Ireland's new consul in India gets quite a build-up in the various website profiles devoted to her. "Strong, enterprising and unafraid to speak her mind, she is the face of the 21st-century woman," reads one assessment. "Bangalore's Ms Cool," concludes another.
My immediate concern, however, is to pick an appropriate restaurant at the hotel where we are to meet. I had also read on the Web that Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw is "an experimental food freak". The hotel was one of Bangalore's best and offered a number of culinary experiences - Chinese, Thai, Indian and Continental - but which to choose? What exactly does an experimental food freak eat? Stir-fried sea cucumber? Winddried soya bean curd? Geneticallymodified alfalfa sprouts? I had no idea. In the event, the decision is taken out of my hands. "Let's go for the Thai," says Mazumdar-Shaw decisively on her mobile phone. Already she is living up to her reputation.
The decision to appoint an honorary consul to Bangalore is an outcome of the growing relationship between Ireland and the city known as "India's Silicon Valley". The capital of the south-western state of Karnataka is attracting widespread attention in the world of information technology. It was in recognition of this status, and of the increasing number of contacts between Irish and Indian software companies, that the Tanaiste, Mary Harney, led an Irish trade delegation to Bangalore earlier this year.
In addition to an ambassador in the Indian capital, New Delhi, Ireland also has a consul in Bombay (or Mumbai as it is now called). That businesswoman Mazumdar-Shaw (47) was an obvious choice for the new consular job in Bangalore does not take long to conclude: she is on first-name terms with all the movers and shakers in "Cyber City".
"I graduated in brewing technology from an university in Australia, then went to work in a malt manufacturing plant in western India in which my father had invested," she recalls. "I was tracked down by the owner of an Irish multinational called Biocon who wanted to set up an Indian operation. I had no management qualifications and no money to invest in the company, but I was offered a job and went to work at Biocon, in Carrigaline, Co Cork."
Accompanying her to our rendezvous is her husband, John Shaw, a former textile entrepreneur from Scotland whom she married two years ago. The two confer about the menu, but it is her choice of perfectly grilled seafood and delicious fish curry which prevails.
"It was in the late 1970s," she continues. "I had an apartment in Monkstown close to the city. I immediately found the Irish were very friendly, spontaneous, warm and hospitable. I'd get invited down to the pub or to have dinner. I also found there were similar support systems to the ones I'd grown up with in India. If you had a problem, everyone wanted to get involved and help you out. At first, I had no washing machine, and the other girls would come to me and say, `Right, give us your laundry, Kiran, we'll have it back for you tomorrow'."
After her stint in Cork, Mazumdar - as she then was - set up Biocon India as a joint venture with Biocon in Ireland (the Irish operation was subsequently taken over by Unilever and is now known as Quest Ireland). From small beginnings grew the foremost biotech operation in India.
Biotechnology, she says, is about the harnessing of life systems for commercial use. The key players are enzymes, microscopic protein substances generated by living cells. Her company produces and exports enzymes that are used in a wide variety of industrial applications ranging from food and beverages to textiles and pharmaceuticals.
Since returning to India from Ireland, MazumdarShaw has acted in the capacity of unofficial Irish representative in Bangalore, welcoming Mary Robinson, Mary Harney and other dignitaries visiting the city.
"There are long-standing connections between Ireland and Bangalore," she explains. "St Patrick's church here was established by Irish missionaries in the late 1840s. Then there are all the Irish nuns at the Sacred Heart Convent, in our hospitals and at other educational institutions. I remember Irish nuns from my early days at Mount Carmel College in Bangalore."
Bangalore is also a horse-breeding centre. As it happens, there is a number of jockeys and trainers of Irish descent living in the city.
"Nowadays, of course, the crucial link is IT," she asserts. "Despite the connections between the two countries, Ireland is unfortunately not that well known in India. That's changing a bit with a lot of Irish companies now coming to visit and more Indians travelling to Ireland. In addition to handling visa applications and consular services, my job will be to promote Ireland, not just in the IT sector, but also in tourism, trade and commerce generally."
Both Ireland and India share the experience of post-colonial societies whose rapidly expanding economies place a premium on IT development. In addition to producing cutting-edge software products, both countries boast growing numbers of highly IT-literate computer personnel. In such circumstances, it can be advantageous to both parties to share resources and technology.
Kindle, which deals in banking software, is probably the best-known Irish company in Bangalore. Others are considering joint ventures, alliances or exchanges of personnel with Indian counterparts.
"There's a lot we can learn from one another," says MazumdarShaw. "Working this way will benefit us both."
As if to underline the spirit of cooperation and synergy she is promoting, she orders a bottle of Indian white wine produced near Bangalore with French technical know-how. She is more of a beer expert, however, having qualified in Australia as India's first woman brewmaster. She has recently written a book on beer, Ale and Arty, which is soon to be published. "I love Guinness," she confides. "But I only enjoy drinking it in Ireland, it's just not the same elsewhere."
Her big crusade is in the realm of biotechnology, which she identifies as an increasingly important sector of both the Indian and Irish economies.
"I'd like to bring biotechnology up to the same level as IT in Karnataka," she says. "All the new knowledge about disease is emanating from biotech. It's at the cutting edge of developing new therapies. People get very scared about it, particularly in the context of genetically modified food. But so-called `natural farming', in India at least, is completely dependent on lethal pesticides. Biotech is a much safer and enabling technology, it's not the Frankenstein kind of thing people say it is."
Wandering back through the hotel garden, Mazumdar-Shaw is darting about identifying suitable shrubs for the grounds of her new house. Her mobile phone is ringing and she's making plans for the rest of the weekend. What they are is not clear: I've heard she does aerobics and yoga and enjoys both swimming and golf. If she has taken on more than she can handle with her honorary consulship, she is giving no indication of it.