Smart City Kochi - Under Planning & Development

[psanthosh]

These are all some of the reasons why Keralites prefer metro cities....

but you forget to mention our kerala unrest activities like hartal, road block, bus strike, politics in school, college etc. I feel this unrest is the main reason why keralites stick to metro cities. I can always see the news that universities in Kerala always changing the exam date and it impact the students higher education opportunities.


Kerla do not have sufficient high education centers also reason for people not moving back to kerala. Even now we can see a lot of Kerala youth moving out of Kerala for even nursing , hotel mgmt etc courses.


I also lived in bangalore for about 4 years before moving out of India. I never experienced any bus strike, hartal etc when I was there in Bangalore. Can you think about this in Kerala?

I was there in Bangalore when HYD become a major IT destination. Those telugu guys worked in my company requested to setup branch in HYD for them to move back to HYD. But this kind of movement is not happening to Kerala, malayalees will never request the company to setup office in Kerala because of the unrest in Kerala.

In the case of language that you mentioned, I do not think Chennai people speak in Hindi, still we can see a lot of North Indians in Chennai.

Originally Posted by sudheeshnairs

PUB is not the factor which will hold back a non Keralite IT professional from coming to Kerala. Infact PUB alone is not a big factor, I would say the availability of good and wide variety of indian and imported liquor, esp wine and beer retail shops, be it malls, supermarkets etc. And this situation is unique to Bangalore, not other cities. I would admit, I will be missing that convenience in Kerala when I comeback, nothing else.

The two main factors are the maturity and scale of IT industry as well as the cultural factors. The advantage of working in Bangalore or Hyderabad is that even if something happens to the organization in such a volatile industry, there are plenty of alternatives/options available. (Bangalore is having more number of people working in IT (which means that much opportunities) than the total population of the corporation area of Kochi).

Kerala is unique in main factors, when most other states seem to be uniform. We differ in our social, cultural and food habits. Malayalai is predominantly non veg, uses parboiled rice and coconut oil which are alien to an average south Indian software guy. And I realised that the word 'beef' is such a controversial thing outside Kerala only when I shifted from Trivandrum to Bangalore. On the contrary the main item of any of our road side eatery/restaurant is Porrotta and Beef.

I have seen that most of the cafeteria/canteens in such companies are predominantly veg, esp the south Indian veg food and is almost the same for Tamils, Telugus or Kannadigas. Today noon also I had to have such a lunch.

Another thing is the language. Kerala, due to many factors has been a closed society. Here even the so called educated people would not be communicating well in English or Hindi, let alone the security men, office boys, peons, care takers, drivers, etc. In Bangalore, a person coming from any state can survive easily because of the wide usage of Hindi. I am communicating here in Bangalore with the security, autowalahs, cab drivers, helpers etc in Hindi. I am yet to learn to speak in Kannada even though I am completing my fourth year here. And most other state guys, (except those from TN)including those from non hindi states like Orissa, Bengal, Punjab, Gujarat etc feel at home since they can speak Hindi. We have to improve a lot in this.

A non Keralite guy has to weigh all these pros and cons before taking the decision which have lots of chances of backfiring also.

[sudheeshnairs]

See again we are discussing unrelated things. My points were all about the factors which hold back non keralites from coming to Kerala and now your point is about Malayalees not willing to come back to Kerala.

It is easier to put all the blame on ‘Hartal’. But to be frank I don’t think a malayalee will not come back to Kerala on account of that alone. Definitely not me. Kerala is a place where you get more accountability and inclusiveness, that is the reason, which is not there in cities like Bangalore. Here nobody is bothered about anything and lives with whatever thing is meted out to them.

The reason for people moving for education and other things like nursing, hotel management is that each and every single guy gets basic education and looks forward in life. Whereas in other states, it is not the case, there is always a sizeable population who don’t complete their SSLC or even highschool. Employability is the major factor here. Infact this migration should not be seen as a handicap, but as an advantage.

In Bangalore hartals, strike etc don’t happen often, but when it happens anything can happen. It is not the case in Kerala. I had gone for work, taking my car in all the strike days in Kerala at Trivandrum. In my experience, issues happen mostly in inner regions not in core city areas. But in Bangalore, there is a chance the bus in which you can be attacked, set on fire and you can get killed, one such incidence on Kaveri issue happened after I came here. Also in Trivandrum, I have not seen any building having ‘NETS’ put up (to escape from stoning) on issues nor MNCs forced to do weird things on account of fear. Best example is every IT company putting up photo of some demised actor and lights a lamp in front or all cars/bikes keeping printouts of photos of the star on account of being attacked for not doing so.

And for silly reasons, the city can be held to ransom/standstill. See these

Bangalore got lawyered

BANGALORE: It's not quite Kolkata yet, where a bandh puts the brakes on normal life with predictable regularity and where there ought to be (and probably is) a bandh-calendar that enables people to arrange their schedules accordingly, but Bangalore could be getting there.Tuesday's seven-hour traffic logjam resulting from an unauthorized lawyers' dharna demonstrated that the city has not moved forward in the three years since the infamous JD(S) rally in November 2008 halted traffic for more than four hours. On Tuesday, as the administration indulged in some classic hand-wringing over whether or not to crack down on those causing the disruption, citizens wept - some literally as they missed flights, trains and buses or failed to reach hospital emergency rooms on time.

In Bangalore, busy, important roads are often blocked for hours because someone or the other wants to celebrate a festival or dance around the bust of their favourite filmstar.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/c...w/11559820.cms

Things about Kerala gets magnified beyond proportion by its own people, while making others rosy, where infact it would not be real..

And please don’t take the ambassador ship of all malayalees when you say nobody will take initiative to start their units in Kerala. There has been much hard efforts of many malayalees/trivandrumites in getting the MNCs known about the REAL facts back home and giving an option to think of TVM as a destination, and the results we see now are some of them.

Lastly, your comparison of Chennai also don’t hold good. You didn’t get what I meant. See there is a saying, if you lose on one, you should gain on another. Chennai is one of the top players in IT or industry with several opportunities, so there would be migrations. That’s what I said in the previous post about the ‘MATURITY & SCALE OF IT INDUSTRY’. So professionals will think twice, which will not happen in our case. BTW even then, the scale of migration of non locals to Chennai cannot be compared with that of Bangalore or Hyderabad. (And see, Hindi is not a communication tool for north indians alone, it is for Malayalees, Telugites, Marathis, and other non hindi speakers like Bengalis, Punjabis, Gujjus etc. I speak with the caretaker guy at my apt who is a Telugite in hindi, it is a communication tool between Mallus-Kannadigas-telugites also)

[e_arunsid]

Sudheesh ,

Can you remove the posts which are not specefic to IT in Kochi from this thread.Seems like we are deviating a lot

[RKPV]

Be it related or unrelated,In my life experience let me point out two major points that an outside kerala guy (with family) will think twice before accepting a good offer from a IT company in kerala .

1. Offcourse it is lesser no.of other oppertunities and unproffessional HR policies of medium size companies.
A good no of IT companies in infopark and SEZ except MNC s are still following the british custom and work on saturdays . Including some which are very well known companies. My tamil neioghbour in kochi is a victim , he was a manager, already resigned cos of bad hr policies and says he is not looking for kochi and planning to go back to chennai.

2. Connectivity:

Everyone knows how pathetic is Kerala cities connectivity with other states. One has to plan atleast one month before if he want to book a ticket in the train.

IT guys are human beings, most of them are from middle class families, they can survive withouts pubs ,liquor and malls. But they will not survive without meeting family commitments.

Regarding food, Do we have any Kerala veg restaurant in city? All are Tamil/Konkan/Andhra style vegetarian restaurants only.

Edit : Oottupura from Gokul ??

[sudheeshnairs]

Originally Posted by e_arunsid

Sudheesh ,

Can you remove the posts which are not specefic to IT in Kochi from this thread.Seems like we are deviating a lot

The points discussed were all related to the IT in Kochi only. We didn't discuss anything else. Infact we have to make things clear, otherwise several misconceptions like the ones which were being expressed here will further go on.

And what is the point of deviating? Most of the discussions are on the same lines only, rather than discussion about the project per se, the masterplan, elevations, building plans, etc, right?

Originally Posted by RKPV

IT guys are human beings, most of them are from middle class families, they can survive withouts pubs ,liquor and malls. But they will not survive without meeting family commitments.

True, you told the valid points.

[e_arunsid]

Originally Posted by sudheeshnairs

The points discussed were all related to the IT in Kochi only. We didn't discuss anything else. Infact we have to make things clear, otherwise several misconceptions like the ones which were being expressed here will further go on.

And what is the point of deviating? Most of the discussions are on the same lines only, rather than discussion about the project per se, the masterplan, elevations, building plans, etc, right?

We were discussing earlier about LACK OF IT SPACE in KOCHI and why SMART CITY needs to really gets started...And the recent posts were about Life in kerala.Harthal.Telugus.Kannadigas..Lawerys..and wat not...

[sudheeshnairs]

All are related points only, look in the totality and not 'specifics'.

[psanthosh]

Sorry to continue this discussion again..

This bangalore incident happened yesterday but no hartal in Bangalore today. Life is normal in Bangalore. But just think if it happened in Kerala, it may end up in a kerala state hartal or a city based hartal.

Hartal has big impact on normal life. All exams will postpone and it impacts our travel plan etc.. It may not impact the work but has impact on everyones life.

A hell lot of reasons it is there for a Keralite not to move back to Kerala from metros. In Kerala, currently everything is Bangalore.. oru Bangalore mayam anu.. Just goto your relatives house ask what your son/daughter is doing.. most of the time the answer will be like this ..."Oh he is studying/working in bangalore"... Even in Malayalam movies we can see that Bangalore impact, right?

Originally Posted by sudheeshnairs

See again we are discussing unrelated things. My points were all about the factors which hold back non keralites from coming to Kerala and now your point is about Malayalees not willing to come back to Kerala.

It is easier to put all the blame on ‘Hartal’. But to be frank I don’t think a malayalee will not come back to Kerala on account of that alone. Definitely not me. Kerala is a place where you get more accountability and inclusiveness, that is the reason, which is not there in cities like Bangalore. Here nobody is bothered about anything and lives with whatever thing is meted out to them.

The reason for people moving for education and other things like nursing, hotel management is that each and every single guy gets basic education and looks forward in life. Whereas in other states, it is not the case, there is always a sizeable population who don’t complete their SSLC or even highschool. Employability is the major factor here. Infact this migration should not be seen as a handicap, but as an advantage.

In Bangalore hartals, strike etc don’t happen often, but when it happens anything can happen. It is not the case in Kerala. I had gone for work, taking my car in all the strike days in Kerala at Trivandrum. In my experience, issues happen mostly in inner regions not in core city areas. But in Bangalore, there is a chance the bus in which you can be attacked, set on fire and you can get killed, one such incidence on Kaveri issue happened after I came here. Also in Trivandrum, I have not seen any building having ‘NETS’ put up (to escape from stoning) on issues nor MNCs forced to do weird things on account of fear. Best example is every IT company putting up photo of some demised actor and lights a lamp in front or all cars/bikes keeping printouts of photos of the star on account of being attacked for not doing so.

And for silly reasons, the city can be held to ransom/standstill. See these

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/c...w/11559820.cms

Things about Kerala gets magnified beyond proportion by its own people, while making others rosy, where infact it would not be real..

And please don’t take the ambassador ship of all malayalees when you say nobody will take initiative to start their units in Kerala. There has been much hard efforts of many malayalees/trivandrumites in getting the MNCs known about the REAL facts back home and giving an option to think of TVM as a destination, and the results we see now are some of them.

Lastly, your comparison of Chennai also don’t hold good. You didn’t get what I meant. See there is a saying, if you lose on one, you should gain on another. Chennai is one of the top players in IT or industry with several opportunities, so there would be migrations. That’s what I said in the previous post about the ‘MATURITY & SCALE OF IT INDUSTRY’. So professionals will think twice, which will not happen in our case. BTW even then, the scale of migration of non locals to Chennai cannot be compared with that of Bangalore or Hyderabad. (And see, Hindi is not a communication tool for north indians alone, it is for Malayalees, Telugites, Marathis, and other non hindi speakers like Bengalis, Punjabis, Gujjus etc. I speak with the caretaker guy at my apt who is a Telugite in hindi, it is a communication tool between Mallus-Kannadigas-telugites also)

[sudheeshnairs]

Santhosh, now I will say that we are deviating.

You are not seeing things in totality and sticking only to specifics. And again you are generalising.

And you got it wrong regarding the incidence I quoted, it happened some weeks back, yesterday's street fight was a fresh one. I am reading the newspaper headlines now: 9 hours street battle, 93 injured, some seriously.

My point is that Kerala is not bad as you portray and other places are not as rosy.

[home@kochi]

One more thought...I think people think something 'low' about working in Kerala, in general.Apart from all the investement specific reasons stated above, the general psychy is that all work abroad or outside Kerala, so if you are educated and work in Kerala, then may be you have a bad job. Lots of common people think like that, especially in NRI belt places. And that rubs off on educated young people also. Hence, someone at Kochi may be paid better and leading a easier & comfortable life than someone in Gulf, but in general say he is still always in 'Gulf' etc. But that situation is changing now slowly.

Hence, IT guys like to be in cities like Bangalore, Hyd. More oppurtunities to change company as well and more better so called 'IMAGE'.

[DileepKS]

Sure. I have seen that myself.

My brother is at Bangalore, and I am at Kochi. The way other people present that fact is something like:

ചേട്ടന്* അങ്ങ് ബാംഗ്ലൂരാ!! ഇവന്* ഈ കൊച്ചീല്!!

As a small consolation, there was a brief period during which the same people used to say

ഇവന്* ബാംഗ്ലൂരാ.. അനിയന്* അങ്ങ് അമേരിക്കേലാ!!

Attitudes doesn't change!

When faced with the question എവിട്യാ ജോലി?, I have canned answers to different kind of people.

"Met in the train" kind: ഇച്ചീരെ സോഫ്റ്റ്വെയറിന്റെ പണ്യാ..
Locals at my village: കൊച്ചീലൊരുകമ്പനീലാ..
Locals at my locality: ഇവടെ മേഖലേലാ..
To people who understand the companies here: ഇവടെ ജീട്ടെക്കിലാ..

My wife (and other folk) goes completely nuts by that. She expects me to say the company name, division, designation etc to all those people (maybe salary too).

[psanthosh]

you are correct. this is the common attitude of Keralites..
Studying/Working in Bangalore is something great for most of the Keralites..

Originally Posted by home@kochi

One more thought...I think people think something 'low' about working in Kerala, in general.Apart from all the investement specific reasons stated above, the general psychy is that all work abroad or outside Kerala, so if you are educated and work in Kerala, then may be you have a bad job. Lots of common people think like that, especially in NRI belt places. And that rubs off on educated young people also. Hence, someone at Kochi may be paid better and leading a easier & comfortable life than someone in Gulf, but in general say he is still always in 'Gulf' etc. But that situation is changing now slowly.

Hence, IT guys like to be in cities like Bangalore, Hyd. More oppurtunities to change company as well and more better so called 'IMAGE'.

[sudheeshnairs]

Originally Posted by home@kochi

One more thought...I think people think something 'low' about working in Kerala, in general. Apart from all the investment specific reasons stated above, the general psychy is that all work abroad or outside Kerala, so if you are educated and work in Kerala, then may be you have a bad job. Lots of common people think like that, especially in NRI belt places. And that rubs off on educated young people also. Hence, someone at Kochi may be paid better and leading a easier & comfortable life than someone in Gulf, but in general say he is still always in 'Gulf' etc. But that situation is changing now slowly.

Hence, IT guys like to be in cities like Bangalore, Hyd. More oppurtunities to change company as well and more better so called 'IMAGE'.

To some extent it is true, but not always. IT guys stay in Bangalore for the opportunities the city give, despite the shortcomings; rather than any image,

I think the psyche of many from my circles/ relatives are different in this regard.

When I told my elders back in 2008 that I am moving to Bangalore they asked me why are you leaving the cool & comfortable life back home.

My parents were always at the opinion why should we live alone and ‘suffer’ at ‘Maru nad’!. (Perhaps for the fact that we are the only guys in our extended family who is staying in a different state.)

This Sunday my father in law was calling my wife, as usual the conversation shifted to the usual topic, why she is not scouting for openings in Trivandrum, our brand new house is gathering dust, her younger cousins all have switched to Infosys, Oracle, UST Global etc and earning this much, etc etc..

And I don’t think there is a ‘good image’ with jobs in Gulf, at least in my circles. (US/Europe is a different ball game).

Yes, things are changing….

[mohammedirshad06]

Originally Posted by sudheeshnairs

And I don’t think there is a ‘good image’ with jobs in Gulf, at least in my circles. (US/Europe is a different ball game).

Yes, things are changing….

I think, your family is more into IT/ITES side..... Generally in my circles and most of the circles which I know, gulf jobs are always sunnier and highly in positive side. Particularly if you are in govt service or oil/gas or bank, the image boosts like anything. Ofcourse hard currency also matter.... My cousin bro, just in 27 was so lucky enough to get into a respectable American Hospital chain as Medical administrator, just with 2 years of experience in AIM-Kochi.... Damn it... He is earning AED 35,000 per month (4 Lakh Rs).... Surely lot of such positive stories are there. It depends, which side you hear more......

I basically love Gulf Job, because the level of exposure you get is something different and the level of savings you can make... The modern generation equally knows how to enjoy and spend in Dubai even with savings, unlike the older generations of slogging for retirement savings......

Sorry for deviating from the topic... Pls be free to delete, if so......

[agnath.]

I think it just comes down to how many companies are there and career options it provides.

Once you have more companies, everything around would change. Malayaali IT crowd in other cities would come back, more pubs & malls would come up (for those who want it), attitudes would change about working in മേഖലാ .... HR policies in companies also would become more pro-employee if there are more companies poach..

In my opinion good thing about Bangalore for an IT employee is the number of companies and career options it provides. With regards to children education, medical facilities, I feel it's better in Kochi.

[psanthosh]

Yes, you are right.. It is general that people will be there in a place where enough educational & employment opportunities there..

That is the reason why mallus moving to Dubai and even to KSA.

Originally Posted by agnath.

I think it just comes down to how many companies are there and career options it provides.

Once you have more companies, everything around would change. Malayaali IT crowd in other cities would come back, more pubs & malls would come up (for those who want it), attitudes would change about working in മേഖലാ .... HR policies in companies also would become more pro-employee if there are more companies poach..

In my opinion good thing about Bangalore for an IT employee is the number of companies and career options it provides. With regards to children education, medical facilities, I feel it's better in Kochi.

[psanthosh]

It depends upon individual.

I worked in a Dubai Govt Department as a permanent employee years back. I got that job without any interview. They selected me based on my resume. My resume is submitted by a Bangalore based consultant.

I worked there for 1 1/2 years and left that place for ever. Somehow I could not able to adjust with Govt Job.

So it all depends upon individual where to work. Somepeople says Gulf is better and some others says US ie good. But when I was there in Dubai, I saw many IIT guys coming to Dubai and looking for job..

But one thing I can say, people will go and live only in a place where enough educational/employment opportunities there.

Originally Posted by mohammedirshad06

I think, your family is more into IT/ITES side..... Generally in my circles and most of the circles which I know, gulf jobs are always sunnier and highly in positive side. Particularly if you are in govt service or oil/gas or bank, the image boosts like anything. Ofcourse hard currency also matter.... My cousin bro, just in 27 was so lucky enough to get into a respectable American Hospital chain as Medical administrator, just with 2 years of experience in AIM-Kochi.... Damn it... He is earning AED 35,000 per month (4 Lakh Rs).... Surely lot of such positive stories are there. It depends, which side you hear more......

I basically love Gulf Job, because the level of exposure you get is something different and the level of savings you can make... The modern generation equally knows how to enjoy and spend in Dubai even with savings, unlike the older generations of slogging for retirement savings......

Sorry for deviating from the topic... Pls be free to delete, if so......

[RKPV]

കേരളത്തിലെ സാധാരണക്കാരെ അങ്ങനെ കൊച്ചാക്കല്ലേ... The common people know everything about the situation in Bangalore and Dubai. Thanks to Media.

This is happened on 2008 , at my Kozhikode home while coconut plucker doing his job.

Plucker : ഇങ്ങള് ഇപ്പ എട്യ പണീ ബംഗ്ലൂരാ..?
me : --അല്ല കോയമ്പത്തൂര്*
ഇങ്ങള് ഈ MCA ഒക്കെ കഴിഞ്ഞതല്ലേ... ?
--അതെ..
എന്റെ എളാമ്മെന്റെ ചെക്കനുണ്ട് ബാന്*ഗ്ലൂര് ഓന്* MCA കഴിഞ്ഞിട്ട് പോയതാ..
ഈ MCA ക്കാരെ കാര്യം ഒക്കെ ഇപ്പ ഭയങ്കര കഷ്ടാ അല്ലെ..? ദുബായീന്നും എല്ലാരും ഇങ്ങു പോര്വാ ഓന്* അവിടെ ബംഗ്ലൂരു 6 മാസം ആയി പണി ഒന്നും ഇല്ലാണ്ട് അഞ്ചാറു ആള് കൂടി ഒരുമിച്ചു താമസിക്ക്വാ . ഓന്റെ അമ്മ ഇന്നല് വന്നു ലേസം പൈസ ചോയിച്ചു ഓന് കൊടുക്കാന്* . ഞാന്* കൊടുത്തു , ഇന്നിട്ട്* പറഞ്ഞു ഓനോട്* രണ്ടു മാസം എന്റെ കൂടെ വന്നു ഈ തേങ്ങേന്റെ പണി ഒന്ന് നോക്കാന്* . 6 മാസം അവിടെപ്പോയി ജീവിക്കാനുള്ള പൈസ ഞാന്* കൊടുക്കാം എന്ന്. ( he is running a small coconut processing business too)

This is not a story- reality - happened on recession time. Sorry i am unable do an English translation without losing its essence.

[Malayaali]

Concept master plan for SmartCity ready

Concept? And approval required to begin preparation of original MP! WTF?

Preparation of a full-fledged master plan for the proposed SmartCity Kochi will begin as soon as the concept master plan, which is ready, is approved by the board of directors.

In an e-mail interview to The Hindu, SmartCity Kochi managing director Baju George said that the concept master plan would be brought before the SmartCity Kochi board members and Special Economic Zone authorities for their approval in the next board meeting to be held later this month in Thiruvananthapuram. “After incorporating suggestions from SmartCity Kochi board, SEZ authorities and others, it will be developed into full-fledged master plan,” he said.

Once the concept master plan is approved, the date for the launch of road shows from Bangalore to showcase the project will also be decided. The road show in Bangalore is planned as a gala event to launch the master plan, Mr. George said.

Asked about the initial plans to hold the director board meeting in the company's new pavilion at the project site at Edachira, Mr. George admitted to “slight delay” due to some unanticipated hold-ups in procurement of materials. He hoped to hold the next director board meeting in the second quarter of the financial year in the new pavilion. While launching the construction work of the pavilion in October last, Chief Minister Oommen Chandy had said that it would be completed within 14 weeks.

Mr. George said that the technical team from SmartCity Kochi was still in discussions with the authorities at GAIL with regard to the laying of pipelines through the project area.

The company had expressed apprehensions that the presence of pipelines would raise security concerns, scaring away global clients.

SmartCity has also decided to associate closely with the Labour Department, National Skill Development Council and other stakeholders in its initiative for setting up a soft skill development academy. “Kerala has a huge talent pool and this skill development academy will help this talent to be industry-ready. We also will be working with major knowledge companies to ensure that training is aligned with their expectations,” Mr. George said.

Sharing the salient features of the concept master plan, Mr. George said that it visualised a highly efficient live-work concept that could attract and retain knowledge workers. It has made provision to take care of every aspects of knowledge workers' life like their children's education, health care, shopping, residence etc. Smart infrastructure will be a differentiator for the project, he said. He said that buildings for SmartCity Kochi will be eco-friendly, in keeping with the company's policy to ensure that all its global townships comply with green concepts.

[Nidhin VC]

Originally Posted by Malayaali

Concept master plan for SmartCity ready

Concept? And approval required to begin preparation of original MP! WTF?

Till now they were claiming that the board meeting will happen in the 'Pavilion'. and If they cant complete a stupid pavalion in 6 months how will they complete the project of this size.

Now I am almost certain that this project is a total humbug.

Its a pity that government made so much arrangements for a crappy project like this.