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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.
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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.
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