Back on the Road Again!

Today is my last day in Chennai. It has been a productive trip, both from a work and pleasure standpoint.

For work, there were several things I wanted to accomplish on my trip. I accomplished each item and even completed a few more. My bosses should be happy.

From a pleasure standpoint, I have learned more about the Indian culture. I am always fascinated by other cultures, and this one is no exception. I learned about Independence Day; I learned about several other regional and national festivals; I learned about Indian pride; and I learned that the Indian is very tolerant of other cultures. The customs and lifestyle are so different from what I am used to, yet they are so appropriate for this country.

I hope to have the opportunity to visit this country again. I also would like my wife to visit with me so that she can experience with me the wonderment of this country.

Until next time...

Khan Delayed!

There is a very well known, some would say famous, man in India named Shah Rukh Khan. He is a movie star of Bollywood (Indian) films more famous in India than Tom Cruise in the United States. He has more women following his every move than Brad Pitt does.

Last week he traveled to the United States to attend an Indian Independence Day event in Chicago. At the Newark airport where he first arrived in the US, the unthinkable happened: an airport security person did not recognize him or have any idea who he was. Additionally, his name appeared on a terrorist watch list. And worse than that, he was questioned for just over an hour before he was allowed to continue on his journey. He was not officially "detained" by airport security.

This event has remained in the headlines for several days all across India. The Indian government has asked for an official explanation from the US government. (A US senator is checking into the situation.) Indian officials and newspapers are demanding an apology from the US government and Newark airport officials. The newspapers are printing stories of how Khan was "humiliated" and mistreated. Khan has been interviewed several times to provide his version of the event. Editorials have asked that people stop being so angry about the situation.

With all this "news" of Khan, I have forgotten all about my thirst and hunger for information on Michael Jackson's death!

Going to Work

Monday morning, it was raining. In Chennai, that is unusual. This city does not get the monsoon rains that other parts of the country receive, and additionally, Chennai is in drought conditions. So the drive to work was worse than usual for several reasons:

• It was raining
• I was going to a different location that was across town
• Traffic seemed to be unusually heavy, most likely because of the rain

The trip was uneventful but it did last about an hour and a half. I did not see any accidents, traffic continued to move at a steady pace, and there were few animals in the road. It was interesting to see that even with the rain, many people continued to ride on motorcycles, bicycles, and three-wheelers. There were lots of wet motorists on the road.

Tuesday morning included another ride across town to get to work. There was no rain this day. Still the ride was interesting. I saw two buses overloaded with people including two men on each who were holding on somehow to the outside of the bus. (I wonder if they still had to pay the fare.) At one intersection, I saw a young girl stick her head outside a bus window and throw up a couple of times. (Awesome!) I saw several motorcycles with multiple riders. One had four persons on it. (One of my colleagues swears that he's seen a motorcycle with two riders and two goats aboard. I don't doubt it.) The traffic continued to move around our vehicle at a frenetic pace sometimes with only a few inches to spare. (At one point, we realized that there was more space inside our vehicle than there was around it.)

Today, Wednesday, was more of the same on the ride to work although we were back at our original location that takes only about 15 minutes to get to work.

Tomorrow night I begin the 32-hour journey back home. Whoop!

Ironing Socks

I ironed my socks today! I am not ashamed to admit it. I am comfortable in my masculinity to be able to broadcast this fact!

I brought several pairs of socks to wear at the gym. I did not however bring a pair for each day of my visit. That was by design. I expected to wash my socks in the shower and hang them up to dry. (I do not want to pay the hotel to wash my socks and underwear.)

I did wash several pairs of socks. Today however, when I had a need for socks, they were all still damp. So I did the logical thing: I ironed a pair to dry them. The problem is they are thick cotton socks. No matter how many times I ran the iron over them, they did not dry. So in haste, I put on damp socks. At least they are clean!

Next time, I will bring more socks. or I will wash them earlier in the week! Live and learn...

Sleep is overrated!

For some reason, I have had a difficult time adjusting to the time zone. I did not have anywhere near this problem last year.

Thursday and Friday were the worst. At 3pm, I felt like I hit the wall. I was so dead tired. Each day when I returned to the hotel, I went right to bed. I then slept until very early in the morning when I awoke. I would snooze until 6am when my day officially began.

Sunday, I felt great when I got up. I felt like I was finally refreshed. I went shopping most of the day, and then I went to work that evening until midnight. I then came back to the hotel and was in bed by about 1:30am. I still felt fine.

I got up at 6am Monday morning and started the day once again. When I returned to the hotel in the early evening however, I again felt very tired and went to bed early again.

I expect that I will finally overcome the time change by Thursday when I begin my long journey home. That's the life of a road warrior, I guess.

India Independence Day

August 15 is India's Independence Day. Flags were waving on several buildings although not as many as one would see in the United States on its Independence Day. I heard a comment that Indians are not allowed to fly their country's flag except on Independence Day and one other day later in the year. I don't know if that's true but it may explain why there were not more flags flying - they cannot be used except for a couple of times a year so why own one.

Amercians in country received word from the American Consulate to stay away from public places to avoid crowds and more specifically, any terrorist activity. Several of us went shopping anyway and did not have any problems. In fact, there were no reports of terroristic activity anyway in the country. But it always good to be aware of your surroundings and don't do anything careless.

Many people were wearing little plastic flags on their person. I bought a dashboard flag set at a stop in an intersection. It cost 10 rupees - about 25 cents American. I will probably put it on my desk at work.

It had rained the night before so the sky was clear, humidity felt relatively low, it wasn't too hot, and there was a slight breeze when we were walking downtown. This was the first time I had walked through downtown. Usually we are driven right to our destination. I enjoyed being "with the people".

Anyway, an uneventful but beautiful day in India.

H1N1 Concerns

We arrived in Chennai, India. It was an uneventful flight. A disconcerting arrival greeted us though. At the airport, all passengers proceeded through a screening process for H1N1 virus. It seems India has a problem with this disease. None of our party was selected for further review but it still made us somewhat uneasy knowing that we may have to be extremely careful in country. Reading the newspaper the next day, H1N1 virus was the top story. Eleven people have already died from the virus, and over 1,000 more have the flu.

Arriving at the hotel provided another surprise. Security checks at he hotel has been implemented: There are gates across the entrance and exit driveways that block entry until a vehicle has been evaluated. A guard uses a rolling mirror to check for bombs (?) underneath the car, and another guard checks the contents and persons inside the vehicle. The bombings earlier this year targeting tourists are most likely the impetus.

I completed my first day at the office - meetings all day. By the end of the work day, I was exhausted; jet lag and lack of sleep will do that. Upon arrival at the hotel, I went straight to my room and went to bed. Now, after 10 hours of sleep, I am refreshed and ready for the day. Bring it on!

Here we go again!

I am returning to Chennai, and again my trip is related to work. I am anticipating the trip although I am not as tingly as I was last time when it was a new experience. On this trip, I am the experienced one of our group who is leading the others around the airports, through the hotels, etc. What responsibility...sigh...

I did not do as good job of blogging after I returned as I had hoped. Maybe I'll do better this time around. Anyway, I am looking forward to increasing my offshore and outsourcing experiences. Those are fields that I would like to work with on a full time basis in the future. This trip and the support experiences back home are building my resume.

Today is a travel day. We left San Antonio for Los Angeles. From there, we fly directly to Singapore - a 17-hour flight! Whew! Good thing we are flying Business Class again. We will not stay at the Ritz Carlton as we did last time though. We will be staying for less than a day in Singapore and therefore we are booked at a hotel on the airport property. However I'm sure it will be nice.

This trip will be of a shorter duration than last year - only two weeks. This entire trip is 11 days and 4 days will be spent traveling...grueling! No pictures this time - I did not bring a camera. :(

The worst part of this trip is that I am traveling on my wedding anniversary. I will be in Chennai on August 14 - my 27th wedding anniversary. I have never been away from Kim on our anniversary before. At least we had lunch together before I left...small consolation.

More later...