Monday, June 26, 2006

Big TIME in Small Towns

I was going through the TIME Asia, June 19, 2006 issue with the cover story "INDIA'S NEW DAWN" in the public library. When I was reading the initial pages, there was mention of Tier II cities in India coming up in a big way and so I thought why could not this magazine feature the growth of my native town, Mangalore. And then there was article regarding Bombay(now called Mumbai) as the the crucible of the new India. After a few pages, to my surprise there was mention of my home town Mangalore growing up, in "Life is Calling" by Aravind Adiga with the photo of Hampankatta Circle with flash lights. I was very happy that a small town of coastal Karnataka, capital of Tulu Nadu, being covered in an international magazine.

Truely, Mangalore has changed in last few years in a big way. It was tech giant Infosys which made its presence few years back. Then we had Mphasis coming and setting up shop here. With ONGC's project coming underway, Mangalore is coming up in a big way in the coming days.

Importance of Mangalore is evident from the fact that two national english dailies The Hindu and Times of India starting Mangalore Editions. Mangalore now has got a multiplex and an auditorium, claimed to be Asia's biggest. With Mangalore airport getting international status, city is bound to grow in a big way.

For Mangaloreans, Bombay had been the city of opportunities from several decades with many mangaloreans setting up hotel business or finding the job which was rare in Mangalore in those days. With the IT revolution, this has changed a bit with many of them going to Bangalore in search of jobs.

Infrastructure is the main concern here as it is with other Indian towns. Proper planning of the city is the need of the hour, if it has to avoid the state of chaos which Bangalore is facing now where most of the time is spent in the unavoidable traffic. Tier II cities like Mangalore, Mysore, Hubli and Belgaum have to be developed as the attractive destinations for investments if one has to reduce the burden on Bangalore.

Entrepreneurship is one distinguishing characteristic of Mangaloreans evident from the fact that four of the nationalised banks being started in Tulu Nadu, namely Corporation, Canara, Vijaya and Syndicate. One of the leading private sector banks Karnataka Bank also originated from Tulu Nadu.

With the city growing to provide with more employment opportunities one can expect all mangaloreans who have left Mangalore for better opportunities to return back. The day is not far when people from here need not look at Bombay and Bangalore as the only alternatives.

Following are the useful links in this regard
- Mangalore in TIME Asia
http://www.time.com/time/asia/covers/501060619/mangalore.html

- Mangalore in TIME International Edition
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1205363,00.html

- Mangalore in TIME Photo Esaay
http://www.time.com/time/asia/photoessays/2006/remaking_india/mangalore.html

Other News :
Happy to see one of my friends Shrinidhi's blog gets mentioned in The Hindu Business Line on June 26, 2006 in column by Swathi_CA. Congrats Nidhi.
Blogs are getting noticed, making news. So all bloggers happy blogging.

Till the next post comes up it is bye from Raveesh or as we say in Tulu solmelu.

7 comments:

  1. Good post....
    Growth of City depends on connectivity with other major cities. U forget to mention about impact of Konkan Railways. Hope Bangalore - Mangalore train services start ASAP.

    The reasons for meteoric rise of Bangalore in last 15 years
    - its geographical location, centre of South India. One can travel to any major place in South India by overnight journey. Nowadays bcz of booming aviation industry its no more a valid reason.
    - no local cultural resitance : For this reason Bangalore was able attract talent from all over India. Analogous to this one can say USA attracts talent from all over the world, which other Europeans countries couldn't do bcz of local cultural, lingual resistance.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Mangalore is also known for mixed culture, evident from the fact that it is called by different names by various communities
    Kudla
    Mangalore
    Mangalooru
    Kodiyaala
    Maikaala
    Mangalapuram
    So it should provide with the same atmosphere Bangalore provides

    ReplyDelete
  3. great review of hometown.
    Thanks for the mention of my name, blog and link.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hi....
    Gammath khushi aand Namma kudlada bagge odhudh... Nenapu unde enna? I was ur junior in Navodaya:)
    Best Wishes....

    ReplyDelete
  5. I am reading this post almost 2 years after it was published. But the sad part is that Bangalore traffic problem has only worsened in these 2 years. The development in tier 2 cities are also not great. I was expecting by 2009, lot many software companies would start operating out of Mangalore. But sadly it hasnt happened so.

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  6. Radhesh,

    Thats right, Bangalore is still in traffic chaos. But regarding development of tier 2 cities, I dont know about other tier 2citites in Karnataka but Mangalore at least in real estate front is catching up fast and it has been named as the 2nd fastest growing tier 2 city in India after Thiruvanthapuram by Knight Frank, a global property firm. But as you said IT revolution is yet catch up in a big way in Mangalore. Current real estate trend gives hope for the big things in the future.

    Raveesh

    ReplyDelete
  7. Also, Mangalore International Airport is expected to start operation in early 2009.

    ReplyDelete

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