Mysore chit-chat - News, economy, travel, sights etc.

[cool_r2i]

Not sure if this post fits here. Feel free to move it or delete it.

I am an aspirant of R2M, but apart from Infosys I have not heard any other IT company in Mysore. I think small portion of L&T is also there.

[ashokcg]

http://www.rediff.com/money/2007/apr/23it.htm

Target - 1st MNC to screw up Mysore..,
Mysore heading Bangalore way in next 5 yrs .. if the recent announcements come true .. wipro and CTS should start by 2008 timeframe ... infy already has an SEZ approval ..!!

[back_in_des]

http://www.rediff.com/money/2007/apr/23it.htm

Target - 1st MNC to screw up Mysore..,
Mysore heading Bangalore way in next 5 yrs .. if the recent announcements come true .. wipro and CTS should start by 2008 timeframe ... infy already has an SEZ approval ..!!

I fail to understand why you think it will "screw up" Mysore. It would help if you could briefly explain to avoid me or anybody misunderstanding you.

If you are referring to inflation and real-estate prices, it is speculators like us and real-estate brokers who are screwing up on that front. Target seems to be bringing jobs to the city so that they don't have to migrate to Bangalore or elsewhere to make a living. Same with Wipro and Infy.

[direstraits88]

back_in_des: After my recent visit to B'lore and Mysore, i would agree with Ashok.

Most mysoreans still live on less than Rs 10k. When an IT company opens an office in mysore, they will tend to pay "exhorbitant" salaries by local living standards.. That's the only way they can attract people to work in Mysore.

This will result in huge increase in cost of living and the town will be unaffordable for 97% of it's citizens while benefitting 2% who work in I.T. The remaining 1% will be RE brokers and speculators..

Ask any non-IT guy in b'lore. On an average, they make 25% of what an I.T guy makes and they can't afford to live a decent life anymore..

Having lived in both bangalore and mysore for most of my life, Bangalore is a "hopeless" case beyond fix. Mysore still retains the charm. I would hate to see it go the bangalore way..

The infrastructure in mysore cannot handle huge influx..

It's hard to accept.. But the I.T boom has made many people rich in bangalore. But they can no longer enjoy the wealth. You can talk about the crores who have made. But at what cost... And the city is slowly dying... :emcry:

[lsd]

I fully agree with desipardesi. I spent all my childhood in Mysore. Initially I was also very happy to see lots of companies coming (planning) to Mysore. However as I see , industrialization in India is devoid of infrastructure development. After seeing how bangalore has been literally destroyed in this mad rush , I don't want the same thing happening to Mysore.
Also Initially I was also excited about all the job oppottunities that are created by these IT companies.However very tiny fraction of this country is benifitted. added to this, IT salaries seems to have pushed up corroption level in govt. offices like sub registrar office etc.
I will be happy without one more bangalore:confused:

[DoctorJ]

It's hard to accept.. But the I.T boom has made many people rich in bangalore. But they can no longer enjoy the wealth. You can talk about the crores who have made. But at what cost... And the city is slowly dying... :emcry:[/quote]

I will be happy without one more bangalore:confused:[/quote]

I'd like to endorse the above thoughts...although I like development when its well planned and the majority population gets their fair share of the benefits - which in my mind is never going to happen.

But then, the question is...can we stop the mad rush???

============================================
Looks like the dooms day is getting closer and closer by the day. -DJ :cool:

[cool_r2i]

I agree with all the posts here. Mysore is known to be the pensioners' paradise and if IT giants start flowing there, they are going to ruin it completely. As discussed by fellow members below, everything from RE to Grocery will be inflated to the max extent possible.

In fact, even though there are not many IT companies in Mysore, lot of RE agents are creating a big Hype just with the name of Infosys. Adding to this, there are many agents who operate from Bangalore and they tend to match the prices with Bangalore and already RE is not accessbile to common people (read non-IT) there.

One of my friend tried to buy a plot 30 X 40 in kuvempuNagar and since he revealed the fact that he is an NRI, they quoted 5000Rs per Sq ft. How is this? The going rate in many parts of Bannerghatta road in Bangalore itself is 3500Rs per sq ft.

In fact, a few days ago there was an email chain that was circulated....as though written by Mysoreans, pleading people not to open IT companies and not to ruin Mysore....like Bangalore!

All said and done, even though many of us want to be in Mysore we cannot because there are no IT companies.

And the Irony is... On one hand we want Mysore to be clean...on the other we want to live there, but only trade some of us know is IT!

[back_in_des]

I will be happy without one more bangalore:confused:

I fully understand your emotions... although I live in Bangalore, my heart is in Mysore.

But I disagree with the logic - few thoughts of mine on the same. Feel free to counter.

What is Bangalore's problem?

Bangalore was attracting companies even when the city was telling them not to come here. Bangalore had the "edge" of starting the IT revolution in India and like Silicon Valley, other companies mushroomed around it. For people like me, who started a company in Bangalore, there was no other city to go to, bcos the skills I wanted to hire were in Bangalore only, not Hyd, not Pune, not Delhi.

So, Bangalore's IT growth "exploded" and infrastructure didn't grow at the same pace, partly due to the delicate political balance of coalition govt.

How is Mysore different?

Mysore has to work very very hard to attract anybody to setup a shop there. It has to compete with Bangalore, Hyd, Pune, Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai - all of those who have better international connectivity and broadband infrastructure in addition to skilled talent available which are important for an MNC.

Mysore can offer only talented fresh-grads at this time. So, Mysore's growth will never be as explosive as Bangalore. Besides, Mysore doesn't have the weather of Bangalore either which attracts lots of people from north and Chennai to Bangalore. So, IMO, it will remain a kannadiga majority for some time to come. I'm not saying whether it's a plus or minus. Just stating it.

Hyd inspite of having far better infrastructure than Bangalore is still struggling to take significant business away from Bangalore. Being a STPI unit, I get annual STPI reports and I see the export figures broken down into cities.

Mysore will never become another Bangalore

Since Mysore's IT growth will be slow, the city will always be a step ahead in infrastructure and hence will have the time to plan it. Bangalore didn't have that luxury.

It helps to have more and better jobs in Mysore - trickle down works


Because I see it with my own eyes in Bangalore. My brother who works in a lighting company has seen far more business in past few years than in the 10 years before that. I was surprised when I learnt the charitable contributions in Bangalore are also on record-high. I got this from an NGO I work with. A cousin of mine who works full time as a social worker in Raichur says, they pick where to take the funding from. The wealth creation is having a positive impact on these.

Indeed it is also creating the gap of the rich and the poor and there are social issues because of this. Not denying that. But tell me this, when your kids grow, don't you want them to work, don't you want them to get better jobs? Isn't that development? If you are living in Mysore, would you prefer they work in Mysore or send them to the hell called Bangalore - that's what it will be in few years.

If you are anti-development and want things to remain they were 20 years back, I cannot argue on that.

IT and non-IT can co-exist

Although I live closer to work in Bangalore, my parents live in Vijayanagar. That part of the town is far from most of the IT development. I lived there for couple of years and even now I visit there often. There's a significant difference in lives. To a large extent, that place is still the good old Bangalore we used to have, whereas places like Koramangala and Indiranagar have changed to the extent that even those who lived there few years back will not recognise it now.

...

Mysore has shot in it's own foot by such high RE prices. These high RE prices make business less feasible and that slows down the growth. Whereas, in Bangalore, even today you can find good apartments not too far from your work.

What I believe is that Tier-2/3 towns have to grow to relieve the pressure from cities like Bangalore, Hyd, Chennai, et al. Bangalore grew the way it grew because cities like Mysore, Mangalore and many others across the country didn't. We could have had a decent Bangalore had the growth spread across multiple cities.

US has Silicon valley which comprises of huge area (SF, SJC, Pleasanton, etc). But in addition to that, it also has seattle, portland, LA, austin, dallas, chicago, NJ, RTP, Boston area, etc where there's plenty of IT industries.

[tejasvee]

Very good post back_in_des:

I agree with your viewpoint. There is no point in being anti-development or anti-IT if you believe in Mysore or any city's future.

India has strength only in biotech, IT, pharma, manufacturing-components and maybe media/advertizing. Beyond that very little can be done in other industries at this point.

If Mysore, Coimbatore, Nasik, Cochin, Bhubaneshwar kind of Tier-2 and 3 cities need to grow, they need to attract new jobs.

I used to visit Mysore every Dasara festival season during my school days. I remember the beautiful roads, calm neighborhoods fondly. However, I would strongly encourage new jobs. With new jobs, new pain comes; But that is better than no new jobs at all.

Would you welcome a new Wipro/Info job or a new Kirloskar/L&T job?

If you can, share about your experience with running an STPI business in Bangalore. I am involved with a similar thing in Hyd. Over the past 12 months, we have seen a surge of people wanting to move to Hyd from Bangalore (mostly AP people), which was not happening 3 years back!

[BTvm]

I am R2I-ing this year to Mysore. Can anyone let me know of any good schools in Mysore?