Daily Archives: August 2, 2008

GABY WRITES to tell me I should start shipping containers from Xiamen Port.

And she says that Xiamen Greating Container Services Co is approved as a class A forwarder by the Ministry of Trade in the PRC.

Thanks Gaby. If we ever need containers of Tsing Tao sent this way, you will be the first to hear from us. If you want to ask Gaby about containers, drop her a line at www.sinotrans.com. She is waiting to take your call on +86-592-5678097. ♣

I HAVE TOTALLY changed my attitude about Bengaluru’s new airport. When it opened, the local press gave its location a pasting because it was so far from the IT centres. Heck, I even joined in.

A writer recently described the new airport as a shed.  All modern airports are sheds. The shed to end all sheds is Terminal Five at Heathrow. Bengaluru airport is an efficient shed. I was driven out there yesterday to catch a fright and it took one hour and fifteen minutes on almost empty and well paved roads, and on a Friday afternoon.

Aside from the truly horrid Louis Vuitton sculpture which I’ve written about on this bog before, BIAL is painless. Bangalore is painless. Bangalore is far cleaner, mostly than London, the city where I live. The services are better, the people aren’t surly, and its infrastructure, once “namma Metro” is built, will be second to none.

With a population of seven to eight million people, the amazing thing about Bengaluru is that it works. From being a colonial centre during the Raj, it has turned into the hub of the IT industry worldwide. The guys have to stop people cutting down trees willy-nilly though. Get rid of the trees and the beautiful birds and the butterflies will bugger off as well.

The attitude of Indians is also amazing. Far from the jobsworth attitude you very often encounter in the UK, the people in India are ready to risk it for a frisket. I am beginning to seriously think that the complacent attitude of us Europeans means that far from compete with the newly fledged economies like China and Bharat, us Europeans will be left standing and floundering in amazement as these two great countries finally come into their own.

It’s time Western folk rid themselves of the misconception that India is all about yoga. There’s yoga in India, but I suspect there’s more in North America. Poor people can’t afford to sit around in the lotus position, and middle class people are more interested in mobile phones, nurseries and schools for their kids than some poxy pseudo Ayurveda or spurious tantrik tradition.  ♣