Today I traveled into Hyderabad to research what’s known as Serviced Housing. This is either an apartment or bungalow with security & servants. We're staying at "The Novatel” now which is a 5 star hotel but it lacks a few significant details like; There is no dedicated driver, they offer extremely expensive laundry “5 dollars US for 1 shirt” and they have poor internet.
So Gulshan and I left the BACS-IT offices at 1:30 PM. Our offices are in what’s called Hi-Tec City.
I should pause here and explain what Hi-Tec City is.. Hi-Tec City is an amazing architectural area. This relatively small area of real estate is home to most every new corporate building in Hyderabad like Dell, Bank of America, TATA (The G.E. of India), Oracle, Monster and many more. These buildings are all architecturally unique and very beautiful. It’s an amazing site to see in the mornings and evenings as thousands of India natives scramble in and out of these offices. The women mostly wear traditional bright colored Sari and the men look as if they work in America.
Here is an example of what the Sari look like.
Hi-Tec City is lavish and as the name tells, very Hi-Tech. Since camera’s aren’t allowed on premises, I will try to get some pictures this weekend from outside. Just a stones throw outside the Hi-Tec area is where the poverty and craziness begins. If there isn’t a new construction site in process, then someone has thrown up a shanty and is squatting on the land. It’s truly an interesting situation the country is faced with. America and a few other countries are rapidly turning India around with their investments however and the way Hi-Tec City looks, it will be another LA knock off in about 10 years! Each bungelow is selling for $800,000 to $1.2MM US.. Yes, US!
Back to my daily diary :). So we left to find a Serviced Bungalow and after about 2 hours of driving around town and seeing places that don’t meet the lowest standards for your average American middle class home, we finally decided we should either stay in our hotel and figure out what to do about transportation or find a way to move into the nice Bank of America Bungalow’s. The problem with these however, is that they meet 99% of our requirements and the 1 thing they don’t offer at this time is broadband. The development is so new the government hasn’t approved their plans for it.
We decided we would try to find Wireless Internet cards and test them out to resolve this issue. So by 4:30 we made our way through the craziness of Hyderabad where people honk every time they pass, every time they turn and every time they want you to move for them. We finally ended up at AirTel, one of the leading mobile phone providers in India. They are supposed to have a 256 KB card which is far more bandwidth that I am getting at the Novatel. We finally found the hole in the wall serving as an Airtel (there are hardly any significant retail outlets for any reseller) and found out that they don’t sell them in Hyderabad. Only Mumbai (Bombay) and New Delhi sell them. What luck we have. So then we decided to try their competitor Reliance mobile. Another hour across busy Hyderabad and we found it. Again a hole in the wall. They sold the cards but had none open. After 15 minutes we convinced the salesman to open one for testing. About 35 minutes later, the card was installed and the salesman tells us that we need a local address to setup the connection. We’ll, we obviously don’t have one yet “Ahh!”. Sometimes this city drives me crazy. The laws here are very foreigner unfriendly in many cases. Most of this this time I'm taking conference calls on my blackberry and trying to work while dealing with the sales people and Hyderabad.
Gulshan and I were both beat by this time and decided to eat and head home. We passed a Pizza Hut and asked the driver to turn around. It was rush hour traffic “as if Hyderabad ever breaks from that” so by 7:00 PM we reached Pizza Hut and ordered. The menu was fascinating, It looked like Pizza hut, it sounded like Pizza hut but it didn’t’ smell like it and the menu... Wow! Every dish was labeled with a country of origin and there were drinks like Masala Lemonade “selzer water with Indian oils and spices” and very unique pizza combinations. I took a chance and tried the Masala Lemonade. I couldn’t get passed the 2nd sip :).
Apparently Pizza Hut is famous in India and remains very popular. As patrons leave, there is a large cow bell hanging by the door over the hostess area. An engraving reads “Ring the Bell if you Had a Good Time.”. People would loudly ring the bell as they left and the whole place would burst out in English “Thank You!”. I know it's horrible but I had to laugh. What a neat place but I did wonder if they thought this is also an America tradition.
Well, that’s it for me tonight. Tomorrow is Friday and I plan to have a very productive day at work and prepare to see the City on foot for the first time.
Until Next time!
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( 2.8 / 67 )Today was my second full day at the office. At lunch I sat with some of my peers in India and discussed the city, real estate and the night life. My new friend Gulshan is also on assignment here and is native to India. He's been helping me quite a bit with the culture, getting around and integrating into the job (he was here a week before me).
I want to share with you a picture of my driver here in India. This is Lake.
Lake is the 3rd driver i've had and I'm doing everything I can to keep him :). People drive very fast and chaotic here but Lake is sensible and a very good driver. Driving in India is an expirence itself. He also has one of the only undented and new cars in the country... ha-ha! His car is also the only one i've seen with leather interior.
Sunday was National Friendship Day in India and everyone is encouraged to celebrate with their friends. Gulshan had a friend fly down from New Delhi and stay the weekend. The two of them invited me to dinner on Sunday night which was a great experience. We ate at a restaurant named Tabala and had Salad Poppers, Basmati Rice, and KingFisher Beer. The weather was great when we went into the restraunt however, when we were ready to head home, it was flooding across many parts of India and Hyderabad had extreme rain and mild flooding in the streets. We would have to wait close to 30 minutes for a cab and since we were impatient, we waved down an Auto Rickshaw (The little yellow carts in the “Down Town” images below). It was a neat ride but I was soaked by the time we arrived at the hotel. Cars passing a Rickshaw in a flood is a bit like being in a water fight against a firehose and you know who lost!
I plan to head downtown tomorrow as I need to open an account here in India and start transitioning from guest to resident. The process of changing cultures hasn’t been easy but it hasn’t been to difficult either. There are a lot of differences but common sense almost always seems to lead to good decisions. It also helps to have a friend from the region working the same job!
I miss Lisa and the kids a lot but having video conferencing setup in advance has made a world of difference. If any of you plan to travel abroad without your family, I recommend setting up a Web Cam on your laptop and home PC using either Windows Live Messenger or Skype. Both are free for PC to PC calls and easy to use and I can't imagine how hard this would be without seeing them twice a day.
Finally, four months seemed like a short time last month when I accepted the assignment but as the days bleed away here I’m reminded of how very long 4 months really is. With out the web cams, I think it would be very easy to get home sick in such a completely new culture.
Here is how Lisa has said she gauges the time.
August 31st (ofr there about) – Kids start school
September 3rd – Labor Day vacation
October 6th – Jason Fly’s Home (1 week vacation)
-> 1/2 Way Point of the assignment
65 days to go for the 1/2 way point!
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( 2.8 / 38 )Today I finally had an opportunity to venture out into Hyderabad a little. I still haven’t walked among the people however, I did join a Hotel tour to a historic Palace & mosque. The royal family lived there 200 years ago and at that time it must have been wonderful but very hot. I’ve taken a fair number of pictures today on the way there and back. These pictures were taken out the window of the bus so several aren’t as clear as I would like but they should be enough to give you an idea of what the city is like.
The Novatel
Down Town #1
Down Town #2
Busy City #1
Busy City #2
Unfortunate Povery
Royal Palace
Back to work tomorrow. I'm looking forward to meeting the Bank of America associates here and interacting with them on a business and personal level. Hopefully I'll have lots more to tell in the coming week.
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( 3 / 25 )I just woke up and it's 3:30 AM here. I left the computer on and the virus update has a verbal announcement that woke me. Now I’m having trouble getting back to sleep.
I found out yesterday "My first day at the office" that India goes through routing in China to reach the internet and as many of you know, China have blocked/filtered internet video sites. Specifically, sites like Google Video and You Tube just aren’t accessible which is a real disappointment. I really like watching comedy routines and frequent free South Park episodes etc. help pass time and make me laugh. This is definitely another unexpected luxury missing and one I was counting on to help pass the time for my four month stay. The good news is that I do see the brighter side of this dilemma. Someone up top is telling, even pushing me out into the culture. Telling me to break away from American X Generation customs/habits and become involved in this wonderful place. Lots of changes ahead!
This morning I met Gulshan, another bank associate on the assignment with me. He’s already been here a week and was born in India. He’s been an invaluable asset in my process to assimilate. Gulshan showed me how to get to the office and helped with many introductions. I was greeted heartily and even found a billboard at the security desk that said ‘ We Welcome Mr. Jason Delmar ”.
The main focus of my day today was to meet with our Relocation Expert (RE). Gulshan had arranged for us to see some corporate housing so that we could consider a more relaxed and less sterile stay. After a while, having maids in your room daily gets old and the built in safe is to small to fit many of my valuables “most notably this personal laptop”. As, I have mentioned, I wasn’t to shocked by the state of the infrastructure or even the poverty I’ve seen however, I was surprised by the standard of living for what is considered “up-scale”. Our RE showed us a top property right down town in what’s known as City Center. A wonderful bustling and somewhat modernized mall filled with stores and shops which offer a glimpse into the variety of styles popular in India right now. As I understand it, apartments here have a 6 month waiting list but we’re looking at spending more than an average local so some locations have openings. I was shocked by what we saw. The property was clean but nothing like what I would expect, especially for the amount of American dollars we would have to spend to be there. There are so many new buildings scattered around (Dell, IBM, Oracle and many office parks), I really expected that American money would have carried over into the housing market however, it looks like that isnt the case and most business stays must continue to be in hotels for the duration. Since we’re not allowed to take a camera into the offices, I have no pictures to show unfortunately. On another positive note, the India culture functions much like America. They have a primary offer and many value adds to sell their product. In this case, the property manager talked about location, location, location and showed us a small pool. He also had an arrangement with a hi-tech gym around the corner so we could work out daily. Unfortunately, these amenities are nothing compared to your average 24hr fitness or local gym at home.
Ultimately, while I would really love to be right in the middle of the culture, I think an apartment is to much for me right now. What Gulshan and I are discussing is a move to the Taj Krishna which is another hotel but it's right on the main City Center street across from the mall. The noise and traffic will be a switch from the distant peacefulness of the Novatel however, the shorter trip into our office and access to shops (Novatel ahs none) is a major bonus. The Taj is also rated #1 for hotels in India.
Well, I’ll try to get some pictures today and I’ll be going on a hotel sponsored tour tomorrow so I’ll have some images to upload and probably more to say.
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( 2.7 / 23 )Well, I made it safe and sound. It certainly was a long flight. Thankfully Bank of America paid for Business Class which made the duration MUCH more comfortable. I can't imagine making that flight in coach. By the 14th hour on the plane, I started to feel antsy and ready to get off. I did get in a nice list of movies while in flight. They included,
1. Shrek the 3rd
2. Disturbia
3. The Perfect Stranger
4. Ghost Rider
5. Blades of Glory
I arrived late last night and the area around their small Airport was very happening. While landing I was amazed at how many lights I could see. I truly anticipated a fairly dark landing into a somewhat industrialized area. What I found "at least from the air" was much more like Sacramento with far stretching lights and activity on the streets. Once I landed however, the reality set in that this wasn't America.
Hyderabad looks like a worn-torn city rebuilding after major hostility. There are patches "small ones" of new money but most of the city is aging and the buildings & roads are falling apart. The poverty is immediately evident however; for the most part this doesn't show in the personality of my hosts or their culture.
Since I was whisked away by security last night and driven 45 minutes to the Novatel "French hotel chain" I wasn't able to get any photos. So far there isn't much to see. I'll take some snapshots of my accommodations this evening or tomorrow and upload them.
Perhaps, the most disappointing issues so far is the internet connection in the hotel. It's something I worried about before coming but knew I would have no control over. It's very slow and the connection speed varies from 300ms to 2000ms. I'm unable to make a connection into the bank network from here but I am working on that. I have been able do an audio/video session with Lisa and the kids but it's pretty choppy. But hey, at least I can see & hear them daily and at no cost!
Well, India starts there day in the office at 10:30 so I better get ready.
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