Organized Chaos

Well...I've arrived and survived...1 week. 5 months, 3 weeks to go. I have hesitated about blogging because my internet is very slow in my room but I will be moving soon and I've heard that the internet will be faster in my new room so hopefully I will be posting more.

What an experience it has been so far. It has been difficult to put the experience of travelling here into words (another reason why I hesitated to blog) but after a week of soaking it all in, what I've determined so far is that my journey has essentially been a study of the two worlds I coexist in. One of these is a secluded bubble built on the shoulders of a company which has grown exponentially over the past few years. Our training instructors cited that it took about 20 years for Infosys to make its first $1 billion and only 2 years after that to make its second billion. And it shows. The campus here in Mysore is the physical manifestation of immense corporate success: pristine landscaping, five star hotel turndown service, and a myriad of other amenities ranging from a pool that looks straight out of a Caribbean resort to a bowling alley. Not to mention the dozen or so state-of-the-art software development centers and training facilities. This is a world that sometimes provides us welcome relief from the world outside the gates...

The other world...the world of "real India"...is something that can only be described by organized chaos. Upon leaving the gates of Infosys, one would find auto-rickshaws, taxis, buses, and various two-wheelers whizzing past you, obeying the non-existent traffic laws. To ride in a taxi through the crowded, cluttered streets is to put the concern for your life on the back burner and hold on for the ride. Looking out the window, you will see a developing country...a land that modernization and technology has forgotten. Cattle driven carts trudging through unpaved roads...passing straw hut villages...makes one forget about the world you just left. And this is the "nice" part of India. We were told that Mysore is a honeymoon destination for many Indian people. The evidence of that is found in the city center where a large variety of hotels line the streets. On the inside, the hotels are very nice and are their own bubbles in and of themselves. Mysore is an exercise in the stark wealth discrepancy in India: There are the haves, and the have-nots. There is a weak or non-existent middle class that is tough to find. It is not unusual to see a beautiful hotel built right next to a series of shacks accented with a cow forgaging through a pile of filthy trash.

The people of India are children of the environment in which they live. India has about 3 times the population of the United States in an area about 1/3 of the size. If my math is right...thats about 9 times as many people walking around as your average American city. The chaos that ensues is exemplified by the streets and the lines inside the shops. In America, we rely on the single file line to determine who comes next. In India, a mass of people crowd around the counter, each person clamoring for attention. There is a great sense of competition amongst the Indian people. Indian society is a classic case study of microeconomic theory: massive demand for scarce resources. The result creates a situtation that would make Darwin proud. Survival is the name of the game, and it is clear who precisely is the fittest.

I could write for hours more...stay tuned. Hope everyone is doing well.