After Mysore and meeting long lost friends

There was one thing missing while I was in Mysore. Nearly 4 years ago, my first out-tasking team consisted of Paneer, Arvind and Maria. Maria was onshore in Minneapolis with me, the other 2 were in Chennai. These three young men will always be special to me.  We learned a lot from each other, they helped me learn how to lead a team that is 8000 miles away, and we supported each other and still do; maybe not quite as frequently as when we were a team, but it's still there. Prior posts show me meeting Arvind and his mother and father, and I know that Arvind's mom and I have a bond, too. Maria was at my home cooking in the kitchen one day as I'm first learning how to host a group of people from India in my home (my coffee mugs are not suitable for tea ;) and he made a comment I'll never forget, and that was while hanging in my kitchen and home with me and others from the team, cooking and comfortably just being with each other, he said he felt like he was at home. Pulled my heart strings just a little bit, there. There's something special about this group, and it extends to family. We were put together for a reason and that reason expanded way past being a team lead and a team. It's a good thing.
So, when I was in Mysore, I was hoping I'd get the chance to meet Paneer, the one I had not yet met face to face. We've talked on the phone, we've chatted via Google-talk, we've exchanged emails, and he's been bugging me for 3 years to write a blog. (happy, now? ;) But, he wasn't answering my phone calls, my text messages or my emails, and I just assumed something had happened and I may not hear from him again. So, that thought haunted me all through the days before, during, and after our visit to Mysore, and as we drove out and back to Bangalore, my heart was heavy.  But, I had done all I could except for showing up at his door, and I would have probably done that before I left this country, except for the fact that he did contact me, and had been out of town and out of touch and was back and would be meeting me in Bangalore on the following Saturday!!  And we did. All is well.  And it was good!  We had lunch, we talked, we had coffee, and I think I know him better than he thinks I know him, but time will only tell on that. We shall see. And I got invited to his marriage at end of May, so will be extending this trip and taking vacation after May 14 instead of during these months as we were going to do. I may miss seeing Kerala this trip, but I'll get to attend this wedding of a dear friend and meet his mother, too, which will make up for that.

The following weekend, on Saturday I spent the day with other old friends that I had not seen in two years. Srikanth and Ragini, who had just moved back to Bangalore from New York.  Srikanth is going to be going to school for his MBA in Hyderabad, so they're back for at least a year. It was SO good to see them again. When they were in Minneapolis, both of their mothers were staying with them for a few months, and they invited my mother and me to lunch.  In turn, my mother invited them and their mothers to her home. My mom lives 2 hours away in Wisconsin, on a bluff overlooking the Mississippi river. We had a beautiful drive there, met my mom's partner Elfi, and had a very nice gourmet lunch of Indian food my mother made (cooking is a passion with her) and the moms got to tour the house and the garden and the created pond and waterfall, and the vegetable and fruit raised gardens and the chicken coop, and the huge yard and Ragini's mother asked me " Do they do all of this all by themselves?" and I said, "sure!". They were stunned by what two women could accomplish and manage with not much help. And all 4 of them are about the same age, but way different lives, yet so much in common. See for yourselves.. was an old run down farm house, and they gutted it and put in the pond and the gardens and made it into paradise :)

When we got to the upper floor of the barn that they have been remodeling and turning into a loft, which has a million dollar view of the valley and the river from a deck they put on the back of that barn's 2nd story, Srikanth's mother put her hands on her hips, and stated to all present  "I'm staying!".  My mother said, sure.. you can stay, we'll have dinner later.. and Srikanth's mom says again, "no I'm STAYING!" which let us know she meant she was moving in!  And then Ragini's mother said, "I'm staying too!"  Of course they didn't, but it was very apparent that they loved the place and appreciated the work that 2 women can do, did do, and continue to do to maintain a piece of grace and beauty, and that is another moment I'll never forget. Women can be very independent in the U.S. and we are starting to take that for granted.  Women can be independent in India, and it's not the norm, but it's growing. Slowly. I see so many of the young Indian women who are privileged and educated take easy choices, and take advantage of that ease.  I need to remember they are young, and hope they find ways to take some of those harder choices as they go, and share their experiences and strength. There is a great deal of untapped strength there, and I see them choosing to be pampered rather than strong.  I do see some amazing strength too, and for those where it's hidden, I hope it's just temporary. 

Anyway, I spent Saturday with Ragini and Srikanth, hanging, eating real Pav Bhaji for the first time (OMG, was that good!) watching a movie, relaxing, going for a walk, talking. Was a very nice day, and so good to see both of them after so long.  And real good to know that Srikanth is continuing his education. That guy will run a large company someday. CEO.  Mark my words!

Sunday was Palm Sunday in the Christian religion, and I attended a Catholic church with Mathew from my office here. It was a Catholic service like I've never seen, very young, very casual, no hymns but songs with words to the songs flashed up on the walls in a PowerPoint presentation, and very honest and real.  I don't usually like a lot of sermons, but this one was great. I loved watching the altar boys and girls, and the vicar bossing them around, and the Sisters in their tan saris giving communion. Everyone had a palm leaf, and there were a group of young folk leading the singing, all with nice voices and one with a spectacular one. Very pleasant way to start Sunday morning. Afterward, we went to Cafe Coffee Day which is the Caribou of India -OK, Starbucks, but I prefer Caribou. After that, we both had nothing planned, so we ended up hanging out and shopping at the new store by my house called HyperCity.  It's like a Super Target on steroids!! My eyes about bugged out when I saw the fresh produce!  I've been craving a good salad for about a month, and have not had the pleasure of finding really great variety of what I consider salad fixings at the stores we've been to, but here!  Amazing!  Huge selection of fruits and vegetables, many of which I've never seen before, and some of which Mathew had never seen. So, we help each other out in identifying things, and I have now had my first Alphonso Mango (OMG!) and Jack fruit, and have had 3 salads consisting of sprouts and pomegranate seeds, cabbage, onion, peppers, garlic, cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, carrots, and olive oil and lime dressing, with chili powder and salt and pepper. YUM! They have Land O Lakes butter from Arden Hills MN (what?), Ben and Jerry's ice cream, a huge selection of cheeses you just don't see here, a very dangerous selection of sweets and pastries, and furniture, clothing, household items, electronics, bikes, a book store, liquor store, pretty much anything and everything. We were there for a couple of hours, talking and looking around and just hanging.
Turned out to be a very nice day.

Yesterday was Good Friday, and I celebrated by getting a facial, and a manicure and pedicure :) Today, saw the movie Clash of the Titans (not so great) and we ate at an Italian restaurant that had pretty amazing food and sinfully wonderful desserts! We did the movie and Italian with Archit from Lisa's team, and he'd never eaten Italian food before.  So, we had some fun picking out a good pasta dish and then a good chicken parmeggiano which was excellent, and then these desserts.  The desserts were certainly winners, particularly his first taste of Tiramisu, which is the middle one.  For the main courses, noticeably less cheese than in the US, but very good food!And the two of them loved the wine, while I loved the non-alcoholic Mint Mojito! 

 

 
Tomorrow is Easter Sunday. I'm going to the Art of Living Ashram with Meenakshi, one of my team members. May as well mix this all up real good!  :)  Happy Easter, everyone!

Mysore

Two days after Bannerghata, we went to Mysore with my friend Chetan. Early Saturday morning we head out of the crazy city into open country and clear, decent roads through hills and rice paddies and sugar cane fields, and bamboo forests. OK.. THAT'S more like it!  I knew this India was here somewhere! It's beautiful and peaceful and a nice 2 hour drive from the outskirts of Bangalore to Mysore. We stop for breakfast of filtered coffee and a kind of Idli I had not had yet, kind of flat like a pancake and I think called a Tatte Idli, and then off we went.

Chetan's plans included a stop at Janapada Loka, a place along the way with some cultural and folk art displays similar to Dakshinichitra in Chennai, but this one was not quite as developed. It was nice, it was hot, there were beautiful artifacts to be seen, but it just seemed a bit untended, although we did get a demonstration of pottery making from days way before there was electricity. Just some elbow grease to get the wheel going, and he created the whole pot to perfection before that wheel came to a stop. Next door was a great restaurant where we had lunch and then we stopped to shop for trinkets.  And boy did we find trinkets! We're bringing back a lot of what we found there, so no details on what the presents are. Just know that we had to stop back there on the return trip on Monday morning to pick up more of what we had found here and no where else!!  Then, on to Mysore, city of palaces and Mysore Silk! 

Beautiful city, organized, clean, no traffic jams ;) and there are HORSES running through the streets.  Loose horses! I said.. whaaa..?  I knew about the loose cows and buffalo everywhere,   (as seen to the right )
the loose goats were a surprise, but HORSES?  I guess that's the "thing" in Mysore.  The Maharajahs had horses, and the horses have remained, drawing carriages and carts, horse racing, and beautiful specimens of horse and pony just trotting through the streets.  I LOVED that!  Go driving down a street and 4-5 gorgeous horses go trotting by, all free and unfettered. Quite amazing! and beautiful! Others are teeny, tiny little horses or ponies, used for pulling small carts of tourists around. Very cute!

We checked into another, and probably our LAST $22.00 per night hotel.   It's good to know they exist, they are plentiful and can be had, but I'm done with the cheap hotels. This one was very similar to the one in Chennai and Chittoor- peeling paint on the walls, rock hard bed, no screen on the bathroom window so mosquitoes and other bugs just come strolling or flying on in, had to ask for a towel (FINALLY someone tells me that Indians bring their own towels!  doh!  never even occurred to me) and right on a busy street with traffic noise all night long. By traffic noise I don't mean New York City traffic noise, I mean Indian City traffic noise.  BIG difference.  Huge.  The array of car horn "music" for both honking and backing up is endless.  All night long is insomnia inducing.  And then there's the cockroach the size of a mouse that Lisa saw. In her room. That came later.

We checked in early afternoon, had a late lunch at a nearby hotel that looked awfully attractive in comparison to the one we were booked into with a great restaurant, beer garden, pool and on a quiet street... hmmm very attractive, and we went off to see the Palace.. er, I mean the Infosys Training campus in Mysore.

Built to resemble the Colosseum in Rome,it's amazing and beautiful and grand yet understated and a really nice place to stay while training to work for Infosys. 

For more of the photos of the campus, see here:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=154703&id=625456793&l=85d40cc387

After touring the campus, we drove to Brindavan Gardens to view the musical fountain. The gardens are created behind the Krishnaraja Sagar dam, which crosses the Cauvery river, one of the principal rivers of South India. It's a huge dam, and must be spectacular to watch when the water releases. Outside the garden we found a festival atmosphere with booths of foods and drinks, people selling all sorts of mostly crap for too much money, and the usual horde of people that is everywhere in India. Our white skin really glows at night or something, cuz I swear, they see us and it's like mosquitoes coming at us from all angles, wanting to sell  postcards, and pipes and drums and fake "antique" coins, and fake sandalwood stuff, and fake carved boxes, and jewelry. Oy. But, comes with the territory. We take a bridge over the lake and then go through the gardens, and then up and through some more gardens and they really are beautiful. 

The dam is to the right in the above picture, and this is just one small part of the gardens. There's back-lighting and colored lighting and just enough light to seem kind of magical and starlit. Just at 7pm, we are climbing to the top garden where the musical fountain is and the music starts up and "thar she blows"! Chetan and Lisa move up closer to the fountain to take pics and I hung back outside the crowd, and found myself mixed in with quite a few other westerners.  I heard German and English and other languages I could not identify. Then all around us are the locals who are hooting and hollering to the Kannada movie music that is playing and to which the lights and the fountain are synchronized. Fun, very nice way to pass the time amongst beauty and enthusiastic youth and listening to many languages and smelling flowers and greenery on a beautiful evening. Then, it's over and we stroll back over the long bridge and through the carnival atmosphere back to the car and head back to the Infosys campus for dinner. 

Dinner was a buffet served in a "floating" restaurant in the middle of the campus. We are surrounded and appear to be on top of a man-made pool filled with HUGE koi and other fish. Nice, very pleasant, and a beautiful night to sit outside on water and enjoy the peace and quiet of the campus. After a nice dinner we head back to the hotel. Lisa heads up to her room, I wait for Chetan, who has to park his little car in a littler parking spot. Once I get to my room which is next to Lisa's I see a flurry of activity.  Apparently there was a cockroach the size of a mouse in her room and the front desk guy was doing battle with a can of bug spray and was fumigating. (I think I still feel that in my lungs  ;) Lisa was a bit frazzled, and I don't blame her. But, it's late, we are tired, and things settle down and we go to sleep, with next day maybe finding a different hotel. That was confirmed the next morning when none of us had slept due to the traffic noise all night long.  Apparently we are on a well traveled road, and of course, every vehicle that passes has to honk at least once to let us know they are there. And all three of our rooms are on the street side. 

If there's one thing  I could change about India....  well, I'm not going there.  I know and decided way before coming here that acceptance is the answer, and since coming here that attitude has proved to be the best way to maintain sanity...and to make friends.  :)  but that honking of horns... well,  I'm  just sayin'.  

Sunday morning we woke up, and all of us knew we were changing hotels. We went back over to the one we were at yesterday, the Park Lane to have breakfast and check to see if they had availability.  They did. for rs 100 more than the one we stayed at...  about $2.00 more.  SOLD!! 

We packed up and checked into rooms that were quiet, very comfortable with good air conditioning, no open windows letting in smells and bugs, beds that were actually softer than a board and nice bedding and room service. Big exhale and ahhhhhhhh.  Nice change. Then we headed out to the Mysore Palace. The Palace is historic, lived in, full of beautiful commissioned artwork, hand carved and inlaid wood, silver and gold, a museum and an audio tour. It's very grand, very beautiful, and well worth seeing. Even if we (foreigners) get charged 20 times what the locals do for the tour! It was worth it.  On Sunday nights throughout the year and then for the entire Dusara Festival in October, the palace is lit by over 100,000 twinkling lights. We left in the afternoon to go shopping and napping, and came back to the palace for the lighting. We happened to drive up just as they flicked the switch from off to on, so saw the whole thing come ablaze as we arrived. Couldn't have been better timing! 

 

For the full set of photos, see here:   Mysore Palace Photos

The rest of the day we spent shopping and touring other parts of the city. We were taken by our tuk-tuk or auto-rickshaw driver to a very nice store chock full of Mysore Silk!. I am now the proud owner of a Mysore Silk Sari.  And, a few other pieces of silk.  And scarves. The sales guy did his best to help me decide which sari to buy:

Idn't he pretty?  :)  Which one did I buy?  Maybe you'll see later....  

Before we went to the lighting of the palace, we were at the Kauvery emporium, one of the official places where real sandalwood and rosewood items are sold.  While Lisa was having her purchase wrapped for shipping, I stepped outside the door to get some air. One of the men there is telling me I'm looking at an old convent where the Sisters still live and teach, and it's beautiful and peaceful. Then, all of a sudden the peace is broken by sounds coming at me from both the left and the right, and it's amazing, and loud, and stunning.  The man that was standing out their with me can see questioning face, and tells me that there are mosques on both sides of me, and I'm hearing the call to prayer.  I'm listening in stereo to the Muslim call to prayer while I'm looking at a classic, Catholic convent and church, while I'm talking to a Hindu.  I love this. 

For dinner that night we went out to a very nice hotel for a buffet, but there was no buffet. What there was, was tables setup with linen in a courtyard inside a 5 star hotel, underneath a gigantic mango tree strung with twinkling lights and candles. It was lovely, peaceful and the food was wonderful. Only thing wrong was that they were out of french fries for Lisa. We could deal with that.  And have I mentioned how absolutely beautiful the evenings are here in South India?  After the awful, hard, blasting heat of the day, the evenings are soft, and cool, and amazing. Everyone comes out of their homes and offices and hits the streets and the shops and the sidewalk vegetable stands getting ready for dinner or buying their dinner from the stalls.  I ride home from work in an air-conditioned car, but I ask for the air to be turned off and roll down the windows.  The evenings are so beautiful, they make the days almost bearable.  ;) 

 At 6:30 the next morning, I awoke to a noise outside my hotel window, and got out of bed to find out what it was.  I opened the window and heard the early morning call to prayer from a mosque while I watched the horizon turn pink. I was very fortunate to hear this call done by someone with a beautiful, calm, and clear voice, and it gave me goosebumps to stand their and listen and watch.  Awesome way to start the day.  

And then we headed back to Bangalore and work.  But had a great weekend and I love Mysore!

Catching up!

Seems that when we go on a road trip for a weekend and then work 50+ hours the weeks before and after that, it takes a bit to recover and wake up my "muse" who seems to need more sleep than I do  ;)  Plus, I think I reached a point where I needed to stop, what with the work, and the travel, and the hospital stay, and the high BP, and meeting so many people, and going to so many places, and the work, and the hard bed, and my roommate whom I've been just a little too close to for 6 weeks now, and the power outages, and the work.. get my drift?  ;) Plus, I was up to HERE with technical issues with my laptop and it's a good thing I can fix them myself, but geez, add that to the list of things to do, and I needed a day off. Just so happened, when I was at the peak of my frustration my friend Maneesh from MN calls me, and he's here in Bangalore with the family and would like to get together with me for a day, so would I like to go to the zoo?  Sure, why not!!So I take a PTO day, and a well-deserved one, at that!

We, meaning Maneesh, his wife, 4-yr old son and his mother headed out to lunch, then to the park. I didn't know this until I got back and really read about the place, but we went to Banerghatta National Park which is a wildlife reserve in a beautiful, hilly, forest area just 22km outside of Bangalore. It specializes in rescuing circus animals and then providing a place where the lions and tigers and bears (oh my!) can live out their lives in peace. We did see lions and both white and orange tigers, and black bears that have white snouts here in India, unlike the full black bears in N. America.  These guys are lots smaller, too. I have excellent pictures!

 

But about these pictures.  When we arrived for the "safari" where they take us through the preserves in a bus, the bus was quite full. Maneesh told them we'd wait for the next bus, but no, they said they'd fit us in. We piled in and I was given the very front seat next to the driver, right in front of the window. The windows were covered with grates, but there were cutouts that offered great picture taking windows. The assistant to the driver sat on the hump between the driver and me and let me know very clearly that they don't ALLOW people to sit in the seat I was in, that this was a big favor to me to allow me that seat. Message heard.  Could it have anything at all to do with the fact that I'm the only one with white skin on this bus?  Naahhh..  And we start moving along, and he's making small talk with me, and animals come into view. He wordlessly asks to take my camera and take pics, and I let him. He took many great photos, 60+ very close up, very clear, he's practiced at that and I knew I'd be tipping him well. We see all the animals, he answers my questions about ant hills that are 3-4 feet tall and other hills that were left by elephants that weren't quite that tall ;) and after about an hour in that hot, close, full of humanity bus, we near the end and he asks me for a tip. Right there.. he lost a point.  I gave him what I thought was more than a nice tip of 150 rs and he wants more, cuz he shares with the driver.  Lost more points, but I gave him another 100 rs.  Still he's not satisfied, and wants 500.   Uh, no.  Not gonna happen. I'm torn here, cuz I know he took some great pics for me and gave me lots of undivided attention, but I didn't ask him to, nor did we agree on any price.  and a "tip" is to be freely given, not coerced.  So, sorry, buddy but no way.  Oh.. he's not happy.  His pretty eyes that were so accomodating before now have daggers coming out of them. Oh screw you, Mr. and I stood my ground.  And paid no attention to the catty remark he made to the driver.
As we are disembarking from the bus, he is courteously helping all the passengers down. As I leave, he glares and does not offer me his hand. At that point, I'm ready to demand my money back.. but, that would have caused a row and I and the people I am with don't need the hassle.  But, ...asshole.  Very bad blight on that part of that trip for me.  I find out from Maneesh that the tickets for all 5 of us and the fee for the camera were less than 500 rs, and the 250 I gave him was way more than enough.  jerk.
Anyhoo, we head on back to Maneesh's home where dinner is being prepared, and I get to meet his brother and sister-in-law, and his father and just hang out in a nice apartment and hang out in the kitchen with the women a little, and look at photo albums and just spend a nice rest of the day.
And, I did end up with some great photos  ;)  Bannerghatta Photos

And... since someone has been giving me grief about needing to post some photos, just some day to day ones, here ya go.

This is just some of the signs we see on the way to work, pointing to the various IT industries in IT-ville, actually ITPL or ITPB as it's now known, which stands for International Tech Park, Bangalore. I'd post some of the actual building, but security won't allow.  We pass through a gate with armed and unarmed guards which no one gets through without displaying the correct credentials, and then all vehicles go through a bomb/explosives check, and then into the building where we then have to swipe the badge to get in the door to the floor we work on. Security is like that getting into hotels, and some shopping malls, too. At first it unnerved me, now it seems like just a thing. With all the terror warnings and bomb threats that occur all over the world, this just seems like a logical precaution and a worthwhile inconvenience.

This is the Sri Sathya Sai General Hospital, opened in 1977 which provides complex surgeries, food and medicines free of cos to the poor. The hospital has treated over 2 million patients.  And it's incredibly beautiful.

Flowering trees on the way to work, out the car window.  It's reaching peak flowering season and they are EVERYwhere!  I love this!

More later!

One month in Bangalore

I think we finally had a "normal" week.  Normal in the sense that no trips to anywhere, planned or otherwise, just working and hanging out at home and sleeping. Working should be in capital letters.. I think I put in 50 hours by end of day Thurs, which was apparent on Friday, as I don't think I was too productive! We've been going into office around 11 or 12, working until somewhere between meetings around 7pm-9pm and then on conference calls from the minute I walk in the door until anywhere between 10 and midnight. Sleep fast, then do it again the next day. I had my dinner while on a call and in a meeting more than once last week. I'm also not waking up at 6am any more  ;)
In my spare time :) I am trying to finish my book that I brought along a month ago.  I'm not getting very far very fast. When I do read, it's about a page or 2 and my eyes are already closing.
It's good work, though and I love it. I haven't made it through a day yet without laughing well, more than once. My team has expanded to about double, so I've been playing catch up with the new additons' processes and procedures and practices (the 3 P's?), and looking for and finding opportunities for efficiencies so we're off to a running start. The old, familiar part of the team is also busier than heck with preparing for a couple tidal waves I see coming at us, so no wonder we're working so hard and long.
Yet, we did find time to go to lunch all together on Friday. Harish and RaeDean back in Mpls. had sent some money along so that I could take the SES team out to lunch or dinner, and to include Pallabi with whom Harish has been working on another project. All 12 of us went to lunch at the Savannah Hotel (here we pronounce SAH- vannah, not my midwestern Sa-VAN-ah, which I realized when I saw the spelling ;) and had a grand Friday buffet of great Indian food.

Moi, Naveen, Chandra, Pallabi, Padma, Naseem

Savitha, Meenakshi, Harish, Parna, Mythili, Satheesh

One other side job I have taken on is teaching 1 billion people the meaning and purpose of doing a pinky swear. I think I'm at 3 down, a billion minus 3 to go.   What percentage is that?  :D

Saturday morning, we got up early to go view the highlights of Bangalore. We began with the ISKCON temple. Beautiful place, peaceful, open, breezy, calm.  But it didn't take long till I had a flash-back right to the 1970's. Chetan caught me smiling as I had wandered back to a different place that had the same decorations of brass lanterns and incense and the sounds of mantras of Hare Krishna. And another smoky type of smell that was missing at the ISKCON  ;)  It also has a restaurant, as noted in below pic. 

But God doesn't serve breakfast, and we didn't want to wait 1.5 hours, although i was sure tempted!

We also visited the Bangalore Palace, which was beautiful, but deeply in need of restoration which is going on, but needs a kick in the pants or something. Unbelievably, beautiful woodwork inside a smaller replica of Windsor Castle. 

And there are flowering trees everywhere.  This one is my favorite, common name is Copper Pod due to copper/red seed cases, but it's bright yellow and just lovely.  I LOVE yellow flowering trees!  Hell, I love flowering trees of any color.  Here, the flowers tend to last for more than 2 weeks though, unlike my Minnesota lilacs and flowering crabs. 

I love this pic.  The dogs all sleeping in the shade on the grounds of the Bangalore Palace.  So, just imagine how hot it must be for all of those dogs to be sleeping there in the shade in the middle of the day. Just imagine.  It was freakin' HOT!!!

We also went to the Cauvery, where one can buy much beautiful sandalwood carving.  I think I spent an hour in there just looking at all the art.  Too expensive for my blood, but I did buy a few things including a copper vessel, and a little something for that kid of mine back home.

We had lunch at a place called Three Quarter Chinese.. I think the other 1/4 was Indian.  Whatever, it was really good. Drove around a bit more, as much as we could in that damn traffic which was mostly in jams, saw the government buildings, the high court, the library, museums, but it was just too hot to get out and wander, and too difficult with that traffic, so we didn't. We were quite spent by this time and decided we'd view more later. So, we then headed home to a nap.

Rest of the weekend was peaceful, hanging out getting to know Madhav the caretaker some more, viewing pic of his wife, of Anand's little daughter. These guys are here, have been for years, but their wives and in Anand's case child are back home with the family. They see their families maybe once a year, and I know this kind of thing has been going on for decades with the many separated and traveling families of Indians looking for better life, but not so sure I could do it, or agree to it!
Even on Sunday, I needed hair cut so made appointment at a salon close by. While there I had a pedicure that lasted nearly an hour and a half and it was OMG divine! The haircut was equivalent to $13.00 and the OMG wonderful pedicure and massage and reflexology and polishing and.. OMG.. was about $9.00. I'm going back, and brought the list of services back to Lisa.   But, I digress.. the owner of that salon is a young woman with 2 young children, and her husband was in IT and is now opening a store in the U.K. for a large retail chain there. He'll be there for 3 years. And she'll be here with the children and her very thriving business. More power to them, but that's got to be tough, not seeing your partner for long periods of time.

Anyways.. I'm off to bed and to begin another week.  Next weekend, we're heading to Mysore.

Final word... please, please someone tell me that this says "wash me".   :D  It just has to!!

So, how's the weather?

Look at Wednesday.   And Bangalore (Bengaluru) is where people escape to from the heat of the plains!!  

Just a little unexpected "side trip"

So, we landed in India on Feb 2.  We went to Tirupati on Feb 19, nearly 3 weeks later. My feet have been a bit swollen ever since we landed. I'd put my feet up, I'd drink lots of water, drink coconut water, stopped at the doctor housed at the ITPL to make sure I didn't have DVT  got a little relief but nothing was really solving the problem. Well, it came to a head when we went on the road to Chittoor and Tirupati, climbed up and down a zillion steps, long drive back at night with one stop along the way, a very large Mall that Sunday, and then that night we walked to the local Chinese restaurant but were sent in the wrong direction so inadvertently walked quite a long ways on very rough and bumpy roads. Ever since I had the 2 ankle surgeries 2 years ago, the left ankle complains when it gets abused. After that walk, the ankle was not only complaining, it was threatening me with secession.  It's been since before the surgery that I had felt that much pain and I was afraid I'd killed it! 
Before I left the U.S., I'd been automatically enrolled into an international security service via our corporate security and health service. This service provides global security, medical assistance and international health care anywhere in the world by linking us to health care that is up to international standards. In case of political unrest or a major natural event, they would be the ones to ensure our safety and evacuation. So, I called them on Monday. I was conferenced in with a doctor in the US who advised that I be seen by a doctor and they would call me back with appointment place and time. I got the call Tues morning at about 9am and my appointment was at a hospital here in Bangalore about an hour away at 10:45am. So I had about 1/2 hour to shower, dress, figure out transportation. While bathing, I notice that from the knee down, the skin on both of my legs is red. Well, I was wearing capris out in the sun, so maybe that's it.  But geez, I'm puffier than I was before!  My feet look like 2 loaves of unbaked bread, and my ankles are the size of softballs. My fingers, my face, my wrists.. all puffy. Hmm..
I tell Lisa where I'm going, Madhav calls a taxi for me, we decide the taxi should take me, wait and then bring me back, and then I'm off.  And the cab ride is extremely uncomfortable and for an hour long cab ride I need to keep my left foot elevated on the seat and my legs are not feeling right.  = /
I get there, wait for my appointment and the jitters start.  Now, I know logically this is not a government hospital, which is a good thing as I've heard and read way too many bad things about Indian government hospitals.  So breathe. First thing I do notice is a brochure that states this hospital is affiliated with Harvard Medical International - Boston.  Okay ... I've heard of that place.  ;)  And while I wait a little longer, (cuz a couple of asshole men think they are more important and push their way into the doc office when I had been called and they had been told to wait.. assholes) that's when providence sends me a little more reassurance.  I need something to do, and there's nothing to do, and it feels like everyone in the waiting room is looking at me (cuz they are!) and a little girl stops in front of me and I smile. And she smiles. And then she goes away and comes back. And then her mom comes and smiles and sits next to me. Makes conversation by asking my name, telling me hers and her daughters', asks me why I'm there, and then tells me she, her husband and her daughter all came with her mother in law to this hospital for a checkup after her mother in law had had heart surgery recently.  They come all the way from Maharashtra, stay at a lodge here for a week just because they say this hospital is THAT good.  That's certainly reassuring!
Assholes finally leave, and I go in. Woman doctor (score!) and she's right down to business but she's also present and focused. I like her right away. She asks a bunch of questions, gets the story, then asks me to lie down so she can take my blood pressure. She takes it, and when I ask her what the reading was, she refuses to tell me. Okay.. is this the Indian way or is this a bad sign?  I don't know.  But she does say that she wants to take it one more time as the reading didn't seem right. Asks me more questions, does a little more poking around, then takes the BP again. This time when I ask, she tells me.  220/120.  She got the 220 out and I gasped. I asked her to repeat and it was really 220/120.  Both times.     I know that's bad.  That's in range of having a stroke.  Any second.  
She wants to admit me. Right now.  Only other option is to come back tomorrow to be checked again.  Well, if it wouldn't have been another 3-4 hours out of my day to come back, I just may have, but I also know that it would be risky and that I needed to be admitted, but for GOD'S sake, it's an Indian hospital!!  I have never done any research whatsoever on hospitals in India, the only thing flashing through my head is some passage from some book I read about someone being taken to an Indian government hospital and that's where you take people to die, you have to know people who know people who pay people to get care...  well I KNOW this isn't a government hospital, but c'mon!!!  it's 9000 miles away from my home!  and MY doctor.  And MY family and friends and comfort zone.  But I know I have to be admitted.  So she sends me back upstairs to the admitting area.  I call for my cab and tell the driver that I need to stay, and pay him and send him away. 
Now, I know that was just a cab driver that I'd only spent one hour of my life with, but when I sent him away, I was A.L.O.N.E.!  Empty, deep dark hole forming inside my gut that is echoing. I can do pretty much anything alone, but this is pushing the envelope, even for me. First thing I do, I pull out my cell phone and it's nearly dead. Oh GREAT!  I have my iPhone with me too, and THAT's only half charged but it costs a mint to use so I don't. Only in emergency.  Guess what this is?? but the numbers I need are on my cell phone. So I dial Naveen, my buddy, my project manager, the one I know who is responsible, has a cell phone and is responsive.  No answer.  By now I'm heading back inside the hospital, and am between the 2 entry doors. I'm not ready to go to admitting until I TALK to someone, so I dial again.  No answer.  That's when I started shaking. And I went and stood in a corner so that no one could see my distress, cuz I've just about had enough for one day and it's nearly 1pm and oh.. he's either in a meeting or at lunch. So I try to text him. You ever tried texting when you're shaking like a leaf and trying to not crumple?  Not so easy.. but that's when he calls me.  Thank God! I have now contacted the outside world, someone who gives a shit and now knows where I am. I can go be admitted now.

My god, I'm wordy.

I call the SOS people, and let them know I'm being admitted. They take over and I hand my phone over to the woman doing the admitting, and I see there are guys in suits behind her and people bustling, and I have faith that the SOS people are doing exactly what needs doing. Good thing I had my passport, my SOS ID, and my insurance card with me. I was admitted quickly and easily. Naveen calls me back and says he and Satheesh are on their way, and I'm okay. I can start to see again.
While being admitted, I was told there were only two types of rooms left available, - Executive or Royal. I had to laugh.. and say I don't need Royal. Executive is fine.  o.O
I was lead to my room, and this wonderful little nurse welcomes me and leads me into this HUGE room, with a bed, and a cot, and a sitting area and more cupboard/closet space than I have in my own home, and a refrigerator, tv, and huge window looking out into a courtyard full of plants and fountains.  Yikes.. what is this going to cost me and I hope insurance will pick it up as I've not had a lot of choice in this whole thing.. but here we are. I settle in, Satheesh and Naveen arrive bringing apples and juice and asking questions and kind of coming in and taking charge and I let them.  Even my inner control freak has its limits.  ;)  And someone comes in and asks me what I'd like for lunch  - scuse me, I get a CHOICE? - and someone brings me 4 liters of water, and other people are bustling in and out and everyone is SO nice and professional. The nurses call each other "sister" although they are not nuns or related :)  I settle in, and begin the process of seeing more doctors and taking meds, having tests run and scans done and BP taken hourly, and every time it's down a LOT.
All in all, amazing hospital stay!  The food was fabulous, the care was superb, the nurses really wonderful, sweet, caring, thoughtful, professional, everyone spoke great English, and when it helped to have the local language spoken Satheesh and Naveen were there. Spotless, organized, orderly, LOTS of staff, air-conditioned, nice smelling!, just amazing. Through the night they did fill completely every bed, and were very busy but my care was never compromised. The doctors were, each one of them, top notch - caring, personable, knowledgable, great bedside manners and thorough, never bustling or too self important.
Naveen and Satheesh took the time to head to my apartment to get my phone charger and a few other things, which really helped me feel more at ease. And then my phone started ringing.  Many people started hearing and were checking up on me. But that's when I found out how really well this security SOS service is!

I got a phone call from the SOS office in Delhi, checking on me.  And I got a call from the security desk at the home office in Minneapolis. Both checking on me, asking how I am, if I need anything.  I thought that was nice.  But it was when I got the phone call from my V.P. was when I found out how REALLY well it works!
Seems they woke her up at about 3am to let her know one of her employees had been admitted to a hospital in India and they did not know why, but that she should know.  The "not know why" kept her from falling back to sleep so she went into office early, saw emails that had been flying already where our Ameriprise General Counsel in New York had been alerted, who had in turn sent an email to the CIO, who then sent an email to my Senior VP and VP asking what was up, and the TCS folks were also in the same communication flurry and most of the staff both here and in Mpls was hearing, and I HADN'T EVEN CALLED MY OWN MOM OR DAUGHTER YET!  :D  I just didn't want any fuss... I'd call them tomorrow.  HAH!  No fuss..  So I called them both. 

Honestly, was an amazing experience.  Everything worked.  I've been taking it easy since and have been on some medication that's pretty much knocked me on my ass, so my BP HAS to be quite low. A door slammed LOUDLY earlier today, where normally I would have jumped.. and I didn't even react. I'll be calling for a follow up in the morning.

In the meantime, i was afraid of the cost of this wayyyyy out of network hospital stay.  Took hours for the insurance and billing to get settled, but that happens everywhere. And the stay itself?  With the Executive room, all the meds, the tests, the doctors, the whole thing that probably would cost $5000 -10,000 in the US, came to 20950 Indian Rupees.   $450.00.  I had to pay 80 rs for the 2 waters I drank.  that's like $1.75. 

That's it. I'm sold.  If I ever need hospitalization again, put me on an airplane for Bangalore!  

and the best part?  One of the nurses, very late at night/early am, doing what she needs to do and says, you foreigners are so much nicer than our local people.  You are so NICE!  :D 

Tirupati

A lot has happened since Friday, but I must get this down in writing, as Friday was an AMAZING experience! We had been to Ajay's wedding in the morning, and then along with the wedding invitation, we were invited to visit Tirupati, home of the Tirumala Venkateswara Temple. As soon as I mentioned to my Indian friends that I was visiting Tirupati, I started hearing ALL sorts of stories, legends, and experiences. Some of the stories were darn near horror stories, how people wait in queues/lines for 6/12/24 hours at a time, crushed together like sardines in a can, waiting to enter the inner temple where the Darshan occurs. But, I would mention that we have VIP tickets, and then the reaction was "oh, OK, but...."  and I'm warned still that yes, the line/queue will be shorter but toward the end there will be a "crush" of people as the devotees push forward and push you along with them. OK, duly noted. I've been to rock concerts.  :D
It's an amazing thing on its own to realize we'd be visiting a structure that is believed to date back to the 9th century or even earlier. It is said that this temple is the most visited temple in the world and the richest place of religion after Vatican City. It's incredible, with the main dome covered in gold, shining in the hot sun. Real gold! On certain festival or other auspicious days, a half million people will visit. The drive there is glorious, through and around hills covered by verdant forests, very clean and maintained by the trust for this temple. The temple is located on the 7th peak of sacred hills which can also be reached on foot by the devout, who climb over thousands of steps and a well maintained path to reach.  We drove  :)
We spent a good deal of time waiting.. waiting to get the car through security and all the bags screened as no alcohol, cigarettes or non-vegetarian foods are allowed, waiting to connect with the person who had our tickets, waiting for the tickets to be registered (via biometrics! crazy mix of ancient and technical), waiting for the reserved time. We passed the time by walking around the temple grounds where there are many shops, stalls selling souvenirs and kitsch, items to buy to offer in puja, foods, maps, excellent people watching (we, the two tall white girls were both watchers and watchees) and so many questions to be answered.  Why so many people with no hair? Because they have given their hair to this god. I've heard at least 6 different reasons as to why hair is given -

• hair = beauty, so by shaving head and donating your hair to god, you are giving your beauty to god
• by shaving your head and removing hair, you are renouncing worldly things and surrendering your ego to god.
• the god himself has long hair, loves long hair, so by giving him your hair your are pleasing him
• by shaving your head, you wash away past sins and can begin anew
• a female god noticed that this god had lost some hair, so gave him some of her own. Others continue the practice of giving by giving. 
• Give hair, ask for a favor in return, and that something will be granted.   Or..  ask for the favor, receive that favor then offer your hair in thanks or as previously promised.  

No matter, many, many shaved heads - male, female, young old.  I truly did not realize this was such a large part of the practice here. So much so that the temple sells the hair for an astounding amount of money every year, which appears to be increasing. Temple hair which is also strong "Indian" hair (you've seen them!) is in high demand and commands top dollar from U.S. and Japan. 

Well, "VIP tickets", which I find a little offensive as even a category for viewing god, just feel strange. There's thousands of people here, waiting to do what we are waiting to do, only they've been waiting much longer and in much tighter quarters. We walk by all these thousands and I feel conflicting feelings about this whole deal - It's a temple, but it's a tourist attraction. It's got the queue issue handled better than Disney, but that makes it seem even more like they and I are in line for a "ride". Very conflicted, but I try to push the judgments and criticisms out of my mind and just experience. I've never been to the Vatican so have no clue.. but I bet so called VIPs get quickly in to see the pope, too.  My own god lives within me and doesn't require worship or hair or money, just that I seek for knowledge of her/his will for me and the power to carry that out. So, with that within me, we go to visit this god as so called VIPs, but really, just those who through some money exchange get preferred treatment. :/  This place has been here for thousands of years, feeds millions of people, supports itself and the entire surrounding area, and I know little to nothing about the Hindu religion, so need to just empty and open the mind.
My friends/colleagues were the ones accompanying Lisa and me. Raj had been here before, this was Naveen's first visit, and Satheesh had been here many times, had climbed the hills and I could see from the light in his eyes that this place is dear to him. That, to me, is what this is about. Could not have picked a better mix of people to travel here with, as we had one very knowledgeable and experienced, one with brand new eyes like ours only he had the Hindu and Indian background, and one who had experience and logic but was also seeing things as fresh and inspiring. It was pleasing to me to watch their reactions to things along with feeling my own. It helped me to know that we are there not as a pack of tourists, but just as 2 curious people traveling along with devotees.
Since no cameras or shoes are allowed and I'd rather not have someone else pick up my Birkenstocks, we leave shoes and cameras in the car and depart.
We descend the stairs and are met by two temple elephants, who are decorated and have the markings on their own foreheads of the status of priest. Conflict again enters my head.. captive animals on display bother me, even though these have the same status as priest. But, they are majestic and beautiful. I make a mental note to research their situation. We are led to a roped off area where we sit on stone flooring  in front of a glass walled enclosure that holds 1000 small lanterns called diyas that are all lit, making this appear as one very large lantern. You can feel the heat emanating from the enclosure, but I'm not sure it's simply the lanterns. There are priests in simple white dhotis pushing a golden swing holding one or more gods/idols covered with flower garlands and I don't know what all else. They swing it back and forth then side to side while other priests and musicians are chanting and playing holy and ancient music. We had to cut the sit short, as I couldn't handle sitting on the ground for long. My legs just don't do that any more. Then it was time to move into the temple.
First, Lisa and I had to sign a form, stating we would not say anything derogatory about the god.  As this is one of the few temples that allows non-Hindu into the inner sanctum, that's the price we pay so we sign our names. What I didn't read was what the consequence would be if we did bad-mouth the god, but I had/have no intention of doing so; just one of those things that makes one go "hmmmm....."
Then we meander through iron pathways to the iron gate which is guarded by a harried looking man. He had just stopped the whole queue of thousands of people so that this new group of VIPs (there were lots of us now) could interrupt the flow. Then the gate opens, and in we go, to another line, where we can see yet another queue for disabled and elderly are now entering. We wait more for them, then who knows.. 1/2 hour to an hour later it is our turn.
I'm tempted to leave this blank.  I don't know how to even begin describing this, and I've been back to edit this post a zillion times this week. There is no way to do it justice, but here goes.
We're waiting in line, and can feel the excitement of the people before us, beside us, behind us as we get closer to entering. I don't know who is starting this chanting of Govinda, Govinda GOOOOOOOOvinda, but it's picked up by most of the people, WITH enthusiasm. And then we start to move forward. The ground is uneven, sometimes small ramps that are quite slippery in bare feet, especially where there is water that washes your feet along the way, but mostly ancient stone that has been walked upon by millions and millions of feet over the centuries. Wrap your brain around THAT! Millions and millions and centuries. But I only have a second to think about that, because my eyes are trying to take in what is around me, centuries old walls and columns and script on walls, and GOLD, and opulence and bare stone and simplicity all mixed together.
And my ears are fighting my eyes for the brain time because I hear people, excited people! and a low hum (not sure what that was) and volunteers, employees and priests telling me to move along and pulling me along and showing me where to go, and I'm starting to be jostled by people. People with babies. Crying babies, who are being held very close, but also being sandwiched between other people. And these people are passing me, and I could care less, I don't know what the rush is all about, but it occurred to me that I may never see my companions again ;)  But, Satheesh is watching out for me, and when he gets into range, I grab onto his elbow and don't let go. And that's when the sardine thing happened.  Can't even move an arm. People on all sides of me, even where I didn't know I had sides!  This is the proverbial "sea of humanity" and I'm just a drop in the wave.  I'm still trying to take this all in when apparently I'm at THE spot where I can see the god,  and I'm not even sure what I'm looking for and he's about 1/2 mile away.  Oh, maybe not that far, but he's NOT close. I can make out a black idol, covered by flowers and I don't know what else, and that's about it, so I hope that's what I'm supposed to see.  Come to find out, yes, that was it.

But what I am keenly aware of is the reverence with which Satheesh and others here at this most sacred spot display. For about a second; then realize I am being pushed and pulled and prodded and bumped and lovely little volunteers smilingly try to pull me along but I'm bigger than them and sorry folks, I am clutching Satheesh's arm and I am NOT moving until he does!  And maybe he got to stand there a little longer because I was his shield, but very soon on we move.
I remember seeing more gold, and more chambers of more idols and more stone, and more people, and more water, which all kind of blurred together, but what  I could FEEL was a change in the energy. Or maybe it was just relief.  :)  Either way, there was a "high" and then a "coming down". Yes, I used to do drugs, and that's my reference point. But, earlier, when we were hanging out waiting, Raj had told me that these temples are built where someone or many someones feel or determine there is an energy. In this case, the energy would have been emanating from where the god was housed. Well, I don't know if it was energy radiating from the god, or from underground, or from the hopeful fervor of the devotees, but I definitely felt an energy, and when we were done, I felt the let down, the departing of the energy from my body and it was nice. Calm replaced the chaos and it felt peaceful.  I think that's when I let go of Satheesh's arm.  Sorry for the bruises  ;)

Met up with Naveen, had a little curd rice nourishment, Satheesh went off to get the prasad, a "gracious gift" containing the deity's blessing within it which for this temple is an Indian sweet called laddu that they are famous for and have a patent on the recipe. Naveen and I come out of the temple into a square where there are people milling about, sitting in family groups or couples or groups of friends, enjoying an absolutely beautiful night with twinkling lights, music in the background, open air, we're up in the hills, it's cool, and they're all rushing off to the car, and I just stopped and stood and listened and felt and looked. Looked at those guys and asked, "Do you ever just stop?"  So we did.

That was the best part.

Three states in three weeks!

Three weeks in, and time is going too fast already! Can't believe it's been 3 weeks already; we just got here! But, from the exhaustion I've been feeling the past couple days, it's been 3 very busy weeks  :)

I wake up early every morning, don't know why, just do. I've never been one to go to bed at 10pm, but I have been. Then, up at 6am to watch our part of the world wake up. I go stand out on the patio off the kitchen where we hang laundry ( I let the boys wash my clothes-clothes, *I* wash the underclothes.) I hear a bird call I've never heard before, and can't even describe,  but it has the sound of tropical. The sky is pink, the trees are wrapped in mist, there's the smell of wood smoke in the air, and people starting to walk by on their way to catch the bus to work. Starts off with just one at a time, slowly building till after a while there are many, and the vehicles add to the hum of the day, and water trucks, and all sorts of hauling begins back and forth bringing and taking all the various things people need for the day. Then the guys selling from their bikes or their backs calling Soppu or other things I'm not sure what they are selling, but I love the sound! I'm standing out there one day, and one of the guys on foot with many plastic buckets hanging from his frame spots me watching, and hopefully directs his calls my way, but I shake my head no.  He takes a few steps forward and calls again, and I again shake my head, and he moves on. I try to be invisible and just watch and listen, but it doesn't always work that way.
The morning builds to a crescendo when the school girls are all out waiting for the bus and all the cars and bikes and trucks need to let us know their presence by a short "beep". Indian drivers don't honk their horns when there is a problem, they honk their horns to prevent a problem. Or something.  Indian driving cannot be explained. Just Google 'Indian Driving' and then watch a couple of the videos.  Then multiply that by infinity and it might be close  ;)  And can anyone tell me what INFAMMABLE means?  :D

I make coffee in those early morning hours, because I can.  IF the power is on!!  That is not always the case. It's been interesting, just minding our business and bam, out it goes, and then the generator kicks in. When generator is on, no hot water, no coffee, no air conditioning. Maybe that's why I get up so early. I make coffee and turn on my hot water heater.  Usually. I've been caught a few times with no hot water or coffee but luckily the cook and the boys have their means to come up with coffee and hot water when that happens, and the ceiling fans work. We are very fortunate and never go without some sort of air movement which is a good thing as I hear the temps this next week will be nearing 93-95 F.  Oh boy... here we go!!  Yikes.

 The so-called "dudes" that take care of us are Madhav, Anand, Harish, Raju, and a couple others I still need to figure out their names. They love me.  :D It's just not that hard to be nice to people, and when we are, the rewards are many. I get the rewards of genuine smiles, and not that fake - I'm here to smile and serve you and get paid smiles - but genuine "glad to see you" smiles.  All it takes is asking their name and using it. Or a kind word. So little. Those are the rewards, and then there are the gifts.
Indian breakfasts of idli or parathas or other heavy items was fine the first two weeks, and maybe fine once in a while, but not every day, at least for me, and Lisa was eating the same omelet every day (Indian omelet = dry, scrambled eggs). I asked for fresh fruit and was told it's not on the menu, but worked it out so that we could get fruit and pay extra if need be. The cup of coffee that comes with the meals is like a thimble. Just one time I asked for BIG coffee, now I don't even have to ask. Breakfast the first couple days was one fruit, now it's this pretty mix that they told me would be too expensive to do, and look at that coffee cup  :)

After I complimented Anand on dinner one night last week, the next night we were served a Chicken Biryani, and I KNOW that's not on the menu! It was great, it was huge, and I took the leftovers down to Madhav and the boys and asked "who's going to finish this"?  And Anand got a pat on the back, and I could feel him beaming. And then I get to go back upstairs with a warm heart. All I need to sleep well.And I just got the food bill, and fruit is not on there.  :)

We see this on the ride to work every day.  Bangalore - the Garden City

We worked a whole 3 days this week in the office, and one from home. The 3 days in the office were spent listening, observing, talking and being frustrated as hell at the slowness of my computer. Took a while to root out the cause, and hopefully we'll have it addressed tomorrow. Seems also that the message light does not light up on my phone when there is a voice mail, so oops.. there were a few voice mails when I checked. So, if you leave a message, don't be surprised if I don't return it right away, but I will check.

Thursday after working at home, we prepared for a road trip to Ajay Reddy's wedding. Ajay is on my new team, or rather I am new to his team, and was kindly invited to attend his marriage and reception and a trip to Tirupati. Come to find out my whole SE Tools team of people I've been working with since last May were also going, so YAY!  Yet another chance to wear the sari, too!

These are the gorgeous young women gathered in our room while Geetha helped "drape" us in our saris. The girl is a pro and a goddess! She assisted me the rest of the evening making sure I wasn't falling apart or down!  :D (I just KNEW I would trip on the stage in front of ALL of those people, but I didn't! )
Geetha is to the left of me in below pic of all of us. Thanks, again, Geetha!

Lisa and I had the good fortune to travel with Raj, Naveen and Satheesh all the way from Bangalore to Chittoor on National Highway 4.  We didn't talk a lot; Lisa and I tend to stare out the window at India flying by. And fly it did! That driver was amazing!  But, it's good to just be with people sometimes. Especially good people with the wild beauty of Andhra Pradesh going by.

And then there's the monkeys!  I was not expecting that. I'm staring out the window, and I see a monkey, and Satheesh turns around and looks at me to see if I had seen that at the same time I turn incredulously to Lisa and say.. I just saw a monkey!  And Lisa looks at me and says "Shut. Up!!" . :D  No pictures, no time. But we see more and more along the way, singles and groups.  They don't look quite so cute in the wild. They look like something I would not want to mess with.  But they were MONKEYS!  :D
And some of you saw my Facebook status the next morning. "So, I awoke in Chittoor early this morning. Checked the view out the window, and see the morning bustle of a city in India. I notice movement on the ledge below the window, and before it registers that a dog could not be there, I realize it's a monkey who then jumped up and scampered up the side of the window!! Not a foot away from my face! OMG!! :D"
Fanfreakin'tastic!! After I said "Oh. My. GOD!" Lisa, who is still in bed, gets quickly OUT of bed, then for a brief moment fear flashes across her face (she doesn't know why I'm exclaiming at the window) when she asks "what?" and I tell her "a monkey was just right THERE and it scampered up the window right THERE and I thought it was a dog but it couldn't have been cuz we are three floors up and it was right THERE, and Oh My GOD! :D  Of course it's gone, not to be seen again, but it was THERE, it happened, and I will not forget!!  Later, Naveen tells me when he was younger and at home, there was a refrigerator in his room, and he comes home one day to find a monkey standing in front of the open refrigerator looking in and I can just visualize that, it standing in front of the fridge with hand on the door handle, gazing into it like a teenager looking for a snack!  Guess I'll stick with squirrels in the house.  :D
That evening was Thurs, and the wedding reception.  We girls got all done up and then headed on over to the reception hall. There are many people, all the women in their fancy saris and all sorts of food stuffs to be had. I am told the best part of Hindu weddings is the food, and we weren't disappointed. Very nice, eat what you will and standing in groups, but it was HOT!  Not the food, well yah, it was, but it was HOT! I think I'm having hot-flashes from the stress and the travel and the food and the spices and the sari and the thinking it's falling off of me, and my makeup is melting and where's the air, and I'm in another strange city where a white woman in a sari is NOT a common site, so do I have anything in my teeth cuz all these people keep looking at me and am I eating this thing correctly with my fingers, and it's HOT, and where's the water?  :D  We move upstairs to the reception, where we go on stage to have pictures taken with the couple and present our gift, and the group gives me the honor of presenting this gynormous card with all the signatures on it, and we present and get pics taken and then we're done. While leaving the stage, I see a couple women whispering, and then one says to me.. very nice.  You look very nice, and it's approval for us 2 white girls honoring the couple by showing up in fancy saris and actually wearing them right.  Whew.. we passed!  :D

We head back to the hotel, rip off the saris and get into cooler comfier clothes, and it's all of what - 10pm.  We're in a new city, nothing to do, nowhere to go. Hmmm not satisfactory.  So I text Naveen.  Come to find out they are in the room down the hall and they have CARDS!  Bums..  they're having a party without us!  ;)
Lisa and I taught Raj, Naveen, Satheesh, Harish, Meenakshi and Shiva how to play Texas Holdem Poker until midnight. So.. check off the Team Building task from the week's to-do list.   ;D

Next morning is the wedding. No sari wearing, the girls are gone and we sure don't know how to drape them, so on with the easier to wear salwaar kameez suits and off we go to breakfast and coffee at the wedding hall, then the marriage ceremony.  I made one faux pas at breakfast, and that was having coffee before eating, but I think Naveen was able to make excuses for me.  I am used to coffee in the morning and had had none, rather I had been dealing with monkeys in the windows and was in NEED of coffee, so I believe I was forgiven.
Hindu Wedding - this one begins with LOTS of noise from the discordant sounds of Hindu wedding music and drums, then the excitement increases and the groom comes in with his family.  They move toward the stage where he greets his bride, then all the traditional rituals begin with priests and fire and rice and flowers and coconuts and chants and incense. Goes on for a while, I'm sure there is much is occurring up there on that stage and all I can concentrate on are the photographer who is in front of everything and his assistants and equipment.  Ah, when did weddings become something to be recorded rather than something to experience the meaning of?  Just makes me more curious about the customs and rituals and want to know about them and the meaning behind them.  Same thing was evident at the wedding in Chennai. Hmmmm....
Once we're at the end of the ceremony, rice is passed out to all guests and at a certain point, it is thrown at and on the couple. It was definitely interesting to watch that part, as all the guests come as close to the stage as possible and then throw, many/most doing it with three tosses of the hand.  I don't know the meaning, but it brought the community aspect into the wedding.  Then, it appeared that certain close family members and friends were blessing them by pouring a little rice on each of their heads individually or as couples. And then WE were invited up to do the same.  One of the priests simply explained to me what to do, and I did. That felt a little more personal and meaningful.  Once that was over, we were given a bag of sweets and silk and tumeric from the mother.  That whole part was a very nice experience. Then the band struck up again, and the wedding ended with a bit more ritual and lots of sounds.
Then, we were off to Tirupati.  THAT needs it's very own posting. 

More later!

Work? Really, we have to do that? :D

So, I just registered with the State Department. Forgot to do that before we left, and that's probably a good idea considering recent events. Thanks for the reminder, Vasant!

Just getting ready to start week #2 at work in Bangalore. Got to meet the whole team last week, and put faces to names and personalities to voices. Had a couple different ice-breaker meetings, and a few "stop by the desk" ones. I prefer those, as Vijay knows  :) Met SOOO many people, and also recognized many that I used to work by or with, some from a few years ago in I&A, others from IPS, more from Service Mgmt, some from Data Mgmt and others. I've been walking down a hall, see someone and say "hey, I know you!" and they smile and say, yes, you do! Often need my memory jogged for the name, but have yet to run into one who doesn't know mine. Very weird. Nice, but weird :) It'll take a while till I get all these names.
Day #1 was meet and greet, and find our way around. Food court below is amazing. Not just a food court but shops and a gym and a spa being built, pharmacy with a doctor, all sorts of services. Holy cow, is Alphonso Mango ice cream good!! Next door a huge building is going up and that will be a Mall! and multi-plex theater and apartments. One would not have to leave this International Tech Park. Ever. That could be the goal. Most of these guys travel quite a ways and even longer times to get to work, and the Bangalore traffic is a lot of stopping more than going. It's not uncommon for daily commutes to be 1-2 hours each way. Let's hope the new Metro system helps. Over 4 million people in this city.  The whole state of MN has just over 5 million. !!

Day #2 we were invited to visit a school which is sponsored by TCS, the Immadihalli Government High School. TCS employees volunteer to do fund raising for supplies, tuition and do volunteer work there weekly. It's nearing the end of the school year here so they are winding down with a cricket match for the boys and a throw ball match for the girls, each with a team of TCS employees against students. Throw ball was similar to volleyball except one has to catch it without fumbling, and then immediately throw it back over the net, and only the hands may touch the ball. Lisa jumped in to play, and by the time she was done, she was the red girl rather than the white girl out there.  ;)  While she's playing the game, I'm being surrounded by little girls introducing each other to me and laughing when I pronounce the names back. But they were also practicing their manners and were delightful!

After the throw ball game and while the cricket match was going on, we were sitting in the shade under the portico of the school.  With 100s of kids. There were a couple groups of girls, and a couple girls in particular that got my attention, most of whom are in the above picture. These, joined by many others, were sitting all around me and one group asked me to sing a song.  I declined, but asked them to sing me one. They did.. new version of Yankee Doodle I had never heard  before...some of the lines were "shake it  baby shake it". In Yankee DOODLE??  ;)  Then we heard other songs, then we had dueling choirs as the group NEXT to them chimed in with their own renditions.  One was giving me Bollywood film songs, the other Yankee Doodle-ish and Kannada language ones. Thankfully, one of the leaders who spoke the language got them to sing 1 song at a time, but they were still competing for attention. Was pretty fun, but VERY claustrophobic as they crowded closer and closer!

That one in the middle there?  Brave, with an attitude and twinkling eyes.  She's trouble.  The good kind of trouble  :) I recognize her!

Back to the office later that afternoon, feel like I'm full of dust and dirt.  But, was a good day.

It's amazingly quiet in this office, which really surprises me due to the noise I hear in the backgrounds when we are on conference calls. Really quiet. When I laugh, I see a whole buncha heads turn.!  Hey,  I know I'm loud.  Just louder when it's really quiet  ;x.  But, quiet doesn't last. One day while there's a production issue with ETL (no, really? :) I see why when I'm on conference calls from the US I hear background noise. Speaker phones. Freakin' speaker phones, in close quarters. Well, no wonder. And there are people gathered around those speaker phones and the whole room can hear what's going on. I could NOT concentrate on what I was doing, way too distracting to listen to that. But, at the same time, informative. And really strange when I'm recognizing voices in the room and realize it's Beth and James and Karen and other people I know, but they are 9000 miles away!.  I can see the value - all the people who needed to know were close by and could offer input when needed. But still.. not good to be across the aisle from the speaker phone. 
I don't quite get the phone setup here. I'm sure it's a money saver, but it doesn't seem very efficient. They have to share phones, and only certain ones have speakers. So, it's either that with the probable background noise and realizing the whole room can hear the "onshore" people talking (not cool for this blabbermouth), or they go into conference rooms and use a speaker phone there and we in US hear echo, echo, echo.  Not ideal, by any stretch, but it is what it is. For now.
The week whizzed by, meeting wonderful people, throwing paper snowballs in a conference room (ice breaker), watching wariness turn into openness (best part!), and finally meeting my PM who was out of town until Thursday, so got to see him again. We met once, at Geo's house in MN right before he left to come back to India. A few weeks later, I was awarded him as my offshore PM, and knew I had a winner! And now I get to meet him again. My whole team are winners, so I'm quite fortunate.
Saturday, we went shopping to Commercial Street. Oh my.. what a dangerous place!  And I mean that in a good/bad way.  Good that we got our bonuses on Friday. Bad that we got our bonuses on Friday.  :D

We went with 3 people from my team - Naveen, Lydia and Aparna.
Shopped a bit, then had lunch at a fabulous Chinese place. Buffet, but they serve soup and appetizers/starters before the buffet, then you go to the buffet, then dessert buffet. NOT like buffets back in the US, AT ALL. Very good!
We will definitely be making a few more trips to Commercial St!
On the way home, we stopped at a place called the Metro, the Walmart of India or something. Huge store, one of 3 or 4 Metros so far, offering clothing, food, housewares, electronics, all sorts of stuff. But so much of EVERYTHING was plastic! We did buy a few things like some beach towels, glasses, bowls and silverware, just a few things we can call our own. Bread. Jam. Ice cream  :) Crazy wild place, though, too too busy. Produce was out of the question. Seems you have to have it weighed in the produce section before you go to check out.  We didn't know that. Went back to produce section and couldn't even get near the weigh station. So forget it. We'll get the fruit later.
Sunday, we took it easy. Well deserved after a whirlwind week in Chennai, then a whirlwind week at work in Bangalore. We did venture out to see our neighborhood, but made it about 2 blocks when we hired an Auto to take us to the air-conditioned mall.  Yikes, it's hot in the midday sun!!  Very pleased to find a nice grocery store inside, so we loaded up on a few things. Like fresh fruit! 


So, week number 2 down. It's President's day in the U.S. it's Monday here.  :)  But a quiet one, as HQ is closed. Nice day to catch up and just hang out with the team.

See you next time!