Salaam Max,
Thanks for the article yes it was interesting.
Yes lots of people are making a career in these "back office services". A friend gave up his job at a stock broker to take up something called medical transcription. It involves data entry of the audio files of doctor's prescriptions from the US. (Never mind the work is boring as hell - it's money) Even qualified doctors are giving up their practice to make this a career. When the US sleeps India does their cleaning up.
As far as changing names - though it sounds stupid it makes sense. You don't want to lose money because they can't get your name right. And I know from experience how impossible it seems for some occidental people to pronounce oriental names (at all - never mind correctly). Besides the article has picked the easier names. Imagine expecting clients to manage with Mr. Balamurlikrishnayappan
>the city itself is a mess -
Pot holed roads? Those are legendary. Crumbling building? Of course in the older parts of every Indian city you have crumbling buildings. Ramshackle airport? They say we are getting an international airport. The present one is ramshackle.
You see, Bangalore was a sleepy little town where pensioners used to come for their retirement to enjoy the good weather. Suddenly came this tech explosion and the infrastructure did not keep pace. It will take time I guess.
I work in development so I can't comment in a very informed manner on technology. As far as this city goes - I have lived here all my life. It's home.
I won't be on the board for a while. So bye for now. Too long a message anyway ..
