The Road to Yantra

Mr. Thomas, my driver, navigated with adroitness and grace the roads of Bangalore, tapping the horn nearly continually whilst dodging bovine, goats, dogs, and chickens; men, women, and children of all ages and appearances; as well as every imaginable conventional and unconventional motorized vehicle. Our destination was Yantra Solutions, now a company of Sterling Commerce, the multinational corporation that has graciously hosted me and whose executives have helped to make possible this research initiative.

Countless roadside vendors dotted the landscape, selling sliced red and gold melons, honey-on-the comb complete with bees, and multi-colored liquids in communal drinking glasses. Small and exquisitely-detailed Hindu temples stood on corners. On another, a statue of the Virgin Mary stood encased in glass.

I peppered him with questions. "Thomas," I queried, "Why is that temple too small to get inside? Where are all of these people going? Is there work for them? Where is that cow going? Why does it have silver decorations on its horns? Who feeds it? Does anyone own it? Where does it go at night?" I was becoming obsessed with the steer and their fate as I wondered how long they, as well as the temples and roadside vendors, would last in a land where the private sector was more and more casting India's destiny. What aspects of Indian culture, cherished for millennia, could and would be carried forward into the twenty-first century? I had no answers and no judgments--only more and more questions.

Colonel Jai Padki, head of administration and security and Miss Vinitha, the administrative assistant who had helped me to coordinate the many details of my visit from thirteen time zones away, greeted me warmly at the entrance of Yantra. AP Rao, Yantra Sterling's financial controller joined us. As we settled into the conference room, business cards were exchanged and I whispered silent gratitude to Serge and Peter for their cultural coaching, for it was exactly as they had said: this was more of a ceremony than a perfunctory moment in passing. Hot, fragrant chai arrived in tiny china cups.

Jai and AP reviewed with me my schedule and began to fill in some of the gaps with meetings that I will have with Yantra Sterling. They added cultural outings in the form of a Saturday trip to the markets, along with the admonition that I was to buy nothing at first, but just examine and absorb all that I saw. We toured the facility and I noted that most of the employees looked so young. AP told me that most were around twenty-seven years of age and that he was essentially the old man. I laughed and mentioned that the only way the youngsters could learn was for the veterans of the business to mentor them.


Thomas took me back to my hotel, Leela Palace, and as I sat out on my balcony overlooking the waterfalls in the gardens, ruminated once again on the fate of the cows and of the gracious Indians I had met this day.