Today Umakant and the staff at the company I have been working for took me out to lunch to say good bye. It was a bittersweet time and a lot of memories shared. I want to thank the local staff for all of the support that they gave me during my time here. I also want to thank the US based managers for the opportunity to come here. Of course, they have decided that my final few days here should be as busy as the days I first arrived. But I can sleep on the airplane, right?

The photos above are the gift that the local staff gave me as a farewell. It is quite the gift and will have a place of honor on my desk so that every time I look at it I can remember my time here.

I know that I wrote yesterday that I would not likely write another blog this week and here I am 24 hours later putting a new entry in. Oh well, what can you do? Yesterday was a big day for the organization I have been working with for the last 6 months. The CTO and several key members of his staff traveled to India to see how things are going after 1 year of operation. This of course entailed the normal high level dog and pony show type of presentations and some very pointed questions and answers. I had never participated at meeting at this high-level before and I learned a lot by watching the interaction of these senior leaders and those around them.

It was also interesting watching these leaders interact with the staff around them. One of the things that was added to the agenda was a chance for some of the key talent here to have a face to face meeting where any questions could be asked.  I was pleasantly surprised that the staff so easily asked their questions and I was equally pleased with the answers that they received.

At the end of the day, the leadership held a town hall for all of the associates that were present. This was a general overview of where we are today and where we need to be tomorrow. After the presentations, the floor was opened again to the staff and a number of other questions were answered. I was really pleased that the questions of the staff as a whole were on point and actually provided the leadership team with take-away's to follow up.

Lastly, there was a presentation that absolutely stunned me. Umakant and Don took the time to recognize two associates for their work at the company. Chella received his award for his project management skills, and he certainly deserved it. I was the other one. It was presented in a rather unique way where the staff was asked to guess who it was for as a series of facts were read aloud. The more and more that was read, the more I realized they were talking about the things I had accomplished. I was absolutely stunned! As I was being congratulated, I told the leadership team how thankful I was for this and how surprised. Looking back over the last 6 months, all I had seen was the failures.... I had forgotten to look at the successes. I want to thank Don, Umakant and the rest of the leadership team for making my final days in Hyderabad so memorable!

Today was the last day off I will have in Hyderabad. So you might ask, "Well Mike, what did you do today??"  "I did a little bit of a lot of things" would be my answer.  I started off today by starting to pack my bags. This is not quite as soon as you might consider, I had been doing a little bit of this off an on for the last week or so. The reason to start today was to ensure that I had room for the couple of other items that I wanted to purchase prior to leaving. This included by a number of different bangle sets for a few young ladies back at home that do not know they are coming. I will not give away here where they are headed, but these girls are aged 9-12 and I go to church with them (Ssssh, don't give away the secret!)

After spending a fair amount of time doing the above, I headed on to my last visit at that great Indian restaurant, KFC. Sidhar and I had a nice meal of chicken fingers, french fries and a diet Pepsi. A really nice meal that I am going to miss when I leave here. The chicken in the states just is not spiced the same way. It makes the meal very, very good.

Coming back to the hotel, it was more packing and being sure I had laid out all of the clothes I would need for this week as well as a couple of hours working on some spreadsheets for the office.

This evening, Michael and I finally had a chance to get out on the city for a while. I took him to Shilparamman to walk around and look at the crafts. This evening was a quiet night there, but I had a chance to talk to one of the henna artists as she was working on a young lady. Henna is used here for a number of different reason, including marriage ceremonies. However, it is also used just like jewelry At the left, you can see the masterpiece that the lady was working on. Both hands on both sides were covered with this incredible design.

As I was leaving, the lady asked if I wanted a tattoo on my arm!  I declined as the reputable artists will not put henna on a man. It is a very feminine thing and I think it looks best on them and not on me!

After spending a couple of hours at the craft village, I took Michael around necklace road and showed him a number of things that he and Rick can explore on their own. These include NTR gardens, Lumbini Park, the water park, Eat Street and PrasaDs (the movie theater). The primary purpose of this trip was to take the picture at the left.  I have seen the Buddha statue many times at night and never had my camera at hand to take the photo. So tonight I had Sidhar take us to Hussain Sagar lake so I could take the photo.

Hyderabad has a number of different monuments that are lit like this at night that I wish I had taken the time to get photos of.  I am just glad I was able to capture this one.

The last thing I did tonight was take Michael and Sidhar to my favorite Indian restaurant, Angeethi. This is a nice Punjabi place and the meal this evening was wonderful. No, I did not take a picture of the Dal, Paneer and Lamb that we ordered. I was much too busy eating it.

I am glad that I spent this day basically saying goodbye to Hyderabad. I expect that as the week goes on, the more and more that my mind will shift from India to the United States. I will admit to be a little bit melancholy about this as there is much that I admire about Hyderabad and India. However, I am also very, very excited to be home again among my family and friends.

I do not know if I will have the time (or even the inclination) to post another entry before I arrive in London. But one never knows!

Today is yet another national holiday in India. It is the anniversary of the day that the Indian constitution was signed and is celebrated all over the country. In some cities like Delhi, it is done with a huge military parade. In others, like Hyderabad, it is done on a smaller scale with cultural festivals and time with the family. The other thing that marks today is the heightened security. As I have been enclosed in my hotel room for the last three days, I decided it would be a good idea to take a long walk around the area of the city that I live in. This walk took me in a 5 kilometer circle around various businesses and homes. Most of the shops were closed and most of the family dwellings had huge numbers of people in their yards or balconies and everyone I saw had a small paper Indian flag pinned on their chest. I also saw a policeman about every 25 feet  everywhere I went.  It seemed as if the entire city was nervously celebrating this day. I guess there is cause for this trepidation. In the past several years various groups around the country have called for boycotting this day and sometimes these protesters turn to using bombs. Now I do not pretend to understand all of the grievances of these splinter groups. I just know that bombing should never be an option. I guess the warning from corporate security makes sense, but it sure puts a damper on my last weekend in India.

Today reminded me that my time in India is coming to a close. It was also a gentle reminder of the full circle of the things here. It was not that long ago that I remember sitting in the police commissioners headquarters registering as a long term visitor to Hyderabad. Today I took Michael along so he could register for his upcoming stay.

So many things have changed in the last six months that happened so gradually that I had not noticed. In August when Jason and I filed, it was an all day affair and the waiting room was stuffed full of people. Today Michael and I were in and out of the office in less than an hour. Most of the day was spent trying to get passport photos and a SIM card for his cell-phone. The other thing that was quite a bit different was the security at the headquarters building. Last August when we visited, there was no visible security. Today, security was not only present, it was visible everywhere. I guess Hyderabad has learned a little since the bombings in August. Again, some things change, some stay the same.

The other issue I am dealing with right now is my health. I have been remarkably healthy in my time in Hyderabad. That is until recently. I have had a number of nagging things reach up and get me in the last week. From a major migraine headache to sinus problems and even a small bout of Delhi-Belly. Nothing in and of itself would cause me much trouble. Added together back to back is causing me not to sleep as well as I need. This in turn has caused other issues.  I am hoping that this stuff clears up before my departure in 9 days.

As Michael and I were talking today as we were driving around the city, he mentioned that he has questioned his competence more since he has been here than he has in a long time. I fully empathize with him and I know I have questioned myself more since I have been here as well and a lot more in the last three weeks. I suspect that there is something about this job, the number of hours that you put in daily and the time zone differences that really makes a person question their effectiveness. However, I still stand by my statement that this has been the most challenging and rewarding job I have ever done. And leaving here will be a bittersweet time for me. I am really looking forward to the time again with my bride and with the new challenges that are laid before me. But I will also miss all of the people I have gotten to know here as well as knowing that I am leaving a job unfinished. However, I know that Michael and Rick will be more than up to the challenge and will finish the task that Jason, Gulshan and I started.

Today was a couple of firsts for me. Number one was stopping at a local chemist to pick up some Ibuprofen. I had finally run out of the 100 count I had brought with me as well as the 20 or so pills I filched from Ruth when she was here. When Vinod mentioned today that he needed to stop at the chemist for medicines he is taking, I took the plunge. The first question was, "what size, 400 or 600mg?"  Without having any frame of reference, I decided to take the 600mg pills. The second question was "how many?"  I asked for 100, but all he had was 40, so I bought what he had.

Now for the fun stuff.  Apparently, the pills in the states are 200mg and that is the limit for over the counter pills. A 600mg dose requires a prescription. So I wound up buying 40 prescription strength pills over the counter.... Wow, what a difference. The picture on the left shows the difference in sizes.

The second thing that surprised me today was lunch. I went over to the Novotel with Michael (a new short-term delivery lead) and with Byl (a global delivery manager) to watch Byl give a presentation to our new hires. Part of the deal was that lunch was provided. One of the items on the menu was a tomato and apple salad with pineapple.  I know it sounds like a strange combination, but it was quite good.  In the US, we would never think about combining these into a dish. However, as I stated, YUM!

As long as we are talking food

Let me introduce you to a mainstay part of my diet since I have been in Hyderabad. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the Banjara Hills Burger. Banjara hills is the area of Hyderabad that the Taj Deccan is located. The burger part of this sandwich is a breaded chicken breast and the rest of the sandwich has grilled onions, tomatoes and cucumbers.  Served with a side of fries and pickles cucumbers and carrots, it makes a really good meal.

In this picture, I had it served with a chilled 7-up and a side of vanilla ice cream (not shown, I put it in the fridge)  Not a bad meal to live on if you need to!

Lets start with the torture first. The dish you are looking on the left here is called a steak shaslik. It is the official dish of the Hyderabad short term delivery leads (well for at least two of us). Tonight I took our new short term delivery lead to Indi-Joes for dinner and this is what I ordered. It is a really nice dish that is served STEAMING hot. It is quite flavorful and runs a very reasonable 270 rupees (about $7 US). For a long time, this is the only green that was in my diet. The peas that you can see and few green beans that you cannot.

I simply post this here to give Jason a little bit of torture for leaving India so soon (stop drooling on the keyboard, you will short it out!)

The image at the left here was seen on a local auto-rickshaw and is hilarious on too many levels. First of all, honking is a way of life in Hyderabad. The horn is used to let people know you are there, you are coming, I am about to change lanes, get out of my way or even sometimes keep time with the music playing on their radio. It makes for an entertaining ride! Secondly, firearms are very difficult for the average person to get. I cannot imagine the government issuing a permit to carry a handgun to a rickshaw driver!  Either way, it cracked me up when I saw it.

So, yesterday I whined about forgetting to bring a charged or spare battery for my camera. Today, armed with three batteries and two memory cards, I ventured again to Shilparamam to see if they were still doing to native dance. And, boy howdy, were they!  Tonight was a competition between the various dance troupes and all stops were pulled. Each of the troops brought a different routine than what I had seen the night before. It was a stunning night of sound and color. I stood dumbstruck for most of the evening. As the judges were deciding the competition, I was asked if I wanted to come back stage and meet the various dancers. I guess being over 6 foot tall and a rather large westerner helped here. I had a great time getting to know the 100 or so folks that were back stage. The most common question was "did you like the dance?" and "did you like the music?"  A big enthusiastic YES to both questions. And when asked by the dancers which one I thought was best I quickly demurred and stated that they were all great!

I had also made a bad assumption yesterday that these dancers were from all over India. How wrong could I be. Each of these troupes was from Andhra Pradesh, the state that Hyderabad is located. WOW, what variation and diversity of the local dance. The announcers and the dancers all said that this was traditional tribal dance from around the region. When asked what the tribal dance was from my area in the states, I had to admit that we do not have one and that Americans do not dance much. This caused quite a bit of surprise amongst them. I have said before that the one thing I have found about India is that the entire population loves to dance. I think they are born dancing and dance all the way to the grave. Today did nothing to change my mind on that score.

OK, so now I am going to flood you with photos. These are a small fraction of the shots I took during the evening....

Whew, I know that is a lot of photos for one blog entry, but believe me, that is only a small fraction of what I took. I did not take any backstage as I was too busy talking with the teams to even think about it...  Anyway, I hope you enjoy the photos. I sure enjoyed taking them. Maybe having made a rookie mistake was not such a bad thing after all!

Congratulations to Vikas and Vidhi!!!

Is that big enough?? When one is getting married, it should be shouted from the roof tops!! I wish Vikas and his new bride Vidhi many years of happiness as they start their new lives together.

I was very honored that Vikas invited me to his wedding and if I was going to be in the country longer, I would of surely made the trip to share in his joy. Unfortunately, I will be leaving the country as these festivities occur, which is a real shame. As Vikas explained to me, the wedding festivities will take 4 days with very different things happening each of these days. I have included photos of the invitation below. It is quite the sight to see and I will cherish it.

Again, may your new lives together be filled with much joy and happiness!

A rookie mistake

Last evening I made a trip to the Shilparamam craft village to pick up a couple of last minute gifts. When I entered, there was the sound of drums in the distance. Drawn to the noise, I came across an exhibition of native dance from around the country. One of my biggest disappointments since arriving in India was the inability to find local dance. I was thrilled when I realized what was going on.

Now for the rookie mistake. Prior to leaving the hotel room, I grabbed my camera. One never knows when the photo of a lifetime will present itself. As I had not used it in over a week, I did not bother to check the various status indicators. So, here I am at a photographers paradise with all of the color and motion, and my camera informs me that it is almost out of batteries! Every other time in this city when I have grabbed the camera, I have grabbed a spare battery. Tonight I failed to do so...  ARRRRGH!

Anyway, enough whining, here are a few photos that I was able to capture...

As promised in yesterdays blog, this is my first observation / comparison between India and the US. I have talked about this topic before in this blog, but I want to spend a little more time discussing it.

One of the things that we take great pride of in the US is being the 'Land of the free'. However, over the years we have consistently traded in the freedoms that we used to have for the government to provide security. I did not realize how bad it had become until I came to India and saw how things work here. There are a couple of differing things that are happening that I believe is the root cause of this. One is the litigious society that we live in and the other one is the federal government pandering to various interest groups to get elected. Both of these items continually erode the freedoms that our parents and grandparents had. Several things have happened since my stay here that have led me to conclude that in many ways India is a freer country than the United States.

The first time was when I saw a small auto accident. In the US when this happens, the police are called, insurance is filed, repair shops get into the act. By the time you are done, many folks have their hand in your pocket for a simple thing. And of course, if this does not work, here come the lawyers adding their part to the puzzle. All in all, a lot of folks make their money from a small fender bender. In India, when a similar accident happens, both drivers get out and spend several minutes yelling at each other and then get back in their cars and drive away. And this is not to say that you see any more vehicles here with damage than you do in the US. People here take care of things on their own.

The second item that took a while to sink in is religious freedom. In the US, we claim to be a country where you are free to exercise your religion. However, you do not dare take it into the public square. It is barred from our schools, it is barred from our government buildings, it is even being barred from public gatherings. Religion in the US is considered to be a private thing. In India, religion is a way of life. You see it everywhere you go. It is openly spoken of in the schools and in government and it would be a shock to the average citizen here to tell them they could not discuss it in public. In the US we are so worried about offending, that we take no stand. In India, offence is taken, not given. And for the most part, the population here does not take offence. I find this an admirable way to live.

Lastly is personal responsibility. In the United States, our governments spend a lot of time making sure we do not hurt ourselves. From the laws specifying how hot coffee can be when it is served, to the fences blocking off access to places where you might hurt yourself. Many barriers are erected around our daily lives to prevent us from harming ourselves. I expect this is due to the mind set our population has that if we hurt ourselves it must be someone else's fault. To that end, as a culture, we spend a lot of time suing those around us for mistakes we made on our own. A case in point is a lawsuit I remember where a person sued a local government because he jumped off a moving city bus and broke his leg. His suit claimed that it was the cities fault because the bus door could be opened while moving. The sad part is, he won his case.  The funny thing about this is that everyday I see the same thing in India. The busses here do not have doors and it is not uncommon to see people get on or off the bus while it is moving. In India, if you do something stupid and hurt yourself, people around you will shrug and ask "What did you think was going to happen?"  Responsibility for keeping yourself safe an unharmed lies with you and not the government. It is amazing the freedom you can have when you take responsibility for your own actions and do not expect the government to protect you from yourself.

I could go on and on on this topic, but I expect it is already too long for many of you. I am not trying to say that one say that one country is better than the other. Just that I have found many things to admire in Indian society that make me miss similar thing sin my own.

Today marks the two week point until my departure from Hyderabad (well, maybe). I have been in this city now for 160 days and many things have happened since I have been here. I have seen much of the diversity that India has to offer and as such the focus in my blogs will change over the next few days. Much of what I have commented on here in the past has been things that have affected me directly. Future posts will be a mix of the final sight-seeing that I want to accomplish as well as comments on differences between the country of my birth and India.

This week is also the real beginning of the end for my stay here. Jason's replacement, Michael, arrived Saturday and I have spent the last few days showing him around and introducing him to the folks around me. My replacement, Rick, will be here in the middle of next week and I will do the same for him. During this time, I will also transition much of the workload that I still have to the local staff or to Rick when he arrives. This is really a bittersweet moment for me. I am so looking forward to going back to the states and into the loving arms of my wife, but I also know that there is much work to be accomplished here. As many of you know, I absolutely hate to leave a job unfinished. However, the project will be in good hands with the local staff and with Michael and Rick coming on board.

Now, wait just a minute!

My loving wife decided it would be a good idea to send me the picture to the left this morning. This is what it was doing in my hometown this evening. SNOW!! This could be a problem! When I arrived in Hyderabad back in August, it was in the mid 90's and 100% humidity, back in Atlanta it was really close to the same. This made for an easy adjustment and most days were a little cooler here than at home.

Now that I am on my way home, it is in the 30's there and still in the 90's here. Does anyone know if the sell electric under garments at the airport? This is going to be a huge shock to my system!

Maybe??!!

Some of the more observant of you caught the word 'maybe' in the first sentence above on my return date. There is a desire by my management to have me stop in London on my way back to the US. If this occurs, I will move my departure date from the 31st of Jan until the 2cd of Feb. This will prevent paying the outrageous rates for a hotel in London when it is not really necessary. This will also give me a couple of extra days to work with my replacement when he arrives.  Either way, the end of my stay is rapidly approaching.

By this time, you must be getting tired of the American idioms I am using for the titles of my blogs. I really can't help it. Ruth and others will tell you that my sense of humors runs in very strange veins and that once I get stuck on something I tend to stay there for a while.

This weekend in Hyderabad was the international kite festival. I didn't even know it was here. Today as I was running around the city, I saw a bunch of kites off in the distance. I asked my driver to meander over that way to see what was up. Thousand and thousands of kites and their flyers from all over the world were there. I wish I had remembered to bring my camera but, sadly, I did not. The photo at the left is from one of the local newspapers.

I will say that I never expected to find anything that would even remotely come close to the International Hot Air Balloon Fiesta held in Albuquerque every year, but this certainly does.  The colors and motion were incredible. I wish I had more time to spend walking through what was going on. But it was getting late in the day and the festival was winding down. It is a real shame that I missed this!

Well, most of you knew that I was a little off center anyway, but the title of this post is a little bit different than you might think. Earlier this week, I made a quick run at the office to grab my beverage of choice (a diet Coke) from our little snack counter. This normally costs 25 rupees and all I had on me was 30. The young man behind the counter did not have change so he gave me a package of gum instead. The gum was BANANA flavored!  I had never even considered such a thing before! 

Always being someone to try something new, I opened the package and tried 1 piece. It did not take long before I realized that this wasn't bad. While this gum will never replace Juicy Fruit as my gum of choice, it was not as bad as it could of been. I cannot imagine that it would be a big hit with the US market either. But, there it is!

Indian Product Expo

Yesterday I had a chance to run over to a new expo that was being set up. This expo was showing all of the various products that are produced in India for both the domestic consumer as well as for export around the world. This showcase had items from clothing to tractors and from computers to washing machines. The area set aside for it was quite huge and there had to be close to 2,000 vendors in the area setting up their booths. The expo officially started last evening and I got onto the grounds early to take a quick peek. It was quite fascinating watching the craftsmen set up structures made out of bamboo and foam core, then paint and decorate the structure so it looked like a permanent building. I doubt any of them were weather proof, but as it is not monsoon season, they were sufficient.

It was quite the day just walking around and watching all that was going on. I had not intended to buy anything, but just to take photos of the things that might interest me. However, I did indeed buy a pashmina for my bride (see above). This was a most interesting exchange between me and the seller.

• Seller: Good day sir. Please come take a look. Looking is free.
• Me: I am not really interested. Just here to take photographs.
• Seller: Let me show you some pretty things. Take all of the photos you want. (grabbing the first item)
• Me: WOW, that is pretty. Is it embroidered.
• Seller: Yes, it is on a silk base and took the ladies of the village a week to produce.
• Me; Very, Very Nice.... How Much
• Seller: 25,000 ($450)
• Me; Very nice.... But I am not spending that kind of money.
• Seller: Let me show you the other items
• Me: Ok, do you have anything in dark brown
• Seller: Hmmm, Isn't this nice?
• Me: (looking at the above item)  Yes, I like that. I think my wife will also.... How Much??
• Seller: 4,000 ($100)
• Me: Too Much.
• Seller: Your my first customer... Make me an offer.
• Me: 200
• Seller: No sir.... 400
• Me: I think 200 is enough.
• Seller: Make me a reasonable offer.
• Me: To me 200 is reasonable...but 250
• Seller: Agreed!!! Thank you sir...
• Me: Thank you as well.
• Seller: How about this one????
• Me: walking away.... No thanks!

So, all things considered, it was a fun exchange... Dropping the price from $100 US to $5 US is quite the bargain and a good waste of 30 minutes time.  I cannot say I will ever get used to the haggling. But having lived here long enough, I recognized the 20 times rules for foreigners and applied it appropriately. Both the seller and I had a good conversation and a both got what we wanted. He made his profit and I got a perceived bargain.

Anyway, this is a much longer post than I had intended. So on with the other photos from the day!

For My Dad's Eyes Only

Ok, now admit it, you peaked didn't you?  So I guess I have to tell the entire story. In Albuquerque New Mexico, the city fathers wanted to create a piece of public art to honor the days of yesteryear when Route 66 rolled through the sleepy little town. So they commissioned an artist to come up with her representation. She gave the city this monstrosity on the left that the locals immediately dubbed "Chevy on a stick". Yes, the artist took an old automobile and covered it and the steel structure supporting it in blue glazed tiles.  How this represents the romance of the old road is anyone's guess, but there it is.

So, you ask, what does this little piece of trivia have to do with your stay in Hyderabad? Well as I was touring the expo and it's various booths, I came across a little shop advertising their scooters. These scooters are battery driven and come in many colors.  How did they choose to advertise, you might ask.  Wait for it.....

.

.

.

I give you the "Scooter on a stick"!

.So, my sense of humor strikes again!

By now, many of you have heard the news of the new car that TATA  motors has introduced called the Nano (Pictured at left and not my photo). This car is interesting to me on a number of different fronts.

First is that this is proof again that the European and American corporations still do not understand the Indian market place. Many of the pundits panned this car as Tata announced it a couple of years ago, saying things like "it will be impossible to build at that price point!" or "who will buy such a car?"  Tata, ignoring all of the criticism, went ahead with their plans and innovated a number of new ways to produce this vehicle. Things such as making use of new materials and also making use of the cheaper Indian labor market, they were able to accomplish what they promised. Until foreign competitors realize that the Indian market place is unique in the world, they will continue to struggle to gain market share here.

The second group I want to aim at is the environmentalists who decry that bringing a car in at this price point (1 Lakh or $2500 US) is going to add a lot more pollution to the environment and continue to clog India's already over burdened roads. While I can almost empathize with their viewpoints, they are missing the much larger picture. This car will indeed add many, many more cars on the road. However, in my opinion, it is more likely to replace the motorcycles on the road versus bringing new vehicles. It is not uncommon to see a family of 4 riding one of these motorcycles everywhere (and I have personally seen SIX people on a scooter once). With this car coming in at a price point similar to these two-wheelers, I expect more people to head towards this car because of the seating capacity, the fact it gets close to 50mpg on the road, and that you can stay dry during the monsoon season!

The entire movement and associated complaints reminds me of the US when Volkswagen introduced the Beetle to the American market. It was a cheap car for the masses that could not afford a vehicle.  I do not seem to remember the end of civilization because the Beetle started driving our roads.

All things considered, I believe that Mr. Ratan Tata has introduced a car that is going to be a big hit throughout this part of the world. I expect that this vehicle will be a mainstay on roads from Mumbai (Bombay) all the way to Shanghai and as far away as South America. So congratulation Tata motors.

Traffic flowchart

I have talked about traffic in this space more times that I really care to remember. However the introduction of this vehicle made me ponder where it was going to fit into the heirarchy of Indian traffic. Below is a graphic of where I expect it is going to fit...

With the size of this car, I expect it is going to take one of two places on this chart..... either between bicycles and small cars, or between Rickshaws and large animals!

Good day ladies and gentlemen. I know that each of you are wondering what in the heck is going in on the picture to the left! Why, didn't you know that the reason I came to India for 6 months was to have myself cloned? Doing this allows me to travel home to my wife, family and friends in three weeks while still leaving myself here to finish the job.

The process was relatively painless, with the sole exception of the transfer of knowledge and memories (and the doctor said that with my limited capacity, it only took about 1/4 of the time of a normal procedure!)

Ok, enough silliness. Pictured at the left is two Kurta's that I purchased last week. With my size and shape, they had to be hand stitched (most Indians are slender of build. We big stocky guys cannot find things off of the shelf!) The one on the left is a brown base with a black paisley print over top and the one on the right is a copper base with a pattern that shows up green in certain light (kind of cool, isn't it?) Both are worn over a pair of black pyjama bottoms that are about two sizes two large and are fastened with a draw-sting. Next to my kilts, this outfit is one of the most comfortable I have worn.

I guess what Suresh (one of the floor managers at the hotel) has said is getting closer to the truth...  I am now 1/2 Indian. Of course, he was making fun of me. I won't consider myself that until I speak a little Hindi without making people around me laugh.

"Soldiers patrolled the streets of the southern cities of Hyderabad and Karachi in an effort to quell violence, witnesses said. At least 23 people were killed in unrest, said Ghulam Mohammed Mohtaram, home secretary for Sindh province."  AP 28 December 2007

During the course of this week, I have been asked several times if things are ok in Hyderabad. Apparently the news reports in the United States are continually reporting about unrest spreading through the region form Benazir Bhutto's assassination. While the city I live in does have a large Muslim community, the city as the whole is relatively quiet. So the questions got me to thinking "why is everyone asking the question"?

Then the answer hit me. There are two cities named Hyderabad in this region. One is in Pakistan and the other one is in India. The city that the news reports are talking about is in the southern region of Pakistan. All is quiet here in India.

While there is some concern here that the unrest in Pakistan could spill over into India, it is thought that this is likely to occur in the Northern provinces and not down in the middle south where I am located. So all is safe and sound in Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India.

Hyderabad Unrest!

If there is any unrest in India right now, it is over Cricket. The Indian national team is currently touring Australia for a series of matches. Australia is ranked the number one team in the world and India is hot on their heels. During the second test match between these two teams, two things occurred that have caused quite a bit of controversy. One is the refereeing apparently was atrocious (by all accounts) and as many as 8 critical decisions went against the Indian team. It is felt that this cost them the second match and, in turn, the entire series. The other incident was a call of racism against one of the Indian bowlers. This charge has led to a three game suspension of the player involved. The only evidence of this (if you believe the local papers) is from the Australian team itself and there is no audio or video footage backing the charge up. The accusation is hotly denied by the members of the Indian team. 

This incident has fired up the Indian people like nothing else I have seen. Two-thirds of this morning paper was devoted to the controversy and there are calls for boycotting the rest of the tour as well. There is also a demand for an apology from the Australian cricket federation as it is felt that they have not behaved in a gentlemen like manner (a cardinal sin in cricket). It kind of reminds me of the Georgia, Georgia tech college football rivalry back home, but on steroids. For the casual fan (like myself), it is a most entertaining thing to watch.

So to sum up the blog entry, I would use this....

• Hyderabad, Pakistan - Civil unrest.
• Hyderabad, India - Cricket unrest!

Happy Days are here again!  Ok, Ok I know this is an obscure reference to an old political campaign theme. But it rather fit this evening. I had threatened last weekend to finally breakdown and go see a movie at one of the local theaters. But before we get there, I need to give a little bit of background on the local movie scene.

First off is that there are three major types of films shown in Hyderabad. These are Hollywood, Bollywood and Tollywood. You may be asking yourself "What in the heck is the difference?" Well, let me enlighten you as much as I can...

• Hollywood - Based out of Los Angeles and the surrounding areas. These are the films we in the U.S. are used to seeing in our Cineplex’s'.  A vast majority of these films are in English and when they get shipped around the world they are either subtitled or dubbed in the local language. Here in Hyderabad, they are shown in English and many of the locals pick up American Idioms from these movies.
• Bollywood - These films are based out of Mumbai (Bombay under the British rule) and are in Hindi. The films are generally of very high quality, but sometimes have the tendency to 'borrow' concepts from U.S. based films. Two of the biggest movies last year were Partner (based on the movie Hitch) and Hey Babyy (based on Three Men and a Baby).  The films are also based all over the world and showcase many different scenes to the viewing public. There is also a formula that the Indian market likes that deals with love stories and the dialogue between characters. One of the refreshing things about Indian cinema is the question is not over language or nude scenes, but if the characters should even KISS on camera. (for the most part, the answer is a resounding NO)
• Tollywood - These films are based out of Hyderabad (kind of) and are in the Telugu language. Unlike the Bollywood films, most of these are shot around the local region or at the Ramoji Film Studios just outside of Hyderabad. Again, the films seem to follow the Bollywood model of love stories or character plays. Although there is a large movement on now into the action genre.

Ok, with that background out of the way, I had intended to go see the Bollywood movies "Om Shanti Om" or the movie "Welcome" as I had heard the soundtracks to both of these and they sounded interesting. However, yesterday in a fit of compassion, I had invited my driver Sidhar to the movies because he had never been to a multiplex (more later) and he wanted to see the movie "Happy Days", one of the Tollywood films. So, that is what we went to.

Interactive Movies

Attending this movie was way beyond anything I expected. For one thing, this film has been out for 60 days. In the U.S., the film would now be in the dollar theaters. Here, I paid full price for the film and the house was still packed! Next was the fact that every ticket for this particular theater was for assigned seating!! I was very fortunate and got a great seat towards the center aisle about 6 rows from the top.  Sidhar told be that the theater sets aside certain seats for VIPs and other guests. I guess I looked important.

Ok, now let us rewind for a minute and remind all of you that I speak zero Telugu, ZERO! So here I am in a theater with 400 other people watching this movie. Surprisingly enough, I was able to follow along with the plot of the film through the acting on the screen. It also did not hurt that as things were going on the crowd was either actively booing or cheering. This made it really easy to know who was who, with one exception. Apparently one of the actors of the film decided to bring his fiancé to the showing this evening along with a bunch of friends and every time he appeared on camera, the crowd around him cheered (even though he was a bad guy!)

What an entertaining way to spend three hours!

A multiplex experience

No discussion of the evening would be complete without a little space devoted to the theater I saw the movie in. PrasaDs bills itself as the largest theater complex in Hyderabad and also boasts two of the IMAX screens in Hyderabad. They do a good job of mixing the typical IMAX fare along with the currently Hollywood block buster’s (for example, this week, they had the movie "The Grand Canyon" as well as "Beowulf" and "Harry Potter" scheduled on their IMAX screens).

The other interesting thing is that once you find a movie you want to watch, you look in the paper for the insert at the left to find out what time it is showing. I do not mean like state side, where you have a number of options for the day. I mean, the one time, this day that the film is going to show. Hence, the movie I went to see tonight showed at 4:15 and only 4:15 today.

Inside the theater complex is a whole different experience from what you would have in the U.S. as well. There are restaurants, shopping, arcades and many other things on the floor. I was somewhat confused by this until I attempted to enter the theater. They do not permit patrons to approach the theater doors until 15 minutes before show time (screens are on the third floor. shopping and entertainment on the first and second). And if a film says it starts at 4:15, it starts at 4:15. No previews, no reminders to turn off your cell phone. Nothing but the movie!

Another thing of interest was the fact that the movie we saw was a little over three hours. At about 90 minutes, a sign appeared in the movie that said "Break".  Patrons got up and walked to the bathrooms and to refill their refreshments. About 10 minutes later, the movie started up again. How refreshing that was!

All in all, I had a great time, but the most memorable was watching Sidhar trying to play the arcade games. I suspect he had never done it before. I bought 100 rupees in tokens (about $2.50) and he played for the better part of an hour, smiling and giggling like a little kid!!

I highly recommend that anyone who comes to India from the U.S. take time on one weekend to watch a local film. It does not even matter if you understand it or not. It was well worth the experience.

Please forgive the ramblings you are about to read here. I need to talk a little about the feeling of the helplessness of distance for a little bit. This is going to be quite personal and a very different post form the others I have written to date.

Yesterday was the first time in many; many months that Ruth and I did not have a chance to talk together. Due to personal business and jet lag on her part and lack of sleep on my part, we missed our early morning phone call. I fully expected to talk to her last evening via the computer as she got up. So, sitting here in Hyderabad, I kept waiting for her to come online so we could chat for a little.  As the evening progressed and the clock continued it journey towards 9am her time the more frantic I became. (With two alarm dogs that go off every morning at 6:45 am, I fully expected her to be up and awake)

Did something happen to her? Is everything all right with the family? What is going on?  Repeated phone calls to her cell number and the home phone went unanswered.... What in the heck am I going to do? I am 9,000 miles away from home. Who can I call to check on her?

Finally, about 9:30am, I reached her on her cell phone. She had gotten up late and had to rush to a meeting at the church with another lady to pray. Whew, I was never so happy in my life to hear her voice. I should have known it was something simple and something important.

It seems that the distance away from home and loved ones does strange things to a person. I am not one who normally worries. During other business trips I have taken, I would not have been the least bit concerned. I would have thought it was something simple and I would still have several hours of daylight to reach her and to figure out what was going on. The 9,000 mile and 10.5 hour time shift took that comfort level away. My mind started to race.... Can I even get out of here? How does one buy plane tickets at 8pm at night? Even if I can get on the flight at 2:15am, it will not arrive in Atlanta until 3pm the next day. Even then, what could I do?

The simple problem is that I did not think about this prior to coming over. My mind was so focused on the new job, the new adventure, and all I needed to do to get here, that I never considered how to get back in an emergency. Because of this, I failed to bring a simple thing as a list containing phone numbers of our friends in the area. In this kind of situation, an email address is simply not enough.

So why write this post you may wonder? I have two coworkers who are in the final stages of getting ready to travel to India for the next four to six months. I want them to be sure to have their emergency plans in order and to be sure to carry a phone list with them. Having an emergency plan in place and knowing how and when to execute it is vital. I should have known this having been in the computer industry for the last 30+ years. But I admit, I simply did not think of it. Because of lack of planning on my part, I spent a very uncomfortable and disquieting couple of hours last evening that could have been easily avoided.

Another one of the more interesting aspects of living in a foreign country is running into things that are called something you are used to, but might look and taste completely different. The title of this blog is an indication that this is an universal thing and is not centralized just to the United States

During lunch today, I stopped at a local eatery to grab a bite to eat. As I had a very light dinner last night and had skipped breakfast this morning, I was a little famished. So going against tradition, I decided to stop at a full blown restaurant. After ordering my meal and sitting back to sip my diet coke, a group of about 30 other westerners walked into the place.  I walked over to introduce myself and found out that the group was coming through Hyderabad from the south and were on their way to Delhi and Agra to finish their sight seeing. Most of the group was from various parts of Europe ranging from France to the UK. And as most Indians speak English, so did this crowd. 

After chatting for a while, my lunch came and I turned to more important matters (Eating!) After about 10 minutes, the food for the group that had joined me started to arrive. I was rather humored to hear the above comment from one of the young ladies to our waiter.  The poor guys was stunned and did not know how to answer her. Here, in Hyderabad, the vast majority of the carrots come in two forms, the Delhi-reds and the baby carrots (which are yellow). I took pity on the poor waiter and explained this to the group and suggested that even if it looked strange, they should just try it and they might be pleasantly surprised.  With a look of trepidation, she tried her meal and then smiled broadly and stated loudly "I can't tell the difference!"  Ah, another 'tourist' satisfied.

A new way to mow

Another interesting item from this morning was watching the staff mow the lawn in the back of the hotel. Once or week or so, they trim the grass down and edge the sidewalks. I have watched them do this several time, but today was the first time I had the camera at hand.

Take a close look at the picture attached and you will see the gentleman at the front pulling a rope that is attached to the mower and the gentleman at the back is pushing the mower.  No power tools here! Likewise, when the sidewalk is edged, a group of ladies with hand shears does this task.

One of the things that India abounds in is man power. So why pay the cost of an expensive machine to do the task if you can give jobs to people to do the same task cheaper?

These are just two more aspects of India that I did not expect as I got on the plane to head here. It is amazing how quickly I have adapted and these things do not even register to me any longer!!