Do the Needful

The phrase “Do the needful” means to do what is necessary as in “When driving to work and animals are encountered, do the needful so as to avoid them”. Although I have not heard anybody vocalize that expression, I see it from time to time in written documents. I just think it’s a neat phrase!

As previously mentioned, there are animals on the road that I travel every day. It is so routine with me that I don’t even consider it a hazard or annoyance anymore. Cows or other animals are on the roads; deal with it! One day while riding home from the office, there were several buses stopped in the middle of road picking up passengers. As our driver approached these buses, he decided to pass them up on the inside lane. Imagine our surprise as we approached the front of the first bus when two cows stepped out in front our vehicle. As our driver quickly halted our car, he “tapped” the tail end of one of the cows. It was bumped aside but evidently was not seriously hurt since it just walked away. Our vehicle was not damaged either. I now know why our vehicle has a cattle guard on the front. That was scary incident. Good thing I was not sitting in the front seat.

Another time while driving in downtown Chennai on the way back top to the hotel, our driver had to make a quick stop because of traffic that had also quickly stopped. His stop was not quick enough and he hit a motorcycle. The driver had a rider and both of them looked annoyingly at the fact that they had been hit, but the bike remained upright nonetheless. As they sat there looking at the bike and the car, it almost became apparent that the bike and SUV were lodged together. The rider finally kicked the bike off of the car and they sped away. Later, I had the opportunity to stick my head out the window and look at the front of the vehicle where we had hit the bike. The fender was pulled out, and there were multiple scratches and gashes on the front of the SUV. But there was no stopping either vehicle, and no police reports, and no nothing. Amazing!

The last episode exemplifies to me the Indian spirit of doing what it takes regardless of the adversity. As we were traveling on the road with a healthy speed for once, we had to slow down suddenly because the traffic ahead did the same. The vehicle next to us veered to his right to avoid hitting the car in front of him. When he did that, he cut off a motorcycle rider who then tried to get out of the car's way. He ended up skidding along the concrete median before actually crashing into it, and falling off his bike. I saw the accident and of course I was concerned for the motorcycle driver. As we continued our journey, I asked the others in the car who were locals if we should stop and render aid. Their answer? Nope! The driver will get up, dust himself off, get back on his bike, and continue on his journey if he is not seriously hurt. So there you have it. Indians do not let adversity slow them down. They get back in the saddle and get on with their business. I have seen that time and again during this month, and this event exemplifies it the best!

Do the needful, indeed!

Soon and Very Soon

Bombings and terrorists continue to be in the back of my mind but there is not much I can do about the situation. I will remain as cautious and vigilant as I can be, but I’ve got to continue to do the work I was sent here to get done. In my off hours, I remain at the hotel because we have been advised to not venture out from the hotel all week. Although we did not get out of the hotel during the week anyway, the advisory has made us all feel restricted. We remain in good spirits but we are anxious to get home as our time for departure is approaching. We leave on Friday evening close to midnight for our 32 hour journey that ends when we touch down in San Antonio at close to 9pm on Saturday (International Date Line is crossed).

One of things I’ve learned is to have a very healthy respect for the Indian people. They are a hard-working group. The country has many poor people who work very hard to make a living. The prime example of this is the road that I take to work every day. The main road is a three-lane highway in each direction. Between the two lanes, workers are building a concrete barrier (median) separating the two flows of traffic. In the United States, this would be a process dominated by machinery. The median “blocks” would be made in a machine somewhere and brought to the destination by trucks. From there, machinery would be used to lift the blocks one at a time, and place them in the exact locations where they would be fastened to the ground and each other no doubt using another machine. This is contrast to India methods. Rather than machines, work here is dominated by human labor. The median here is being built essentially by hand. Wooden forms are built in the shape of the median. Concrete is poured in the forms. The exposed top of the forms is scraped with another board to give a semblance of a flat top of the block. Canvas coverings are placed over the forms until the concrete dries. When the required amount of time has passed for the concrete to dry, the canvas is removed and some chiseling takes place to smooth the concrete. One section at a time of about 25 yards is done each day. Many people work on each section to get it done as fast as possible. This is done by the workers even as traffic speeds all around them. There are no barricades or warnings that work is in progress. The workers are essentially working on the inside lanes of each direction of traffic. Drivers just have to be observant about the hazards of people working and material in the road. So basically each section of the median is hand-built. That’s a lot of effort. Workers don’t complain; they work long hours each day and get the job done. When one section is done, they move on to the next section.

Another observation I’ve made is the animals in the road. I mentioned earlier that dogs, cows, goats, and oxen are in the road every day. That’s a fact. What I misinterpreted was the fact that this is not an occurrence on all Indian roads. In the more downtown areas of Chennai, there is much traffic of all kinds of vehicles but there are very few animals other than dogs in the roads. In fact, you don’t see more animals in the road in downtown Chennai than you would see on any American road. My hotel and work buildings however are very far to the south of the city. The area was farmland until very recently. Then many major Information Technology companies moved in to build massive buildings to house many thousands of IT workers. At the same time, roads were being built to support the flow of traffic. The animals had always been able to go anywhere they wanted but now that freedom interferes with traffic. Nobody seems to mind this though. Since cows are sacred and since traffic continues to move along, the cows or other animals are left alone to sit or walk in herds along the main road. And that’s what I see every day. Our driver is careful to avoid hitting animals (except one – more on that in a future blog entry), and our drive to work is a non-event each day.

India is a country of over a billion people. Chennai is a city of over seven million. What I’ve been told is that the city is not any bigger in area than San Antonio. Imagine San Antonio with seven times as many people as it currently has in the same space, without any major routes through the city (410, 1604, Wurzbach Parkway, etc.), with people walking on the shoulders of the roadways because the sidewalks are very narrow if they even exist, and with all types of vehicles weaving around each other. It’s like when a concert or sporting event finishes and everybody is trying to get out of the parking lot. Vehicles are generally going in the same direction, sometimes vehicles get out of line and try to go a different direction or cut in line, and pedestrians are walking through traffic trying to get to their vehicles or to buses. That’s the Chennai I see everyday on all the roads I travel. As you can imagine, traffic does not always move very fast. Even though there are pedestrians in the road, the traffic is generally moving slowly enough that the drivers have a chance to move out the way of pedestrians (not the other way around!). At traffic lights, motorcycles squeeze through spaces between cars to try to move as close to the front of the pack as possible, and small cars do the same thing. This type of traffic would not work in the United States, but then we are not in the United States. Although traffic flow is not to our liking, we don’t have to drive here. To those who live and drive here, it is a normal way of operating and it works very well. There are very few accidents because of the constant attentiveness of the driver. Cell phones are outlawed while driving. Of course, this law is not always adhered to but the for the most part, drivers are much better here than in the United States out of sheer necessity.

New targets?

Today we received advice that we should stay in our hotel another day rather than get out into the city or elsewhere. There were no more bombings, but we received the disconcerting news that a man had been apprehended with trigger mechanisms that were bound for Chennai. This evening after work, we stayed at the hotel for dinner and socializing.

One rumor is now circulating that targets in Bangalore and Ahmedabad were related to the IT industries in those cities. We are located in a section of Chennai where there is a heavy concentration of IT companies comprising many thousands of people. Since the other cities experienced the bombings at bus stops and other areas with high concentrations of people, driving past these areas on the way to work is especially unnerving. There are several sections of the road where there is heavy congestion and traffic slows to a crawl or stops altogether. These areas would be easy targets in my estimation.

Another rumor is that Chennai is the next target, and Kolkatta (previously Calcutta) is next. This spells out the anagram BACK (Bangalore, Ahmedabad, Chennai, Kolkatta). I am not sure of the significance of that word.

At work, we are relatively safe. The campus of the host company has many security guards patrolling. This occurred even before the bombings occurred. Driving into the campus, our SUV is always stopped. A security guard opens the back hatch and looks inside. Another guard has a mirror positioned on a flat board with wheels used to check the undercarriage of the vehicle. The same process happens on our way out. The host company provided the first guidance that we should stay in our hotel on Sunday. We received that word Saturday night. It shows me that they are staying aware of happenings in the city and elsewhere because of their focus on security.

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Bombings

There were bombings in Bangalore on Friday. At least one person was killed. On Saturday, there were bombings in Ahmedabad. Many people were killed. Both of these cities are considered Information Technology centers in India. Chennai is another IT hub in India, and even though IT was not considered the target, our host company has advised members of our group not to leave our hotel today. We are complying.

The Indian newspapers that we have access to are very sensationalistic. Today's headline in the Sunday Times was "B'lore, Ahmedabad. Who's next?". Nothing like calming the masses... The papers show pictures of dead people laying in the rubble. This is not something you would see in an American newspaper.

The hotel staff also asked that we do not venture out of the hotel today. They assured us though that this is a highly unusual situation, and they do not expect anything bad to happen in Chennai. But they asked us to be cautious. They asked us to to be patient for a day or two and then they expect everything to be back to normal. I heard that there are police checkpoints all around our area since this part of the city has a high concentration of IT companies, and that it is taking more time to get anyplace because the police are checking everybody. Our group has already made plans to leave a little earlier tomorrow morning to get to work on time.

It is somewhat surreal to be in a foreign country with terrorist attacks occurring even though they are hundreds of kilometers away. We see and hear news reports on TV, we see and read newspaper stories about the attacks, and we discuss among ourselves about the tragedies. Yet, we are very insulated from the events. We are staying at a plush hotel, we eat at the hotel's restaurants, and everything seems to be just like any other day. It like the events are so far away, and they don't concern us. Since we don't leave the hotel, we don't even see the police which would alert us that something is very different. Tomorrow when we leave the hotel to go to work, we may have more of an awareness of the gravity of the situation. Today, we sit by the pool, work out at the gym, watch TV, eat, and anything else to pass the time.

Shopping, Jewelry, and Clothes

In past posts, I have mentioned that shopping was one of the main diversions of my coworkers, and I was along for the ride without enthusiasm. As I have tagged along on these shopping excusions though, I have come to notice some of the fine wares available for sale. As we go into stores, I see all kinds of things that I think would be great to own although I can't always justify the purchase without having a location in mind of where to showcase the item. I don't think Kim would appreciate a statue of Shiva in our living room. Shiva is one of many gods and godesses of the Hindu culture. I'm not sure what she is the godess of, but her depiction is an elephant-looking head with a multi-armed women's body in a lotus position.

There are also many examples of elephants for sale in all shapes and sizes. There are stone elephants, marble elephants, wooden elephants, ceramic elephants, and cement elephants. There are elephant paintings. There are elephants by themselves, or elephants in herds. There are statues of elephants pulling logs. There are statues of elephants carrying people. I've even seen a statue of several elephants stacked on top of one another. What is perplexing is that I have not seen one live elephant since I've been here. They must be in another part of the country. If they were going to build statues of the local animals, there would be all sorts of icons devoted to cows, dogs, goats, and oxen. But I haven't seen any likenesses of those animals.

There are many places to buy jewelry here. The primary items are made of gold or silver. There are earings, bangles, bracelets, necklaces, and rings (finger and toe). There are all kinds of precious stone jewelry and costume jewelry. I am not an expert in jewelry prices but my co-workers seem to like the deals they are finding. I am told that a toe ring and not a finger ring in the Hindu faith identifies a married woman. Women here do not typically have many piercings in their ears. Their usual jewelry item consists of up to 12 bangles on one arm at a time.

Many of the people I see on the streets wear sandals, flip flops, or go barefoot. Even in the office environment, women predominately wear sandals. In fact, I cannot remember anything but sandals on women. Most professional men wear dress shoes, but it not unusual to see men in dress slacks wearing sandals. Jeans in the office is very rare for men except on Fridays, and even then, it is not that common. It is very rare for women in the office to wear anything but saris. I have not seen any women in the office wearing suits or dresses.

Our group is making plans for last minute shopping since the upcoming weekend is our last in India. I have already purchased many items that I need to find homes for. But I now like to buy stuff. It's fun! Maybe I'll find something else that I cannot live without. I hope I will not exceed my luggage weight limit.

Seashore St Anthony Shrine Catholic Church

Sunday, I went to Mass on Seashore St Anthony Shrine Catholic Church. It is a beautiful church in the southeastern part of Chennai. It is much closer to the hotel than St Thomas Basilica.

The church doors and windows were wide open on the day I went to let in what little breeze there was. It was a very hot day even at 9am. As I looked inside I was struck by the cross at the front of the church. It is surrounded by blue neon light that doesn't look as cheesy as it sounds. There was stained glass windows on either side and above the cross. There were some renovation being done to the interior of the building, but it was still had an impressive appearance to me. I appreciate traditional looking churches and this one fit the bill. It has wooden pews with wooden kneelers. The kneelers have no padding on them. The building is generally rectangular in shape with a columns of pews on either side of the church. At the front of the church, there are extensions on either side of the altar that have seats available for parishiners. At the Mass I attended, the choir started the off with "Though The Mountains May Fall" which is a very common Christian song. And as I mentioned before, it was hot. Like the other church, this one had ceiling fans. Unlike the other church, not all of the ceiling fans were working. I felt sweat dripping down my body as I sit in my seat. The wood of the pews was uncomfortable to the touch because it was sticky from the humidity. I noticed that the priest and the altar boys were all barefoot. Several of the members of the congregation also were barefoot.

But all the normal events of the Catholic Mass were done as I expected them. Even Indians practice the Mass the same as we do in the United States. They are just a little more casual about it.

One of the draws of this church is that it has a pedestal outside the building that is about 100 feet tall. On top of the pedestal is a huge monstrance. This is said to be the highest monstrance in the world. It is gold (or gold-plated) and is visible for many miles around.

Haircut

It had been several weeks since my last haircut so I decided that today was the day that I was going to take care of it.

One of my co-workers who is here on an extended stay (six months) mentioned a place he goes to for haircuts. He and I went this morning to a business named Headmasters because he needed a haircut also. As we arrived at the "salon", we were greeted by a security guard who opened the doors of the car so we could get out. We were then met by a group of what turned out to be barbers who walked us to the door of the "salon" and asked us to come in. As we entered, two of the barbers took charge and took us to our chairs. My barber put a drape around my neck that covered ny body to keep the hair from falling on me. He asked me what I wanted and I explained that I wanted a clipper cut haircut. I asked for a 3-guard and after looking at my hair, he suggested a 2-guard. We went with a 2-guard because I wasn't sure of the guards he used and I wasn't sure if that would be short enough. I figured that regardless of the outcome, if I didn't like it, my hair would grow back. So far, this was very similar to a haircut I could receive in San Antonio.

The barber attached the guard and proceeded to run the shaver on my head. I saw a lot of hair drop on my drape. Looking at the mirror in front of me, I could tell that a 2-guard was very short. He then trimmed around my ears with scissors. He then trimmed the hair around the back of my head with scissors. So far, so good.

Then he brought out the straight razor. I started to get a little nervous. He used the straight razor to trim hair off of my neck, around my ears, and my side burns. Part of the reason I was nervous was because I had not experienced a barber using a straight razor on me before. Then I realized that I did not see anywhere a solution to sterilize the razor, or shaver, or scissors, or combs like I would see in a San Antonio establishment. I then began to wonder if I was cut if that would be detrimental to my health. Anyway, I got lucky and did not get nicked.

Then, the barber returned to his scissors to trim my eyebrows and nose hair. After that he gave me a quick scalp massage. Awesome! I wonder how much it would cost to receive a scalp massage in San Antonio.

The it came time to pay. The bill turned out to be 250 rupees. This is about $6. I gave the barber a 50 rupee tip, a little over a dollar, and that was that. I may get another haircut before I leave India so that I am aerodynamic and streamlined for the trip home. The picture above shows my haircut but I don't know if you can tell how really short it is.

End of 2nd Week in Chennai

I haven't created new entries for the blog this week because I do not go out of the hotel during the evenings and there are not daily stories to relate. But I have encountered a few experiences, and some continuing observations.

Fire Drill

“Attention, attention. There is an emergency fire situation on the third floor. Exit the building immediately. Do not gather your belongings. Move to the exits crisply but do not run. Do not use the lift. Use the stairways”.

As I was leaving a meeting, this announcement began blaring on the loudspeakers inside the buildings. The person making the announcement had an urgency in his voice; he was speaking loudly even with the amplification. My first thought, “what should I do?”. My Indian colleagues said that we must leave the building. I followed them out. It was quite hot and humid outside with no shade. Once outside, I started worrying about my USAA co-workers. I quickly realized that we did not have a plan in place to contact each other about our whereabouts and safety. I then tried calling the others but I could not reach anyone.

After a few minutes, a person with a bull horn walked through the crowd telling everybody that it really was a drill and it was now over. Go back into the building. By this time, I had gotten in touch with one of my co-workers who had not left the building at all. He thought it was a drill and so opted not to leave. I will suggest to my co-workers and to USAA management that we need a plan for an emergency. This plan should include a way to get in touch with each other.

More Observations

• Indians drive on the left side of the road; similarly when approaching somebody while walking, move to your left to go by him


• “Schedule” is pronounced “shed-yule”


• The bathroom scale in my hotel room displays kilograms (I am 66.4 – I guess that’s good)


• There have been several power outages at the hotel recently; not sure of the cause; riding the elevator is adventurous


• The ground floor of any multi-level building is Floor 0; “First” floor is one flight up


• Roadway overpasses are called “flyovers”


• Chennai has no highway system within the city; that explains why there is so much traffic and gridlock; imagine if all highways in San Antonio were closed and everybody had to travel using other surface streets


• Cricket is the favorite sport; you can watch it on TV everyday of the week regardless of the time of year; it is similar to baseball but I'm told games can last for days


• “Elevator” is a “Lift”


• Restaurants do not sell beer, wine, or alcohol unless they are part of a hotel


• People I work with have names like: (female) Renu, Narmada, Priya, Lalitha; (men) Vijay, Kiran, Sundar, Rajeev


• A affectionate term for mother is “Ama”

Another One Goes Down

In one of my previous blog entries, I mentioned about my co-workers getting sick. At that time, three people had taken ill. We affectionately refer to the malady as "Delhi Belly". (We haven't been able to come up with a catchy phrase that includes the city we are in, Chennai.) The three people who were puny before have all recovered but are being a little more cautious about what they eat. Yesterday, another of our group succumbed. He was not feeling good at breakfast, and then he left work early to come back to the hotel.

As I mentioned before, I know my time is coming. But I continue to try local cuisines. Yesterday evening for dinner, several of us went to a local restaurant that specializes in North Indian food. Our food came served to us on large banana leaves. I had Egg Briyha which is rice with mixed vegatables and hardboiled egg. I also decided to be adventurous and so I ordered the Brain Masala. It is sheep brain in a spicy sauce. It was flavorful but the "meat" was softer than I expected. My co-workers thought I was crazy but so far, I have survived.

How Many People Can Ride A 2-Wheeler At One Time

This is an ongoing question that we have. Everyday there are many motorcycles that buzz in and out of traffic. There are many more motorcycles than cars. It was explained to me that the middle and upper classes are the only ones who can afford cars. Motorcycles are the method of choice for the masses for quick transportation. I have seen one person on a motorcycle, I have seen two people on a motorcycle, I have seen three people on a motorcycle, and I have seen four people on a motocrcycle at one time (picture above). I have heard stories of five at one time, but I have not personally seen this.

I have seen a person on a motorcycle carrying two full five-gallon water bottles. I have seen one person driving and one person as a passenger carrying boxes that were stacked higher than the both of them. I have heard stories of a person carrying one passenger and also two crates each holding chickens. Again, I cannot personally verify that story.

Mahabalipuram

Saturday, we visited Mahabalipuram. It is small town about an hour’s drive south of Chennai on the coast of the Bay of Bengal. This town is famous for stone cutters and sculptors. There are many buildings that incorporate stone in the materials. We acquired a guide, Kutty (pronounced KOO-tea), who is a local from the town. He explained things to us in very understandable English. He stayed with us for a couple of hours at a cost of about 600 Rupees (about $15).

One of the more impressive works is a shrine area within the town that is over 1500 years old that was created out of one very large piece of rock by minions of a long-ago king. There are several temples and sculptures that are part of the shrine that each part of the original one rock (or small mountain). All are much bigger than life. Kutty told us that animals were sacrificed here also and hence the name of the town, Mahabalipuram, which means “town of sacrificed animals”. Kutty explained that usually when carvings are made, the sculptor starts at the bottom and works his way up the sculpture. Because this was an immense rock, the sculptors started by carving their way from the top and working their way down. How they were able to keep dimensions correct and their design intact is a mystery to me. Also how they covered mistakes is unknown. This is one large piece of rock. The sculptors did not cut off a piece, create the sculpture, and then position it. Instead, the stone was carved down in place and is still all one piece. Each building and sculpture is still all part of one stone. It is an amazing piece of work.

Later in the same town, we visited a bas relief that is one of only three bas reliefs of this magnitude in the world according to Kutty. A bas relief is a carving on the face of a rock that depicts various aspects of life when the carvings were done. Essentially it looks like a stone “canvas” with three-dimensional “pictures” coming out of the stone wall. This bas relief was probably 20-30 feet high and maybe 100 yards long. It is also over 1500 years old. Kutty explained the references to the gods that were included in the relief. There are many people and animal references with stories for each in the relief. Again, quite impressive.

Mahabalipuram also has many sculptors and stone masons working today. We visited a shop with many goods carved from stone, marble, and granite. These items came in all shapes and sizes. I had my choice of items that were as small as marbles or as large as me. I saw many items that I thought would be great to have although I was not sure where in my home they would go. So I tried to restrict my shopping impulses.

The proprietor of the establishment liked us so much that he took us to the factory where these goods are made. The only guys we saw working at the time were workers who created busts and statues primarily for American and European customers. Each of these workers was chipping away at his respective piece with a hammer and chisel. The detail of the work determined the size of the chisel and the force of the hammer. The guys worked in an outside area behind one of the stores. It was hot outside and these guys were in a partially shaded area. It was shaded by trees or lean-to type of structures…definitely not high tech. And there was not a machine or lathe around. All of the work is done by hand.

Our next stop in the town was a temple also built about 1500 years ago. This particular temple was built near the beach and used for many centuries. It had impressive sculptures and ornate stone depictions. This one was built several sections at a time over many years. The sculptures and buildings were created without modern cement. They were attached together using an interlocking system of holes in the receiving rock with extensions to fit in the holes from the attaching pieces. Rather than using cement to seal the two pieces, a mixture of salt, lime, sand, and another local ingredient which I don’t remember were mixed together and used as a kind of paste. Then at some point, the water level changed and the temple was lost as it was completely underwater. It remained hidden for many centuries until a hundred years ago when it was re-discovered. A jetty was built around it to keep the water away, and it was restored as much as possible. Modern cement was added in places because the paste had begun to dissolve. Some of the carvings and other detail work have been smoothed because of the water but they are still very visible. Even with the restoration work, it is easy to recognize all the manual work that went into the original structure. And like the factory that we visited, there was no automation to create this structure.

Our next stop was a lighthouse said to be the oldest lighthouse in the work at 2000 years old. Again, this building was a stone building with impressive carvings. It sits on the top of a hill and there are many trees around it. In these trees are lots of monkeys. Unlike the United States where these monkeys would be cordoned off and kept away from people for fear of some calamity, these monkeys have free run of the area. So we American tourists bought bananas and proceeded to feed those monkeys. The monkeys came right up to us and took the bananas from our hands. After awhile they started following us. At one point, I tried to hide bananas in my back pack. One of those monkeys however started making a hissing noise and following me very closely because he knew I had them. I eventually gave him a banana and quickly walked away.

All in all, a good day. We returned to the hotel in the early afternoon. It was good to get back in the air conditioning. Most buildings that I have encountered during my week here are not air conditioned. Of course office buildings are but areas of the hotel are not. The rooms are air conditioned but the hallways are not. They can be quite stuffy sometimes. The hotel staff leaves lighted scented candles burning to try to mask the stuffiness. Unsupervised, lighted candles in an American hotel would probably not be allowed by some regulation but it is completely acceptable over here.

Until next time, namaste (pronounced NA-mah-steh). This means “Best Wishes for Good Health”.

The Bug!

Before we left San Antonio, we were advised to be careful about what we eat and drink:
- Don’t drink water unless it is bottled, and make sure you crack the seal when unscrewing the top to be reasonably sure the bottle has not been refilled
- It is okay to eat at the hotel
- Do not eat food from street vendors
- Do not use ice (since we don’t know the origin of the water used to make it)
- Use bottled water when brushing teeth
- Do not eat raw vegetables or fruits
- Do not drink liquids from open containers unless we have seen the containers being opened
- Be careful with milk and milk products since the pasteurization process is not to the same standard as in the United States (I don’t put milk in my coffee)

With this guidance, we are trying to be careful about what we ingest, probably more careful than we really need to be. But the horror stories we hear make us tend to stay on the very cautious side. We have heard about diarrhea, vomiting, and general overall feeling of illness. We were also advised to bring Tums, Pepto-Bismol, Alka Seltzer, and other similar medicines. We even have the number of a local doctor if these medications don’t work fast enough.

Every time we eat, regardless of the location, the thought remains in the back of our minds about the consequences of choosing the wrong foods. We also try to keep mental notes about what we eat each day so that if something does make us sick, we can trace our steps and try to determine the offending foods. In San Antonio, the expectation was set that each one of us will be sick at least one day of our trip. We also heard that it can take a couple of days before the foods cause illness.

Well Saturday morning after one week in Chennai, our group experienced its first illness. We have all eaten at the same locations together although we do not always order the same entrée. The ill person was a member of our party who has been here several times before. He was with us Friday evening when we went to dinner at an Italian restaurant called Little Italy. I actually had a salad made up of sliced tomatoes, avocado, olive oil, and spices. I didn’t get sick with the raw vegetables. All the others had pastas of some sort. I had bottled water. Others had canned sodas. One of us even had iced tea although he was not the person who got sick. So the offending food has not yet been determined.

He was very lethargic and felt ill but he continued to stay with us as we went sightseeing, but he was definitely not the life of the party. He did not eat much Sunday either, and still felt ill. Today, Monday, he had breakfast but he says he still is not 100%. Yesterday, another one of our group had an “episode”, but after the “explosion”, he felt better. He and I had lunch at a pizza restaurant earlier in the day. He had a traditional cheese and pepperoni pizza and I had a creation that was more Indian flavored. It had slices of some kind of local cheese, and sliced tomatoes, and red sauce that was very good but VERY spicy. We both had canned diet sodas. He got sick, I did not. Today, another one of our group started hitting the Tums, and late in the day she started feeling feverish.

So I am sure my time is coming. Until then, I will continue to try the local cuisine but I will generally follow the guidelines provided in San Antonio. At this point, I really miss my bowl of oatmeal or Cheerios in the morning. And I miss ice in my drinks because unless you ask for chilled cans of soda, they are usually served at room temperature.

First week done!

I completed my first week of work here in Chennai. I had several meetings and I taught two classes. I have worked with and depended on many locals so far and I expect to continue that. I have found that Indians are as friendly and helpful as anybody else I have worked with. Also, they will do everything in their power to please.

There have been several instances that I now chuckle at because they point out some interesting communication opportunities between my Indian hosts and me. I think I speak very good English. What is ironic is that my hosts speak very good English also. The challenge is that my English and their English do not always allow us to communicate easily. I refer to the building where I am staying as the hoTEL (emphasis on the second syllable). They refer to that same location as the HOtel. I refer to the main mode of transportation here as a motorcycle. They refer to it as a two-wheeler. I use an elevator. They use a lift. I call certain residents of a close planet as Martians. They call them Martins. (Don't ask how we got on that discussion.) In class when I asked a yes or no question, the Indians would move their heads from side to side which to me looks like they were answering "no". In reality, that side to side motion for an Indian means "yes". Of course, most Indians talk much faster than I do but I am slowly starting to fully understand what they are saying.

One of the reasons I am here is to meet with staff of Tata Consulting Company (TCS). This company supplies people to supplement USAA employees. The TCS facility that I work in, Siruseri, is massive and still growing. It is an impressive looking steel and glass group of buildings. I heard this will become the central campus for all of TCS in Chennai. Now, there are several buildings scattered throughout the city for TCS employees. The new campus is only partially complete and houses about 2500 people. I am told that when it is fully complete, there will be 25,000 workers there. I have not been able to get a picture of the skeletons of the structures because they don’t want us taking pictures on the campus (similar to USAA). Believe it or not the structures look to me like low-to-the-ground dinosaurs. They are curved and come to points at each end. I will figure out a way to get a picture or two and publish them later.

I am working on uploading my pictures so that I can publish them in a future edition of the blog. I expect to have some of them available in the next few days. Keep checking back!

Observations

Today, I completed my second day of work. There is not much to report so I'll present some observations.

Before I arrived in India, I had heard that the traffic was very bad going to and from work. The trip coould take anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour to go just a few miles. But then a new building was opened and our people relocated to it. And we changed hotels to be closer to the new building. So now, the ride is no more than a few minutes to and from work. That's not to say that the traffic is not bad. The difference is that we are now more on the outskirts of the city rather than downtown so there are fewer people and less traffic to contend with.

In the two days that I have gone to and from work, I have witnessed many cows, dogs, sheep, chickens, oxen, and pedestrians sharing the road with cars, trucks, motorcycles, bicycles, three-wheelers, and buses. I have seen buses leaning to one side as they go down the road because they are so full of people. I have seen people literally hanging on the outside of the bus because there is no room inside the bus.

The road that we travel to get to work is under construction. What is interesting is that there are no warning signs. Everybody just looks and sees there is construction going on, building materials on the edge of the the road, bricks for medians lying in the center of the road ready to be installed, and people walking all over the road to avoid the debris. So vehicles are weaving all around the lanes to avoid the building materials and people and animals in the roads. Quite a sight!

The building that we work is set back from the main road about a half mile. The driveway that leads to the building is actually a very well traveled road. The trouble is that it is not paved. In reality, it was paved but it was found to be defective for some reason. So the road contractor came back and tore up all the asphalt. Evidently the foundation had not been correctly laid. There are many potholes now and it really skaes you up when driving this road. What is happening now is that many people are digging lots of holes without the benefit of machinery. They dig holes that are about a foot in diameter and filling them with cement, I think. The holes are a few feet apart. You can imagine how many holes that is when you think the road is at least a half mile long, and two lanes wide in each direction. And of course traffic and pedestrains are still using the road so they can get to and from work. The workers use a "T" shaped rod. The shaft of the "T" is positioned on the ground. One guy works each end of the cross of the "T". They rotate the tool to auger into the ground. This loosens the ground so that they can dig it out with a shovel. I have been told these holes are about eight feet deep. When the ground it too hard or more pressure is needed, another guy will sit on the "T" while his buddies rotate the "T". It sort of looks like he is on a merry-go-round. I kept wondering why somebody didn't get a machine to do this. It would be easier and faster. But machines cost a lot of money, and I heard these guys get paid about 200 Rupees a day. That's about $5 to you and me. With those kinds of wages, it's cheaper for the contracting company to use manual labor. And there are many people willing to work for that amount of money. Of course, manual labor takes much longer to complete a task even when many people are assigned to it.

All of us are already trying to make plans for this weekend. I think we are getting cabin fever since we don't leave the hotel in evening. Of course, it is an ordeal because besides planning where you want to , you have to line up a driver or two. Remember we cannot take public transportation anywhere, so we depend on the drivers to get us around. I'll let you know how it goes.

First day in Chennai

Yesterday, Sunday, we decided to venture out. It was a hot, steamy day at 9am but no worse than San Antonio in the early afternoon of summer. So by Chennai standards, it was cool.

We went to St Thomas's tomb. This was Christ's apostle who is known as "Doubting" Thomas. He came to Chennai in 52 AD and died here in 72 AD. His remains were buried here, and at some point afterwards, a church was built on top of the tomb. The church that I visited is not the original church but one that is about 110 years old. It is a beautiful church: the building is all white with large spires on top. It has a very traditional look inside with stained glass, long wooden pews, and arched windows. I went to Mass there and although there is no air conditioning in the building, it was not unbearably uncomfortable. There were ceiling fans overhead and oscillating fans in front. It was a very traditional Mass. Believe it or not, I was able to understand the priest's homily easily; his English was very understandable because he did not have a strong accent. During the Mass, the choir even sang "Lord, I Lift Your Name on High". When the collection plate came around, I dropped 2 Rupees in it. Later I realized that I was very stingy: 2 Rupees is about 10 cents. Next week, I will have to be a little more generous. Another interesting sight: during the sign of peace, Americans shake the hands of those around them. Indians put their hands together as if they are praying, and bow to those around them.

There is a museum entrance behind the church that allows the visitor to visit the tomb. You enter the museum, and go downstairs to a lower level and walk down a hallway which takes you under the church. At the end of the hallway, there is a small chapel with St Thomas remains. The remains are buried. What I was able to see was the dirt that covers the tomb. This is covered with glass, so you can see the dirt but not actually touch it. Regardless, many people knelt down and put their hands on the glass and said a prayer in silence.

After visiting St Thomas tomb, we went to another location in the city called St Thomas Mount. It is actually a hill that is higher than the rest of the city but I wouldn't consider it a mountain. Anyway, legend has it that St Thomas built a cross out of wood. The cross was somehow lost in this area for many years. During later excavations, it was found and put on display. At this point, it began to "bleed" real blood from near the base. It bled for over 20 years. The original cross is no longer there but there is a replica cross on the same spot, and a church nearby.

As in the evening when we arrived in Chennai, the traffic was bad. Only now in the daytime, I could see it much better. Cars, buses, three-wheelers used as taxis, motorcycles, bicycles, people, and animals all share the road and do it amazingly well. And I did not see any accidents. Our driver told us that traffic was light because it was Sunday.

We have a driver or drivers that take us every where we go. These drivers are provided by the Indian contracting company that does business with my company. My company strictly forbids its employees from taking any kind of public transportation in India. Based on the traffic habits I've seen, I will definitely adhere to that requirement.

Chennai

The group left Chennai at 8:30pm and flew almost 4 hours to Chennai, India, arriving at around 10:30pm local time. This time there was no bomb scare or anything else to delay our flight.

Chennai is a city of approximately 7 million people. That was very evident at the airport. Even though it was relatively late when we arrived, there were many people waiting outside to meet those arriving from various destinations. Also, the traffic at that hour reminded me of San Antonio at rush hour. I am told the traffic gets MUCH worse during the day.

Driving to the Asiana Hotel provided a glimpe into life in Chennai. As a driver, you drive on the left side of the road. Opposite traffic is on the right. But to quote "Pirates of the Carribbean", this is "only a guideline". There were a few times when drivers going in the opposite direction were on our side of the road because it was easier to get around traffic on their side of the road.

There is constant honking of horns. What I realized is that the honking is not done because you are annoyed with the other driver; rather you honk to let the other driver know you are next to him or very close to him. There are painted dashed lines on the road to delineate lanes similar to what you would find in the United States. However, staying in your lane is "only a guideline" at best. Cars, buses, motorcycles, and bicycles all share the road and are constantly going around each other. At stop lights, motorcycles and bicycles go in between cars to get as close as possible to the front of the traffic.

Riding motorcycles is very interesting also. Motorcycles are one of the primary means of transportation in Chennai...and they are everywhere. It is not unusual to see more than one person on a motorcycle. In fact, I saw several motorcycles with up to four persons on them. Ladies tend to sit side-saddle because they are usually wearing their long flowing silk saris. How those saris don't get caught in the spinning wheels is a mystery to me. Some of the motorcycles did not have rear lights so it was not uncommon for the driver of my vehicle to see a motorcycle at the last minute, honk his horn several times, and quickly maneuver to speed around the motorcycle.

Besides the vehicles on the roads, there are also many pedestrians. There are few sidewalks so people walk in the lane closest to the side of the road. As a car approaches, the driver will honk because he wants to get by, and the pedestrians usually move out of the way.

I did see a few cows and ox in the road. They do not move no matter how much the driver honks. So the driver must honk to let those drivers close to or beside him know that he is going into their lane to get around the animals. Needless to say, the traffic in Chennai does not always move very fast.

These are some of my observations as I rode to the hotel at night. I look forward to what I can see in the daytime.

Last Day in Singapore

Today we are leaving Singapore for Chennai.

Our group decided to eat in the hotel for breakfast. There were many local favorites as well as morte western style foods. I decided to go for the local cuisine. I ate some fruit that had a texture and shape similar to a grape but larger with a large pit in the middle. It was ivory colored. It was sweet. It wasn't bad but I wouldn't go out of my way to look for it in stores. I also had stir fried noodles with octopus meat, I think. I also sampled what looked a puffy flour ball stuffed with something that looked and tasted like beans. I sampled some other things as well. I am not sure the names of any of the items I ate but it was all good. This and much more was all part of thebhotel buffet. The price was $38 (Singapore). Pricey but where else could I get a sampling of many different local foods in one place?

I spent some time visiting a former World War II Prisoner of War Camp named Chingi (pronounced Chen-gy). After the fall of Singapore to the Japanese forces in February 1942, many British, Australian, and Indian prisoners were incarcerated here. Additionally, many local civilians were imprisoned here also. Many atrocities were performed here as documented in the museum. The site was more moving that I imagined it would be.

Afterwards, I did a little window shopping with one of my co-workers but still did not buy anything.

We will depart for Chennai and then our fun ends and work begins. I have had a very nice time in Singapore. As mentioned before, it is a very modern city, very affluent, and very much like a United States city. Maybe someday, Kim and I can visit here together.

A day in Singapore

Singapore is an interesting city.

At the airport last night, I exchanged $100 American for about $133 Singapore dollars. When traveling the city, it feels very comfortable: everybody speaks English, prices of things are posted similarly to the US including the "$" sign, and most people wear western-style clothing. Except for the fact that most everybody looks Asian, it could be any typical large American city.

Singapore is a very modern city even by United States' standards. There is a very good public transportation system of buses and subway. There are many skyscapers and everything you'd expect from a modern US city. There are many late-model cars on the road mostly Toyotas, Hondas, and Kias. I have not seen one pickup. There are a sprinkling of SUVs. The standard here is to drive on the left side of the road. Somebody mentioned that Singapore is the Manhattan of the South East Asia region. I believe it! There are many up-scale shopping locations, and money does not seem to be a problem here. I have not seen any homeless-looking people, no beggars, and no obviosuly destitute people.

The weather today was very warm and humid. It reminded me of San Antonio humidity but San Antonio's heat is worse. That said, it was still very warm to walk and we took every opportunity to get inside air conditioned areas when available.

My co-workers and I split into several groups each doing something different. I went with the group that consisted of a lady and another man. Like me, this is the lady's first trip to Singapore and India. This is the man's fourth trip. The man wanted to visit some places he had not seen before and we newbies decided to tag along thinking we would see something out of the ordinary. Wrong... We did a lot of window shopping which the lady liked but I didn't get excited about. We also visited a few touristy places which I did appreciate.

I felt very safe everywhere we went. The are many people everywhere downtown however I did not notice any menacing-looking people. I have seen only a couple of people wearing dew rags with gimme caps, bling, and low-riding pants. I have seen very few people sporting tattoos and the tats I do see are small anyway. There are many tourists here besides me. Most of the locals seem to be in their late teens or early twenties. Maybe the older people are at work since July 4th is just a normal work day here.

In addition to the shopping, we visited a botanical gardens which I enjoyed because it was not shopping. We also visited a replica of Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church in France. The church here was built in 1898. It continues to be a working church. We also visited a Muslim mosque. It was built in 1824 and it also continues to be used.

There is a bus subsidized by The Airline (remember Singapore Airlines) that allowed the rider to get on and off where ever you wanted after paying one small price the first time getting on the bus. So for $6 Singapore, we were able to ride the bus and see a lot of downtown, get off the bus and visit what ever location we wanted, and then get back on later, and go somewhere else. This bus does not wait for us. It is a specially designated bus that does a continuous loop; you wait for the bus as you would in the US, and get on and off and your desired points. It is very convenient.

Tomorrow we leave in the late evening for Chennai. I will try to do some more exploring in Singapore before we leave although I may have to do it alone if I can't get my co-workers away from stores. You know, after awhile, all those cameras, watches, sunglasses, cosmetics, computers, foot massage stores, clothes, etc look all the same. I prefer experiencing some of the local historical culture.

Happy July 4th to all you Americans reading this! When I returned to my hotel room, sitting on my coffee table was a small cake decorated with mini American flags. I guess the hotel staff knew I was American and provided a little nicety for me.

Wrong dates

I just noticed that the dates on the last two blog entries are incorrect. Probably because the date is tied to my profile which says I am in San Antonio.

Tokyo to Singapore

This flight was an eight-hour flight. As before we had meals that were excellent. However, unlike last time, I declined all the meals. I had eaten enough already. I did take all the hot towels offered so that I could stay fresh!

The big difference on this leg of the trip was my seat. I was able to fully recline the seat! It is everthing it is advertised to be. I was able to lie down in an almost fully horizontal position. I slept through most of this flight while listening to music using the killer headphones.

Because of the time change again, we arrived in Singapore at 1:50am on Friday morning. It's airport is more impressive than Tokyo's. There was much more glass and chrome metal, lots of space to walk around, marble floors, falling water scultures, and areas with large amounts of greenary inside the terminal. It looks like a very expensive mall. Someone mentioned that there is a Mercedes-Benz dealership in the concourse but I didn't see it.

The six of us rode in one mini-van taxi to our hotel, Ritz-Carlton Millenia Singapore. There was very little traffic on the roads because of the hour. But several things I did notice: the roads were very well lit, they were very clean, and they looked very well maintained. Additionally, the roads we traveled had a lot greenery along the streets. And the few vehicles I saw including the taxi were very clean. It must be a requirement locally that you cannot drive a dirty car!

We are in Singapore for almost two days before making the last leg of the trip to Chennai.

Los Angeles to Tokyo

We finally left Los Angeles airport. The flight left 2 1/2 hours late. To clarify, the news reports said that a guy claiming to be a terrorist and having a bomb was arrested. His backpack was suspicious though and that is why they closed the terminal only, not the entire airport as we first heard. A water cannon was used to "detonate" the backpack. Nothing happened. Evidently, the guy was just looney.

We flew Singapore Airlines to Tokyo. The flight lasted a little over 10 hours. I had been looking forward to flying on The Airline (the name with capital letters is how they refer to themselves on all their literature!) because I had heard so many "wow" comments about it. I flew Business Class (or Raffles Class as they call it) on a 747. a 747 has a small second floor which is the hump you see towards the front of the plane. I was lucky enough to sit in the upper section of the plane which is very quiet since several business class seats and all economy class seats(350 passengers) are in the lower section. In the upper section, there were two large seats on the left side of the plane and two large seats on the right side, and there were about eight rows. All seats are leather-bound and very comfortable. Each seat was provisioned with a pillow enclosed in a real cloth pillow case (no doubt a high thread-count cloth). and a blanket sealed in plastic. My seat was on the right side in the second row. Once everybody in the upper section had boarded, there were several empty seats. The attendant asked me if I would like to move to a row that was empty. Of couse, I said yes. I moved to the first row with a large area between the seats and the bulkhead to provide lots of leg room. And these seats were closer to the two restrooms.

As soon as I got seated, an attendant gave me a hot towel to refresh myself. Cool! Then I was offered a drink (champagne, wine, beer, or mixed drinks) at no additional charge. I asked for and received a Diet Coke. I was then offered a selection of newspapers to read. I declined. All of this happened while the plane was still boarding.

Each first class and business class seat has an individual monitor to watch Movies and TV shows on demand. I have been told that this is the same in the economy section but I never made it to the lower section of the plane to verify this.

One we were in the air, that's when the real service started. I was offered a menu to select from three options for food. There were fish, chicken, or beef choices. I chose beef. Before I received my lunch, my empty drink was refreshed without me asking for a refill. At that point, the attendant opened up my little table that stows in the arm rest of the seat. She then placed it in front of me, and put a table cloth on it. Then she put a tray on the table. On the tray were very nice shiny metal utensils wrapped in a cloth napkin, a toothpick, water in an etched glass, a ceramic salt shaker, a ceramic pepper shaker, a small ceramic bowl with a couple of butter balls, and a small empty ceramic plate. Also on the tray was a salad in a ceramic plate. Not rabbit food, mind you - this was a real salad. It has some fresh fish, on top of a small bed of romaine lettuce with a sprinkling of sliced carrots. The were wedges of tomato too. The attendant poured some sauce over the whole thing. It was delicious. While I was eating that, another attendant came by with a bowl full of rolls and bread sticks for me to select from. I declined. If I had wanted bread, the attendant would've picked my selection out with metal tongs and placed it on my empty plate.

Once I finished the salad, the empty plate and the used utensils were removed. My water was refilled and so was my Diet Coke. Then the main course was delivered. I received a meal containing beef tips with noodles, large mushrooms, and I think some seaweed on the side. The attendant then poured a delicious sauce over everything. Again, the meal was awesome. The attendant came by several times to ask if I wanted an alcoholic drink with my lunch. I declined again.

When I finished my meal, the attendant came by again and removed the entire tray and its contents except for a large spoon. The the attendant delivered dessert. It was a very rich vanilla ice cream drizzled with a cherry sauce and a couple of cherries. She asked me if I wanted coffee or tea with my dessert. I declined again. The dessert was excellent. When I finished it, the attendant removed everything from my table. I then stowed the table. She then brought by another hot towel to refresh myself.

All this took place within the first hour of the flight!

Then I sat back, relaxed and looked forward to the anticipated highlight of the trip. I had heard that The Airline had seats that reclined into beds so that the passenger could actually sleep in a horizontal position. My armrest had all the controls to adjust the seat. I started pressing buttons and feeling the seat adjust to my specifications. Then I realized I had a problem; the seat was defective. I was able to extend the foot rest, raise the seat a little, and move the back of the seat very little. In other words, all I was got was a glorified recliner that did not recline fully. I was still practically seated in an upright position. I had been looking forward to this and I was disappointed. I didn't mention anything about the seat to the attendant. It's not that I didn't want to complain. Everything else went so well that I didn't think about mentioning the seat to anybody.

The good service continued. The attendant came by again and presented me with three packages. The first package were cloth non-skid "footies" to wear. As I looked around at the other passengers, they removed their shoes and socks, and put on the footies. I did the same. The second package conatined a cloth covering for the head to cover the eyes. This allowed the passenger to have dark surrounding for better sleeping. I didn't use this. The third package was a headset for listening to the audio and video. These were not the cheap plastic headsets that I had seen in the past. These were very nice headsets like something I would've purchased myself at Sharper Image. They covered the entire ear and were adjustable to my head. The sound quality was would what you would expect from a good pair of headphones. The best part was this headset was one of those that deadened the noise around you similar to the Bose headset that I borrowed from Mike for this trip.

After another couple of hours, I was offered and accepted another meal. I guess it was dinner time. As before, there was a salad, main course, dessert, drinks, and hot towels.

After awhile, from all the drinks I had to use the restroom. What made these restrooms remarkable was that there were fresh flowers in a container attached to the wall. It provided a fresh aroma when someone entered. Also, instead of paper towels, there were small cloth towels to use for drying your hands. Excellent!

I started lisetening to the onboard music. As on other airlines, there are many music stations to choose from. The sound quality was much better though because of the headset I received. After a couple of hours of this, I started watching a couple of on-demand movies. There was a wide selection of movies to choose from including many in other languages. I chose Vantage Point and The Bank Job. Both were good. When the movies were done, I watched an on-demand TV show and once again, there were many to choose from. I selected Underground Cities. This episode from the Discovery Channel documented parts of London that are under streets and buildings. These structures were built up to two thousand years ago and covered up by succeeding generations. By the end of this show, it was almost time to land and so I received another hot towel to freshen up.

We left Los Angeles at about 4:30pm on Wednesday. We crossed the international date line and arrived in Tokyo around 7pm on Thursday after a 10 hour flight. The sun was out the entire flight and was starting to look like dusk only when we arrived in Tokyo's Narita Airport. The airport is very modern looking with a lot of glass and metal in the structure. We had a one hour layover before we began the next leg of our trip: Tokyo to Singapore.

Unattended Luggage Spoils Travel Plans

I left San Antonio at 6:40 this morning. I flew on a small CanadaAir SJ jet that United Express Airlines flies that holds 70 people. It was very cozy. It was a very uneventful almost three-hour flight.

I am flying with 6 co-workers. When we arrived at the Los Angeles terminal for United Express Airlines, we had to walk a long distance to a different terminal where the Singapore Airlines ticket counter is. We arrived in Los Angeles at 7:40am local time and the Singapore Airlines ticket window did not open until 11am. Half of the group decided to take public transportation to have breakfast on the beach. The rest of us including me decided to eat in the terminal and wait for the ticket window to open.

When the ticket window finally opened, the first two of my co-workers got their boarding passes, and as I was in line, security closed the ticket counter next to ours (Cathay Pacific Airlines). Then bomb- and drug-sniffing dogs were brought in. It seems somebody found an unattended piece of luggage. After I got my boarding pass, they closed Singapore Airlines ticket counter. As the three of us made our way to security, all the rest of the ticket counters in the terminal were closed. The security checkpoint then also closed. In fact, security locked down the terminal so that nobody could enter or leave the terminal. As I was waiting in line to go through the security checkpoint, I saw a security guard and his dog weave their way through the crowd of people. Then I saw a automatic-weapon-toting security guard patrolling the scene.

Finally the security checkpoint opened again, and the three of us went through it with no problems. We then went to the Singapore Airlines VIP area to wait. While there, we received a call from the other co-workers who returned from breakfast but could not enter the terminal. Then we received word from the VIP area staff that the entire airport has been closed, and even though our flight was still two hours away, it may be delayed.

More to come later...

Preparations

Traveling to another country is not something that you just decide to do and then go. In my case, it has been several months of preparation.

Immunizations:
I have received shots over several weeks for Hepititus A and B, Polio, and Tetenus. When I return from the trip, I will have a follow up Hepititus booster. Yesterday I began taking Malaria pills. I will take one a day beginning two days before I leave, throughout the trip, and seven days after returning. All of these immunizations have side effects. The shots have debilitated me and caused anal leakage so I guess I am okay. The Malaria pills are said to provide "vivid" dreams at best, or psychosis at worst. I did have a creepy dream last night that I remember so I must be subject to the "vivid" dream scenario.

Luggage:
My trip is scheduled for four weeks. Packing for a trip of this length provides some challenges. I don't want to take all the clothes I own, but I don't want to be left in my underwear waiting on a laundry service. Also, I understand that Indians dress conservatively. Chennai is a coastal city of seven million. Even at the beach, they wear clothing from head to toe. So I can leave my Speedo swimsuit at home! (OK, I really don't own any Speedos.) I don't need a jacket or anything heavy since the weather is supposed to be 100-110 degrees everyday with very high humidity. Jeans may be uncomfortable in the heat. I am going to stick to business casual at work, and light clothes for away from work. I will bring a hat also.

Hygiene:
For Americans traveling abroad, especially to a third-world country, we are less-than-excited about the cleanliness standards that the those countries enjoy. I have been told to bring hand sanitizer for the entire stay, be aware of rudimentary-by-American-standards for restrooms, and be aware that most Indians do not bathe everyday.

Food:
Another area that could be a trouble spot. I have been advised not to drink tap water, and only drink bottled water. I have been advised not to drink iced tea since I don't know the source of the ice. Stay aware from dairy products since the pasteurization process is not what I used to. This includes milk poured in tea which is an Indian standard (probably learned from the British). Sodas are okay if I can open the bottle or can myself. Avoid fresh vegetables or fruits. Definitely stay aware from street vendors selling foods. Since I am following the South Beach lifestyle right now, I should be okay. As Kim says, "how many overweight Indians have I seen?".

Communication:
Chennai is about 11 hours ahead of San Antonio. Therefore, if I call San Antonio in the Chennai morning, Kim will most likely be in bed. I have purchased an international calling card so that I can control the cost of the international calls. There will be exorbitant charges if I use my cell phone so I'll keep it turned off. (If you try to call me, that's why I am not answering.) There will be plenty of phones in the office that I can use to contact Kim, Kelly, and Kevin. I will have an Indian cell phone for local Chennai calls also.

Other preparations:
At home, I am the one who pays the bills, contacts repair people, takes in vehicles for maintenance and repairs, mow and water the lawn, kill insects in the house and flush them down the toilet, and other "guy" things. As you can see, Kim is the CEO in charge of our household; I am the grunt who does a lot of the busy work. While I'm away, Kim will have to do some of this herself. I will be providing instructions on how to pay bills electronically, but the rest is up to her. I have the utmost confidence that Kim will be fine in this; in fact, I'm sure I will receive suggestions for improvements upon my return.

My flight leaves at 6:40am tomorrow on United Airlines. Of course I have to be at the airport about two hours before that. I fly to Los Angeles and have a seven hour layover there. I continue on Singapore Airlines to Tokyo on a 11 1/2 hour flight. After a one hour layover, I continue on Singapore Airlines to Singapore for another 7 hours. I am one of eight members of my company traveling. We stay a day and a half in Singapore before continuing to Chennai. We fly Singapore Airlines again from Singapore to Chennai during a four hour flight. We arrive in Chennai about 10pm local time.

That's all for now...