Nietzsche is quoted as saying: All great things bring about their own destruction…
Saying good bye is never easy and I personally never like it. When I left for India my stomach was in my throat saying good bye to my wife and children for four months. I’m not a person who shows negative emotions very often, if at all. I learned many years ago from a Bank associate who retired after 50 years of service that a positive attitude and big smile sets the tone not only for your day but for your life. In the 3 years we worked together, I never saw him come to work down, with a frown and definitely never saw him upset. He approached every day with an open mind and greeted it with a healthy smile. He almost dared anyone or anything to remove it. He was a simple yet inspiring man and though he may not know it, he changed my life so many years ago though his example.
So today I greet the day with my morning grin and look forward to a day of new opportunities and wondrous adventure in India. Every day the people here become more dear to me and the lifestyle more acceptable. My favorite aspect of this culture is the collective personality. It seems to be a cultural prerogative that rich, poor, pain, hunger or traffic, no one here shows the struggle. They’re all happy. Despite the poor they are polite, despite the traffic, there is no road rage. India amazes me and while we have a lot to teach many countries about modernization, I have a deep respect for this culture and wish we were receptive to learning in return. India is reminding me that It’s what’s on the inside that counts.
So I pack my bags this morning to say good bye to the Novotel. With my departing words, I will remind them that the external beauty they present here is only a rough exterior of bricks & paint and it’s what’s on the inside the counts .
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( 2.9 / 16 )One thing I don’t seem capable of avoiding here are very long work days. There's so much to do that my morning is directed toward work around 9:00am and my calls and office work don’t normally end before 10:00pm. This isn’t unique to me either. The three of us leave the office between 8:00pm and 9:00pm every night. On a rare occasion, like last night, I am still awake and working from the Hotel at 1:30am.
The best way I’ve found so far to manage stress is to eat. You might find that funny if you know me personally and what my typical diet is like (I dont eat a variety). The food in India is quite good, even for a simple pallet like mine. Many foods do contort my face when I look at them, but ultimately, I find something to hit the spot that’s authentic and usually spicy. Enjoying India's food however, is oddly disappointing as I really hoped to lose weight while here but there just isn’t time to exercise on this schedule. What the three of us have been doing is watching how much we eat but going out to different restaurants 4-5 times a week (Guilty Pleasure).
The Novotel Hotel here has really been driving me crazy. The Internet is notorious here for going down and the TV, while it’s a nice digital flat panel, is still dependant on the cable which is always on the fritz skipping audio and images. I think that’s just part of a developing country however, as we frequently run into power outages when we’re out and about. I’ve been downtown 4-5 times in my 3 weeks here and all but once the power was out for some duration.
I don’t watch much TV, “who has time” and the only English channels are World News, Discover India (Discovery Channel, with shows about India’s History), NAT Geo (National Geographic) and the Star Movie channel which only shows old school classics like James Bond. Not bad but not the variety I'm used to.
So managing stress has been a small challenge but in many ways it’s what's driving my experiences here to be more positive. Since my bad American habits aren’t available to me, I find I am working really hard during the week and getting away from everything familiar on the weekends. Time is also flying by as tomorrow “Friday” will mark the closure of my 3rd week here.
So I say, bring on it on! This stress & life style only make the time fly faster and my life here more interesting and memorable.
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( 3 / 16 )Today we took a trip to Ramoji, Film City. This is in the Guinness book of records as the largest Film Studio in the world. Mr. Ramoji is a famous Telegu film actor and producer.. We had very few expectations before departing and just wanted to see something new and experience the local culture. My experiences today can be summed up as, The Good, The Bad, The Ugly and the Funny!
The Good
Today was another great day. We had a lot of fun seeing new parts of Hyderabad and the Andhar Pradesh province. The 4 of us had quit a few photo opportunities and took advantage of being silly and enjoying the theme park.
The size and money put into the Film City was impressive. It really was unique and beyond anything I thought would exist in a developing country like India.
The Bad
The down side to what we saw was that much or India relates film to the US however, the laws here must not protect Intellectual Property as well as governments in developed countries. Much of the imagery many of the statues, posters and some of the rides are direct knock-offs with exact likeness to Walt Disney characters. There were even statues of Spiderman, Superman, Charlie Chaplan and many other American film icons. We definitely had the impression that these likenesses were not licensed yet this was a VERY expensive and renowned park in India.
The Ugly
The traffic here is chaotic. I think I’ve mentioned this at least once before. I was pretty sure that I would see at least one accident while I was here but wasn’t sure what it would be or when. Today, we unfortunately witnessed an elderly man trying to cross the road as we returned from the theme park. A car trying to pass us made a judgment error and had to hit his breaks. The old man had started to cross behind him but the traffic flow changed and he was tragically hit and thrown into the air. I witnessed the whole event including the careless driver who was the catalyst speeding away. While he didn’t hit the elderly man, it was sad to see these circumstances.
And the Funny
Ramoji, Film City is a thrill for locals and at times for us as well!
While the grounds themselves are on par with any American theme park, the standards of the infrastructure and the performers were in poor shape and really nothing like the high standards we maintain. I tried to do a few jumps and a back flip for the DL’s and ran into a little trouble…
I don't have time to embed the video so Click Here to watch it.
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( 3 / 15 )Time for another update!
Work has been extremely busy this week and a lot has changed in our turbulent lives. Monday of this week the 3rd and final Delivery Lead from the bank arrived. We all work for the organization known as the Network Computing Group but perform very different but related management functions. Gulshan is here to represent Database technologies, Mike who you can now see in the image blow, is representing Mainframe technologies and of course I am here to represent Middleware technologies. Gulshan also met and introduced us to a new friend named Divium. Divium is a lawyer working for UBS and the 4 of us have been inseparable for the last week finding new and intriguing places to eat after late hours at work.
The image below was taken on our way to a wonderful place in the City Center named Indi Joe’s. They serve a variety of cuisine and everything was top notch.
This Saturday the 3 Delivery Leads took a driver to the area known as Charminar. We wondered among wonderful 2nd world shops and street vendors and found amazing deals. We took a guided tour of a 500 year old mosque and snapped many photos. We also went to an area named “7 tombs” where a royal family who ruled for many generations incased their family in massive culturally designed tombs. This tour was also guided (both for 100 rupees each or about $1.50 US).
Tomorrow (Sunday) we’re headed out early in the morning to see someplace called Film City. We’re told this is the largest filming lot in India and is akin to Universal Studios in LA.
Since we've done so much in a short time, I decided to setup a photo album this week rather than write a long update about my impressions.
Link to Photo Album
Click Here
You can also find this linked in the Menu on the right side of the site.
I hope you enjoy what you see. Please post if you have specific questions and email if you want large copies of any specific picture. The shopping photos are so large, you can zoom in on the originals and see wonderful detail. I took these primarily so my wife and family can relay their orders for my next trip into Charminar.
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( 3 / 44 )So today I’m hoping to paint a different picture as I was able to get out and see a little more.
Over the past weekend, Bank of America in Hyderabad had its Founders day. We were invited to an event that was explained as a fashion show. I expected a small celebration with mostly business minded associates and executives showing up for support however, what I witnessed nearly brought tears to my eyes.
Let me start by saying the operation here in India was 35 strong 3 years ago. Last year they reached 2000+ and by the end of this year are expecting to be 6000 strong across 3 different business locations. India is growing fast as a productive democracy and it’s youth are maturing even faster as their insatiable appetite for American and Euro icons drives new industry. Malls are popping up everywhere, with American brand name clothing selling for top dollar as fast as it can be stocked. The operations in India are staffed by the top IT minded 20-30 year olds India has to offer. Bank of America Continuum Solutions “BACS” just won Hyderabad’s top IT company award for 2007.
When Gulshan and I arrived for the function we found a very large and beautiful auditorium had been rented for the function. There were cars and security everywhere and we immediately had the sense that this was bigger than we expected. Once inside, we found some 2000+ Bank of America associates anxiously awaiting what we thought would be a dry business function providing needed but unexciting information about the history of BACS in India however, the curtains opened to a thunderous roar of cultural & body pulsing music like I’ve never experienced. Bank associates in there 20s performed a multitude of amazing high energy dances at a dizzying pace that didn't let your adrenaline stop for nearly 30 minutes. Well dressed associates peviously in their seats were screaming and standing to cheer on the extremely talented dance group made up of Hyderabad employees. As I understand, they only practiced for 2 weeks in a training room to put this show on. I was in awe of the beautiful costumes, the thought and energy put into this show. Then Avtar Monga, the head of BACS, came on stage and spoke to the audience. You could immediately feel the respect in the air and the change of tempo. The associate here get what he’s done and are proud to work for our company. I was truly moved.
After Avtar spoke, the fashion show started. It featured associates dressed in many beautiful clothes as well as a well thought out segment that compared Hollywood to India’s Bollywood. There were two screens , one on each side of the stage. One would show a film like “The Godfather” and on the other would be the Bollywood equivalent. Associates would walk down the isle clad in the appropriate dress for the comparison and get ear popping cheers & applause. It was funny, appropriate and a lot of fun!
You could really feel the energy and the youth that night. There creativity and support for the company was amazing. After the show, everyone, and I do mean everyone went outside under tents to eat. This brought me back to the chaos that I so often see here as people funneled into and out of lines to get food. People cutting and pushing to get what they want with no regard for personal space or what Americans would think is manners. Amazingly however, the Indian people are so passive and sweet, that nothing stirs them. I’ve never seen anyone mad nor have I see aggression or dirty looks while I’ve been here. Its just a different world.
After we ate, you could again her music pulsing so loud that your heart beat synched with it and I felt compelled to look into it. Gulshan and I followed the signs to a massive basement under the very large auditorium. There were already about 1000 bodies jumping to techno versions of regional Indian music like Rajasthan, Telegu, Bengali & Punjabi. It was amazing to see and fun to be around. I’m a huge fan of the Matrix series. Not because I think Keanu Reeves is a great actor but because of the mind twist that the human body could be harvested as batteries. I like well thought out Sci-fi like this or StarTrek. I know I’m a geek but hey, that’s why I’m IT J Anyhow, in the final movie there was a scene where the underground city called Zion dances in its entirety to heart pounding cultural music and everyone is involved and giving 100% to the music. This is what I witnessed and the image that it conjured. It was moving to say the least and nothing like the clubs I visited in my own youth. One really interesting aspect of the dancing is that due to the culture here, it was almost exclusively people dancing in groups. When it wasn’t group dancing it was men together and women together.
In all it was a very exciting night and showed me another side of the people here I hadn’t see. Truly passionate about their culture, extremely creative and proud to work for the company. To be honest, I was envious in a way that we don’t have this passion back in the states. Christmas parties and local functions get passed by for budget and a host of other reasons.
Our culture and our company could use a pinch of the spice I’ve tasted here!
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