In galaxy, far, far, away?
No. Were we visiting a 5 star resort at some exotic location?
Or maybe we popped back to the motherland for the weekend - good old British call box!
Or did we call in to see Obama at the WhiteHouse, by bike? - if you look closer, that is not a limpet attached to Simon's back, that's Wills clinging on for dear life!!
None of the above, we visited the Infosys Campus at Mysore. Quite an incredible place. All the pics above were taken there this weekend! Simon had been there all week for work, during which he got a double exposure to tobacco - by chewing paan (and swallowing it - which you're not supposed to do) and sharing a hookah with his team! Ads, Wills and I drove down from school on Friday for the weekend.
Saturday morning we were all set for some serious sightseeing only to be told by security at the gate that there was a "bandh" for the day and we were advised to stay within the confines of Infosys. What!!!!!!!
A Bandh is a government strike and expected curfew. The governor of the state (Karnataka) decided to prosecute one of his ministers for selling state land to his friends and family on the cheap. The ruling party took exception to this and hence protests were expected. To keep the peace, a government strike was imposed, and all were then expected to stay home. Shops were shut, no government run transport etc. There were, apparently, a few pretty tame protests which were quickly dispersed. So I guess the Bandh was a success!
Corruption in India: not unheard off, corruption in politics sadly par for the course worldwide, but a bit more overt than pork barrels, lobbyists and the old school tie network, maybe!
Infosys' campus in Mysore is essentially a corporate university. One of Infosys' principles with its thousands of employees is to "catch them young" and train them the Infosys way. These new college graduates spend 3 to 6 months being brought up to speed on this delightful campus, which has bowling, soccer, most racket sports, swimming, movie theatre etc. Those that stay the pace and pass the test are let loose on customers and the rest go home.
We spent a day enjoying the facilities!
Fascinating and guess I will just have to visit to see the inside of that palace in Mysore. Glad you are doing lots of venturing but don't worry bout Ads, we were only here one week in 1996 when Ed went off for science camp and had a blast but we still don't really know where he went that week! Really really must speak soon on skype....Cc
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