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January, 2000

Next Day
In Bangalore I met Nupur Ghosh, a Cisco worker in India. We hit it off immediately - Nupur carries a good conversation. I was curious about Indian culture, and we talked about the caste system. I read the personal ads which always mentioned the caste from which each person originated. I found out Nupur belonged to the Brahmin caste, so I congratulated her (Brahmin is at the top), which made her laugh at my ignorance. Lucky for me, Nupur doesn't offend easily. She suggested I take a trip to the palace at Mysore before flying up to Mumbai for my next meeting. She helped me arrange a car and the next morning I met my driver for the 3 hour drive to Mysore. The 'highway' to Mysore is a one-lane road that supports all traffic: trucks, cars, pedestrians, camels, donkeys. What a road trip - seriously life threatening. I lost count of the narrow misses and near head-on collisions. India's only road rule: the bigger vehicle has right-of-way. The driver told me over one hundred of his fellow drivers die on the road each year. I told him if he joined the US Army and did this job he could get hazard pay.
The Maharaja's Indo-Saracenic Palace is Mysore's major attraction, with its kaleidoscope of stained glass, ornate mirrors, carved mahogany ceilings, and solid silver doors.
The famous Chamundeswari temple (I'm not sure what it's famous for). This kid was cool - he claimed he could name any capital for a quarter. I asked him for the capital of Moldova. Unfortunately, I didn't know the answer myself so I had to give him a quarter.