BANGALORE, INDIA: Bangalore was rocked by eight-nine serial blasts of low intensity yesterday (July 25)! As per the TV channels, there have been two deaths and several people injured. This is extremely unfortunate! Let our thoughts and prayers be with the near and dear ones of those killed and injured in these blasts.

However, Bangalore refuses to be cowed down by all this!

The success of the ISA Excite event is a strong indicator of this fact, besides the famed resilience of Bangaloreans, which came to the fore during the day!

I wasn't even aware of the blasts, while attending the ISA Excite the same day, organized by the India Semiconductor Association, and only learned of the blasts on returning to the office!

Coming back to the ISA Excite event, it was really heartening to learn that the Karnataka state will soon have its own semiconductor policy. A separate story on the event follows later.

The event was a very strong indication that the Indian semiconductor industry is very healthy and doing well, although, we may not yet have a wafer IC fab, and there are several infrastructure challenges to mount.

Nearly everyone from the Indian semiconductor fraternity was present at the show. Surely, several people present there had heard about the blasts, and expressed their disgust at the happenings.

However, the show went on! It was a clear message from the Indian semiconductor industry that even in tough times, it will move forward. The show must always go on! And successfully!

On the serial blasts, of course, a whole lot more needs to be done to secure the IT capital of India, and possibly the world. It is hoped that the security agencies in India would do everything within their capability to ensure that such acts are not repeated. The damage could have been far greater yesterday, and some even wonder whether there is some sort of a hidden message behind the serial blasts.

Nevertheless, well done ISA, and well done Bangaloreans!