Betting big on Bengaluru Premium

My introduction to Bengaluru (then Bangalore) happened in 1983. I joined Wipro fresh from business school and stayed at the Gautam Hotel. It was ₹70 for a double room. We’d hang out at the Coffee House, The Only Place, The Rice Bowl, and a Chinese rooftop restaurant at Ashoka – whose name I have forgotten – where Shyam and the West Wind played. I recently caught up with the band on YouTube with a grainy video of their performance on Doordarshan in the 1980s. The oomph of the performance transported me right back to those times -- full of fire, energy, dreams, and possibilities.

My introduction to Bengaluru (then Bangalore) happened in 1983. I joined Wipro fresh from business school and stayed at the Gautam Hotel. It was ₹70 for a double room. We’d hang out at the Coffee House, The Only Place, The Rice Bowl, and a Chinese rooftop restaurant at Ashoka – whose name I have forgotten – where Shyam and the West Wind played. I recently caught up with the band on YouTube with a grainy video of their performance on Doordarshan in the 1980s. The oomph of the performance transported me right back to those times -- full of fire, energy, dreams, and possibilities.

I relocated to Mumbai with Wipro and returned to Bangalore as — what else? — a start-up team. We launched Computer Point in January 1985 on 43 Dickenson Road. It became India’s first computer retail chain. Then I was off to the Bay Area in the U.S. to set up Sonata Software, a sister company of Computer Point, before coming back to Bangalore in 1989 to set up my technology venture, Microland.

Today, I am a fully-baked Bengalurian. Bengaluru is a great mix of the traditional and the modern, with an unwavering eye on the future. Over the years, I have watched the city evolve. It has progressed from being the nucleus of scientific research in the country to becoming a global technological powerhouse. The change has been quick, dramatic, and exhilarating for a technophile like me.  

When I returned from the U.S., I knew I was returning to an India bubbling with potential. The winds of economic liberalization were blowing. India was ready to transition from a nation of government-regulated and family-run businesses to an era of exciting entrepreneurship and experimentation. I knew it would take a lot of work for first-time entrepreneurs, but the challenge was irresistible. 

Texas Instruments, in 1985, had already laid the foundation for Bengaluru’s future as an IT hub. When I arrived, it was to a city of lush tree-lined avenues and gardens, of benne masala dosa and boisterous beer pubs. The industry of Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) combined with the vision of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and the academic promise of the Indian Institute of Science (IISc). The future of India’s reputation as a technology hub was being put in place by Infosys, Wipro, and Biocon. India’s first coffee chain, Café Coffee Day, joined this heady mix. 

The work ethics and the integrity of the IT industry captured my imagination. How could I not sink my roots into Bengaluru? I could dream without fetters. This, in no small measure, helped Microland become a successful pioneer of networking technology in the country. Our goal was to build an IT services company that would achieve revenues of ₹250 million (U.S. $15 million) in five years. But we crossed that target, becoming a company with a revenue of ₹1,000 million (U.S. $60 million), making us, at the time, the fastest-growing Indian IT company. 

On July 1, 1993, eleven eminent CEOs of the Indian IT Industry converged together at Pub World on Residency Road and started the Beer Drinkers Association of IT (BAIT) to build camaraderie amongst the CEOs of the industry. A first of its kind in the world and this could only happen in Bangalore, the Pub Capital of India.