Homeward Bound

Friday night, I flew back to the US. The flight was pretty good. The movie and TV selections were the same as outbound so unfortunately that meant watching Bride Wars and Just Shoot Me. Not too happy about either of those. I read, wrote some blog entries, and drank. Mostly though, I slept.

Staring at a picture of the Taj Mahal for 14 hours is almost the same as being there in person, right?

As with last trip to India, the flight going was easier than the return. Going there, you're really excited. On the return, there is the inevitable letdown of the trip. Combine that with the jet lag and insomnia and I was definitely feeling fatigued.

I made it through Customs in JFK quickly and was even able to go stand by on an earlier connection to DC. I was home before noon on Saturday.

All in all, I think the trip turned out well. We had a lot of good meetings. I really enjoyed meeting my team. Plus, I got to see some of the sights of Delhi. I guess missing the Taj Mahal just gives me an excuse to go back some day.

I think the trip was a success...but I'm very glad to be home.

Note: I've posted pictures in my blog entries, but there are many more in the online web album (click here or on any picture to be re-directed).

Delhi in a Day

With visiting the Taj Mahal off the table (see Monday's post), I used my one free day to tour Delhi. My team leader, Prateek, and a Project Manager, Nisha, volunteered to show me around.

Our first stop was the Qutab Minar. It was built in 1199 and is either a victory tower or a minaret to an adjacent mosque. It's the highest stone tower in India and is touted as one of the finest Islamic structures ever raised. It is Delhi's most recognised landmark. (I had never seen it before.)

This column is a wishing column. According to Nisha, the ritual is that you make a wish and then you lean your back up against the column and reach your arms around in a reverse hug. If your hands touch, your wish will come true. We asked a guard why it was fenced-in, cutting off access. His response was a very terse, "People were doing bad things so it has been closed." This made us all chuckle.

Near Qutab Minar is the Alai Minar. Alauddin Khilji, wanted to build a tower twice as high as the Qutab Minar. However, when Aluddin died only the core had been finished. Nobody else seemed to care enough to continue, so the construction was abandoned. So much for Alauddin's grand plans.

Our next stop was the Chattarpur Mandir, a complex of temples located near the Qutab Minar in Mehrauli. The temple complex is dedicated to the Goddess Durga. It covers a large area and has lots of beautiful lawns and gardens.

Locals and tourists visit these temples throughout the year, but during the 9-day festival of Navratra people come from all over the country to visit and pray. Prateek said that people wait up to 5 or 6 hours just to get inside. Many people try to make it for one or two days, but some people go every day--that's a crazy amount of standing in line!

Nisha and Prateek

Our next stop was to the India Gate, the national monument of India. It commemorates the 90,000 soldiers of the British Indian Army who lost their lives fighting for the Indian Empire in World War I, II and the Afghan Wars.

From the India Gate, we drove past the Parliament building:

No, it's not a revolution. The Parliment is lit by actual torches and it was a windy day.

and the President's Palace:

Look kids: President's house, Parliament

No one is allowed to stop in front of either Parliament or the President's house. Prateek said if you stop, even for a moment, guards will swarm your vehicle and probably arrest you. Not my idea of fun. These pictures were taken as we drove past.

Our final stop on the tour before dinner was to the Dilli Haat, or "Shoppers' Paradise." Dilli Haat is a large open area filled with hundreds of stands and shops that sell a staggering mix of items and crafts and food from all parts of India...and each stand had a different incense stick burning. It was over the top. There was also a food court of sorts with numerous stalls selling authentic delicacies from all over the country.

One of the things that made me laugh was a souvenir shop where you could pick up all sorts of gift items related to the Dilli Haat itself. You could commemorate your trip by buying souvenirs of the shopping trip. Some selections included framed pictures of the market and glass figurines of women selling pashminas. Really? Is there actually a market for this? I guess this is for the people who feel that the souvenirs aren't enough and so they need souvenirs of the souvenir shops? How long before this takes off in America?

One of the oddities of the day was that I don't really know Prateek and Nisha. The only conversations I have had with Prateek were about work stuff. We had all made the agreement NOT to talk about work, but without it to talk about, what's left?

It turns out that of our 12 hour day, we had about 3 hours worth of conversation topics. At least Prateek has a 3 year old kid so we could compare notes, but even that only got us so far. In the end, much of the day was spent in silence. It was more than a little awkward.

With the amount of work and my crazy schedule this week, I'm glad I had a day to see some more of India. It was also really nice of Prateek and Nisha to spend their time taking me around. It was a long day and a lot of sitting in traffic. I'm not looking forward to sitting on a plane tonight, but I am looking forward to going home.

The Airport Story

As mentioned before, Sunil’s bag was lost. At some point Tuesday, Sunil remembered that he had checked his bag all the way through to Delhi so there was a chance it made it to India after all. After a series of conversations with various customer service people, his bag was located in Delhi Wednesday morning. Since we were in Chandigarh and then Mumbia, he had to wait until Friday morning to claim his suitcase. With nothing else to do (this hotel didn’t have ESPN so I couldn’t catch Game 2 of the World Series), I decided to tag along.

They take security very seriously in India. In Delhi, you have to have documentation just to get into the airport. To get in to Ticketing, you must have a print out of your itinerary. You even have to pay 80 Rupees (about $2) to meet your family at baggage claim (this is a legitimate fee). There literally are guards at every door.

For Sunil to get his bag, he was told he would need to get paperwork from Air India to bring to the Airport Manager for him to give Sunil a pass to get into Customs. Sunil was told to go to room 49. This all seemed simple enough.

The guard at the first door sent us to a second door. The guard at the second door told us we need to be on the other side of the Concourse. Since we weren’t in the right place and weren’t allowed in, we had to go down a level and across. When we got there, we were sent to a third door, farther down the Terminal. The guard at the third door sent us to a different place. Ultimately, we went up and down levels 4 times and crisscrossed the Delhi airport 3 times. About 20 minutes after we arrived, we finally found Air India baggage services. We were certainly getting a workout.

There, we were made to wait while they put together the proper paperwork. This took about 10 minutes. Signatures were verified, Sunil's passport was copied, etc. Finally, with proof of the bag claim, we now had to find the Airport Manager.

We had to go upstairs again and down to the end of the concourse to find this little door that was not well marked. At the Airport Manager’s office, the first guy reviewed Sunil’s baggage claim and brought it into the back room. A few minutes later, Sunil was given the pass to get into Customs.

We specifically had to go back in the door by Air India’s baggage services, which meant going back down the Concourse and down a level. Since I ‘technically’ had no business being there and did not have any documentation, I was not allowed to accompany him into the airport.

About 20 minutes later, bored with milling about outside, I shot Sunil an email with the subject “Do I need to file a lost Sunil claim?” (I thought this was funny). Another 10 minutes went by, but Sunil finally came back--with his suitcase!

Sunil retold the story of actually getting his bag. Apparently, he went to the Customs window and they told him to take his pass to Air India’s baggage room inside the terminal. There, the representative told him he had to fill in his pass for Customs to accept it. Why didn’t the Airport Manager or the Custom’s guy tell him that? He then went back to Customs. They took his completed paperwork and sent him to the baggage warehouse. He had to weave through several underground hallways. The room he found was literally a warehouse. Sunil described it as a 40 foot x 40 foot cement room, with floor to ceiling metal racks filled with approximately 10,000 bags. Apparently they store bags for upto 6 months and then if they’re still unclaimed (or maybe just abandoned after the rigmarole described above) they destroy them.

The people in the warehouse took his documents and searched for his bag. When it was located, he had to take it back to Customs where they X-rayed it (we could not figure out why since it had been secure the entire time). He then had to pay 400 Rupees (about $10) for "storing" his suitcase. I would translate it as "ransoming", but my Hindi isn't that good. Finally he had his bag and was allowed to leave. Success!?!

From beginning to end: over 90 minutes

Two Days in Mumbai

We were supposed to arrive in Mumbai at 3pm, go to a meeting and have dinner with the client. Should be pretty simple, right?

As I mentioned before, our flight was delayed 3 hours. (Mumbai is building a Metro and so for the next 6 months, the airport is closed all day on Tuesdays and for 4 hours on Wednesdays so they can dig the tunnel under the runway. I feel like that should have been told to us ahead of time). We arrived at around 6pm.

I called Jess from baggage claim to check in. As Jess has talked about in our family blog, she's been sick this week and has mostly lost her voice. With the noise from the airport, the low level of static that comes from an international call, combined with Jess’ hoarseness, I could not hear/understand her. She actually passed the phone off to Sabrina for a brief chat so I knew we hadn't been disconnected. Kinda made me laugh.

Unfortunately, we hit rush hour traffic so it took us over an hour to get to our meeting. The meeting itself was great, it just was really long. We finally left there about 9pm.

We got to our hotel, the Hyatt Regency Mumbai. At Reception, we found out that our room had been booked for Thursday night not Wednesday night. To make matters worse, they were sold out. Oddly enough, through series of miscommunications, the client had booked us rooms at a nearby hotel. This turned out to be awesome.

We were travelling on a bit of a budget. The hotel they booked us was far nicer than what we had reserved. The Leela Kempinski Mumbai is an absolutely fantastic hotel. The room was huge. It had a big flat screen TV on the wall, a massive fancy bathroom. There were several restaurants. With our late hour, our only choices for dinner were the Chinese or the Italian restaurant. We opted for the Italian. Dinner was fantastic. By far the best of the trip. I got back to the room around 12:30am, called Jess again (this time we could actually hear each other) and crashed in bed.

From a Philly sports perspective, this week was a rough week to be away. The Eagles played on Monday night. The hotel in Chandigarh did not have ESPN so I was not able to get to catch that game. Phillies are also in the World Series. The 8:30pm EST start meant the game was on at 5am Thursday morning. My sleep issues aside, I really wanted to see the game. I mean the Phillies are in the World Series, how could I miss it? I’ll sleep when I am dead.

This hotel had ESPN (truly a 5 star establishment), so I was hopeful the game would be on. I set the alarm for 5am and decided to let fate decide: if the game was on, I would stay up, if it wasn’t, I would go back to bed and sleep until it was time to get ready for breakfast (scheduled for 8:30am).

The Phillies sports gods smiled on me, the game was on. No rest for the wicked. Just before 8am, I remembered I still had to get ready for the day. As I got in the shower, the hotel’s true value became apparent: I could see the TV from the shower. Not a second of the game would be missed. 5 star hotel indeed!

Thursday was a morning meeting with the client from the previous night, then a lunch meeting and a site visit with a second client. The lunch was at the CEO’s country club. Food of choice, Chinese (again). Is there something with India and Chinese restaurants or is it just my luck? I like Chinese food but not 4 times in a week.

Thursday night we flew back to Delhi. We ate at the Indian restaurant in the hotel. It was good. I don’t love Indian food but with Sunil’s help, I managed to get a few good (non-spicy) things.

I decided that a never-before "comination" was NOT something I was up for trying.

The Rock Garden

With our flight not scheduled until 1pm, Sunil I decided to visit the Chandigarh Rock Garden. Several people had recommended we visit it. It was designed and built by Nek Chand. We only had an hour but we easily could have spent the whole day. It was very beautiful in parts and just strange in others. It was filled with carvings and statues. There were also neat passageways and a waterfall.

These are only a sample of all the pictures I took in the rock garden. Look at my India album to see the rest.

The paths were so many and so windy that once we were in the heart of the garden, we were worried about making it out in time. We rushed out and to the airport, then found out that our flight was delayed for three hours. Oh, well. It was a nice way to spend a morning before heading back out on the road again.

Dance Party I.N.D.I.A.

I manage two teams in India: an EDD processing team of 7 people and a Data team of 5 people and one joint supervisor. It's a 24/7 operation with three shifts (morning, afternoon, and night). One of the amazing things about my team is that there are more post-graduate degrees in the room then there are people (I hold none of them).

I met with the leadership of our India company and with (all three shifts of) my India team. Both were great meetings.

The staff meeting in particular was terrific. It turned into a 80 minute Q&A/open forum/free flowing dialog on everything. It was awesome. People I had talked to on the phone who I always felt were tremendously shy opened up and provided some great insights. I got feedback on all sorts of topics. They had suggestions for their US counterparts and even for our project managers. It was very interesting to hear their take on our process and work flow. I really enjoyed the whole session.

Later, I got a tour of the facility and met with the Coding managers and then with their team. The next logical step is to merge Coding with my team and I think we laid the groundwork for that.

Sunil and I went to lunch with the CEO and my Indian counterpart. We went to a fancy Chinese restaurant (second time in India). Good food, good conversation. I finished the day with a tour of our India company's other two offices. While we don’t work with their other core businesses, it's always good to know what else is available.

That night Sunil and I wanted to host a happy hour for the entire team including management, Coding, and support staff. We had a bit of a dilemma on our hands: my team runs 24/7. Do I make a handful of people work while all their colleagues drink, or shut down for 4 hours to let everyone attend? Keep in mind that 8pm-12am IST is 10:30am-2:30pm EST (our prime work hours in NY and DC).

I opted for a full shut down for the 4 hours. It was a slow morning back in the US anyway, and with our NY team available to cover, I felt we could chance it. The only stipulation I put in place was that those going back to work within 4 hours of the end of the party were not allowed to drink. Seemed the most fair.

The evening started out kind of funny. Whether it’s a cultural thing or a group dynamic/ personality thing, when we arrived everyone was in full-on 7th grade dance mode: guys and girls were divided on opposite walls. We got a few drinks and tried to mix the two crowds. It just wasn’t taking.

Then the DJ arrived and the music started blaring. Immediately, it was a completely different party. Guys and girls streamed to the dance floor. It was hilarious. People were having a great time.

Like I said, we were planning to host a happy hour, so I thought it was odd that they kept referring to it as a "Dance Party". I do not dance. I mean, I have danced and I am physically able to dance (although not well), I just choose not to. I dance at weddings when Jess requires it, but NEVER go to dance clubs. It’s just not my scene.

It was odd; I have done things for political reasons before, and what I mean by that is I am great at the office politics game, but DANCE?, come on, that’s a line I wasn’t mental prepared to cross. It was funny though. There were a few holdouts, wall hangers (my people) but once both Sunil and I were out there with the masses, not a single other person stayed off the dance floor. People seemed to be having a great time. Everyone was so pleased that Sunil and I danced. The whole atmosphere was so festive.

After 1am, when Sunil and I got back to our hotel and chatted, he and I both confirmed a few items we witnessed:

1. Of the few that were going back to work, not a single one of them had a drink the entire night (which I find to be impressive)


2. Not one of the unmarried women had a alcoholic drink (that either of us saw)


3. None of the unmarried men danced with woman (only by themselves or in groups)


4. When management was around/included in a group discussion, all people seemed to put their drinks down as to not been seen drinking. When the manager would walk away, they would immediately pick up their beers and continue. When I mentioned this to one of the other VP’s, he confirmed that it is in fact a cultural thing, and that he often uses it to monitor/help pace some of the more "exuberant" team members.

I had planned to work after the happy hour was over. A handful of beers and the fact the dinner wasn’t served until 11pm made it clear that that wasn’t going to happen. At 10:30pm, I called off work for the night and even shot off a message to cancel a 2am IST/4:30pm EST conference call.

Dispite breakfast, it turned out to be a great day.

Lost in Translation

After another crappy night's sleep, I met Sunil for breakfast at the hotel restaurant. At least they had a buffet. Most of it was various traditional Indian dishes and fresh fruit, which I quickly decided against. I settled on a handful of items as I went around, a small roll, chicken sausage, some roasted potatoes, etc. I then spotted the omelet guy. Score! He had a standard buffet setup, a burner, pan, eggs and an assortment of toppings. Nothing wrong with that, right? Right?

Our exchange went like this:

Egg Guy: “Can I?” as he gestured towards the eggs.
Me: An omelet please.
EG: Fried Egg?
Me: Um, no. An omelet?
EG: Fried Eggs?
Me: Um, I don’t think that’s the same. Can you make me an omelet?
EG: Yes. Fried Eggs.
Me: Is that the same as an omelet?
EG: Yes, Yes. Fried Egg. You will like.
Me: Ok, then. I’ll take one. Thank you.
EG: Coverings? Pointing to the toppings.

I selected onions, green peppers and cheese to accompany my "Fried Egg”. What I got was unfortunately NOT an omelet. The Fried Eggs I got were sunny side up eggs with onions, green peppers and cheese on top; definitely not an omelet. What’s worse is I watched him make it. I saw him put the eggs on a flat skillet, and leave them there to solidify. I kept waiting for him to mix’em around or something. Nope, he just tossed on my ‘coverings’ and handed me my Fried Egg.

Not a good way to start the day.

Can't Sleep

For the second night in a row, I have awoken in the 3AM hour. (Currently 3:50AM). Man I hate insomnia. Anyone got any tips?

Businessman's Special

Monday morning started with a meeting with a company in Delhi (went really well). We were a bit rushed due to our midday flight but there was not much to be done about that.

We raced to the airport and flew to Chandigarh. When we arrived, we had to go through a random passport check. Of everyone, another white guy and I were the only ones selected. (Apparently, TSA does not have exclusive rights to profiling.) I was walked behind a half cube wall.

The Customs guy was speaking a mile a minute. It finally became clear that this was a shake down. The agent made it clear that I was "required" to pay 3,000 Rupees (about $65) . I countered with $40 in American cash to simply move this along. He accepted. He did not provide me with a receipt. (Question posed on Facebook: Where do you log "Customs bribe" on the expense report?)

Our contact at SG India met us at the airport and I detailed my shake down. He mentioned it was probably because I was in a suit and tie and that $40 was pretty reasonable. I guess I should be pleased then?

The afternoon was filled with more meetings. We grabbed dinner at the hotel (Chinese. Chicken and broccoli was not on the menu so I went with Garlic Chicken with veggie dumplings. Pretty good.)

Got back to my room around 11pm and crashed, again. I did not sleep well last night. Hopefully tonight is better.

Wallyworld's Closed. Moose Outside Should Have Told You.

This trip is a lot of travel and a lot of meetings, so I was excited that I had time on Friday. I planned to see the Taj Mahal.

I was speaking with the Concierge about getting to Agra, where the Taj Mahal is. He confirmed it's about 3 hours away. The cost to get there is about $120 for an air conditioned car or $90 for no A/C. Not even a question. Too hot to go no A/C.

We agreed on the price and departure time. He recommended leaving at 6am and departing by 4pm to beat the traffic. When I told him I wanted to go this Friday he became concerned and excused himself for a momentary chat with another guy. He came back and informed me that he (and other guy) believe that the Taj Mahal is closed on Fridays. I can still go to see it but the gate will be closed so I will not be able to go inside. All I will be able to do is see it and take pictures from about 100 yards away. He did say they were not positive about this and that I should look it up on-line. He then recommended several temples and a garden to see in Delhi instead. Stay tuned on this.

Update:

Jess looked it up for me. The Taj Mahal is in fact closed on Fridays. Jerks. One of my Indian co-workers offered to show me around Dehli personally, so I think that's what I'll end up doing. Always a bonus to get a local perspective.

How Bazaar

I have arrived in India!

I had very low expectations for Air India's coach section, but I must admit, it was not as bad as I imagined (no free range chickens or anything, nor a giant metal crate ala Spies Like Us).

The space was tight but manageable. I am glad I had an aisle seat. The food was decent enough and the booze was free. Although every time I asked for scotch or whiskey, I got brandy (which is NOT the same), but who am I to complain about free brandy? I will not recommend a brandy and Coke though. Brandy and Ginger Ale was ok.

I got my bag fairly quickly and made it through Customs without a shake-down bribe this time. My co-worker, Sunil, was not as lucky. His flight from DC to JFK was canceled, so American put him on an US Airways shuttle flight to LGA. Unfortunately, his checked bag did not make it to NY before our flight left for India. He had hoped it would get transferred over but apparently it did not. Now he is hoping it arrives tonight or tomorrow morning since we leave for Mumbai tomorrow afternoon. I can just imagine his bag chasing us around India.

A word on Sunil: he was born in India but moved to Brooklyn when he was 3. He is a US citizen but he speaks fluent Hindi, as that's what his parents and extended family speak. He went to law school in NY and now is a recovering attorney.

Since Sunil doesn't have any work clothes for tomorrow and is not confident in the airline delivering his bag tonight, Sunil and I went out to buy him clothes at a street bazaar (it was still open at 7pm on a Sunday).

The shopkeeper seemed amused by Sunil and his lost bag predicament. He understood the situation and started pulling out shirt and tie combinations, horrible horrible combinations - green striped shirts with yellow paisley ties, orange shirts with electric purple ties were some of the highlights. Sunil finally settled on three shirts, one black, one grey and one white, plus two normal looking blue ties. He chose three pairs of pants, which the guy was willing to (and did) cuff right there as we were waiting. He also picked out a small suitcase, a belt and three pairs of boxers. He got all of this, including the tailoring, for 5300 Rupees, which is about $120.

After the shopping trip, we were going to find dinner when Sunil's cousin called and invited us to dinner at Sunil's uncle's house. We went. There were five families living in one 4-story house. There were kids all over the place. We talked about our kids. Sunil has two of his own. We discussed the fact that they were all still awake (it was after 9pm at that point). Sunil's cousin's take: Early to bed means early to rise. Apparently if they go to bed at 11pm, they don't wake up until 8 or 9 am. Hard to argue with that. If only Sabrina or Stephen worked that way...

The dinner was nice. The food was not too spicy (apparently Sunil had asked them to back it down for me). We had a few drinks - Sunil's uncle was amused I drank scotch neat (I didn't tell him it was for defensive purposes). We stayed out WAY to late. We returned to the hotel around 11:45pm and I immediately crashed into bed.

What a 1st day!

BO-RING!

14 hours is not much better.

In-Flight Entertainment

Welcome to Air India.

To my surprise, each seat has a personal TV/entertainment system. The movie choices are a bit lacking: The Night at the Museum 2, Bride Wars and Dr. Dolittle (plus several Indian selections). There is also a "Classics" section featuring An Affair to Remember, The Poseidon Adventure and The Jewel of the Nile.

The TV options aren't much better: In addition to several Indian selections, there are Two and a Half Men, Rules of Engagement, Like Family and Just Shoot Me. Just shoot me indeed. It's curious that there are two David Spade shows in there. Is he big in India? I guess it's possible. Good thing I brought my own entertainment.

There is USB port which I can use to charge my iPhone and Blackberry. I will say that's pretty sweet (and better than I expected).

Also, turns out the flight is only 14 hours not 16. That's way better.

Coach to India, That Sounds Awesome!

I did not get my upgrade, so I am flying Coach to India. This sucks. Not looking forward to it.


Are you down with 34D? Yeah you know me!


See you on the flip side.

Beef, It's What's for Dinner

Last night before I left, Jess was going to make lobster and crab ravioli for dinner, but I nixed that. That is not to say it would not have been good, but come on, I am going to India. It was my last beef opportunity for a week. Instead, I made us steaks, which came out really well, if I may say so myself.

I packed a ton of things to do on the plane, maybe too many things actually (iPhone w/four games and a ton of music, laptop w/five movies, PSP w/three games, and two paperback books), but 16 hours on a plane is a really long time and I'd rather my bag be heavy than be bored. We'll see how that goes.

I'm off to the airport.

Going back to India

Welcome back to my India blog!

Those of you who are friends with me on Facebook may have seen this, but for the rest of you, I am going back to India! My company is sending a coworker of mine and me on a week-long business trip, leaving tomorrow and return the following Saturday. It looks like its going to be quite a whirlwind tour. I have meetings in Delhi, Chandigarh, Mumbai and then again in Delhi. As of now, it looks like I will have one day to sight see. I will most likely take that day to visit the Taj Mahal in Agra. I am very excited about that. I am not sure how much I will be able to post or how real-time it will be, but I will do my best.

Also, look how little Sabrina was the last time I went to India. I barely remember her being that small. Craziness.