Home this week

As you've probably figured out I am working from home this week. The project has early morning meetings every day so I am up early and end up working to around 6pm. Hardly seems like a holiday week.

I often go to the Dunn Bros. coffee shop at Bryant and Lake in the afternoon. Just a chance to see that there are other people around and to avoid the urge to go upstairs and lie down. Only made it once this week. The famous writer and storyteller, Kevin Kling, was there.

I have gotten some home project work done. Primed the front porch where the white paint was peeling. Got the porch windows out and the screens in. Finally replaced the hinges on the back porch door. That door wasn't closing and had been driving me crazy.

Franky loves going out on his harness and leash.

Kayaking on Lake Calhoun

Thanks to Jenny Batten for inviting me to go kayaking on Lake Calhoun on Saturday. It was a beautiful day. We saw baby ducks and geese. We also saw several different turtles sun bathing around the islands of Lake of the Isles.

It was great catching up with Jenny and Andrew's life.

No pictures unfortunately but given my kayaking history it was best not to carry anything that wasn't waterproof. I didn't tip over by the way.

Hyundai Elantra

I have to say right off the bat that I did not like this car. First, the color. It was a silver-blue-steel sort of color which just didn't look right. The style is kind of 80's - and not good-retro.

The inside is plain jane though it was comfortable and good peppiness. There was a really bad rattle when you came to a stop. The engine idle got the tailpipe to vibrate, I think, and tat-tat-tat-tat from the rear.

I only had the car for a day and that was long enough for me. Matter of fact, when I turned it back in on Thursday morning, the Hertz checker said, "You only drove two miles?!" Their odometer checker was either wrong from the previous driver or wrong for me. I (IBM) still got charged $7 for gas/wear-and-tear.

Shortened trip

Had my meeting yesterday and no real reason to stay any longer so heading home today, Thursday.

It is hot hot hot here so glad to get back up north.

Dallas again

Heading to Dallas for a few days. A rare mid-week trip.

Cool first part of this week but supposed to be in the 80's (finally) by this weekend.

The MN AIDS Walk was last Sunday. It was a beautiful day. Many thanks to Rose Block for organizing an enthusiastic Guthrie Team.

sick as a dog

Yesterday, Monday, I was very out of it. My diarrhea was back and I felt awful. By the end of the day the only I thing I could think of as the cause were the malaria pills I've been taking. I checked the side effects and sure enough gastro-intestinal problems including diarrhea are the major side effects.

Don't know why I'm getting this now unless that is what my problem was when I first got to India. I'm supposed to take for another few days but don't think I will. There were mosquitoes around the hotel because of the nearby marsh.

We'll see how it goes today.

Back in the USA

Made it back on time Saturday morning. Doing well. Dozed off some yesterday afternoon.

Frankie and Uno are great. Frankie has been keeping close. Many thanks to neighbors Roxi and Mather for cat care.

Gotta get back to normal operations...making my own meals and doing my own laundry.

A three hour tour

Friday, May 9

Rented a car, and a driver, for a four hour tour of the city. I wanted to hit specific sites so I had my guide book and list. Finally a chance to see the sites.

First stop was to be the big lake in the middle of the city with the large statue of Buddha on an island in the middle. But my driver had slightly other plans as we stopped at a "very good shop" for me to check out. Turned out to be all right. I bought some presents to bring back.

We did make it to the lake called Hussein Sagar. The drive around is 12 kilometers. There are a few parks at various points and a water park and an amusement park.

Next stop the Birla Mandir temple. A fantastic site. The temple is a collection of buildings with different shrines for different gods. There are thousands of Hindu gods it turns out. Everything is made of white marble.

It was noon when we arrived and hot as all get out...well over 100 degrees. You cannot where shoes anywhere on the grounds. Thank goodness you can wear socks. Those who had bare feet were hopping and skipping to get from grass runner to next.

There are carvings of various gods and their activities throughout. No photography is allowed. It is quite beautiful. The site is on the highest point in Hyderabad. You can see everything from here. We could make out Charminar and Golconda Fort way in the distance.

Who is that pale bald guy? So much for no photography.

From the temple we went to the Legislative Assembly. Luis and I had been driven by here on the way to Charminar last weekend. I wanted to see the Mahatmi Ghandi statue up close. The driver pulled in front and I jumped out for these pictures.

I wanted to see the Qutb Shahi Tombs which are near Golconda Fort. For some reason I thought there was only one tomb building but there are seven plus several other structures. This site contains large (very large) tomb buildings for the dynasty that built what has become
Hyderabad. It is only a kilometer from Golconda Fort. It is an amazing collection of buildings but they are not too well maintained.

My "tour guide" charged me an exorbitant amount. My fault for not asking before he started his routine. As Bunny so wisely told me, "they need it more than I do."

I was way sweaty and hungry by this time so I had the driver take me back to the hotel. I wasn't out the entire 4 hours but it was long enough and I saw what I wanted to see.

I head back home to night. I leave around 9pm local time which is 7:30am Friday back home. I land in Minneapolis at 10:45am Saturday.

Sweets

Really not much new to report. I've whined about this already but it is just work, work, work.

Ramesh brought in a box of "sweets" for Luis and I to try. The box had a variety of these cake- or cookie-like pieces. They are made with what we would call condensed milk. I guess the heat up the milk until it becomes thick. But there also is wheat or some flour that holds it all together.

There is one that has actual silver on the top. There are these others that are sort of like taffy. Glassy looking. Very colorful. You have to pull it apart with your teeth to get a piece. And very chewy and very very sweet.

It has gotten even hotter here now. Well into the 100's each day.

Head home tomorrow. I'm definitely ready.

Bangalore

Tuesday, May 6

Flew to Bangalore on Tuesday. Bangalore is an hour flight south of Hyderabad. It is the birthplace of the software and computer technology boom in India. IBM has several offices there. Bangalore is also getting a new airport but it has not opened yet and has been delayed
several times. It was supposed to open in March. The current airport is right down town.

We gave the taxi driver the wrong address and ended up getting a little tour of the city. Even though Bangalore is closer to the equator it is not as hot as Hyderabad. The city is at a higher elevation. There are a lot more trees. Bangalore is called the Garden City because of how green and lush it is with gardens planted at the intersections. Maybe because of the office and airport being right in the city center and there are trees and sidewalks, Bangalore feels more cosmopolitan than Hyderabad.

The traffic in this city is much much worse. This is kind of traffic you invision or have heard about in India. Vehicles going every which way and huge backups. We were pretty lucky that even though we steered our driver the wrong way, we didn't run into anything too bad traffic-wise.

Learned a new term from Bangalore IBM team member. Software Culture. Luis asked about shaking hands versus bowing. A team member said in the "software culture" shaking hands was the norm where as the slight bow is something that more traditional people from the far south
of India would still do.

We flew back to Hyderabad the same day. As usual we had to hunt down a ride. We finally found a taxi driver who was willing to take us to the airport which was only a few kilometers away. This taxi ride was the ride to end all rides. I don't think he once let up on the horn nor the gas pedal. I've learned to not look out the front and to just look at the sights along the side. I think it is all about knowing the exact dimensions of your vehicle. There are cars with dents and bangs but amazingly not that many. And I've only seen one actual accident.

This taxi driver was incredible. Luis and I were laughing and gasping at the same time.

Autorickshaw video

Here is my attempt at recording part of our auto-rickshaw trip from the IBM office to the hotel.

Cinco de Mayo

Monday, May 5

The hotel had a Cinco de Mayo brunch yesterday (Sunday). There wasn't really anything that made it Cinco de Mayo-ish. You could pick various things to be grilled and there were some tortilla chips and salsas. None of the salsas were tomato-based. There was a particularly good one with beets. It was all you could drink from the bar so in honor of the day, I had 3 margaritas.

The hotel is building a Mexican Cantina near the pool as another restaurant. Perhaps Mexican is the next big thing here.

I did not leave the hotel the whole day. While we aren't far from the city center it does take a long time to get anywhere. I simply didn't feel like dealing with the hassle and needed to rest and relax. I got 40 spf sunscreen from the spa and laid out under a palm tree and read. My co-worked joined me and we talked about work and stuff. He went to get a facial and I went to the gym.

I decided to have another massage. I'm feeling a bit pampered.

Another week of work then home on Friday. We are going to Bangalore tomorrow just for the day. There is another team of IBMers working on the project in Bangalore. It is a 2 hour flight south so tomorrow is going to be a long one.

Some more pictures

A view from the hotel. There is a wetlands area behind the hotel. It is part of what are called HUDA (Hyderabad Urban Development Authority) green areas and are maintained by the government.



Luis and I at Charminar. Continuing the self portrait with a hat tradition.


The IBM office building at MindSpace, Hitec City, Madhapur, Hyderabad, India. You can hardly tell but it is blue.


Here is more information on Hitec City and Hyderabad that you would probably ever be interested in...Wikepedia Hitec City

Charminar and pearls

Saturday, May 3

Spent a little time at the pool this morning. Actually 11am to noon. I forgot to bring any sunscreen but figured an hour wouldn't be bad. I wasn't even in the sun the whole hour. Okay, everyone is going to say how stupid I was. And you are right. I am very red. Not painful. A little itchy and that wasn't until much later. Hyderabad is at 17 degrees north, Dallas is 32 degrees north, Minneapolis is 44, Washington, DC is 38. Hyderabad is only 17 degrees latitude from the equator.

Charminar is the structure shown in the right part of the page. No one knows for sure why it was built but it was probably intended to be the entrance to the city.

Hyderabad is the center of the pearl trade. Luis, the project manager, was here last Fall and found a reputable pearl dealer. The pearl dealer sent a car to pick us up and drive us to his shop. The pearl shop was just a narrow store with a long display case and row of chairs in front of it. Luis had experience here and asked the pearl dealer to show us pearls. There were thousands if not hundreds of thousands.

After the pearls we went to the Charminar and climbed the very narrow spiral staircase to the sightseeing level. You can walk around the entire floor. These pictures are from the some of the sights we saw.






We came back down and were greeted by "John" who volunteered to be our bodyguard. I was in search of a shot glass for Stacey and a fake Rolex watch for Blake. "John" was assisted by is friend "Shawn." Here are our bodyguards.


The streets are crowded and you have to watch out for vehicles of all sorts. We weren't successful finding a shot glass but we did find a superbly fake Rolex for 200 rupees ($5 US). We headed back to the pearl dealer to pick up the pearls. "John" and "Shawn" who I know wanted to be paid for their bodyguarding were not at all please with their payments. No amount would have pleased them.

The pearl dealer offered to have us driven where ever we wanted. I had read that the light show at Golcondar Fort was well worth it. There was a 7pm show and leaving the Charminar at 5:30 should have given us plenty of time. Well, it didn't and the show started at 6:30pm instead. Golcondar Fort is the immense fort built 400 years ago. The light show had started but we went in anyway. It gets dark early here.

Well, it was boring. It was in English but included a lot of recorded songs/poems that were in Hindi. If we were able to understand the songs, it may have been better. We had to take a three-wheeler all the way back to the hotel.

I have such varied reactions to all I've seen. And I've only seen bits and pieces. There wasn't extreme begging that I had been warned about. There are more people in Minneapolis at the street intersections asking for handouts than here. There are lots and lots of people and the streets overflow with people but it isn't overwhelming.

The Muslim population is prominent and there are mosques blaring calls to pray everywhere in the old city. Maybe the whole thing is that it is new and different for me.

Atmosphere

Friday, May 2

Finally had some traditional Indian food. We had food brought in for lunch today since the cafeteria was closed for International Labor Day. For some reason they thought I wanted pizza. So we got Pizza Hut. I don't even eat pizza at home much anymore let alone Pizza Hut pizza.
The guys though ordered chicken with rice and curry and said they had to eat off by themselves because they eat with their hands.

I ate the pizza so as not to offend but then went over and asked if I could try the chicken and rice. It was delicious. A little bit spicy but not much. The chicken and rice and curry are all cooked together. The chicken is on the bone. I ate with my right hand as you are supposed to keep your left hand on your lap.

The canteen in the basement sells American Sweet Corn. If Dave MacKenzie sees this, he will be so jealous.

We worked late as usual. The taxis in MindSpace are just for the call center workers and you generally cannot hire them on the street. So Luis and I have been walking out to the entrance to MindSpace to try our luck at getting a ride. We had been real lucky either convincing a call center taxi to take us or a driver from one of the hotels take us. These vehicles have been air conditioned. Last night there weren't that many taxis out. I was up for taking the three-wheeled motorized rickshaws. They are open air but have a roof. Basically it is a motorcycle with three wheels and generally two passengers but you see them with a lot more riders than that.

The driver was great and weaved in and out and around traffic. We made it back to the hotel in no time.

In the evening there is a smokey dusty haze and smell of open fires. I think it is a combination of the tent dwellers and some open-air eating areas that have fires for cooking. The haziness, odors and dim light along with no wind give the city a completely different feel than it has in the morning under the blazing sun and almost constant breeze.

Work, Work, Work

So much for International Labor Day. The team here offered to work on this holiday in exchange for another day off later. So instead of working some from the hotel and then sightseeing, it is off to the office and put in a full day's work.

The IBM office is in an area of Hyderabad called Hitek City. And within Hitek City within an area called MindSpace. There is construction all over the place. New office buildings and a large Westin Hotel right across from the IBM office. The amount of steel and concrete is
unbelievable. The energy consumption must be staggering. But contrast that with street cleaning which involves women with brooms made from palm fronds and lawn care being done by a man cutting the grass by hand with a knife not much bigger than a razor blade!


This is really a country of extremes. The government successfully launched a rocket the other day with 9 satelites it. The 9 satelites were all successfully put into orbit. They are planning on sending an unmanned mission to the moon later this year and eventually put a man in space. Yet there is such incredible poverty - as Luis put it "misery." People sleeping in the street medians and along the sides of the roads. Tents made of discarded plastics and tarps. Corrugated metal structures. All this right next to new and modern office buildings and condominiums.