Networking in this city of contrasts

Bengaluru – the city conjures different images to different persons. For those of us long term residents of namma uru*… Bengaluru… the city today is very different from what it was even a couple of years ago. The chaos, the confusion, as we step out on the roads, the streets, the pavements, the footpaths, the bye lanes… the infrastructure woes, the traffic jams, the pollution are a part of the tangible problems and difficulties we face in our daily lives. The list of these woes is endless… And then the latest in this brimming cup of woes…the inflation.

Then there is another Bengaluru… the intangible…one that is in the minds of so many entrepreneurs and wanna be entrepreneurs. The city of dreams…the city of hope… the city of the bubbling energy in the hearts of these people. Entrepreneurial excitement in our uru* is at an all time high, this cup is brimming too.

It is almost as if these are two different cities we are talking about. And then we have some concerned citizens of this town, including some readers and writers at Citizen Matters, who try to bridge these two and try to do their bit. We also have some of us who live in hope that this time round after the state elections; we can see some attention being paid to our needs, the needs of the people, across economic strata and across religion and caste. Well we live in hope, time will tell, time will tell…

Are you interested in entrepreneurship? Do you take time out to meet other entrepreneurs or potential entrepreneurs? There are many forums where one can meet with entrepreneurs in Bengaluru. In my earlier post, ‘Why do you want to be an entrepreneur?’ I had mentioned a couple of these in brief. In fact you may not be an entrepreneur, you may just be interested in understanding what is happening in these forums. There are many corporate employees who attend these meetings and participate in them, as these are typically held outside office hours. These persons may be just curious, or interested in starting their own venture at some point in time.

Networking also helps you get a feel for what is happening in Bengaluru. It is a delight to see this high level of energy and I am sure we can expect to see many interesting start ups and companies coming out of this city. The environment is slowly but surely taking off.

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