Austin and Pune

I am often asked by my Indian friends living in USA about Austin. Usually I give an answer like "If Houston is Mumbai, then Austin is Pune." After considering the size of Austin and comparing it with that of Houston, that's the one line answer I had developed without much thought. Thankfully nobody asked what Dallas would be in that case. I would have probably said Nagpur though Nagpur is actually much smaller than Pune. Recently however, I was asked about Austin by someone from India and I couldn't give him the Houston example. That prompted me to give some thought to this comparison and I discovered that the two cities are indeed very similar.

To begin with, both are university "towns". While Austin has the renowned Univ. of Texas (which, being an Aggie, I must refer to as t.u.) and some other smaller universities, Pune has a score of great colleges and universities including Univ. of Pune, COEP, Fergusson College, BJ Medical etc. Being such excellent centers of learning both the cities have a large and educated young crowd including people from over the world.

With respect to live music and performing arts, Austin, with its live comedies and live music and cultural festivals is referred to as the live music capital of the world. At the same time, Pune too is the cultural capital of Maharashtra and is well known for its music and performing arts. Bal Gandharv Rangmandir, Tilak Smarak Mandir, Y. Chawan Natyagriha etc. of Pune match the various performing arts centers in Austin. In addition, just like Austin has the South-by-Southwest(SXSW) music festival, Pune also has the Sawai Gandharv Music Festival. Moreover, the Pune International Marathon and Austin Marathon are two famous annual events held in both the cities.

Geographically speaking, similar to Pune being 3 hrs away from Mumbai which is on the coast, Austin too is 3 hrs. away from Houston which is a coastal metro. Again, both cities are at a higher altitude though Pune is quite a bit higher than Austin. But I guess that can be overlooked since Maharashtra State isn't as flat as Texas. Moreover, Austin and Pune both have a hilly terrain in parts of the city and both also have a river flowing right through the middle of the city. The climate of the two cities is also roughly similar though the seasons differ due to being on different continents.

Being university towns, both cities also have many high-tech companies. Austin's Dell, IBM, Qualcomm, National Instruments, Intel, Samsung, AMD etc. are matched by Pune's Infosys, TCS, Wipro, BMC, Symantec, NVIDIA, IBM, Persistent, Geometric, TATA, Bajaj, Thermax etc. Just like Pune has the industrial township of Pimpri-Chinchwad to its north, Austin too has the town of Round Rock just north of it.

People in Pune and Austin are friendly in general as compared to the big cities in both countries. Besides, both these cities are also considered safe for people of all ages and genders. While the slogan "Keep Austin Wierd" is common in Austin, the slogan "Pune tithey kaay Une ?" ("पुणे तिथे काय उणे ?")(meaning: "In Pune, which is so rich and plentiful, what can there be a shortage of ?") is common in Pune too.

There are many more points of similarity which I can now think of, but I guess for now, I have already exceded my expectations of similarity between these two wonderful cities. I guess I no longer need to bluntly issue a one line answer if someone from India asks me about Austin; and if the person asking this lives in Pune, he / she probably is living in a very similar city separated just by the country, culture and ethics!!

A Gadgeted Lifestyle

Off late, I am sometimes required to carry some office work load home or login from home to resolve a critical situation. Yesterday was one such situation. Just after I completed what was required of me and shut my laptop, the craziness of what I did just occurred to me. This may be a bit heavy for computer illiterate people, but I am sure even they will be able to appreciate the "geekiness" of the process that follows. I had to change some configuration and so I firstly connected to the internet via my 802.11b/g wireless card and then connected to my company's network via a secure VPN. Next, I needed to remotely log into one of the servers which would gave me access to its virtual desktop. Having done that, I then opened the GUI of the controller on this virtual desktop, made changes, saved settings, closed the nested connections that I had established and could have gone to sleep. However, at that point, as I have mentioned a few lines above, it occurred to me how technology was affecting me.

While I am pleasantly awed by the above convoluted process , at the same time, I am also greatly thankful for its existence as well. Without it, I would have to get out of the comfort of my home in the middle of the night, burn some valuable fuel driving to office just to select/unselect some options on a GUI in the middle of the commotion created by the janitors' vacuum cleaners. Just like the remote access process above, other technologies/gadgets are impacting my lifestyle too.


I now carry around a touch screen 3G phone which apart from providing basic cell phone services, provides internet, live news service, TV shows, IMs, an array of applications and even live TV in certain regions. With that in my pocket, I am truly connected 24x7 via phone, email , TV and IM (as long as I don't end up in the middle of the Sundarbans or the Amazon rain forest). Not to mention the bluetooth hands-free thanks to which I don't even need to hold it. The other day while sitting in a cafe, someone discussed an interesting video on youtube which we hadn't seen. The video was immediately seen in the mood of the moment rather than exchanging links later on.

Then there's this HDTV sitting in my living room, which can, after some extra payment use my household wireless network to stream videos live from the internet. A GPS, which I once thought was a technological luxury rather than a necessity sits in my car thanks to the generosity of some good friends. Just 2 years ago I remember driving with friends through Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and Nevada with the help of simply a road atlas and maps. However, in my latest trip to Florida, the GPS was consulted at every junction and turn which allowed our gray cells and our human directional sense to take a nap (I hope not forever). The treadmills at the fitness center at my office, whose primary aim is to simulate jogging too have some advanced inbuilt AI of their own. As if that's not enough, they also have their own LCD TV screens and cable TV connections. Believe it or not, the treadmill is getting more TV channels that my HDTV!!! I might as well go to the fitness center to watch my favorite shows. Currently I am hunting for a new car and looking at the features in cars too, I feel I might end up owning an automobile maybe not very inferior from James Bond's or Knight Rider's.

While the few gadgets I have mentioned form really a drop in the ocean of gadgets available in the market today, I am both awed and scared by the impact these are having. While all technologies definitely ease our way of life, many of them are also preventing us from using our brains and dumbing us. Nevertheless, I don't think my craving for gadgets will die because of that. I guess, the best way is to own them and use them judiciously when and where required and not become totally dependent on them!!