Shining - Mobile

Whats 'India Shining' got to do with a communication tower? Well... lots actually. This is not just a communication tower, its technology providing to the masses. This is a common sight anywhere in India, not just cities and towns, but even remote villages. Private and state owned telecom providers like BSNL have done the ground work to actually connect the 1 Billion Indian's to each other.

BTW, India is now the worlds fastest growing telecom market in the world.