Travel in India

Went on another hiring trip this weekend to Bangalore. Interview by day, Bangalore by evening and night. Scott, a college friend of a mine that I've known since I was 5, took Karen and I out and about Saturday night. We hit up Little Italy, where I had the worst glass of wine I've ever tasted. Well maybe not as bad as the $2 bottle I bought when I first got to China 4 years ago. Anyhow, we had a yummy dinner and then headed over to a bar/club that felt like it belonged on an island. Despite being packed with people, there was a chill vibe. It was my first time being 'out' at night and was an interesting experience. I found myself asking Karen how to make friends, start conversations, etc. Odd feeling. The night ended young as Bangalore bars close at 11:30pm and we were both beat from all the interviews that day. We decided to head back to the hotel despite being tempted by a house party. Next morning, rise and shine. Karen and I are at breakfast, wait, eat breakfast, ea...

Got sick for the first time this weekend. The plan was to go to Corbett National Park and look for tigers, but due to the Aligarh trip I didn't make it and it was a good thing as I could barely stay awake on Saturday. I spent the day on the couch, trying to catch up with work, but falling asleep every hour or so. Hari, the dude who lives with us and cleans, was concerned and he and 2 others came to ask if I was okay. Very sweet of them. Went into the office on Sunday to help with interviews, but wasn't really needed Publish so just plugged away slowly on the computer.

We went with work to AMU - Aligarh Muslim University on a hiring trip. It was my first outside of Delhi. Took a while to drive there as there were 4 cars trying to stay all together as they passed trucks, tractors, horses and whatever else was moving slowly. We were late arriving and the coordinator was sick, so we jumped in and got the interviews going as quickly as possible. After the storm of madly collecting resumes, bucketing candidates, and interviewing, we sat outside for a bit reading over some writing samples. A group of kids came up and got super excited over Karen and I after Vineet told them that we were movies stars. It took one 'Hello' for about 15-20 kids to come over and ask us all sorts of cute questions. And of course, I took some pics. That night we headed to the fair, a yearly event consisting of vendors from all over India selling their stuff. One of the professors kindly took us around and even bargained for Karen and I for some tea cups, much to the vendo...

The next weekend Suzie and I visited the Agra, the city where the Taj Mahal is located. It was really enchanting. We took the train there, which was great! Faster than driving and so easy. We treated ourselves to massages, this time not so invasive, and a nice hotel, never been so extravagant. It rained like crazy on Saturday and Suzie was sick, so we stayed in the hotel, which was great. Otherwise, I would have felt compelled to go out and wander around. I was so nice to relax. We watched 2 Bollywood films too! Dewall and Brick. Both films with Mr. Big B, a famous Indian actor whose real name is Amitabh Bachchan. Dewall was one of his early films in which he looses his father and ends up making money with good intentions, but through bad means. Black is more recent and his acting has matured significantly. The first bit felt like I was rewatching the story of Helen Keller, but eventually it changed and a new story was developed. On Sunday, we went out and saw the Taj Mahal. It was rea...

Kombucha, kombucha - a story for my SF roomies and their kombucha On the way back from Pondicherry we stopped in Auroville . It was a town started by Mother and Sri Aurobindo in 1968 with the hope to realize human unity. The idea was that it is a nation for all nations where people would come toghether to work, learn and teach. Sounds nice. Anyone want to go stay for a couple weeks and let me know how it is? We arrived too late to see the golden sphere, Matrimandir , at the center of the town, but got to indulge in organic food! I was in heaven. Smoked tofu salad - oh my! I thought it was a side salad. That it was not. It was a main plate full of lettuce and tofu. Suzie got a tomato salad that was about 5 bright red, tasty tomatoes piled high. We couldn't finish all the food, but I couldn't bear for it to even be composted so scrounged up the plastic that they tomatoes came in and a paper bag to take the tomatoes and wheat bread. There was also a shop where I stocked up on pea...

Pondicherry- Settled in the 18th century, the French left around 50 years ago and is now a popular tourist desitnation for Europeans and others. We cruised around the French Quarter by foot which delighted me as I'm going through withdrawls of not being able to walk around town. Another fabulous weekend planned by Suzie. Her friend Liz and a collegue, Mahin also came. I'd just met Mahin, but we got friendly fast as we shared a bed in a room that didn't have a separate bathroom. Instead there was a wall about 3/4 to the ceiling separating the bed from the toilet, sink and a house sticking out of the wall. Neither of us showered. Despite this, I was excited to experience something that might be a bit closer to more typical living standards. Villa Pondicherry felt like a community home. While we were eating breakfast an elderly Japanese man came in with drips of sweat and a giant smile, as he'd just walked the 1.5 km there and back to the ashram. A bit later a French coupl...

Had a funny experience in while spending 2 weeks in Hyderabad. I went for training. Suzie's housemate was in the States, so I crashed in his room. One night we decided that ice cream sounded great. We considered driving to BR, but didn't want to deal with traffic, so decided to order. In the amount of time it took to relay the order and address we probably would have been better off driving. First up, Suzie successfully asks for a large mint chip. Then after noting the whole address, I hear her repeat the apartment number over and over about 10 times. Then she looks at the phone and notes that BR hung up. Next up, me. I call back to confirm that they will really bring us the ice cream and to ask the price. In response I'm told, Rs. 400 minumum for delivery, total Rs 320. Hmm, so if we hadn't ordered enough for t he minumum delivery, I asked if we needed to order more. 'Yes' we did. So I threw in a small chocolate. Then was asked for the apartment number 10 times...