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 theMidwest 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?
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
No comments:
Post a Comment