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!

Homeward Bound

Tuesday was my last day in India. I packed my bags in the morning, squeezing in all the things I had bought while I was there, checked out, and got a car to the office.

We had a team lunch at a hotel restaurant I had been to a couple of times before and it was very nice. I got to chat with everyone and we had some good Indian food.

After lunch, we had a team meeting and I expressed my gratitude for the time and effort of the team to make the trip productive and for their more than gracious hospitality. I leave feeling more confident about the team, having met with each member and answering questions and discussing various issues I think the project is very definately on the right track and I think it will be successful.

I also expressed my gratitude to Kris, Anunda, Sudesh, and Rajiv for the effort they made to make sure my trip was not only productive, but enjoyable and fun. I cannot have had better hosts and I thank them sincerely for the personal time they gave up to take me around and the effort they made to make sure all of my needs were satisfied. I certainly had a lot of fun and it was a great experience.

So, after two weeks of travelling, it was time to head home. Since my flight left Wednesday at 3:25 AM, I just left from the office on Tuesday evening around 10:20 PM. The car took me to the airport and I was there in about an hour. I checked in and sat at the bar where I had power, had dinner and a Kingfisher Blue beer, and did some work and some reading.

The flight from Bangalore to Germany was about 9 1/2 hours, I laid over in Frankfurt for about 1 1/2 hours, then got my flight to Chicago (another 9 1/2 hours). In Chi-town my flight was supposed to leave at 4:05 but due to weather we did not leave until about 5:30 PM. I arrived in Dayton at about 6:45 and by the time I got my luggage, lugged it to the car and got out of the airport is was about 7:30. I had to stop and get gas, and then got off on a wrong exit to get home, but FINALLY got home about 9:30 PM on Tuesday. It was about 30 hours of travelling all told. I spent some time with the family that I had not seen for a couple of weeks, got the kids to bed, and then it was off to bed for me. I was dead to the world.

It's now Thursday afternoon and I am still getting over the jet lag, but very happy to be home. A final 'wrap up' post to this blog is forthcoming!

2/8 - Bull temple, Lal Bagh Botanical Garden, FabIindia

Sunday was my day of rest. In the morning, I slept late which was a nice treat after a long day of site seeing on Saturday. I wanted to take it easy today, but I also wanted to see a couple of things in Bangalore I had not yet seen, including the botanical gardens and Bull temple.

But first, Rajiv from work had told me about FabIndia, a local store where he shops and is not a tourist trap place. If you are in Bangalore, I highly recommend that you check it out. It is a nice boutique that sells clothes and home goods and is very low key, friendly, and upscale. Sales people are not pushy at all and did not treat me like a foreigner. I was just another customer, which was a very nice break from the people falling all over themselves to sell you things. It had the feel and quality of a boutique Crate and Barrel, but the prices were still more than reasonable by US standards. I picked up a few things and then headed back to the car.

After FabIndia, we went to the Lal Bagh Botanical Garden which is a large (240 acre) park with a lot of different plants and gorgeous, quiet grounds. I was approached by a "guide" again and this time I decided to use one as the place was so big. It was not at all worth it - it was a waste of 750 rupees for a 1/2 hour. I could have found my way around myself (though it would have taken longer to do) but he did point out some interesting things I probably would have missed. I did get a chance to take some photos of course.

Strolling down one of the walkways, I realized it was actually... quiet. It's the first time I have heard quiet in quite a while (without the use of earphones). I took some photos and strolled around for a while. The weather was fantastic as usual - another warm spring day with no humidity.

After this, I was getting hungry and upon seeing a McDonald's, I asked the driver to pull over so I could get some lunch. I figured McDonald's is going to have hamburgers, no matter what. It is, after all, a hamburger joint. Silly American thinking again. No hamburgers. Amazingly, in a country who's main meat dish seems to be chicken, they did not even have chicken nuggets. They did, however, have a Big Mac. Only here, it is called...

That's right - the Chicken Maharaja Mac. Mmmm.... I went with the Filet-o-fish meal (the only item I recognized) and bought my driver a chicken sandwich meal as well. So much for McD's.

After this, we headed to Bull Temple, which has the second biggest bull statue in all of India. That's a lot of bull.

It is also the only temple I have been too where I was allowed to take pictures inside. Below are shrines (I think they are called) in the temple.

After walking around the temple, the priest gave me a flower string of lilac and put a red dot on my head. Then he asked for a donation. I gave him 100 rupees and he took my picture (sorry it is blurry).

After that, I headed back to the hotel to enjoy the rest of my day in my room, blogging and relaxing. All in all, a very nice day.

2/7 - Mysore and Bird Sanctuary

I skipped blogging on Friday because there was not really much interesting to blog about. It was just another day at the office and I ended up working late and was just too tired to blog after a long day. I am getting a lot of stuff done while I am here, but most of that will not interest anyone who is reading this.

Saturday was a pretty interesting day. Sudesh, Rajiv, and I went to Mysore, which is a town about 80 files to the west. I to to see some of the India countryside, finally, and it is beautiful. Much what I imagine southeast Asia to be.

Kris and Anunda arranged a car and driver for us to take us to Mysore (thanks very much guys), and it picked us up at our homes/hotels early (7 AM for me). We got onto the highway to Mysore, which is not really an Interstate as much as a two lane divided highway we have in the US. We stopped for a traditional breakfast of Idly and Vaya with coffee. The cocoon looking thing is the Idly - it is wrapped in a long leaf. It is basically like a very light bread. I decided to brave the coffee after my friends explained it is boiled (percolated) here, so it is safe to drink. I had it with cream and it was very sweet and rivalled anything at Starbucks.

We got to Mysore in about 2 hours and first stopped at a large, Christian church that looked like most cathedrals we have in the US. From there, we went to the palace, which is the big attraction in Mysore. It was amazingly ornate on the inside and unfortunately, camera's are not allowed, so I was not able to take pictures. I have included here some pictures I again shamelessly stole from the official Mysore Palace Website of the interior rooms. The outside pictures I took myself.

I think it was much more ornate and gilded than what I saw in Versailles, in Paris. The "Sun King", King Louis XIV of France, had nothing on the Maharajah's of India when it came to palaces.The grounds were very nice as well.

One point to note about going to the palace is that there is a 20 rupee price for locals and a 200 rupee price for foreigners. Welcome to India. It was well worth the $3.80 to get into the park (plus 20 rupees or 38 cents to have someone watch your shoes while you are in the palace (again no shoes allowed). Taking of your shoes in India is a sign of respect for the place you are - be it temple, palace, or someone's home. Also, don't bother with paying a "guide" at the palace unless you want the history of everything. You can find your way around by yourself and guides are expensive, even the licensed ones.

After our walk through of the palace, we saw an elephant out on the grounds and went to investigate. We found they were offering rides on elephants and camels, so...

Let me say this about riding on elephants and camels... it is not a comfortable ride.

The elephant, which the man steered with by putting his feet on its ears, lumbered slowly and the people on top (myself, Sudesh, and Rajiv) lurched side to side with every step. Don't ride an elephant after a big meal.

The camel just plain hurt. The saddle is not comfortable and it bounces up and down. Its fortunate that Denise and I are done having kids if you know what I mean.

After limping back to entrance we walked through an open air bazaar selling trinkets to tourists. As the only white person around, I was a beacon of millions of kilowatts and street vendors from as far away as Egypt seem to descend upon with a furor and zeal rarely seen outside of religious cults. Here is a hint for future travelers. Wear sunglasses so no vendor see you look at them or their wares, and do not speak or acknowledge their existence in anyway. These are things I learned after the fact. When we pushed our way through the throng of vendors that encircled us and got to our car, they were literally pushing stuff in through the windows of the car. One guy wanted to sell me a flute for 100 rupees. It soon became 2 for a hundred, then 3... as we were pulling out of the lot this guy had 5 flutes in his hand through the window of the car while running along side of it. I think he almost got hit as the driver floored it. I looked at Rajiv and Sudesh and they busted out laughing (the driver too). Take this advice - never speak to a street vendor unless you are buying something. Ever.

After that, we proceed to a nice lunch with a couple of beers and off we drove to the wild bird sanctuary. It was 200 rupees for me (as listed on the board) and 40 for my friends. Then we each paid 20 rupees (40 cents) for a seat on a big, covered row boat that takes you around the lake where you can get close enough to the birds (and crocodiles) for pictures.

We did see one crocodile on the bank, but I could not get close enough for pictures. I did get some fairly nice bird snaps though.

Having borrowed Kris Nair's telephoto zoom lense for my camera was a huge benefit. I am going to have to get one of these myself. The image stabilization was well worth it when hand holding a zoom lense on a moving, rocking boat.

By the time we got back to the car and on our way, it was starting to get dark and we were all pretty tired. I was hoping to make it to the hilly areas before dark so I could get some more pictures of the countryside, but unfortunately we could not beat the sun and it was dusk by the time we got to anything scenic. The picture to the side is the best I could do in the low light from a moving car (again, the lense was awesome).

Well, that was it for the day. The taxi dropped me off at the hotel at about 9 PM, so after 14 hours out and exploring, it was time for a shower and bed. All in all, a great day.

Thumbs Down for "Thums Up"

My morning brightened considerably on my way back from breakfast. The elevator is finally working! In I went and up to the third floor. That is when things went awry. The elevator doors would not open. To boot, none of the buttons in the elevator (including "door open" and "alarm") would function. The elevator is not the size of a US elevator - it is best described as a "slightly roomy coffin on a string" and would be close quarters for 2 people. It began to feel much more like a coffin to me at this point. I thought about yelling for help, but as I could see light through the crack in the door and figuring I had nothing else to lose, I used my hands to pry the doors apart. It so happens that the elevator was level with the floor (my floor even) so I slid out with great relief and took the stairs when leaving for the day.

We got a lot done at the office today. I went through some complicated processes regarding expert location and content management and was glad to have spent the time. These were complex processes that required a lot of explaining and generated some good questions that I have to send back to the customer.

The driver took me a different way home tonight and we went through an area just up the road from our office that was all tech compounds. I say compounds because every office building is walled and gated and has private security. Walls are ubiquitous in India. Almost every house is surrounded by a wall of some sort with yard between them. The walls are, however, generally only 4 feet high or so and are not used so much for security as it is to demark the boundary of the property. I guess it is good if you want to let your kids play in the yard when they are young. You don't have to worry about them running into the streets - you just need to be worried about the cobras that are hiding in the flower beds.

Ascendum is in it's own compound in India. We lease all 4 or 5 floors of the building, so it is just us. There is very limited parking here, so Ascendum actually provides bus / car service to all of it's employees, except for a few that drive motocycles and scooters.

There is plenty of room to expand and put a parking lot in across the street from our building, however.

Today for lunch, my friends took me to a "Hotel". A hotel simply means that it offers food - it basically is just another word for restaurant. This place served "Andhra" style food from the south of India, which is spicier than typical Indian food and usually served on giant leaves. Sadly, we were late to lunch and they were out of leaves, so we had to rough it and use plates. I also tried a "Thums Up" cola. This pop is made by Coke, but is a local India soft drink. Don't try it - it tasted like Coke mixed with Formaldehyde.

I took the elevator again tonight (what's the definition of insanity again?) and it stopped at the correct floor and the doors opened all by themselves! Score one for Rich.

Wednesday - 2/4

I saw that my kids got another snow day today. The weather here this time of year is perfect. Warm, sunny days in the upper 70s to low 80s and no humidity. Every time I walk outside, I just smile at how wonderful it is.



Interestingly, I got to see the snow and sunrise live today. We sat down to a scheduled video conference and they were able to activate the camera in the conference room of the US Office and control it. So, they turned the camera to the window that looks out on the pond and patio of our building and we could see the snow all over and the traffic going by. I will have to remember that from now on. Just because our TV is off, etc. does not mean that they can't see and here us. Its the ultimate 1 way window.



The weather helps makes up for some of the inconveniences. For example, the elevator (lift they call it here, thanks England) STILL does not work. The charm is starting to wear thin. After climbing 4 flights of stairs, I found that the key to my room was not working. There is no phone in the hall to call from, so I had trudge back down 3 flights to get my key reactivated and back up 3 flights. The charm is wearing very, very thin at this point. Had no problems with the power last night, so that's something.



For lunch today, Rajiv and Sudesh took me to a Punjabi restaurant near the office. This place was a little rougher around the edges than previous places. For instance, they had no electricity at the time we were there (not sure if this is always the case) but the food was good. My hosts very explicitly told me not to drink the water there. We had mixed parata and dal, followed by fried rice with vegetables and dal. Parata is a basically like a quesadilla with various things between the tortillas. In this case, it was mixed vegetables. Dal is a sauce (there are many kinds of dal) that you dip your parata into. You can also mix rice with dal. These are pretty standard food items in India. Again, I ate with my hands today. I learned how to tear pieces of parata off with one hand (its not easy). You only use your right hand to eat here, ever. The left hand is considered unclean so it should never touch your food. I guess left handed people are out of luck...




Well, it is 8:00 PM and my legs are rested up for the trek back down the stairs so it is time to for dinner (they eat late here). I hope everyone in Cincinnati enjoys the weather (ha, ha).

Living like a local

We seem to be having some infrastructure issues at the hotel the last couple of days. For starters, the elevator has been out of service for the last two days. I am on the third floor, so while this is not a tremendous ordeal, it has grown a bit tiresome, but I am getting some exercise at least to work of the fried food I have been eating. The power went on and off several times here as well last night (4 that woke me). I can't blame that on the hotel specifically though as we had a few interruptions at the office as well today. They generally last for about 10 seconds and then comes back on. The server room, obviously, is on UPS and so it is not an issue. When it first happened I looked out the window of my office and no one was fazed by it. Just something you accept in this part of the world.

Had a very productive morning in the office going over the prototype with UI developer, and then we did a detailed design review in the afternoon. This has been a very collaborative process, where they have identified gaps in my database design, and I have identified gaps in their understanding of certain functionality and we both move forward to make adjustments. This has been a very productive trip so far and I think it will continue to be so.

At lunch today, Rajiv and Sudesh took me to a local restaurant. Rajiv (pictured) showed me how to eat in the traditional Indian manner, which is often with the hands. I had Dahl (not sure on the spelling, but phonetically, that is what it sounds like) which is like chili and burrito sauce with some barbecue sauce sprinkled in. It was actually very good and mixed well with the fried rice it was served with. You mix the Dahl with the rice in a bowl with your hands and then scoop some on to your fingers. From there, you use the thumb to push it into your mouth. It takes some getting used to, but I got the hang of it. Note to my children - don't try this at home! To drink, I had a lemon soda, a very popular drink that is made to order. It is basically fresh lemon and lime juices, mixed with soda water and some sugar and served in a soda glass. It tasted like lemonade soda, and was a bit tart but generally pretty good.

So, after having a traditional lunch eating in manner of locals, and having had to deal with the power fluctuations, and broken elevator, I was ready for some of the familiar. Dinner at the hotel was fish and chips, with a jack and coke and Baskin Robbins for dessert (the B&R is right next store to the hotel). Trudging up the three flights of stairs to my room, I looked forward to my espresso fudge sundae. Unfortunately, I am not sure what they put in it (it seemed like cut up Milk Duds) but it was something less than expected. It would certainly be ironic to get sick from eating Baskin Robbins instead of the local desserts at the restaurant, thinking that B&R was less risky. I think I hear Alanis Morrisette in the background.

We finalized our plans to go to Mysore this weekend. Looking forward to seeing that and going to the bird sanctuary to see and take pictures. The week is now half over since tomorrow is hump day...

So long from Bangalore!