More humbling experiences....

I decided to do a slightly different run today - leaving from my apartment and running to the jungle (about 2.5 miles) then run inside and back to the apartment again.  I've become accustomed to having some coconut water directly from the coconuts cut up in front of me each time after running.  I really needed it today to get back, so I stopped at a vendor.  They charge 10 rupies (about 20 cents USD) per coconut.  Instead of giving him 20 rupies for two coconuts, I gave him 30.  He was most thankful for this extra little bit of money.

I started to walk away from the vendor and saw a very old man with his hand out.  It was clear he couldn't see very well nor really walk.  I pulled 100 rupies out of my pocket against better judgment - I'd been told not to do this.  I handed him the bill and walked away.  You'd have thought I just bought him a new house.  100 rupies is just over $2 USD.

As I started my Garmin watch back up, I looked at it a few extra seconds.  This watch cost me about $400 a few months ago.  I thought for a second about how much money $400 would be to these people.  Most likely, that's as much as some people make in an entire year.  I thought further about the $400 camera I carried around yesterday.  These are items I went to the store and bought without much thought...yet these would cost most people in Hyderabad an entire year's wages.  It makes you stop and think.....

Sunday Happenings and Further Observations

Today we spent a good portion of the day navigating Hyderabad.  This will likely be our final opportunity to do much outside of working long days again.  Dhiraj picked us up mid-morning and we headed to the Golconda Fort.  It was the fort originally built by the king 400+ years ago.  Now admittedly, history and architecture aren't always the most interesting to me, but this place was NEAT.  I'll have many pictures to share when I get home.  We did tons of walking and climbing stairs - which is good - it makes me feel just a touch less guilty about not running today.  Dhiraj also found us an English speaking tour guide to tell us some of the stories of the fort.  The place is massive - I believe he said the outside wall is about 7km.  It's amazing how meticulous the thing was built.  They built in security features, wind flow (equivalent to modern day air conditioning) and communication via sound.  You could literally clap at a point at one end of the fort and hear the claps clear up the hill at the other end.  It was super impressive.

After the fort, we visited the tomb of past kings, wives, servants, etc.  Another neat place, though not nearly as cool as the fort.

Dhiraj took us through the "IT City" where we had lunch and drove around.  I never would have guessed this part of the city existed.  IT City is where all the huge IT companies have started building offices in Hyderabad - very similar to what you'd see in a place like Silicon Valley.  Microsoft, IBM, Dell all have huge offices here...and I probably don't need to tell you the buildings are big, expensive and beautiful.  It was like a completely different city seeing this.  Wealth, power and riches loomed large.

Other happenings and observations

One of my friends asked me a few days ago if I'd been "rockstarred."  I wasn't sure what that meant, but assumed I would know when it happened.  Today, I was rockstarred.

As has been true the whole time I've been here, people really stared at me through the day.  White people definitely stand out - 6'4" white people seem to be like a cute little puppy that everyone wants see and play with.  I noticed lots of stares at the fort today though - more than I see even running in the city.  We were about half way up to the top of the fort when I came across these two younger boys - maybe high school age.  It seemed like wherever I was they were there too.  At one point, one of them came over and stood next to me, though my back was partially turned.  I noticed the other was taking a picture with his cell phone.  Not wanting to be in the way, I stepped aside so he could take a picture w/o me in the background.  He put down the camera and the other kid walked over to where I was.  Again, I stepped out of the picture.  This went on for awhile and I was starting to get the impression they wanted me in the picture, even though I had my back turned.  Finally, one of them worked up enough courage to say in broken English, "One photo?"  So I proceeded to pose for a picture with both of them individually.  They shook my hand and that was that.  Later, the same two guys wanted another picture.  Okay, I'm good now.

Later on up at the top of the fort, there was a larger group of college kids.  They were posing for a picture and our tour guide was snapping shots.  I thought it was a neat picture, so I took one with my camera.  All of a sudden, these two giggling girls come walking over and asked for a picture.  They were making a pretty big deal out of it - apparently 'star struck' in some fashion.  It was clear they found me okay to look at the way they were acting.  All of a sudden I'm surrounded by this group of students, all wanting to stand next to me in this huge group photo.  Yes, I have evidence.  I'll post picture when I get home.  After the photo session, all of the gentlemen had to shake my hand and asked me my name.  You'd have thought I had just won the political election or something.  All of the girls just giggled.

After this point, I became a bit more aware of what was going on around me.  I seemed to be some sort of novelty act to people - I'd see people snapping pictures as if I were some movie star.  Twice more before we left, people asked me to stop and take a picture with them.

At one point when we were at the fort, a small group of younger boys, maybe 12 or so years old noticed me walk by.  They just stared in amazement.  Eventually, one of the kids worked up enough courage and said (to Dhiraj), "How tall is that guy?"  "6'4" Dhiraj said.  In very clear English, the kid goes, "What exactly are you eating, sir?"  Too funny.

Male Bonding

I forgot to mention in past posts the way that men and boys interact with each other here - it's interesting and a bit uncomfortable to Westerners.  Being gay in this area is not widely recognized or accepted, yet you'd think there were lots of gay men here.  Why?  Men and boys who are friends very commonly hold hands or walk with their arms around each other to signal their close friendship.  It took awhile to get used to this, but I saw it much more today.  It's just something the males do in this culture.  I'm glad I was forewarned of this before seeing it myself or it may have been a little creepy.

Electrical Conservation

India is big into energy conservation, though as my colleague pointed out, it's probably due more to cost than anything.  The minute we walk out of our apartment in the morning, the staff come scurrying in to turn off all lights and the air conditioning.  Even when working at CATT, they turn off the AC in the conference room the second we exit for the day.  Energy conservation and lack of concern for garbage and the look of the infrastructure seem a bit in conflict to me.  It's a puzzle I'm trying yet to solve.

Poverty

I probably saw more poverty today than I had most of the other days.  It seems like there are beggars everywhere in this city.  We saw a poor boy at the tomb who couldn't have been more than 10 years old with some very messed up legs.  He could walk but was obviously crippled.  This is tough to see in such young kids.  The other thing you see is tons of women with small children or babies walking around and begging.  There was a woman at the fort who had a baby and was trying hard to get money from us.  She got pretty angry when we drove away and made some sort of gesture most likely the equivalent of the middle finger!  It's sad and eye-opening how much poverty there is.

Coming back from the IT City, we drove through a small village that was mostly agricultural and quite poor.  The people here lived in a sort of tent looking thing covered in what appeared to be cloth.  I'm sure they were worthless in rain and heat (most good tents are worthless in those conditions).  These people know nothing different either.  That to me is humbling.

I suppose after awhile you becoming conditioned to seeing these types of things day in and day out.  It's a tough thing to see coming from the Midwest where most people are doing okay if not really well for themselves.  In a small way you can't help but want to aid others in some way, but where does one start?

Playing Chicken with Indians, Dillip the Driver and Other India Adventures

The past few days in Hyderabad have truly been a whirl.  We've been so busy with things that I'm sad to say, I've forgotten a lot of the details of my week.  However, I've been trying to take notes of small things I've observed, witnessed or thought about as I've been out and about.  So here goes....

Playing Chicken with Indians

There's one thing I know about the Indian culture - they don't share the road well.  That is true whether you're in a vehicle or on a path.  The past several mornings, Dhiraj has picked me up at 6:15 and taken me to the "jungle" or more accurately the state park in the middle of the city.  Each morning has given me an opportunity to observe new things and reflect a little.  However, I quickly found that the others out there exercising (most everyone walks, not runs) don't have a great sense of their surroundings.  I frequently come upon rows of men walking on the small rock trail and they appear to have no sense of others around them.  I'm constantly weaving in and out, even occasionally knocking elbows to pass by.  I'm sure they think I'm rude in not slowing down, but I also think they're a bit absent-minded not paying more attention.  So...I say we call it even.  :)  It's common that I come face to face with an Indian and we play this face paced game of chicken - which one of us will weave off our path first?  It appears I win about half the time, likely because I'm a huge dude compared to these guys.  There are other times where I just weave out of their way because there's no way they're going to look up and react in time.  I figure a hospital bill here isn't worth it!

The park we go to is a really neat place.  It's not really that much different than a state park back home, but there are some quirky things inside that set it apart.  For example, when you enter the park, there is a sanctuary area where men stop to pray before proceeding.  There are scented candles, lights and a replica of a god sitting there.  Once you enter, you see people all around doing various things, including yoga, core exercises and meditation.  This is true all around the park.  The paths are well maintained, although small, loose rock, as I've mentioned.  It's a little tough for traction but as I said, most people are walking.  There is likely wildlife around too, but about all you see are peacocks.  The other morning, I also saw a class of young kids doing karate.

One morning I asked Dhiraj what the street vendors had on their carts.  There was this large green football looking fruit attached to branches.  He said they were coconuts - they looked much different than the coconuts back home.  When we came back out, Dhiraj asked if I wanted to try one.  I had no idea what it was I was trying, but I agreed.  The vendor has this huge sharp knife and they start hacking away at the coconut.  They eventually pop off the top, stick in a straw and hand it to you.  Then you drink the juice inside.  After a run, it's really refreshing....and I don't even like coconut.

I appreciate that Dhiraj is willing to take me to this park each morning.  He's a very busy man and enjoys playing tennis with his friends in the mornings.  Later today (Sunday), I plan to see how far a run it is to the park and may do a run inside again before coming back.

Dillip the Driver

We consistently have the same driver taking us around the city and between our apartment and office.  His name is Dillip.  He's probably about 19 or 20 years old and just learning how to drive.  He's definitely young maturity wise but has a heart of gold.  Dillip is just learning how to speak English, so he like to try out his speech with us when we're driving. 

Dillip is a pretty crazy driver.  He's definitely of the younger generation in that he's more aggressive and honks his horn A LOT.  I find it really funny how every time we turn the corner by CATT he starts honking his horn immediately.  This is his signal that everyone needs to get out of his way and let him park right next to the door.  He just lays on the horn and people stare at him (I know how that feels!).  It's hilarious.

The other day, I had a few Starburst in my pocket and was eating them as we left the apartment.  I decided to give Dillip a few pieces as I suspected he'd never had them before.  He immediately turned to my colleagues and tried to gift them.  We all had to explain that the candy was for him and no one else.  It was a true insight into his character that he thought of others before himself.  What a nice kid.  I've got a couple packages of chocolate left that I haven't yet given to any of my CATT colleagues and think he'll be getting one.  They love American chocolate here.

Other India Adventures

The week was extraordinarily busy.  Our days consisted of getting into the office about noon, but not before most of us had worked 2-3 hours in the morning.  We generally don't leave much before 9 PM, sometimes 10 PM or later.  Dhiraj always wants to take us to dinner at that time, which of course we're not used to.  By the time we head out, we're completely wiped but agree most nights to dinner to be polite.  The restaurants Dhiraj takes us to are all amazing food.  We usually have a beer or whiskey (which often makes me even more tired) and a progressive style meal.  You walk out stuffed and then head to bed when you get home...never a good combination.  Plus, you don't go to one of these resturants for a quick meal - they are all well over an hour, sometimes two.  A 5:30 wake-up to meet Dhiraj comes pretty early!  Thus the reason I'm usually dying out there when I run....a few hours of sleep with the previous night's meal still sitting heavy in my stomach.  Back to the apartment, maybe lay down for an hour before I'm back up, showering and back to work.  Whirlwind!

Yesterday (Saturday) was a shorter day for us.  We "only" worked until about 5:30....so only about 8 or 9 hours.  :)  The three of us (Jay, Bruce and myself) decided that ordering some Domino's and having some beer (King Fisher of course) would be a great idea.  We did so, but after one beer, I was down for the count!  Today (Sunday), we're going to visit a fort in the city - it's supposed to be a neat place.  This will be our final day of no work (I say that term loosely because we'll probably do some work tonight) before a few more intense days and then flying home.

I know I mention how intense the work is here.  It's hard to explain why that is.  I think it's primarily because you get into such excruciating detail in building software.  Not only considering where everything must be placed on a specific page, but then talking through all your data sources, what clicking this button will do and how it should look, and so on.  One wouldn't think this would be all that difficult - I certainly didn't before doing this project.  But it truly is a ton of work.  Next week will be interesting as we've built out all our screens and start to discuss functional specs.  Deep, deep detail.

I think I'm starting to become more accustomed to how things work in this city/country.  Still, I can't help but be overwhelmed every time we leave the apartment.  There is so much to take in that your eyes and brain can't keep up.  It's the definition of being overly mentally and visually stimulated at all times.  I can't describe how many people there are here...and they all appear to be going somewhere and doing something.  Even the simple things you see cause you to stop and stare a little - something as simple as a child selling fruit on the street.  When you're in a car, you see flashes of what's going on, but only a small fraction of the full picture.  It would be interesting to just get out and walk - observe, talk to people, ask them what they're doing and why - but as "rich" white people, we would be mauled in most circumstances.  I also think it would be interesting to walk through Old Hyderabad where the street vendors are.  There are just hundreds of store and carts set up all over, even right in the middle of the street.  Everyone is struggling for survival - peddling their goods.  Again, it's probably not the most safe for us to be walking in these areas but it would be interesting.  Unfortunately, we usually have to stick to the malls and larger chain stores unless we're accompanied to a specific place.

A lot of what people think about India is true but only to a certain extent.  Yes, it is a poorer country.  Yes, people urinate in the street right out in the open.  Yes, there are lots of beggars who walk up to your car window.  On the flip side, there are many misconceptions or exaggerations that Americans make that are untrue and unfair.  I know people get frustrated when they call a customer service line and get an Indian.  They're hard to understand don't appear to grasp your issue.  But I can tell you that they care.  They want you to be satisfied with your interaction and they want to solve your problem.  I can see now why companies use Indian labor.  Yes, it's cheap but it's also high quality.  That's not something most Americans believe. 

Time to sign off for now...but more to come....

Sunday & Monday in Hyderabad

Early Sunday morning (6:30 AM) I went for another run.  This time, I studied my Garmin data and elected to do a loop - same route as the previous day but I wouldn't turn around but rather do a full rectangle.  This was about an hour and a half earlier than my Saturday morning run.  It turned out to be much less congested and a bit cooler.

One of the major problems in running in Hyderabad is that the streets aren't marked - at all.  No signs indicating where you are.  I got to an intersection I wasn't sure about - I knew I needed to take a right eventually but from what I recalled of the map, it was at a T-intersection.  I went straight through the intersection.  I ended up in a very poor neighborhood.  When I say poor, it's a relative term.  Most of the neighborhoods look poor.  Yet this neighborhood was worse - people sleeping on the streets, hanging out of windows, it was quite a scene.  I wasn't sure where exactly I was, but I kept going a half mile or so into this area.  Again, I didn't feel threatened in any way - people weren't coming up to me and begging - yet I did feel uneasy.  The highlight of this little detour was when a truck went by me with three small children in the back.  Their eyes popped out of their heads seeing me - they couldn't look away.  I smiled at them and waved.  All three of them got huge smiles and waved back.  It was a cool moment.

I finally got myself back on course, but as I made turns on my route, I could never tell if I was going the right way.  As I got past the 5 mile mark, it was getting very hot and I was worried I was lost.  I had 500 rupees (about $10) in my pocket if I needed to take a cab back.  Just about the time I thought I might have to find someone who spoke English and help me out, I saw the apartment.  Whew!

My co-workers hadn't woken up yet, so I decided to go up to the roof and check out the gym.  I soon realized this was going to be an adventure.  The "gym" is located in a room with no air conditioning.  Imagine working out in that.  I did a short jog on the treadmill then decided to roll the "bike" outside and ride it.  I adjusted the seat to the top level, got on and started to pedal.  Ever ridden a horse before?  That's what this was like - the seat and handlebars both bobbed up and down as I peddled.  I could only do it 10 minutes.  :)

Sunday was our day off of work (likely the only one during the trip) so we asked someone from CATT to take us around to a few local spots.  I have to admit, this was the portion of the day where I felt really humbled.  As we drove around and through the city, you saw all of the hard working people sitting in their booths, selling items and trying to make a living.  There were massive numbers of people and cars out and about wandering.  It was amazing seeing all the men, women and children trying to sell their goods.  I couldn't help but feel a little spoiled as I rode around in the car with my driver.  In a way, it felt wrong. 

Our first stop was at a local castle.  They used to have hundreds of castles in Hyderabad but most have been destroyed or can't be viewed publicly.  It was neat to see all the royal stuff in the castle.  One was enough though - I sort of think if you've seen one, you've seen them all.  Our next stop was at a local jeweler.  This is where I probably felt the most "rich" as we pulled down a side street and parked.  There were gobs of people all over.  Obviously, we were the only white people around.  People could definitely tell we were high class.  Again, it felt kind of wrong.  We spent quite a bit of time at the jewelry store.  They have super cheap pearls, sapphires, rubies, etc.  It was sort of like having a progressive meal - he kept pulling things out and showing us items.  I'm not really a jewelry shopper, so it was quite educational.  When we were in the jewelry store, people kept walking by, stopping and watching.  At one point, these two little girls stood outside the door and watched us.  Whenever I'd look over, they'd both smile and wave.  I'd wave back and they'd giggle.  This went on for quite awhile - somehow I think they'd have stood there all day and kept doing this.

Afterwards, we went to a restaurant called Palace Heights - it was ten or so floors up overlooking Hyderabad.  Our tour guide, Naveed, ordered everything for us because again, we couldn't understand much of what was on the menu.  The food was excellent!  He kept it less spicy for the amateurs which was great.  We also had a King Fisher beer - really tasty!  Overall, the meal was wonderful.

That evening the owner of CATT, Dhiraj Jaiswal, took us to a very nice dinner at a local hotel.  Similar to our lunch meal (which was at 3 PM - very usual for people living here), Dhiraj ordered everything for us.  Again, the food was amazing.  Probably my favorite was the lentil soup, which you scooped with a type of soft bread.  The bread is really good here - it's sort of like a tortilla shape, slightly thicker, with what I'm assuming is butter on the outside.  Yum!  The lentil soup is very similar consistency to chili.  Man it's tasty.

On Monday morning, Dhiraj agreed to pick us up early (6 AM) to go to a local "jungle."  This is an area and time of the day that most Indians exercise.  He had warned us that we might see local wildlife and maybe snakes.  Now when I think of jungles, I picture the rain forests of South America.  You know, water dripping off the trees, snakes abundant, maybe a zebra running across the path....

This place was basically the equivalent of a state park in the city.  It was beautiful, don't get me wrong, but not a jungle.  The paths were made of a small pebble rock and dirt.  Dhiraj told me how to navigate the trail so that it would be a 5k run.  I took off.

I ended up short-cutting the route on my first loop as it was only about 1.7 miles.  However, the second loop I took was indeed a 5k and man was it hard!  It was up and down up and down, very steep hills with a steep downhill.  You couldn't fly down the other side because you'd for sure kill yourself.  Two or three areas were uphill and stairs!  I flashed back to my brief football career doing steps over and over at the stadium.  I looked at my Garmin data afterwards - I'd killed my watch for almost 9 minutes during the run to recover.  Intense.  The people in the park were obviously richer.  Most of the gentlemen wore polo shirts on their walks.  I even saw a few other runners - not many - but it was the first I'd seen other runners all week.  Most of them were creeping along pretty slow, but it was nice to see it.  I even saw a couple of women runners.

Monday afternoon/evening we spent our first day with the CATT folks talking through the products they are developing for us.  It was a productive day and enjoyable.  About 9 PM, we headed back to our room for the night.  We were starved in returning and stopped at a local restaurant across the street -- some of you might recognize it.  McDonald's.  I'm not a fan of eating at a place like this while traveling, but was intrigued to see what the menu was.  As expected, no beef.  Everything was chicken or fish.  I had a spicy chicken sandwich (no lettuce) just for the heck of it.  I'd never get that back home, but figured what the hey.  It wasn't too bad, though it had a mayonnaise sauce on it that I wonder if I'll regret later.  The fries and ketchup tasted different than back home - hard to describe.

The next few days should be much of the same - wake up late, go into CATT in the afternoon, work into the night, eat a late dinner, up early to run.  It will take some getting used to working on this schedule.  They definitely have a different work ethic here.

Some of my observations so far in the week:

- I've mentioned before how accommodating people are here.  They literally jump to serve you which takes some getting used to.  Every little thing is service - opening doors, removing garbage items, everything.  When we walk down the hall of our apartment, the guys at the front desk stand at attention.  As an American, we aren't used to this.  In a way, I feel bad about it at times.  But it's the way they do things here.

- There are very, very few white people here.  We saw one the other night at dinner and were excited.  I always found it odd how minority people got excited when they saw someone of their race back home - now I get it.  As a white person, I'm treated a lot differently than an Indian person.  When I say different, I mean better.  Little things like walking through security (guards are very nice, don't question us, etc) or being asked to go ahead in line are ways we're treated better.  It's so strange - we wouldn't treat someone of a different race better in America.

- Indian people have an incredible work ethic.  I'm not sure if it's because there are so few good jobs or what, but they work long hours and weeks.  They were saying yesterday that most employees at CATT work 3 or so days a week of 16-18 hours/day.  That doesn't mean they only work 3 days total, most work 6 or 7 days.  The drive to get ahead here is amazing.

- There is such a disparate difference levels of class.  When we drove back from the "jungle" yesterday, Dhiraj took us through the upscale part of town.  Wow.  The homes were amazing.  Then you could go two blocks and see people living in beat up, worn down homes with no windows.  There is nothing in the middle.  You're either rich or dirt broke.

- Architecturally, buildings are in rough shape.  It looks as if they are constantly doing construction projects, yet nothing seems finished.  There are rock and dirt piles on the roads with no one doing work.  Windows, roofs, fronts of buildings, everything is falling apart.  When you see a nice building kept up it's sort of a shock.  It's really sad - I can't tell if it bothers people here or not.  The other thing that's odd is all the trash.  They really value having things clean.  You see women all over the city sweep with these makeshift brooms.  Constantly sweeping and cleaning....yet there is garbage everywhere that no one seems to care about.  You walk by dumpsters over heaping with garbage and piles all around where people have dug through them.  It doesn't seem like that matters.  It's very odd.

Okay, that's it for now....another update in a couple days or so!

Flight and First 36 Hours in Hyderabad

My blogs over the next couple of weeks will focus on my time in Hyderabad, India.  As my body continues to heal from my bike crash a few weeks ago, I've begun ramping up my training again in anticipation of the Du at the Dam race taking place on June 25.  Incidently, I'm returning to the States June 24, so the next day race should be a very interesting one!  Can you say jet lag???

My colleague and I left for Hyderabad on Thursday morning.  The journey was relatively uneventful, though I did receive a rather panicked call at 9 AM that morning informing me our flight had been cancelled out of Rochester.  I was told to get to the airport immediately as they were still holding the 7 AM flight and leaving on a moment's notice.  We were about an hour late arriving in Chicago, but managed to make it to our gate with a little time to spare.

I wasn't particularly looking forward to the 15 hours to Delhi.  To be quite honest, after boarding, I wasn't looking forward to it any more.  The plane was absolutely packed - every seat full.  There were tons of kids and I think we were practically the only two white dudes on there.  Now I know what it's like to be in the minority.

Before we boarded, I'd taken a couple of Tylenol PM to try and sleep part/most of the way and get my body used to the time zone change.  The plan worked beautifully as I was asleep before they even closed the cabin door.  I don't remember any of the take off or much of the first 5-6 hours.  The flight turned out to not be so bad - I was able to move around a little when I needed and had plenty of shows to watch. In all honesty, I've taken domestic flights that seemed worse.

We arrived in Delhi, got through some checkpoints and back to our new gate to leave for Hyderabad.  The flight was about an hour late departing but we made it.  Our check through customs was a little tricky in that we hadn't brought the address for the company we were visiting.  After some work, we finally got it and they let us through.  Then the craziness started....

Upon exiting the airport, it was madness.  People all over the place yelling and greeting other passengers.  The best way I could describe the feeling was like being in a cattle yard.  You literally walk out the door to the outside with a fence all around you.  There are people all standing along the fence talking and yelling to people they know.  Of course, we are the only two white guys in the whole group.  We were able to find our host and driver...off we went to the city.

Driving here is nuts.  They have lines painted on the streets but no one uses them.  Drivers communicate by honking - it's the way they let others know they are close and waving someone into a merge or turn.  When you're out on the streets, it's really loud with all the honking.  People aren't doing it because they're mad like in the US, it's just how they talk to one another.  The drivers also go really fast and there are motorcycles whizzing in and out of lanes all around you.  People are also crossing right through the lanes of traffic.  Some of the younger people are doing a kind of frogger move not to get hit while the older men/women simply hold out their hand and everyone stops.  It's really kind of neat.

We made it to our service apartment in one piece, though we did almost hit a cow.  By the way, if you hit a cow in India, you're better off to flee the scene.  Apparently, you can get beaten up or killed by passer-bye's if they see it....

Fortunately, with the way we'd timed our sleeping on the flight, the first night wasn't too bad.  By 1 AM local time, we were ready to sleep.  I was up pretty early (around 7 AM) and couldn't sleep anymore.  I decided to go for a run in the area (I'd been convinced it was safe).

Man, was that an experience!  The sidewalks are limited here, but everyone just walks on the streets anyway.  I think I got about 50 feet from our apartment before I realized I wasn't in Kansas anymore.  People weren't just looking at me, they were staring.  I wish just for a moment I could read their minds.  Everyone was very polite - some would stare then smile, some would just stare like they'd never seen a white person before. I never felt threatened or fearful - most were just plain shocked.  I ran along a stretch of road parallel to our hotel.  I had to play frogger quite a bit with traffic, people walking, potholes, water, etc.  It was actually a pretty wicked workout trying to avoid everything.  And to put it in perspective, this was Saturday morning at 7 AM - not a peak time of the day for traffic and people. 

The run was really interesting.  Their upscale here is very different than ours.  I ran through what I'm told is a fairly upscale part of town, yet saw lots of poverty, people without arms/legs, beggars, street vendors, etc.  There was one area with a half block of street vendors with flowers.  They were absolutely beautiful fresh cut flower arrangements.  Amazing.  All along the way, people just stared in amazement.  Again, not threatening, not yelling, not saying a word, just watching curiously.

Eventually, I turned a corner into a more populated and what I'm guessing lower scale area.  The only reason I believe it was lower scale was based on the architecture and quite frankly, the smell.  If you've ever been to New Orleans, it smells like Bourbon Street at 8 AM the next day.  About this time, my stomach started to complain a little.  I'm unsure if it was something I ate on the flight, the smells around me or the humidity (it's super humid here), but I knew it was probably time to turn around.

I ran back with the flow of traffic (people walk all directions and even through traffic, so there are no rules).  It was interesting how much right of way people walking (or me running) have with vehicles.  Even though they honk at you (more as a head's up they're there), they are good about getting out of the way.  At intersections, people have full right of way.  That was difficult for me as I'd run up to an intersection.  The policeman would wave me across as there were cars whizzing at me.  I would pause and everyone would stop.  The funniest part of the journey were the service (dump) trucks.  These guys had various types of horns - one even had a Dukes of Hazard sounding one.  They would wait until they were right up on me (regardless of which lane they were in) and honk loudly.  Then I'd see a head poke out of the side looking back at me.  They'd just stare in amazement until I waved.  Then they'd smile like a shy little girl and wave back.  Hilarious.

I made it back to the apartment but man was my stomach a wreck.  In fact, it was most of yesterday and I hadn't really eaten anything Indian yet (other than over on the plane ride).  I'm not entirely sure what was going on, so hopefully my run in a couple hours will go better.

We did a few hours of work at the apartment before going to lunch at one of the Taj hotels nearby.  It was an Indian buffet - thankfully - because the menu they offered us meant nothing (I couldn't understand what any of it said).  The buffet was pretty good - a little spicy - but not terrible.  After our meal, we went to visit CATT Technology, the company we're working with for a couple weeks.  Again, the drive was crazy.  They drive so fast and all over the road - I have no idea how they don't kill each other.

Our colleagues at CATT are some smart dudes.  It's always interesting to observe different cultures and nuances.  I have to admit, the first few minutes of meeting them was sort of awkward.  Their mannerisms are different then ours - sort of hard to explain.  The best way to describe it is shy.  They really want to talk but don't always know what to say.  Therefore, they don't say anything and there's silence.  They are very accommodating people - they really want to help you feel comfortable.  When you ask for something, they jump up to do it.  It's interesting.

We met in a larger conference room for a few hours.  The man they describe as the "VP of Operations" was clearly the ring leader.  As some of the programmers and other people filed into the room, he would make head and hand gestures to them rather than speaking.  They always seemed to understand what this meant.  He'd tell them where to sit, when to stand up, when we needed "tea" (which tasted like a really awesome creamy beverage from Caribou), even when to exit the room.  It was really interesting to watch.  The other mannerism I noticed is the way they move their heads.  When the say "yes," they shake their heads as if to say "no."  This is really confusing at first - you don't know what they're saying.  After awhile you get used to it.  Also, when they don't know the answer to a question, they roll their heads sort of like a bobble head.  It's entertaining!

After meeting with CATT a few hours yesterday, we returned to our apartment.  We ended up laying down for a bit and never got back up for dinner!  So, needless to say, I'm up this morning very early.  So much for getting my body clock set up right.  I'm going to wait a few hours and do another run.  Hopefully my stomach is in better shape today.  I think I've found a slightly different route that I'm going to try, though I get nervous about getting lost.  We'll hope for the best....

More to come as my adventure continues!