ASHVINI A. writes from Bangalore: The Bangalore edition of The Hindu has a piece today on the second unit of the Global Education Centre coming up on the Mysore campus of Infosys. And it takes your breath away: for the purpleness of the prose, and the megalomania of those articulating it.
Paragraph #1: “Independent India’s biggest structure that surpasses Rashtrapati Bhavan in size and equals it in grandeur…”
Paragraph #3: “For comparison, the floor area of the Rashtrapati Bhavan is 2 lakh square feet (as against the 9 lakh square feet of the new structure)…”
Paragraph #3: “The GEC has been designed entirely on classical style of architecture with similarities to the Colosseum of Rome, while the pillars are reflective of Parliament House…”
Paragraph #3: “…the structure reflects various ancient Greek and Roman architectural styles…”
Paragraph #4:”When completed, Infosys would have invested over Rs 1,650 crore… which is reckoned to be the largest investment ever on education at one place anywhere in India…”
Paragraph #5: “…keen to have the architectural styles of ancient Indian univerisities of Nalanda and Taxila too…”
Paragraph #6: “…the single largest residential unit anywhere in the world surpassing The Venetian at Macau…”
Paragraph #7: “…the country’s biggest automated laundry… with 175 individual washing machines.”
Paragraph #8: “…the world’s second largest synthetic tent structure… will accommodate 2,000 people.”
Going through the report, I was taken aback at a private structure being compared with the residence of the supreme commander of the armed forces—not once but thrice. Even if there is no law barring that, and even if true, I was struck by the company’s fixation with size.
Biggest. Largest. Second biggest. Most.
Anywhere.
This is good public relations, of course, and the flacks at Infosys would have broken into high fives this morning on seeing the seven-and-a-half column story, but should hacks of a seasoned newspaper like The Hindu so easily fall prey to the overdrive?
It can be argued that the kings of the knowledge economy, like N.R. Narayana Murthy and Nandan Nilekani, at least do not go around building 27-storeyed residences for themselves like Mukesh Ambani. And what they do is it to educate people like us—and them.
But there is something decidedly offputting about Infy’s obsession with size.
Sure, size matters, especially if attracting and retaining topflight talent is proving difficult. Sure, it is a matter of pride that a company started on just a few thousand rupees has grown to this stature. Sure, this can be a major tourist attraction for Mysore (provided anybody can get in there).
But banging on and on about Rashtrapati Bhavan—and Greek, Roman and Venetian styles, and Nalanada and Taxila to boot—leaves you wondering whether those little children who will stay there for a few months will even have the time to appreciate it, enjoy it.
Or if the building, designed by Hafeez Contractor, is just about image building.
(A set of pictures circulating on the web show the fine facilities at the GEC, and everybody hard at work or sleeping, and not a single person using them at any time of day or night.)
A friend in public relations wickedly suggests that Infosys is desperate to compare its new building with Rashtrapathi Bhavan as Narayana Murthy’s dreams of becoming President, and thus a resident of Rashtrapthi Bhavan, came crashing down after his goof-up on the National Anthem issue on the very same campus.
“Perhaps, unable to come to terms with that “historic blunder” of Murthy, this is the company’s way of making the mountain come to Murthy,” he says.
Unlikely, of course, but…
But when human resources director T.V. Mohandas Pai blasts the previous government which allotted the land for the GEC, for its “indifferent attitude towards promoting IT sector five years ago”, and praises the present government and asks for 300-400 acres in Bangalore, all in the same breath, you wonder.
Photograph: courtesy M.A. Sriram/ The Hindu
Read the full story: Infosys education centre is a grand structure
BCCI and Infosys: made for each other in Mysore
Also read: Madness, megalomania, or hard-earned fruits?
churumuri 
Probably, N R N would have been a better occupant of the Rashtrapathi Bhavan than its present one.
But, the man, who not made India proud of itself in the IT sector, continues to stay in a modest residence in Banashankari in Bangalore.
As the author has pointed out, NRN has not built the grand structure for his residence. It is for training and educating people in the skills of IT. So why grudge ? Mysore will be proud of such a structure.
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I hope they pay taxes proportionate to the size. Like we common people do.
I noticed Pai going around talking rhetorically about the need to weaken the rupee. Because they believe a strengthening rupee is the biggest threat to their bottom line. He wanted ban on ECB (external commercial borrowing) and RBI intervention. He sounded more like a politician than an industry lobbyist.
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So your prejudice against NRN and Infosys is showing again. Fail to understand what is your grouse against the ITwallahs or what they build in this case.
And by the way why cannot Rashtrapati Bhavan be eclipsed in grandeur and size? You are waxing about the Supreme Commander of India”s residence beign compared to a private building.
But in a previous blog you had taken apart the Supreme Commander for her failure to attend Field Marshal Cariappa’s funeral and wondered if we deserve such politicians. Rashtrapati Bhavan is restricted to political appointees who dance to the diktats of the High Command. But atleast this is an educational centre where any Indian can gain entry purely on merit.
As a Mysorean I am proud that there is such an institution in Mysore at all and has helped put Mysore on the IT map. Or is it that the writer of this piece (ostensibly from Bangalore) is aghast that Mysore has stolen the thunder from Bangalore ?
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For a country that’s totally devoid of any kind of architecturally appealing construction lately, instead of appreciating what Infosys is doing, all Churumuri can do is criticize it.
It’s time we, in India, did the biggest, tallest, widest, longest and the “best’est”.
We seem to specialize in constructing square and rectangular boxes.
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Go Infosys! Mysore loves you.
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This will surely be a structure that will make Mysore proud. Why complain?
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What is wrong in comparing with Rastrapathi Bhavan? I fail to understand the implied criticism of the Infosys building. One needs to appreciate the architecture of the building. Along with Mysore’s palace, Mysore may be known for this building in the future.
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if more locals are allowed to man this facility. and all those who man this facility make greater mysore home, send kids to local schools, buy stuff at local grocers, mingle with the greater city, and generate direct and indirect employment then i am all for it.
the govt has already given them land. what and how they build on it with their own money is their prerogative. all i am interested is in how do the pipes flow through it? water are they recycling? sewage are they treating?
current to they have any independent sources?
hopefully, all this will also mean some more money into MCC’s kitty.
it will be awesome if they fund roads leading from the railway station to their facility. :) :) :)
byaDappa, mysoore aagina ella sarkaari shaale gu ond ond oLLe meshTru nemaka maaDli. inposis chair of second standard studies. inposis chair of high school mathematics.
oh! btw, there was this report in some american press about how indian cos are taking lead in worker education and training. you know the usual suspects – inposis, ipro and the rest.
slowly slowly namm aikLu mael bandre sari.
namm pratrakarta mitrange obbange site koTru, gruhpravesha aadaga yajmaanru heLkothidru, bathroom ella marballu saar. kiDki baaglella teak-u. ingene yooru greeku romannu naLanda taxila anthella.
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I have nothing against the Infosys. But after getting the land cheaply they are misusing it by building ‘grand’ structures! Is this a productive way I ask? WHat are they trying to prove? I am sure all the odd ball characters now running the company think they are too good and above criticism. How about spending the same money to give back something to the community? Or better schools? Or even building some useful structures for the small produce aka vegebtable vendors near the race course? Run a free intra-city electric buses or even with a little fee for the women and elederly in Mysore? Why build a dumb eff building that inflates their ego even further?!!
Any creative ideas on this? In my lofty opinion this building is equivalent to that retard philionthropist MS Ramiah putting up sign posts saying ‘x’ Kms to his hospital in Bangalore: as extremely useful and wasteful:
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Let us learn to look at anything objectively. Why grumble for everything? AS days pass on a much more spacious and bigger building may be built. Whether it belongs to NRN or XYZ it is immaterial. You should feel proud and definitely Mysore is a lucky place as far that aspect is concerned.
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If I am not wrong the center will train already well educated people to serve their clients in routine Angadi activities which I suppose is no rocket science kind of knowledge. I doubt if a ground breaking algorithm or a patent would come out this Rs 1,650 crore center. Stop calling this a “Global Education Centre” like it means it is open for everyone. Poor Mysoreans would be lucky to get a snap next to it for keeps if they don’t get shooed away by Angadis Security men.
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As a follow up to this article, can you do an investigative piece on how much land in Karnataka does Infosys actually own? By own I mean – permanently own as solid assets – not land rented or leased on short term basis.
And how much they paid for the land – and who handed it over to them? And what it is worth in terms of market value or rent/lease price now?
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C’mon! Infosys is nearly 100,000 employees in strength and they need to add a minimum 20-30+ thousand every year, of which a big chunk would be fresh college graduates..which should explain their ‘fixation to size’.
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They are just trying to be a bit like the Chinese.
Last heard our neighbours across the Himalayas weren’t doing too badly for themselves.
Small is beautiful if you are Switzerland. Otherwise it just gets trampled upon.
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The Rashtrapathi Bhavan originally the Viceregal Lodge was built by Lutyens, who derided India for an alleged lack of aesthetic, very stupidly, and built faux Mughal style fortresses with no detail, cut and paste from the worst imperial architecture, financed with the loot the Raj extracted from what was in 1750 the world’s richest and prosperous nation. NRN and his friends are today building a colossus that is funded with money made legimitimately, through dint of hard work, re-establishing India’s credibility as a world-class provider of high tech services, bringing back all that money from abroad. We shd be proud that the biggest, mostest exists in India. And for all those carpers about Infosys land holdings, how many know that the Churches of India, after the Government are the biggest owners of land in the country. In every city church land acquired from peasants and the gullible converted for a song have been used to construct office buildings from which the churches extract a princely rent. The Trinity Church on MG Road in Bangalore long ago on land rented to it by the Army (since it is a part of the Bangalore Cantt.) built an office building. The Archdiocese of Bombay, built the Eucharistic Congress Building on Colaba Causeway on public land leased from the Indian Navy. The rent from these buildings is tax free and not a cent is paid into public coffers. That’s a scandal for you. and Anonymous Guy, Angadi? Yoou must be joking. IT forms the organ system of every business enterprise on the planet. Developing controls that run this system soundly is vastly more complex than rocket science.
Great work! Keep it up Infosys!
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kaTsi, kaTsi innEnEn chapla idyO yElla teerskOLLi!
appi thappi(god forbid!) yenaadru angaDi muguchkonDre … ee campus yEnaagatte?
I thought it would be a good amusement park but some other fellow remarked that it should be used to house govt. offices! adakinta amusement bEkaa antha…
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my other post is in q.
some basic issues. for whatever IT-walas need our education is not tailored to. AND it should NOT be. though sadly, i increasingly observe it is being.
employee re-training and re-education etc.. the naati companies are taking pretty seriously. should really be a marxist’s wet dream. ok since what comes out of shanka is only theerta, interested folks can look up an article by a biLiya on how inposis and ipro are taking a lead in this.
now all this jerking off about innovation and new algorithms is fine. but innovation and new algorithms come with a lot of $$$ investment and are niche. that dont put no food on most plates.
its very curious how when it comes to IT people start talking about all this innovation ginnovation. Anybody heard any IAS officer, any doctor, any nurse, any lawyer any journalist any historian anybody from any other profession being chided for not being innovative? in fact in many fields deviation from tradition and non donkey work is frowned upon.
how about applying the innovation critique to those who parrot that line about innovation? show some innovation sir! think of a new and more meaningful critique of the IT world. thanks.
99% of all populations in all countries put food on their table by doing donkey work. the remaining 1% do donkey work for 99% of their productive time. innovation is highly overrated.
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This parading of terms like biggest/ highest/ largest- this fixation with size and I wonder what the Murthys, Nilekanis and Pais are compensating for ? Yes size matters but skill and competence are greater attributes both in bed and elsewhere :).
The only thing that shines through in this is the sheer Boredom quality in everything about the Angadi and now this BIG plastic building that looks like a product of the Colloseum mating with ET’s spaceship – uggh and people here think it will be up there in Mysore’s top sights with the Oomphy Amba Vilas and the elegant Jaganmohan Palaces. Just shows how much the Balaji Telefilms sets guides aesthetic taste.
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It does strike one as wasteful; for an industry which talks of componentised approach in most everything, the leading Company should have walked the talk and set up multiple units across the country and made itself truly Indian and glocal. However now that the damage is done, Infosys which seems to be in such a hurry to create history in different senses of the term should have worked on GREENEST, MOST INTELLIGENT, SMART ELECTRICITY, HUMANE EMPLOYER kinds of tag as well for this structure. The last one would mean a training and mentoring role for the poor graduate who may not have the means to pursue higher education and a career in the IT domain. But I really doubt if any of this is on the agenda for Infosys. However it is not too late to make amends.
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@Kaangeya,
Maybe the training material from in the Global education center might help you understand and compare with rocket science.
Your detour to Church lands to substantiate land grabbing can be best explained if you would remember the last set of rulers were Christians who gave land aplenty to churches before that it was Muslims rulers who gave it Mosques and even before Hindus rulers gave it to temples.Now it is turn of the Angadis who btw enjoy Tax holiday(with no end) as well!
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so how much innovation do you think goes into rocket science? anybody here care to quantify. what exactly is the innovation that is spoken of when people talk about rocket science? any idea about how much money went into making rocket science rocket science? any idea how much money went into making MIT = rocket science?
in one field a doode born in hardanahalli, NoKA arrived at a result that said irrespective how you crunch the numbers, for some types of problems this is how much error you will accumulate. another guy in america worked somemore the results from the doode from hardanahalli and said here is way of crunching numbers that agrees with the limits set by doode from haranahalli. all rocket scientists did was take these results and re-code them to problem of making sure that what was meant to land on moon, landed on moon.
on church,temple and maseedi…
yeah sure, but how many people of my kind and i suspect your kind did the church or the mosque or the temple offer any meaningful viable career options?
ps: i dont work for IT.
well nehru himself said temples of modern india are industries. like that he said.
i appreciate atheism as much as the next guy, but people taking umbrage to metaphors is something else altogether.
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if it is all such a donkey work and lucrative one at a that, why dont critics start an IT company and make some tax free $$$ for themselves?
i guess bcoz they will find it hard to replicate innovation in processes and personnel if not fleet footedness in other areas.
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TS,
its a question of having a good pipeline into the future. Its fine sticking to whats working, but our Angadi types are addicted to it and thats where the problem is. Every other day the only thing you hear from Pai doode is rupee should be devalued, extend tax holiday tat, we are not getting qualified candidates etc. Rupee goes up or gov’t says tax holiday will end then all angadi stocks fall 50%, why do you think that is the case?
So along with building the bestest GEC (glorified diploma college) it wouldn’t hurt to throw some 5% of their money to building a better pipleline.
My naakaNi..
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Kongayya,
Who said anything about angadi?
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“WHEN HACK MEETS FLACK”
Hack: Hello Mr.Pai, how are you doing?
Flack: Oh! I’m doing good…btw, I didn’t get your name.
Hack: Hack…my name’s Hack. Here is my card.
Flack: Hmmm…impressive. So how long have you been with “The X Newspaper”? Which school are you from? I bet you should be good at what you do, after all they don’t hire mediocre at The X.
Hack: Oh yes, their recruitment policy is…it was dream to make it in.
Flack: I know…I was told I’ll be sent one of their new, able recruits…
Hack: :)
Flack: Geetha, the PR Woman, has worked with us for a pretty time. She should have explained to you about the visit.
PR Woman: Yes. I did…
Flack whispers to PR: I thought someone senior would come.
PR: You know, seniors don’t handle such write ups…this would sound like an “advertorial”. We shall work it out before it goes to print; however our marketing guys are sponsoring their NIE at Chennai.
Flack: Ya Mr.Hack, this building is our brainchild built from bricks! You know the kind of graduates passing out from Indian schools these days. They’re all theoretical. They’re super textbook materials, but not quite nimble for our practical classes–you get what i say.
Hack: (Contemplates for a while: how different my journalism class was from the newspaper office. Theories are crammed with ethics of no practical use) yes, yes…your right, i believe.
Flack: This campus is just to do away with that old school methodology. This is the new “Infosys School”.
Hack: It looks like one of our political dwellings :) hehe
Flack: Oh yes the pillars are exactly the same like in Parliament. You know we needed our roots and culture to reflect. We have had it built with an intention of creating a University of Nalanda of our times. Though it has the effect of Colosseum and gothic architecture, we would like to associate with our most respectful and sacrosanct of building: The Rashtrapathi Bhavan! It is our Rashtrapathi Bhavan of Learning/Intellectuals.
Hack: (writes down) colosseum, greek, nalanda, gothic, parliament, Rashtrapathi Bhavan.
Flack: If you look at India today, we graduate the second highest number of students in engineering. But, what is Mckinsey saying? Only 10% are actually employable! That is abysmal!…You know how everyone are rushing into the new “finishing school” outfits.
Hack: Is some company doing it? I mean someone at this scale?
Flack: The Venetian at the Macau had done it, but ours is the biggest now in the world I guess. In fact we are 9.4 sq foot. In terms of floor space we exceed Rashtrapathi Bhavan (I shall have it checked for you, Geetha could you help me get that info)
PR: Definitely.
Flack: In fact we will have invested 1650 crores for this entire GEC project.
Hack: Do you think it is worth the investment considering that a services company like yours contributes very less to innovation. I mean not the process innovation, but product…
Flack: You know India is a country brimming with talent, you do it or else the guy next door is waiting to grab your job. So we should all think that way–it is the truth. Anything about innovation is early to say considering we dont know how long our company is here to live or even if to die at all :) Of course we are not doing rocket science, but at least the individuals trained inour campuses will have the strenght to go out and become rocket scientists!
Hack: I know.
Flack: Your question is not what it means, but it is a very valid question. There is more to it. This campus is not about creating “healthy Infosian”. It is about creating healthy & positive ecosystem. We dont care if someone works for us all his life, but having left us he has learnt something. After all no one works for one company all his/her life like our dads did, do we?
Hack: That is great.
Flack: Yes, Indian graduates need training on a holistic level. Infosys is striving to achieve a balance of training. We don’t preach only technologies that meets our end. It is about teaching meta-infosys: leadership, management etc.
Hack: Really? the vision is great.
Flack: I dont want to sound pompous, but still we are focused on doing something that the country would look back and say “hey! those guys changed it first.” We have done it before: “we contributed a lions share for every average educated middle class Indian dreams–that is in our own way by bringing tech service home.
Hack: Why dont you speak out your vision?
Flack: It is the company policy: “We undercommunicate and over deliver” :)
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The only thing “wrong” about the whole picture is Infy choosing Hafeez Contractor to design this building. What an atrocity. That guy’s designs seem to be designed to confuse rather than impress.
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all this angaDi and associated ‘analysis’ perhaps correlates with the story telling and myth making that was visible in older times and even now seen on mane jagalis.
Mid afternoon some folks get around to discuss goings on in the neighbourhood, enri kamlammnore noDidra aa bombay huDugi vayyaara na ivvattu beLigge. aden dressu- aden makeuppu. yaraadru sambhavitra mane huDugi dress maaDo reeti-na adoo? maana maryaade enaadru idiya?
type of dialogues…
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Firslty, The Hindu is a seasoned Chinese newspaper. Stop giving it so much credit. It is a communist hack at best.
Secondly, what about Infys obsession with size. It is their shareholders money.
Look at the number of people they employ in Bangalore and Mysore combined. It is very nice to talk about Murthy angadi sitting on a katta sipping tea and denigrating them, but remember they have given Bangalore and Karnataka so much (apart from the obvious, also ask the house owners how much rent they make, ask the cab drivers, ask the hotel owners, ask the restauranters, auto drivers).
Much more than any politician or political party, has, ever, combined! Beat that.
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So you would rather have them build along the lines of the White House or how about the Great Hall of the People in China…
Just another excuse to do more NRN Hacking by Churumuri…
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Infosys has made its shareholders and employees rich many times over. That matters much much more than anything else. All this carping about innovation reveals ignorance – not stupidity, but ignorance – ignoring the need to study a topic in depth, not caring for the detail it holds, a complete lack of interest in the phenomenon – that is ignorance. Running a company that grows all the time, hires people, builds assets, satisfies its customers, and keeps shareholders happy, in a fiercely competitive market is not easy. If anyone thinks that this does not involve innovation – or developing new ways, new products – that person is badly ignorant. There’s a difference for the otherwise ignorant types too – in a “secular” land exempting the commercial income of an assessee from income tax, simply because the assessee claims to be “religious” is chicanery. Those stories about land grab is nonsense. The traditional Indian politician controlled the growth of industry to extract rents. New sectors of the economy came along and bypassed these crooks. Now the new sectors have grown into behemoths, and the politician is naturally fuming, at the missed opportunity. Naturally these thugs and crooks having no interest in development and having plenty of idle flacks comes up with this absurdity of “landgrab”. Chuck that into the trashcan. An Infosys campus is the most efficient way currently to use land. That’s what matters.
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The author’s problems seem to be as much with the original story in The Hindu as with Infosys. But folks ! Remember this is a blog which is prejudiced against both ! Having torn The Hindu to shreds in the past, the author is now sermonizing as to how The Hindu should or should not cover a story. Ironically, Churumuri itself derives most of its dope from The Hindu. So here it goes again.
BTW: This is my fourth attempt to post it and it still awaits moderation.
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Anything new in architecture need not be a monstrosity. Every thing old need not be a classic. A fine piece of architecture is one which is not out of place, is in sync with its surroundings, has a sense of proportion, scale, balance, and oozes harmony. The new Infosys structure reflects it all. Despite its colossal size, it has grace and makes it look smaller than it is. As a professional architect, can vouch for its elegance. However, it is a matter of personal opinion whether it satisfies all parameters of architectural design or not.
But to insist that the aesthetic standards have been set by a tv production house is sheer arrogance in lieu of knowledge of what constitutes good architecture. The article seems to betray envy and hate towards IT, Infosys and The Hindu in equal measure.
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Wait and watch for the structure…
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This is a great initiative by NRN. Its good that mysore is kind of moving towards an educational kind of city. thumbs up. now for the slap on the face –
The building is just fugly as hell.
It seems NRN’s cultural cringe has just embarrassed his organisation, again.
First of all Hafeez contractor is probably the worst architect’s you could choose, to design a building to portray India on a more international level. Yes, the man has numerous buildings to his credit, but all of them lack the basic denominator – of it some how representing the place the building it has built, India. You can go through his webbie, just pages and pages of modern, post modern and neo classical designs. Nothing at all indian or urban as such.
On the Hindu article —
>>> “We are lagging behind by one year as there were not enough skilled workers and trained labour to take up the construction of the complicated design,” said Mr. Mohandas Pai
‘complicated design’? Right, the building is a rip off, of 700 yr old classical architecture.
>>> “We have incorporated diverse architectural styles in the Mysore campus to reflect the diversity of India,” said Mr. Pai
Divestiy ????? its bloody neo roman-greek-classical. how the hell is it indian ??
No churumuri size dosent matter, design matters. Design can increase produtivity within a company and well being of the people working there. Quality matters.
The GEC is the worst representation of the diversity of India, because of the simple fact that it does not incorporate a single style Indian architecture. Indian architecture today has to combine urban and vernacular concepts.
Im starting to hate NRN now, he better change his outlook and some one please give mr. Pai a history lesson, diversity my @$$!
Charles correa would have done a good job. google him.
Mr contrators webbie .. http://www.hafeezcontractor.com
p.s a lot of images are pc generated, probably still proposed or just visualizations or something
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The GEC is surely an architectural beauty, and I would have been proud of it, IF it had been built in the 1900s.
Now with all the technology around, a GEC is a relic. Instead of looking for technological solutions, Infy management thinks like a manufacturing company, expecting all its employees to come to Mysore and work/study. I wonder what is global about Infy? Why can’t Infy open up smaller centers in the top 20-25 cities in India and provide its training through broadband/video conferencing? This is definitely more scalable. And they need not invest on 175 washing machines as the employees would stay closer home. And the centers need not be restricted to India. They can expand this model to Shanghai, or East Europe or any other place where recruitment is happening. Are they expecting 20,000-25000 employees to join Infy every year? (Wipro in the last quarter has already actually REDUCED its headcount). In times to come, Infy would be spending more on maintenance of this relic than on actual education. Bad move by Infy. Bad move for Infy shareholders.
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Arre, what is wrong with the claim of pride by Infosys. After all, are they degrading any authority, any constitution, any law, anything for that matter.
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I worked in this blady company called infosys.Had to quit the job due to the ugly work culture prevailing there.
Ask the emplyoees about these builiding,they will say you where that building is.You hardly get chance to see and enjoy the buildings there.
Software engineergaLa raktha heroo company adhu…
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TS,
You last comment was superb! You crack me up doode!
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hy can’t Infy open up smaller centers in the top 20-25 cities in India and provide its training through broadband/video conferencing?
duh! bcoz then you would then have to replicate a lot of the functionality and personnel, mebbe? their and their stakeholder’s money. why are we getting our chaddis and langas in a twist here antha?
as a mysorean i am only interested in knowing if they have their pipes in order and how much money can MCC expect from the inpi campus. i urge mr. pai to see to it that all the people going and coming means railway istation to inposis campus via ontikoppal is properly developed and laid. saar think only no, you can host all your phaarin delegates here. what will they think if there are no good footpathed and lane marked avenues enroute. tommorrow airport will open. then you will drive delegates around the pyalace. adella neeve noDkobekalva. road is good, foot path is there. lane marking is there. it is all cilean. osi noD kaLi saar.
illa idella byaaDa andre, namm aikLu kall oDibaardu andre ond ond chair haaksi saar sarkaari shaale gella. inposis chair for high school mathematics. inosis chair for 2nd standard studies eethara. aikLu odkanDu IT/Bt serkanthaave. nimgyaaru kallu hoDiyolla.
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This preoccupation with being bigger than a BIG Casino in a gambler’s paradise ( So what if the Venetian at Macau is the largest residential unit in Asia- is that the only comparing parameter for what is conceived as an academic centre!). The jokers of the Angadi can only get sillier in their testostrone driven obsession with size. Whilst one laughs at the antics of such fools TS ( another funny man) actually thinks there are strands of the Green Monster in these comments !
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funny. NRN wants farmers land to be acquired by govt at through away prices to build such monsters.
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avvi naa jokker-e ideeni tagi. nann vishya biDu, vishyakk baa.
they have built it with their moni and land and for a purpose and at a scale they deem fit. having built and done something they are boasting about it.
why are we so invested in what they say about themselves? why so much involvement to sieve through every word that is said and put it through ‘analysis’?
ts’ ps: avvi endearment li’l mother. puTT thaayi
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Very funny TS avre, neeve nun guru.
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Irrespective of how much “good press” Infosys gets (whether deserving or not), churumuri is right behind, questioning and criticising Infosys (read as NRN) on whatever it does. Isn’t it time to move on?
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I’ve personally seen this structure under construction… Looks grand enough and I don’t see anything wrong in building such a structure and boasting about it…
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For all those “humble farmer” types. 60% of Indians depend upon agriculture but contribute far, far less than that % to the country’s GDP. They are no lazy or stupid, just in the wrong place at the wrong time. We need to do everything we can to Xfer as many people as possible from farming into manufacturing and services. Otherwise we must live with the obscene reality of having more per capita arable land than China, producing as much milk, grains as the biggest farming nations in the world and still hosting the world’s largest population of hungry and malnourished people. Subramania Bharathiar said a 100 years ago, “Thani oru manidanukku unavillenil, jagathai ozhithuduvom.” If even one person goes hungry we must destroy this world. Do you want a farmer to eke out a marginal existence with subsistence farming rather than capitalise on his land and have his children earn a salary? Let’s get out of this farming obsession. We can grow more on less land and feed many many more. Narayanamurthy’s forefathers made this decision to get off the land maybe 200 years back. Dhirubhai Ambani left his land 60 years back. Industrialise agriculture. Let every farmer earn a salary and not be allowed in what Dr. ambedkar termed that cesspool of ignorance and squalor, the Indian village. Enough is enough.
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kaangeya,
but industrialized agriculture is not all that it is made out to be. lot of funny stuff going on in that. its more complex than simple slogans and metered texts can describe.
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Lo TS-appa!
Aaw hengusru mathoo isya bidu siva! Mysore-ge yen bhagya banthu ee building indha? Namm aiklu tharkari marokke ondhu chooru nerulu iro jaga illa…namma hengusru mudukru odadokke sadharana bussu illa! Ee building nodi neevella kushi padi. Sariyagi helbeku andhry aaw buildingu nan shatakku sarigilla…yenla batthadhey aaw building indha?
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Now we know why relics of the past remain the grandest structrures in Delhi. Indians can’t think big. And if a few of them do, there are many more to discourage them!
The ‘Rashtrapati Bhawan’ is a Lodge built for British Viceroys. India’s President occupied and renamed it after India became a Republic. The British built many other grand structures too, including the imposing War Memorial which is wrongly called India Gate.
What has independent India done in 61 years? To ‘dis’honour soldiers who died for free India, it has put a helmet on top of a helmet in the bowels of the imposing British memorial. Then, it has constructed hideous structures all over the city which highlight the grandeur of past structrures even more!
So, if Infosys has begun the return of the almost dead “Think Big” tradition of India which produced outstanding and grand structures in the past, it calls for a celebration, not criticism.
I don’t know how India’s President can sleep well in borrowed quarters when the view from his window shows nothing that the India of today can be proud of. Mysore may not be visible from that window, but I am glad that at least somewhere, someone has bettered the Viceroy’s Lodge.
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Ree ‘Joke’ Sharma!
I see no problem with that because all these buildings were built with Indian money and labor. So they belong to India.I have a theory why the Infosians have opted for think big theory: these are all garden middle class types living in hovels and small houses. So they have a burning desire to see something ‘big’ built from the company’s coffers! Had they lived in a ‘big house’ they would have been comfortable and understood the vulgarity behind their efforts.
My point is the city of Mysore deserves more from Infosys. I have offered seeral suggestions and my advice to them is to remove the disconnect between IT and common man. Make IT money work for them…don’t behave like smug and supercilious asshole types towards non-IT types. When the chips are down I won’t be surprised to see a surging tide of the unwashed dashing down the gates of IT and burning down the IT Lodge if it comes to that…think about working for the people…not dreaming ‘Big’!
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I second TS, yes whenever people talk about Murthy angadi and et el, they talk about R&D, research….well for one thing these guys are doing is gettng food on plates….R&D cannot get food on millions of plates (well it helps in a different way but will not feed the people today).
So you need someone to do that job. Also how many of us are good enough to do some research…give it a thought before commenting on R&D in Murthy angadi and et el. Try to improve one thing in the job/task you do in your daily life and judge yourself as to how much work and time is needed to invent something……
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DB. osi kannada odu guruve.
i said already. make road-u. audit pipe-u, energy etc. so that we know greater mysore is not screwed up. atleast, work on the local schools. all this only i said no?
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why is author so much against size.infy plans on recruiting 25000 in 2009 and they will surely need large buildings. also the Mysore campus provide best training for IT professionals in India.Also i find nothing wrong with NarayanMurthi becoming president.He more than deserves it.
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TS,
Your comments were not so direct like mine! I was only expressing my disgust at a useless venture that is being undertaken by the tax dodgers at Infy (reaping benefits of a tax holiday, cheaply acquired land) and hence lack the moral courage to build such monstrosities! Sure if they pay their taxes like everyone else and still build these edifices, I will be first to doff my Mysore peta to them!
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The architecture is good, it is not an eyesore. What’s wrong with the building? It beautifies the city. Perhaps other companies will also make beautiful buildings. Better to build a tasteful building than an ugly one for the city and also for the students. How is the building a monstrosity?
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Larissa,
There are several buildings of that kind in our State. The issue here is building ‘that’ with tax dodged money! I think the students are better served in a clean elegant looking plenty of sunlight receiving green building…it is the ‘faux’ architecture by a confused architect. The guys running the show are hardly the models for aesthetes. They are simple wage arbitrage con men plying their trade with smooth BS:)
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