India's current development parallels America's Gilded Age

Nice piece in the FT that touches upon many of the themes that we are covering in our visit. The role of cities, of transparency, corruption, entrepreneurship and philanthropy.

Op-ed in LiveMint, an Indian daily that partners with WSJ

IN the class we discussed the unique identity project. My NYU colleague Prof Arun Sundararajan and I write an op-ed that was printed in the Mint, a leading Indian daily.

http://www.livemint.com/2010/09/29212440/Building-institutions-through.html

Would love to get your thoughts on this...

Op-ed in India Knowledge @ Wharton

In this opinion piece, my co-authors and I reflect on the ongoing 2G spectrum scandal in India and provide a broader perspctive on how the country should be auctioning natural resrources.

http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/india/article.cfm?articleid=4551

Tips from a Bangalore Local

Dear Ravi,

As mentioned there are various place to see, things to do while your students visit Blore. Some suggested ideas are:

1. Places to see;

Nandi Hills, The Bull Temple, Palace and museum (former Maharaja Srikantadatta Wodeyar lives here), Belur-Halibed temples (a little far, but worth seeing).

2. Sristhi School of Design, Chitrakala Parishad (Art School), Ranga Shankkara (for some theatre/drama), Cubbon Park area for old monumental bulidings and also our Legislative Assembly-Vidhan Soudha.

3. To shop: Commerical Street, Brigade Road (all roadside shopping like Delhi's Janpath), and if you want to do some high end shopping; then there are boutiques/shops like Anokhi at the Leela Hotel and also a small quaint boutique called The RainTree opp.the ITC Windsor Manor Hotel.

4. To eat:

Great options are all on Church Street: from sushi to andhra food, its all there. Some nice restaurants on this street are Bheemas (for Andhra food-thalis here are spicy and good), Queens for home-like Punjabi khana. The Only Place (yumm burgers and steaks) and Angeethi for tandoori food are closeby.


Also closeby on St. Marks Road is the landmark MTR Kitchens known for their dosas, idlis and authentic Kannadiga food.

Then the highend ones would be Dakshin in the ITC Windsor Manor, Rajdhani at UB City, then the mediterranean joints such as Sunnys on Lavelle Road, Olive on Castle Street. then for Italian therez Toscano in UB City.

Nightclubs; the safe ones are Shiros and City Bar in UB City, then therez Vaayu in Eva Mall, I-bar at The Taj, Blue Bar at the Taj Westend. Opus near the the Golf course is a lovely place to hangout for some food and jazz music. Then there is HighNote BeFlat in Indira Nagar for some awesome music and starters.

All these places are like 3-5kms from your hotel (in the heart of the city).

Hope this is good for starters. I will suggest some non-profits to visit/meet while here in a subsequent mail.

Take care,

YouTube video-- Did You Know?

I received this video in an email an couple days ago-- I think it's very interesting, and it is really relevant to what we've been reading in "The World is Flat" so far, as well as some things we've been talking about in class. It presents facts about education, information technology, and population growth in the world today, as well as predicted growth for the future. It's under 5 minutes long, so you should check it out! Apparently Sony played it for some of its executives at a conference this year.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cL9Wu2kWwSY

Welcome to the class blog...

Students, this is your class outside the class. Feel free to opine, share, comment and critique on any topic related to the course and India.