Mysore....

So the reason this blog is not being posted in a timely fashion is because the internet access is Mysore is not working… which brings me to an interesting discovery. It seems that culturally, the Indian people are so eager to please that they will tell you what you want to hear, even if it is not true. I noticed this with my bag (“it’s on its way”), the visa registration process (“it will just take a few minutes”), and particularly with the internet issue here in Mysore. Upon arrival & setting up my room, I connected my computer to the LAN and immediately noticed that the connection was listed as “Local Only” – meaning I could only access the Infosys systems, were I an actual Infosys employee. This happened a few times in Bangalore, and Internet access returned after a few minutes. I went about unpacking and came back, still said “local only.” Used the LAN port on the other side of the room, “local only.” So I called the front desk: “Hi, I just checked into Building 22, room 004* and my internet access isn’t working.” I was told “it needs to be turned on, I will transfer you to Housekeeping.” Seemed an interesting department to be transferred to, but I allowed him to transfer me. Housekeeping then transferred me to IT support services, which rang and rang for at least 5 minutes before I gave up. I called the front desk again: “Hi, me again, Housekeeping connected me to IT support, and there was no one at that number. I’m trying to get internet access turned on in my room.” “OK, let me connect you to Global support in Bangalore.” Mildly impressed that my internet access could be turned on from a remote location, I patiently waited as the phone rang for another 5 minutes or so. This being around 10:30 pm, I figured that perhaps we were beyond IT support’s working hours. I called the Operator, which connected me again to the front desk. Perhaps 3rd time is a charm? I explained that I was still waiting to have internet access turned on, and had been transferred twice to IT support but no one seemed to be working. He said, “OK, then you need to call housekeeping, they should be able to help.” I called housekeeping again, explained the whole saga, and he told me to call the front desk. At this point in time (11 pm), I put on my flip flops and walked over to reception. Once I walked in, I explained the whole story, and he tells me, “Yes, internet access is not working on the Mysore campus right now. It should be working by the morning.”
Was that too difficult to tell my upon my first phone call? I would have understood, but it seems no one wants to deliver bad news. This was addressed in our earlier Thursday class session in Bangalore, where we discussed communication across cultures (my favorite session so far, by the way). The speaker, Aruna Newton, talked about how generally, if you express an opinion and then ask an Indian, “do you agree with me?” the Indian will say “yes” because they haven’t had time to formulate their opinion but don’t want to offend you since it was your idea whose approval is being sought. So you may leave the meeting thinking that you have a deal, and then the next day, when the Indian person has had time to reflect on the idea and its consequences, the agreement may no longer exist. It’s simply not a “snap decision” culture- but a culture that aims to please. So you are often left with a feeling of frustration since the answer keeps changing. We were told that the visa registration forms would be ready in time for a 2:45 departure to Mysore… but by this time I had learned “I’ll believe it when I see it.” They ended up being ready around 3:15 or 3:30, incidentally.
Yesterday’s sessions were my favorite so far, because they were about HR practices for the BPO unit of Infosys, the previously mentioned cultural communication, and two sessions about the Indian education system and Infosys’ collaboration with top academic institutions to ensure that graduating engineers are prepared for real-world work in the IT sector. It’s amazing how much influence a company that is less than 30 years old has.
We departed to Mysore a little late. This ride was the one that was about 150 kilometers but would take 4 hours. Some was highway, but especially at the beginning of our journey, some of these roads were the bumpiest I’ve ever been on. That statement includes the roads of Kilimanjaro Safaris at Disney’s Animal Kingdom, which are engineered to be bumpy enough to make it a bit of a thrill ride. Imagine being in a bus! I’m glad I was close to the front. I took tons of pictures of the countryside out the window (while it was light enough) and the ride was generally good. We made one rest stop, where I decided to brave the toilet that was essentially a hole in the ground that could flush. This was actually more sanitary, as you just squat over the hole, but just a bit weird. We also visited a cool little gift shop there before we got back on the bus.
We arrived at the Mysore campus after dark, but it looks just beautiful. This is the world’s largest corporate training facility, equipped to house (and teach) up to 15,000 trainees at a time. The movie theatre looks like Spaceship Earth at Epcot. There is stone walkway over a giant koi pond that encircles the dining area, and our rooms are huge with patios or balconies. I can see why Mysore is at the end of the trip- while the Bangalore campus was state of the art, this is much more resort-like. Imagine what these people who grew up in the towns we passed on the bus today must feel like when they get hired by Infosys and moved into this location for their first 4 months. People keep saying that it does feel like Disney World. I’ll be sure to take lots of pictures while it’s light out today.
So yes, India is more fun when we are under the protective arm of Infosys. We finally received this afternoon our registration forms from the Police office that we spent Monday waiting for. It basically says that if I don’t leave the country by January 23 I am subject to 5 years in prison and a fine. While I feel better about the whole India experience than I did on Monday, I’m at no risk of extending my stay. It’s easy to forget where we are when we’re at Infosys- we almost have to remind ourselves that we are in India. We have a fun group, and are all getting along well. We’re looking forward to our Mysore city tour tomorrow, as Mysore is an older city than Bangalore with some palaces, etc. that will be fun to experience. My HR/training background has me particularly interested in what we’ll learn in Mysore as well. So these next 2 days could be the best part of India so far!


*as an aside, one of the interesting things here is that the first floor of a building is numbered “0.” So I’m in room 004. Some of my classmates had to walk up a flight of stairs and are in rooms 100-108. So in Bangalore, when our rooms were in the 400s, it was actually the 5th floor. And if floors are underground (i.e. Basement level) they are called -1, -2 etc. It’s just an interesting little phenomenon.

Another aside.... my room will not be receiving internet access, so I have to write this from a classmate's room!