Bengaluru Tag Along Trip: Privilege, meet poverty

Bengaluru (formerly Bangalore) is a place in transition. Its rapidly soaring tech industry is rising around the city’s fragile infrastructure and a multitude of citizens living in poverty. My tag along trip with Steve, who was teaching a couple of Scrum.org courses there for a week, was an experience of surreal contrasts.

Welcome to Bengaluru, we’re on strike!

The day we arrived, the city was in the throws of a one-day bandh (general strike) to protest the Tamil Nadu Government’s opposition to the construction of a dam at Mekedatu on River Cauvery, which would assist with the high water demands of Bengaluru. Water insecurity is a huge issue in India.

The bandh affected all modes of transportation and government services. In fear of the possibility of violence, shops and restaurants also shuttered for the day (It turned out to be totally peaceful). When we learned about the bandh via email from Steve’s contact, we were unsure how we would get to the hotel he booked for us. As it turned out Hilton Embassy Links had a driver meet us. This was the first sign of the privilege we would enjoy for the duration of our stay.

Hilton EmbassyLinks

Located in the 65-acre Embassy GolfLinks Business Park, this Hilton Hotel is surrounded by global multi-national tech outposts such as Yahoo, IBM, and Microsoft. It overlooks the world-class 18-hole KGA golf course. The business park is gated with security at each entrance.

After our quiet drive from the airport, along strangely deserted major thoroughfares, we arrived at our hotel. We were greeted warmly and then directed to place all of our hand luggage on the security scanner. A ritual we would repeat every time we re-entered the hotel. Vehicles are also searched upon arrival.

Fantastic amenities

We were eager to get out and explore the city, but because of the bandh, virtually everything was closed and hotel staff advised us not to go out for safety reasons. The hotel has a great full-service workout facility and a sublime pool area with bar service, so we worked out and lounged.

Yes, we did feel a sense of irony as we floated around in a large pool while the city outside the gates was in the midst of a protest over water.

Unnerving customer service

I have never experienced the level of service we received at this hotel anywhere else. I was constantly taken aback by the attention to detail and the over-the-top lengths hotel staff would go to in an effort to ensure our comfort. To start, housekeeping staff would greet me by name (Mrs. Porter, but close enough) as I passed them in the hallway. They would also immediately stop talking to each other as soon as I approached so they could smile and greet me.

I worked most days from our hotel room (rock-solid wireless connection, by the way) and this is how most days unfolded:

9:00 a.m. – Knock at the door from housekeeping supervisor to ask me how I slept and to see if there was anything I needed immediately. He would also ask me what time I would like my room cleaned that day.

9:30 a.m. – Knock at the door from housekeeping staff to ask if I had any laundry (or to deliver laundry the one time we had a few items washed).

1:00 p.m. – Housekeeping would arrive to clean my room.

3:00 p.m. – Knock on the door from housekeeping supervisor to ask if the room cleaning was to my satisfaction and if I required anything else for the day.

For a Canadian accustomed perfunctory customer service, I was blown away, and in a constant state of feeling awkward about getting so much attention. Whenever I walked into the lobby of the hotel, 3-4 staff members would converge on me to hold open the door, offer me directions, call a car, or attend to whatever need I might have at that exact moment.

Service in the restaurant and bar was similar. I almost jumped out of my skin when I helped myself to another spoonful of rice and the wait staff immediately descended upon our table to do the serving for me.

My first trip outside the compound

Our hotel room came with a fully equipped kitchen and a list of groceries you could order through the hotel. But, I’m an independent gal who enjoys a trip to the grocery store when travelling so I consulted Google to find groceries nearby I could walk to. I did not get a SIM card for my phone in Bengaluru, so I used the offline map for navigation.

As I prepared to head out, I let the ever-attentive staff at the door know I was heading out to get groceries. One of the young attendants told me he would summon a driver for me. “No, no,” I said, “I’m going to walk, I’m just wondering which of these two stores is the better one,” I added as I point to my phone. He seemed initially confused, perhaps slightly panicked. He regained his composure and told me the one that is likely “best suited” to me. He then gave me different directions than what Google Maps directed me to do. He said his way was safer.

Hotel staff are always waiting to be of service by the entrance.

Once I got outside, I decided to go the Google Maps way because I couldn’t remember the verbal directions and didn’t want to get lost. Also, as a former child protection social worker I don’t scare too easily. I suspected it was poverty he thought would frighten me.

I got lost.

The Google Maps instructions did not match up to the street names in front of me. I retraced my steps several times and even asked a local on the street, but she was unfamiliar with the name of the store.

Real-life Bengaluru
This little adventure introduced me to the reality of Bengaluru. As soon as I turned the corner from my gated community, I was amongst teems of people. I made my way along broken and missing sidewalks sporadically blocked with mounds of rotting garbage and the occasional cow. Crossing busy streets was next to impossible.

I also came upon a slum community tucked away behind a side street, visible through cracks in a corrugated tin wall. A few very young children, barely dressed and disheveled, played in the dirt near the street. Shelters were cobbled together with a ragged mix of materials.

I immediately remembered the eye-opening book I had read by Katherine Boo called “Behind the Beautiful Forevers.” The real-life Mumbai slum community located behind a luxury airport hotel that the novel is based on seemed to have appeared before my eyes.

I want to point out, I never felt unsafe. I got a few long looks on the street, but also the occasional smile.

Get me a driver
After an hour and a half wandering in vain to find a grocery store under the Indian sun, I returned defeated and sweaty to the Hilton. I conceded to the doorman that I had failed. He summoned a driver, who took me to a large grocery store located in an upscale shopping mall. He dosed in his car while he waited for me to shop and then dutifully returned me to the protected enclave that left me feeling conflicted for the duration of our trip.

Many in Bengaluru get around in auto rickshaws (tuk-tuks). We took one a couple of times. It’s rare to see one inside the Embassy GolfLinks Business Park where private drivers seem to prevail.

When poverty sits right next to upscale luxury, the state of the world’s inequality is hard to ignore. It’s uncomfortable.

I ventured beyond the gates on my own a few other times. I was determined to make peace with the reality of Bengaluru. It’s India’s city of opportunity. People are migrating there in droves with hopes of obtaining the good life. I passed many of them in the business park, making their way to shift work, plastic i.d. cards on lanyards around their necks that get them past security. A middle class is growing and the city is straining to keep pace. Skyscrapers and designer shoe stores straddle neigbourhoods filled with those seemingly being left behind.

I accidently stumbled upon that grocery store I was looking for. It was nowhere near where I had thought it was. It was much smaller than the mall’s grocery store, but sufficient. I bought some local snack foods there to take back with me to Canada.

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