First distilled ruminations . . .

I wanted to post some lingering thoughts I've been able to distill through recent conversations with folks back home.
First, on Bangalore, since I've recently closed up shop there, and catering to the engineers among you - The city's got a lot in common with Silicon Valley, venture capitalists and all. However as an economy they still rely on innovation, direction, and income from places like the valley. The startups I've encountered are engineering services oriented, not making IP from scratch. It's true that I've read that new technology / web app startups of the type that proliferate Silicon Valley exist in some quantity in Bangalore, but the engineers that I meet and articles I read in the everyday reflect the former (services) variety much more, so I have to believe that it's the more important sector. The eagle-eyed among you may imagine there's a selection bias in the locales of the city that I've seen. This is possible, but I think it unlikely.
Then regarding social observations: I find it educational to see what life is really like on the ground, since all I ever really knew about India is through the lens and pen of media (both Western and . . . Bollywood), and through friends who are originally from the subcontinent, but who can only realistically represent a small fraction of the population, speaking either of economic or demographic backgrounds.
I've come to realize is that India is not one country in the sense that the US is one country. It's better compared to Europe for the sense of disunity in place between people from different states of the country. It would be hard to blame anyone for this - If folks in Oregon and Nevada spoke and wrote in a completely unrecognizable language to us in California, we'd have a hard time relating to neighboring states as well. (Except given India's geography, it would be more accurate to use states like New York and Pennsylvania to highlight the contrast of culture vs. distance in comparing the US and India; the density of Indian states resembles more New England than the spread out West Coast.)
As a general travel update, I've visited my first palace! It was in Mysore, and it was . . . big. I'm afraid I don't have much to add on that. Whatever you can imagine when you hear the word "palace", is probably not far off. At least rely on your vivid imaginations until I can post photos.