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!