Last night I was so exhausted from jet lag finally kicking in that I was in bed by 9:00--and so haven't had time to update my blog until now!
Yesterday was my first day of "work" in India and I thought I'd run it down for you!
7:45 - I make my way bleary-eyed out of my room (only got one hour of sleep) and into the guest house lobby. There I find the breakfast table all set up for me with carafes of water, milk, 4 kinds of juice, tea and coffee all spread out. I'm asked: do I want pancakes or an omelette? Wow. This I could get used to! I wolf down some food and am told 5 minutes later than my car has arrived for me. (I like this babysitting--this must be how my kids feel in the mornings).
8:00 - I am en route to the office and this is the first time I think I've fully experienced Indian traffic in the full light of day. Contrary to my prior post, this place is nothing like the United States! Happily. I'm glad to experience something completely different. Cars, motorcycles, auto rickshaws, bicycle rickshaws, pedestrians, bikers, dogs, cows all compete for space on the highway. The honking is incessant. Marco would love it! I see piles and piles of garbage on the sides of the road mixed with sleeping dogs, street food vendors, people brushing their teeth in the water from mudpuddles. I am desperate to take pictures but it is competing with a very strong sense of comportment in me that won't allow me to offend my driver by photographing the chaos. Hopefully I will overcome that feeling and have some pictures for you!
8:20 - I am driven into Cyber City--a huge complex of high-rise buildings which house all the major international technology companies: Google, Yahoo, Ericsson--you name it. I'm driven into a parking garage where I get out and take the elevator to the 9th floor of the Google building. I've arrived! And it looks unsurprisingly--just like a Google office. Next to my seat there is a little futon bed on the floor. I want to get in it.
8:45 - I've met my team and they've ushered me into the cafeteria so I can have breakfast #2! There is a huge spread of food for breakfast in the cafe. The strangest and most interesting breakfast I have ever seen. As I work my way around the counter I see trays of rolls, toast with jam, various Indian pancakes and steaming bowls of various curries...there are also hot dogs and french fries with honey (??), rice and vermicelli dishes, waffles, a fruit bar, tea--a complete hodgepodge. Luckily, they have a whole Costa Coffee counter where I can get a cappuccino. I have a second breakfast of fried cheese and vermicelli. Yum!
9:30 - While at breakfast, it was decided that the team would have an "offsite" this morning and take me to the movie theater. We got in a bunch of cabs and headed to a nearby shopping mall (the biggest in India, and it must rank amongst the largest anywhere) to see Crazy, Stupid Love. It was actually a really good film! (But I was the only person who liked it AND who cried 3 times during the movie)
And then I stayed behind with 3 other girls to do more shopping. I bought 2 salwar kameez--typical Indian clothes consisting of a long tunic over loose fitting pants. These are fantastic! It's like wearing pajamas but you look so put together. And they're colorful and fun! I felt so drab in my blah American clothing. I keep buying them. I wonder if I'll wear them when I get home?
2:30 - Between movie-going and shopping, it was 2:30 when we finally got back to the office. We got home by auto rickshaw--the other girls couldn't wait to see me in one! It was very much like being in an Italian Ape car. I'm attaching a picture below! We survived the trip, and I did a good 2 hours of work before I was rushed out the door by my team. It seems that if you don't leave by 5 sharp, you might as well stay until 7:30...as traffic gets so bad that it will take you hours to get home.
5:00 - Getting home consisted of going back down to the parking garage, where tons of people are milling about, workers, cab drivers, Domino's delivery drivers (yes, Domino's)...a couple of people who are "in charge" are yelling for people who live nearby to get into cabs. I was shoved into a cab with 2 other girls who both got dropped off before me. This was actually kind of good, as I got to see some residential areas. The first was a nice, quiet street, but the second I can only describe as all sorts of chaos and squalor. The car could barely move for all of the people in the street...a man selling apples was pounding on my window with an apple--presumably to get me to buy one? Women were squatted on the ground making tea, more cows were weaving in and out--complete. chaos. I was fascinated.
8:00 - Knock-knock at my door; my dinner is ready and I am escorted to the dining room, where I ate a large Indian meal with 2 girls staying in the guest house from Hyderabad (another city in India). They served a chicken soup that was so spicy my lips were burning and I could hardly eat it--but it was so delicious that I could not stop eating it, and just enjoyed the agony. We also had some rice and yogurt with some kind of vegetarian stew and chicken. They topped it off with some chocolate ice cream!
9:00 - Exhausted and jet-lagged, I pass out for the night.
That's all for now! I am going out to an Indian Bazaar with my teammates--more to come.
Yesterday was my first day of "work" in India and I thought I'd run it down for you!
7:45 - I make my way bleary-eyed out of my room (only got one hour of sleep) and into the guest house lobby. There I find the breakfast table all set up for me with carafes of water, milk, 4 kinds of juice, tea and coffee all spread out. I'm asked: do I want pancakes or an omelette? Wow. This I could get used to! I wolf down some food and am told 5 minutes later than my car has arrived for me. (I like this babysitting--this must be how my kids feel in the mornings).
8:00 - I am en route to the office and this is the first time I think I've fully experienced Indian traffic in the full light of day. Contrary to my prior post, this place is nothing like the United States! Happily. I'm glad to experience something completely different. Cars, motorcycles, auto rickshaws, bicycle rickshaws, pedestrians, bikers, dogs, cows all compete for space on the highway. The honking is incessant. Marco would love it! I see piles and piles of garbage on the sides of the road mixed with sleeping dogs, street food vendors, people brushing their teeth in the water from mudpuddles. I am desperate to take pictures but it is competing with a very strong sense of comportment in me that won't allow me to offend my driver by photographing the chaos. Hopefully I will overcome that feeling and have some pictures for you!
8:20 - I am driven into Cyber City--a huge complex of high-rise buildings which house all the major international technology companies: Google, Yahoo, Ericsson--you name it. I'm driven into a parking garage where I get out and take the elevator to the 9th floor of the Google building. I've arrived! And it looks unsurprisingly--just like a Google office. Next to my seat there is a little futon bed on the floor. I want to get in it.
8:45 - I've met my team and they've ushered me into the cafeteria so I can have breakfast #2! There is a huge spread of food for breakfast in the cafe. The strangest and most interesting breakfast I have ever seen. As I work my way around the counter I see trays of rolls, toast with jam, various Indian pancakes and steaming bowls of various curries...there are also hot dogs and french fries with honey (??), rice and vermicelli dishes, waffles, a fruit bar, tea--a complete hodgepodge. Luckily, they have a whole Costa Coffee counter where I can get a cappuccino. I have a second breakfast of fried cheese and vermicelli. Yum!
9:30 - While at breakfast, it was decided that the team would have an "offsite" this morning and take me to the movie theater. We got in a bunch of cabs and headed to a nearby shopping mall (the biggest in India, and it must rank amongst the largest anywhere) to see Crazy, Stupid Love. It was actually a really good film! (But I was the only person who liked it AND who cried 3 times during the movie)
And then I stayed behind with 3 other girls to do more shopping. I bought 2 salwar kameez--typical Indian clothes consisting of a long tunic over loose fitting pants. These are fantastic! It's like wearing pajamas but you look so put together. And they're colorful and fun! I felt so drab in my blah American clothing. I keep buying them. I wonder if I'll wear them when I get home?
2:30 - Between movie-going and shopping, it was 2:30 when we finally got back to the office. We got home by auto rickshaw--the other girls couldn't wait to see me in one! It was very much like being in an Italian Ape car. I'm attaching a picture below! We survived the trip, and I did a good 2 hours of work before I was rushed out the door by my team. It seems that if you don't leave by 5 sharp, you might as well stay until 7:30...as traffic gets so bad that it will take you hours to get home.
5:00 - Getting home consisted of going back down to the parking garage, where tons of people are milling about, workers, cab drivers, Domino's delivery drivers (yes, Domino's)...a couple of people who are "in charge" are yelling for people who live nearby to get into cabs. I was shoved into a cab with 2 other girls who both got dropped off before me. This was actually kind of good, as I got to see some residential areas. The first was a nice, quiet street, but the second I can only describe as all sorts of chaos and squalor. The car could barely move for all of the people in the street...a man selling apples was pounding on my window with an apple--presumably to get me to buy one? Women were squatted on the ground making tea, more cows were weaving in and out--complete. chaos. I was fascinated.
8:00 - Knock-knock at my door; my dinner is ready and I am escorted to the dining room, where I ate a large Indian meal with 2 girls staying in the guest house from Hyderabad (another city in India). They served a chicken soup that was so spicy my lips were burning and I could hardly eat it--but it was so delicious that I could not stop eating it, and just enjoyed the agony. We also had some rice and yogurt with some kind of vegetarian stew and chicken. They topped it off with some chocolate ice cream!
9:00 - Exhausted and jet-lagged, I pass out for the night.
3 comments:
Ang, I laughed out loud at least 10 times during this post...you need to become an official blog writer! :)
Food pics please :)
-Sarita
Thanks Crystal! And Sarita--you are so right. Every time I eat I think I should be photographing.
Post a Comment