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

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.