Tue, 15 Nov 2005
Update from HYD
Just a quick update tonight. I caught a cold last week and a had a sore throat as well. I'm mostly recovered. A lot of people in the office have been sick and I think I caught "the fever" from them. They attribute it to the sudden change in weather. By that, they mean the recent shocking drop in temp to 85F-ish during the day and 77F at night. I'm not sure about that. . .but okay. Due to me being ill, I haven't done anything since getting here. I don't think I left the hotel at all this weekend. I should be getting out more this week though so I'll be getting a better image of where I am. So far all I've seen is the nice hotel and the office. Speaking of the office- my hours here are a bit odd as well. I'm working from 5pm-2am while I'm here. So not only am I jetlagged, I'm just flat out tired too from being up late.
I always knew in the back of my head that they worked late here. But it wasn't until that first night when I came here from the airport that I realized that a ton of people work late here. It didn't hit me until I asked the driver why there was so much traffic so late at night. He said it was because of all the companies in the area have call centers, are part of 24hour QA shifts, or workers who work late to be in synch with their US counterparts. And like I wrote, I knew this in the back of my head, but it's not until you get to "High Tech City" with all of the offices packed with workers at all hours does it really start to sink in. So yeah, when I leave at 2 or 2:30 in the morning, there can be a lot of cars on the road going home at the same time. Speaking of cars, driving here is a blast. Well, I'm not driving, but I have a driver and he does the driving. I wouldn't be able to do it here. In the US I'm a dick, but at least I signal. But here, I'm not nearly as bold as I should be. And I honk too much for SF. But here- I don't honk enough. I'll try to take some pictures of the commute, but just imagine being inches from about 50 motorcycles on one side and for the oncoming traffic, let's just leave about half an inch on the other side. Yikes. The only thing that slows us is the construction. There is construction going on at all hours here -especially near what they call the BPO's, which are like designated areas for the tech centers. Most of the construction that's not in the BPO area is road construction/expansion. I can't tell how much it will help the infrastructure, which is the supposed weak link in India (although much less so than in China), but at least they're expanding the routes. The other construction is new buildings. I saw some pictures from coworkers who've been over here before. They wouldn't recognize some of the same views because new buildings have come up to either block their original view or fill in part of the background. There are at least three major construction sites I can see from the office window right now. Oh, and the construction for the new buildings goes on 24 hours a day seven days a week. (I don't think that's true of the roads though) They put up very large offices at an alarming rate. Back to more pertinent items- food. As I said, I haven't ventured out much, but I have been able to sample a lot of different dishes mainly thanks to the lunch and dinner buffets the hotel has. Yes the food is spicier, but it's not too much more hot. The spices seem brighter. The paneer is damn good and a step up from the paneer in the US. Mike and Angie would like it- all of the vegetarian items have a symbol like a flag with a green dot in the middle. Anything with meat has a red dot. I didn't notice it at first, but saw the green symbol on a tea bag when I was making hot tea in my room. I haven't been paying enough attention to know if Mike's Vegan needs would be met though. I think they would be, but I'm not sure. I've done my due diligence though and am not going to research it any further. ;) I need to make sure I keep experimenting with the local food even though it can be hard to get at times. Whenever my coworkers ask if I'm hungry around dinner time so we can order something together, they always want "American" food. Last week they wanted Pizza Hut and Subway. I gave in on the Subway night because I had to eat at my desk because I was too busy. But I did get a type of chicken tikka sandwich. They have a restaurant/cafe on the ground floor here though, so I can always get local treats down there. Well, that's all for tonight. Oh wait, one more thing- an item for Derek in TX: there are a ton of moustaches here. Just a tidbit I thought you may be interested in. I may shave my goatee and leave the 'stache just to blend in.
15 Nov 17:24 | /travel/india | 0 comment(s)
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