Bangalore's New Airport is Awesome

Well anything would have been an improvement over the HAL airport which probably should have been condemned a few years back. But other than the fact that it is 50km outside of the city center, I've got no complaints. At 3am, it only took me 1 hour to get to the airport, but they say during rush hour it can take upwards of 2 hours, so domestic flights will definitely be a real bitch.

I flew out of the new Bengaluru International Airport on the second day of operation. It's about 100 times larger than the old airport and really a beautiful mix of glass and marble. It seems to be a modern airport in just about every facet. Didn't even have to walk out onto the tarmac this time. Real gates and everything.

The only thing I can't comment on yet is the luggage process. For those that flew into HAL in the past, you're all familiar with the 1-hour+ waits to get your luggage. But so far so good.

India as an Innovation Hub

I was reading Navi Radjou's recent blog post on the HBR site on entitled "Is India an Innovation Giant... or Pygmy?". Given that I just got back from India last week, I had some thoughts that I wanted to share.

My company, Symphony Services, provides product engineering services for software, telecom and web-based companies, so innovation is critical. As expected, we have a significant segment of our delivery operations in India, so India's ability to act as an innovation partner is key to our success. That being said, I see a few issues that can impact India's ability to continue filling the cup: Hubris and Infrastructure.

1. Hubris: India, Inc. has to stop reading it's own press clippings. I've heard predictions that by 2025 India will own ALL product R&D and that US personnel at software companies will simply be sales and marketing functions. This has 2 implications for me. First that there is a discounting of the importance of contact with the end customer in creating innovation products and services. It's the same kind of "we know better than the market" that is the battle cry of most engineering organizations. I saw it when at Kyocera and the paraphrase Chip Heath of 'Make it Stick' fame, that's why your remote control has 53 buttons. Secondly, it presumes that the rest of the world is either standing still or will just 'get dumb' at the same time. Not happening. Lastly, it seems as if no one realizes that this kind of message will play very poorly with the same people that they want to sell to.

2. Infrastructure. Anyone who's been to India knows what I'm talking about. A 2 hour commute to go 10km is insane. And the prospect of adding thousands of more $2500 cars to the current state of affairs is just a bad idea. Look at the impact that the creation of the national highway system had on the US economy in the 60's. It allowed the population to spread out, create jobs through the construction and the resulting housing boom that followed as people could commute to city centers. And the ability to facilitate interstate commerce was a boon to all sectors of the economy. With a similar investment, the potential for the majority of the population to begin to reap some of the benefits of the ITO/BPO boom would create dramatic change in the economy and create more options for entrepreneurs to thrive, not just in the tech sector, but in all aspects of the economy. Infrastructure would grease the skids for the Indian economy and spur the creation of new companies and fortunes to battle the existing oligopoly that exists today.

On the way to Bangalore

It's been about a year since I've been to India and I'm on the way. I know it's something that I need to do...and I pushed to take the trip, but I don't really enjoy the trip. It's 9 days away from my family who I will miss terribly. I also leave with the fear of wondering what will happen when I'm away. I don't expect anything terrible, but it just seems that whenever I travel, especially on an extended trip, either my wife or my daughter...or both...gets sick. And with no family around, I know that it's a lot of stress on my wife, especially now as she's super busy with 3 clients and not enough babysitting time.

And in addition, I have a jammed-packed week in Bangalore and Pune. I've got my day almost completely booked. But more than that, I'm sure, as usual, that I will be dining alone each night. For some reason, no one ever seems to volunteer to go out even one night. That's one thing that I miss about working for the Japanese. There you were never alone and rarely sober after work. I will always remember that while I worked at Kyocera, that every time I visited Japan they worked it out that one person would go to dinner with me, if not a group. And on my first trip to Tokyo, one of my colleagues (Mishima-san) spent the entire day with me on the weekend...with his wife...showing me around Tokyo. Well above the call of duty. But I believe it is the cultural importance of developing personal relationships in Japan that drives that. India is a much different vibe. Nice people all the same, but not near as collegial an environment.

Well here I am waiting at Heathrow for my connection here at the KLM Holideck lounge using free Wifi, drinks and snacks. But as soon as I found out that the BA Lounge had a spa, I was bummed that I can't get in there. Unfortunately, the BA Lounge is only for Club World and above. You'd think in an international airport like this there would at least be one of those quick massage places where you sit in the chairs like they have at rinky-dink airports in the US and even malls. With 16 hours of flights and a 5 hour layover, that would have felt nice.