India diary, day 13: Thirsty in Bangalore

Friday 16 February - Banglalore

After the horrors of four hours stuck in traffic yesterday I'm not especially looking forward to my day. I'd rather daringly and optimistically booked three meetings on the same day and I now realise that means spending a long time in the Bangalore traffic.

Special Report: Inside India

In February silicon.com's Steve Ranger visited the Indian tech hotspots of Bangalore, Mumbai, Pune and Hyderabad to explore the exploding Indian offshore tech and BPO industry. Keep up with his daily diaries here.

♦ India diary, day 1: Cyberbad on Sunday
♦ India diary, day 2: Emergency calls and rural life
♦ India diary, day 3: Inside the outsourcing campus
♦ India diary, day 4: Hyderabad's tech park
♦ India diary, day 5: Margaritas to Mumbai
♦ India diary, day 6: Prime Minister's question time
♦ India diary, day 7: Mobiles in Mumbai
♦ India diary, day 8: Pune or bust
♦ India diary, day 9: An auto-rickshaw ride and a catwalk show
♦ India diary, day 10: Lost in Pune
♦ India diary, day 11: I heart Bangalore
♦ India diary, day 12: Searching for the next big thing
♦ India diary, day 13: Thirsty in Bangalore

My first appointment is with HCL at the Leela Palace - one of the poshest hotels in town. HCL has an office up on the sixth floor above the hotel. From my hotel the journey only takes about 20 minutes in the lightish, mid-morning traffic.

After meeting with the executives to talk about branding and how they retain the best staff it's off to Electronics City again to meet with Wipro at its mega-campus.

Fortune smiles - perhaps because of the time of day - and the road out is free-flowing so I'm there in half an hour. It gives me a glimpse of how doing business in Bangalore would be if the government sorted out the infrastructure.

Most cars keep their left-hand wing-mirror turned in flush against the car, presumably because otherwise it would quickly be smashed off.

Wipro has a giant campus - 20,000 people work at it. Even though I've been to a few of these sites already it's still very impressive. It doesn't, however, have a zoo.

My final meeting of the day is with IBM. My luck holds and it's a swift journey back into town - to the Embassy Golf Links Business Park, where a number of big tech names have their offices.

It's Friday night and after a long and dusty day I'm looking forward to sampling Bangalore's legendary nightlife. I'm giving the hotel bar a miss and heading out to see what's happening on Brigade Street, which I've been told is where most of the excitement is to be found.

But that's when my luck runs out.

Apparently there's been a bit of a clampdown and everything closes at 23:30 these days. The kids - a bit like the UK in the 1990s - are now into raves out in the countryside to which the local cops turn a blind eye.

As for the bars in town, the first couple are about as happening as any bar in the UK would be. On a Tuesday. In January. Before payday.

Finally I find a bar that seems a bit more lively. But still, the cliental is almost entirely male, preppily dressed and quietly sipping beer while listening to loud music and watching the cricket on the big TVs. I retreat to my hotel, disappointed.

Have you visited India to check out the outsourcing options? Or have you been affected by offshoring here in the UK? We want to hear your stories and thoughts about offshoring. Post your comments below or email editorial@silicon.com.