Lessons Learned

Back at home, safely ensconced in my bed while the cold winter wind blows the garbage cans around my driveway and into my neighbor's yard, I think back on my trip to India. Naturally, I miss the weather. Bangalore is on a plateau in India at about 3,000 feet. The weather is temperate year round, with low humidity. While I was there, the highs were in the low 80s. I am told that during the hot months, it gets up to 93 on really hot days, but they still have low humidity. We hit that in Cincinnati for weeks at time in the summer with 90% humidity! No wonder they call Bangalore the "Pensioner's Paradise". It has perfect weather!

My trip was a success in both a professional and personal sense. From a business perspective, I now feel very confident in the team I met with that they will be successful in delivering our project. Being there also gave the team a sense of confidence that they fully understand the applications and the architecture. It was also valuable to build relationships with the team members so that they feel comfortable to call and ask questions and offer opinions that they might not otherwise have done.

From a personal perspective, it was a great experience. I love to travel and experience new things and a two week trip to India was certainly an experience that will stay with me. The people I met were fantastic. Kris, Anunda, Rajiv, and Sudesh were gracious and hospitable hosts and I am indebted to them for making my trip easy and pleasant. I generally refrain from generalizing on a group of people, especially based on ethnicity, but I have to say that being polite, friendly, and respectful seems to permeate the Indian culture and I think that we, as Americans, could learn a lot about civility from these people.

I am also glad that I got an opportunity to visit India as it is now. I think that 20 years from now, this will be a very different nation. They are certainly a developing country, but they are developing fast. If this development increases the over wealth of the nation and that is used to pull those in poverty from those circumstances, it could easily become one of the premier places on the planet to live and work. I hope on my next visit I get a chance to see the ocean, the ruins, and the jungle areas of India.

I learned a few lessons during my stay that future visitors may find helpful. So, in no particular order, they are:

• Be prepared: Get your shots early. The hepatitis shots take 3 rounds. You need a visa, not just a passport, which takes time to get. Take a local cell phone or a sim card for you cell phone that works in India. Bring sunscreen, hand sanitizers, iPhone / iPod. Bring a roll of american toilet paper. Trust me on this. Download useful iPhone apps - I used the in-ear headset with the White Noise app on the plane and in my hotel. I also downloaded and used the money converter, Hindi language guide, and the India app. Bring a daypack if you intend to go out, to carry bottled water and other stuff in.
• Be openminded: this is not a western country and things do not operate in western ways. Expect power fluctuations, broken elevators, and spicy food for breakfast. Even going to western restaurants will not get you western food as you may have seen earlier in this blog. Eat with your hands and sample the local foods. Look for India has that the western world doesn't - not vice versa.
• Be respectful: this culture was old before Europe was settled, much less the new world.
• Learn to do the math. 1 dollar = to about 49 rupees, depending on the exchange rate at the time. The easy way to convert is to move the decimal place over by two and double it. So, if something is 300 rupees, move the decimal so it is 3.00 (or just 3) and double it. Therefore 300 rupees is about 6 dollars. You can get free iPhone apps that convert for you.
• Don't even think about renting a car and driving.
• Don't pay for a guide anywhere, even if they show you there official guide credentials. They are a rip off. They will say "Pay me what you want at the end" and "its not about the money, it's about making sure you enjoy yourself". In the end, they will demand exhorbinant fees. Don't do it.
• Never look a street vendor in the eye or make any acknowledgement that they exist. Even saying "No" will further encourage them. Just pretend they don't exist.
• Don't drink the water. I was told this by everyone, including the locals. I was also told it was probably OK in my hotel and I could brush my teeth with it, but why take a chance? Its not hard to use bottled water to brush with and keep your mouth closed in the shower. Maybe it is not that risky in a nice hotel, but it was not worth taking chances with.
• The price of everything goes up for foreigners, so ask about the price before you take a cab ride, auto-rickshaw, or purchase any "service". Pre-negotiate the price.
• Go to Mysore if you can. The drive to and from is as much a part of the experience as doing the Palace tour. At the palace, ride the elephant if you like, but skip the camel.
• Buy trinkets, but not clothes, at the state run emporiums - at least there you can be sure that the sandlewood elephant is actually sandlewood and not oak soaked in sandelwood oil. There are ton's of little trinkets to bring home to loved ones.
• Name brands are just as expensive in India as they are in the west. I went to the "Levi's" store and saw a cool pair of jeans. It was $110 USD.
• Go to FabIndia to find good quality clothes and hand made home items at good prices in a relaxed (not pushy) atmosphere you would expect to find in the west.
• If you like beer, try Kingfisher Premium, Strong, and/or Blue. Decent beer, a la Budweiser, at a good price. Kingfisher is so successful, they have started their own airline!
• Don't bother bringing shorts. No one wears them there and they are not really needed. I was comfortable in jeans or my travel pants.
• Bring an outlet converter or power adapter. I made sure everything I brought could take 110-220 volts and just brought a powerstrip and plug adapter. If you have stuff that only works with 110, you will need a power converter.
• Buy travel pants before you go and wear them during travel and while out site seeing. I got a pair of Columbia "Titanium" pants that were light weight, SPF 30, and had zip off legs, cargo pockets, zippered back pocket, and zippered interior pocket in front. I felt much safer about getting pickpocketed and it was convenient while in and between planes with areas for plane tickets, passports, iPods, etc.
• Coke and Pepsi, cold and in the bottle, are available most everywhere and cheaper than bottled water. Diet versions are not as easy to find.

Have fun and enjoy the experience!