Bangalored!

I must say, this weekend turned out to be a real good one for Bangalore. First, it gets a spanking new airport, which should conform to world standards to justify the 2500 crore spent on the first phase of the infrastructure development. We've heard a lot about the connectivity problem, so I won't delve into it. But would love to ask the well-heeled industry people who are lobbying against the new airport on grounds of poor connectivity......Where were you for the past 6 years that it took the airport to come into shape? Don't you think that the same pro activeness shown now could have brought about a whole sea of change had it been taken up a year in advance? But that's a different story for a different day, isn't it?
So where was I? Yes, the new airport!
Well, there were 'teething troubles', for sure. Reports of no power, baggage claim taking aeons and the likes.It sure shouldn't have been there as we are now in a process of building an India based on 'First Time Right' quality standards. More so apt to Bangalore, considering the fact that the economy of the city, and that of the state to a certain extent, depends on the IT/BT sector. These two sectors are always 'striving hard' to achieve 'First Time Right' quality standards. And just adding to the point of the airport being out of city limits, the Suwarnabhumi Airport at Bangkok is 25 kms from downtown Bangkok.
It's pure economics. Cheap land. More possibilities to expand. And the city stays quiet.
So, coming back to the new airport. It surely has more conveyor belts for International Arrivals and Departures (the HAL one had just ONE belt). So that is nothing to worry about now. Three lounges and a host of luxuries to splurge on. It just isn't easy to go 100% trouble free when going live with an airport. It's a huge task, for God's sake! Take the example to the new Hong Kong International Airport which was commissioned in July 1998. Quoting from Wikipedia : " For three to five months after its opening, it suffered various severe organisational, mechanical, and technical problems that almost crippled the airport. At one time, the government reopened the cargo terminal at Kai Tak Airport (name of the old airport) to handle freight traffic due to a breakdown at the new cargo terminal, named Super Terminal One (ST1), however after six months the airport started to operate normally."
I just hope the airport comes up to international standards and the travellers too rise up to international standards and stop spitting in corners at their leisure at the airport. They surprisingly become very American or European once they land in the US or Europe and despise the act of spitting in the open, as if they had never done so!

Coming to the second good news would be the total wipe-out of JD(S) in the recently help assembly elections. Just for statistics' sake, here is the final seat count:
BJP : 110
Congress : 80
JD(S) : 28
Others : 6
Discussion on the whole 'Dance of Democracy' ( I love this term!) would be a totally different blog story, maybe a series of them! So, why the elation at elimination of JD(S)?Well, how long do people think they can fool the masses?!! You fight with your dad and create a political drama. And then you join hands with him to create, what else, another political drama! To witness the way JD(S) withdrew support from BJP reminded me of kids in class I. One kid likes candy, but he had promised in front of the Headmaster that he would share it with his friend after he has had his share of the candy. But the kid just can't get his hands off the candy, and doesn't give the other half to the other kid, as promised. what ensues is a kiddish bickering over issues, and before you know, the candy is out of reach for both the kids! It was just amazing to see old men squabble like kids, and that too on National television.
So now Mr. Yeddy is going to be sworn in as the CM of Karnataka. The BJP has finally been able to form a government of it's own in South India, in the backyard of a calamity-stricken populace that JD(S) is.Now all the people of Karnataka are hoping is that BJP delivers on the promises that it had made, or it's going to be a long holiday for the BJP in Karnataka, as far as working as the Government is concerned.

And why does the blog read Bangalored?
It's because I witnessed something, none less than a miracle, on the road today. Taking a U-turn at Sony World junction today (the amber traffic signal lights blinking), an oncoming car driver actually stopped and gestured to the young couple on a bike, right in front of me, to take the turn before the car. And that was a polite gesture! I mean, I thought people were getting more and more rash and road-rage-enthusiasts. But this was such a great relief! I can't forget the car driver's face. Calm as a llama. All of us become like him, and voila! No traffic woes! But that's a Utopian concept that I have put forth!