What TecHalli tells us about Bengaluru? Ask Mahindra

Anand Mahindra needs no introduction. More so after the advent of social media. The Chairman of diversified Mahindra Group, who looks like a film hero in a business suit, is among the India's most active corporate leaders on Twitter. He is also popular among Twitterati for his interesting posts, retweets and contests. On June 1, Mahindra, who enjoys a massive follower base of over 84 lakhs on Twitter, came up with a caption contest on his Twitter handle as he wanted a local moniker to replace the Silicon Valley of India as Bengaluru, the India's IT hub, is currently known. He offered a scale replica of Pininfarina H2 Speed concept car as a prize for the winner. His Twitter followers came up with hundreds of names, but he along with Infosys co-founder Nanden Nilekani (co-judge for the contest) selected 'TecHalli' suggested by Patlolla Srinivas Reddy, a Hyderabad-based IT manager.

TecHalli is a dexterous combination of technology and halli which means village in Kannada. Mahindra, though hailing from Mumbai, was right in his own way when he said Bengaluru should have a title of our own instead of deriving one from a foreign location. That way, TecHalli is an apt title or moniker whatever you call, for Bengaluru.

Though the laudable initiative to get an Indianised moniker for Bengaluru took back seat post the announcement of the winner by Mahindra himself, we carried views and comments on TecHalli from people from different walks of life for the past 45 days. An overwhelming percentage of people (over 95 per cent) rooted for TecHalli and described itas a worthy local replacement for the Silicon Valley of India moniker. It is not to say that there is no strong opposition to the renaming exercise. A leading real estate operator from Bengaluru said that Anand Mahindra should mind his own business instead of behaving like the current Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh. But every idea worth its salt attracts criticism, derision and opposition. Nevertheless, majority counts in democracy. That's it. So, TecHalli wins hands-down. And, there is nothing wrong in Mahindra coming up with the idea. Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself gave a clarion call, Vocal for Local, to encourage local innovations and local products post the Covid pandemic. But unfortunately, the TecHalli idea has not captured the imagination of his party, BJP, which is in power in Karnataka. The saffron party always feels that it's its birthright to espouse the cause of local cultures. Perhaps, the party - which always goes to the town, describing itself as the copyright holder of Hindutva, Indianness and the Indianised way of life- seems to be busy with its plans to retain power in the Southern State. After all, power is most important for a political party and BJP is no exception to this cardinal political rule. Isn't it?

But if we continue to call Bengaluru as Silicon Valley of India, it simply implies that the city is a miniature version of what Silicon Valley stands for in the US. That way, Bengaluru will not have a character of its own that reflects its true capabilities when it comes to technology. It's high time Silicon Valley of India moniker is replaced with TecHalli. Will the BJP government in Karnataka act on this as the political situation has stabilized now?

But the problem is that India and Indians are not good at promoting their expertise and excellence. On this front, China and the Chinese enjoy an unbeatable record because the communist country and its people can even sell the expertise of others as their own. I remember a Chinese automaker bringing out a copycat version of Land Rover sports utility vehicle (SUV) and naming it as Land Hoover. And the Chinese company had the audacity of exporting this model to the oil-rich Middle East where Land Rovers are sold like hotcakes. Can an Indian company do that? Absolutely not. When we can't promote our own innovations and culture globally, where is the question of promoting others' inventions and innovations as ours?

Not long ago, multinational companies were dreadful of joint ventures with Chinese companies because they knew what would be in store for them post such partnerships. Chinese companies blatantly copy technology and intellectual property from their foreign partners before pushing them out of the deal and sometimes out of the country!

In contrast, Indians are not even good at marketing their innovations and technology at the global level. Otherwise, how can we explain the fact that a country which has produced global Chief Executive Officers for tech giants Microsoft and Google, has not produced even a tiny Google of its own till date? As we celebrate our 75th year of Independence from British rulers, it's high time Indians and India learn to aim high on the global landscape. If not, let's promote our existing expertise, true capabilities, innovations and the way of life, at least. Hope that happens.