Correspondances carte blanche Two of a kind Wise Mysore versus wired Bangalore—outwardly opposite, but in reality mirroring each other in pursuit of the same goal: bringing order to the world. Bangalore (Bengaluru) and Mysore and a visit to both provides a glimpse of in Bangalore and Mysore as curries and (Mysuru), both in the state of Karnataka, the degree to which—above and beyond spices, whose numbers are also astro- are separated not only by 145 kilometers, any clichés of the triumph of moder- nomical. Everything is piled up high but also by a few decades of technological nity—India remains a land of surprises, here, jostling and multiplying: throngs of innovation and perhaps thousands of happiness and even hallucinations. schoolchildren, their uniforms adding years of tradition. Pulsating Bangalore splashes of color to temples; the castes, prides itself on being the capital of Indian Celestial mechanics One single image be they four or several thousand; and IT, the heart of a kind of saffron Silicon could sum it all up: a simple computer yoga with its numerous poses. Given Valley, yet peaceful Mysore claims that it capped by a fragile effigy of the elephant- that 60 percent of Indians are under 25 was the one that spawned this prosperity. headed Ganesh, the plump, jovial deity and that 8 million people enter the work- It was indeed the ruler of Mysore who worshiped by everyone, with his broken force each year, it’s understandable decided, in 1791, to build a summer palace tusk and one hand holding a ball-shaped that calculators are in a frenzy, and that, in Bangalore, a simple country residence sweet. The Ganesh is more about anchor- to stay on top of everything, priests, in an Indo-Islamic style, where he could ing than superstition, as India’s algorithms fortune-tellers, economists and computer chill out in a climate blessed by the gods. are grounded in the computing powers scientists are in high demand. Bangalore Tipu Sultan’s Summer Palace is today of its priests, astrologers and mathemati- and Mysore can take care of all this. open to the public, as is Bangalore Palace, cians. In India, it’s all about numbers: a quirky replica of Windsor Castle. Hindu civilization worships as many as Super-charged mirages Bangalore Featuring Venetian-style arcades, Banga- 33 million divinities, while planetary and had around 600,000 inhabitants in 1947, lore Palace was built in 1878, and is star configurations are scrutinized for the year India gained its independence; awash with trophies: an elephant’s head auspicious times for marriages and busi- today there are 13 million. The increase has pride of place in a stairway; family ness deals, and arithmetic-loving Brah- becomes tangible as you try to get across photos, highlighted with paint and dating mins flock here from nearby Tamil Nadu. the city—to an absurd degree. The bigger from the period of the British Raj, nod Creating tables with multiple entries, add- the city gets, the slower the speed. But no at you as you walk the corridors; and a ing, dividing and organizing has become matter! The hellish traffic jams are seat used to weigh jockeys is a reminder an art, a sport, a shared spiritual practice. opportunities for all kinds of adventure. of just how light life here was. Nearly An acrobatic approach to large numbers Everyone weaves their way in and out of a century and a half later, Bangalore has allows India to manage its 1.3 billion the magma of metal chassis and honking 13 times more inhabitants than Mysore, inhabitants while putting satellites into horns, squeezing through here and yet the two cities still feed off one another orbit. Calculating power is as ubiquitous slipping past there. Bangalore ripples, Prêtre ambulant proposant ses prières aux passants, Mysore. Temple sur les hauteurs de Lalbagh Garden, Bangalore. Itinerant priest selling prayers to passersby, Mysore. Temple on a rocky outcrop in Lalbagh Garden, Bangalore. 149