Harrowed Halls

Friday 3-1-13

I got up at 6 am instead of 4 am so I think I’m finally getting on the time schedule. I made a quick trip to the roof to see the pool and the view. Last post had a picture of the pool, here is one of Chennai.

I had a nice breakfast, it was very similar to what the Tan West End had on offer, though I think it had more selection of stuff, I couldn’t tell what it was. I caught my ride without incident. I must be getting the hang of that too.

I had a great breakfast, the offering was very similar to my previous hotel. They prob had a slightly larger selection of things I didn’t know here. :)

My hotel is quite a ways away from the office, but the trade off for the long drive is seeing more of the city. Chennai is larger than Bangalore, and the traffic is almost as bad. Hem was waiting for me when I got to the office. The office park in Chennai is also larger than in Bangalore.

I only really work closely with a few PMs in Chennai, but it turns out there are. Lot of people here I know or knew. One of the. Remembered me from when I first came on to the account! I really regret not having f a better memory. I had a great meeting with the PMs as a group and I’m now thinking we need an org chart of the RDC PMs in the US!

I also realized I had booked my flight to Delhi at 8:30 am not knowing about the traffic, so it looks like I’ll be getting up at 4 am again on Wednesday.

After I got back to the hotel, I thought I might go up to the roof for a swim, but I was too tired and decided on room service and sleep.

Oh, and I got an invitation from the hotel manager to join him on the roof for drinks Saturday night. Clearly the sales manager from Taj West End contacted him and let him know I am the the main point of contact for IBM for all of Taj hotels in India! :)

Thursday 2-28-13

I got up around 4:30 am again. I’m getting tired of this early waking up. I spent the time packing up my gear because today after work I head to the airport to fly to Chennai where I’ll visit with the remaining PMs that I work with. I manage to get everything squeezed in thanks to the realization that I can have two bags checked!

Since I still have plenty of time, I checked out and spent a long morning out on the porch eating breakfast and reading. The sales manager for the Taj stopped by to chat and gave me his card. I think this means I have just become the main point of contact from IBM with the TAJ West End. lol.

After breakfast, my ride showed up early and we talked about the timing of how I can get back to the airport. My flight is at 5:40, we have to be ready to board 1 hour before that, I have to get through security before that, and we have a LONG drive (because we never get more than 35-40 KPH (about 20-25 mph). So he recommends leaving at 1:30 pm…that leaves me 3 hours or so in the office!

I was actually pretty emotional about leaving the office, everybody walked out to the car with me and even though Meenak, Vamsi and Soukarya will be coming to Chennai next week, it was very sad for me to leave. I very much enjoyed my time with everyone there. Many thanks for all the hospitality from Meenak, Vamsi, Soukarya, Dhaval, Rashma, Arun, and Velu. I hope to get to know the other PMs better if I have a chance to return.

The airport was not too crowded…it reminded me of Midway airport in Chicago, except for the birds flying around trying to eat my food! I decided to have a Italian dish…some pasta in tomato sauce, just to make sure I didn’t have any issues on the flight. The flight was only an hour and they served a snack of cheese tomato sandwiches and some very good banana / vanilla flavored cake. We were landing before most people were done eating!

Here’s the airport:

I had no trouble with baggage claim, mine were the first two on the carousel! I walked out and my driver was towards the end of the line. As I was warned, Chennai is very humid. It was another long drive to my hotel. After staying at the Taj West End, I had changed my hotel to a Taj hotel in Chennai (the Taj Club House). I was originally going to be at the Trident, which is closer to the office, but Bruce, Neeraja, Meenak and pretty much everyone else said that hotel was not as nice as the Taj or some of the other higher end hotels. Strangely, it was actually cheaper than the Trident.

The Taj Club House, is very nice. It doesn’t have the beautiful grounds like the West End in Bangalore, it’s more like the Westin in Indianapolis. Service is the specialty for this hotel. There is a pool on the roof with a view of the city, and this morning just before breakfast, I got this picture:

More to come tomorrow (about today). :)

Wednesday 2-27-13

My day started at 4am…again. This time I got ready early for breakfast and had a very relaxing morning. I can’t recommend the Taj West End enough. It’s an oasis in the middle of Bangalore (no, I’m not being compensated). :)

I brought my very nice SLR camera so , after I ate, I walked around the rest of the grounds that I had not been on yet. I found some REALLY super spots. The grounds are kind of set up with all these little sitting areas around these beautiful trees.

Ravi picked me up early and as we left the hotel the traffic was the worst I’d seen yet. Apparently Tuesdays and Wednesdays are really bad (which is saying something considering what I’d seen so far). Ravi pointed out some stores I might want to try and then we finally made it to the office.

I had a very good day at the office, although for lunch I tried some Chinese and it wasn’t too good…I ate the egg rolls though, they were pretty good. After my last meeting for the day with some folks on VIDUR team, Utkarsh took me out to go shopping. He knew of a parking spot that was 3 or 4 blocks from the stores I wanted to go to so we hoofed it there.

So I thought driving in the traffic was bad…walking is like Frogger. Pedestrians do not have the right of way, so you take your life into your hands crossing traffic (or sometimes even walking with traffic!

The first place had some very nice Sandalwood working so I picked up something for my mom, friends, kids and myself at that merchant. Then I found some items for Dawn and my Mother In Law at another coupe of merchants. At this store, there are merchants that have certain amount of space, you pick your items, give them to the merchant, then they give you a bill of sale. They take the items to the front and after you’ve made all your selections you go up to pay and get your stuff from the next window.

The next store, we had seen on the way to the first, so we went in. It was a rug store but they had other things. One thing I was looking for was Marble chess pieces. And what do you know, they had a LARGE chess set! So I picked it up and they provide shipping for a fee so, Dawn, you should see a package arriving some time next week. And Shawn, I should have taken a picture…but I think you’ll like it. I went over the budget because of the shipping, but I’d rather not take a chance with the big board and soft marble on the plane.

Next we were pretty thirsty so Utkarsh took me to the 13th floor…it’s a bar/lounge on the top of a building and has an open air view of the city. I had a Ciroc and Pineapple and we relaxed and talked about lots of things, some work, some not. Here are pictures in late evening and night time. Oh curses…my WiFi is down because I’ve checked out. I’ll add them later.

Here they are:

We wound up eating at nearby Ruby Tuesday’s called Ruby’s. It was reasonable food, but I wasn’t very hungry. Turns out, I think the pineapple juice might have been a bad choice. After we ate Utkarsh brought me back to the hotel and he went home to get back to work and so did I.

Tuesday 2-26-13

I got up early again (4 am) and worked on my posting for the previous day. I also got caught up on some work. I went to breakfast after getting ready for work and just spent the morning relaxing on the porch, listening to music and the birds. It’s quite beautiful here.

After a while, I packed up and walked around the grounds again and found this spectacular tree:

I’ll post some more pictures on FB and I have some video as well.

The car finally arrived but it was a new driver, which surprised me because I had made plans with the old driver and I thought for sure he was going to drive me all week. After explaining to the new driver how to get to IBM and where to drop me off, he gets a phone call from the old driver (Ravi, I should probably use his name!), asking to talk to me. Ravi says he’s at the hotel and I said, they sent this other guy, and I didn’t know why. So we arranged to have him pick me up that night.

At work (I won’t bore you with actual work stuff), we went to lunch at a place called Indijoes (I think) and it was a buffet style place with lots of western decorations. They were playing classic rock tunes. We had a great time even though the office team thought the selection was not what it used to be. Here is a group shot of all of us (except Soukarya who is taking the picture):

By 6pm, I’m really dragging, and when Ravi picks me up, I’m falling asleep in the back of the car…luckily driving in India means you can’t fall asleep! At the hotel, they usher me right into the dining room and since Neeraja told me I had to eat some India food, I ordered buttered chicken…it’s not what it sounds like. It’s grilled chicken strips in a tomato sauce. It was easily the best food I’ve had so far. Not that I’ve had anything bad, but this really stood out. A new favorite for me. And Neeraja, just to prove I had Indian food…here is a picture!

I went back to my room and finished one last item for work, then crashed and slept soundly…until 4am…up again. Sigh. So long for now got to get ready to do it all again. :)

Monday 2-25-13

Monday morning I’m up pretty early, and head to breakfast. It’s a buffet style breakfast, and it’s pretty good. They had a chick pee dish that was spicy and very good, some rosemary potatoes that were also very good. The scrambled eggs were made fresh, but were a little runny for my tastes. I sat out on the lawn under a porch…it felt very colonial.

I went back to the room and packed up my stuff, and the cleaning crew came in. So I just left to wait for the car at the lobby. Here’s an interesting thing, my key to my room has a chip or something in it and I use it to slide into a slot in the wall to turn the power on in the room. Walked out without that key! I’s a small hike to the lobby and I don’t want to leave and miss the car, so the front desk arranged to have my key for me when I got back.

Speaking of drivers, I was waiting in the lobby and I saw several people that looked like drivers come in, but nobody was looking for me. I scrambled on the phone with Vamsi to see what was going on and finally we realized, the guy was sitting outside the whole time waiting for me to come out!

I finally get to the office and meet everyone, then I start setting up my PC and I’ve left my power cord at home…I’m stunned. I spent forever packing and making sure I had everything and I leave the power supply at home. Luckily Meenak let me use his to get my battery charged up, but I’ll have to arrange for something in Chennai.

Now that I have power, I try and get logged on and the IBM network works fine, but I can’t get on to AT&T no matter how I try (I won’t bore you with the details of the crazy way we have to do things in India, but suffice to say, it’s crazy, and it’s not because of India). The funny thing is, I was able to get connected for a few minutes, but then it stopped working. Ok, you are probably already bored to tears with work stories.

For lunch we went to a food court (due to my delays most people had already eaten) and I got me some KFC. It was very good…they put something spicy on the chicken…makes it better, I wish they did that at home. The canned diet coke tastes different here…I’m not sure why, but it’s not horrible. Bottled water is so far my favorite drink. :)

Oh, I forgot to mention, when the driver tried to drop me off there was a lot of confusion. Apparently the bombings in Hyderabad had all the security ramped up and we couldn’t figure out where to drop me off. Meenak and Vamsi to the rescue as they came out to get me. We figured out that the driver will have to drop me off and pick me up on the street in front of the building.

That night, I was pretty tired, but still had some work to do so as soon as I got in the room, I ordered up some room service and got to work. I had a burger and fries. The burger was a ground tenderloin. It was good, I think they put cinnamon or cumin or saffron or something in it because it had that kind of different taste. It wasn’t bad, just different.

Oh and I had this waiting on my couch for me:

Finally saw my first elephant. :)

Sunday 2-24-13

The drive to the hotel from the airport was quite an experience. I had been prepared by others, but nothing compares to the real thing. I think it’s as close as I’ll get to NASCAR…if NASCAR had 100 times the cars in the race, and included a figure eight!

I got all checked in and slept long, and finally got up around 3pm. Soukarya came by and we talked about going shopping, but he wasn’t sure where to go, and I declined to ride on his two wheeler (motorcycles and scooters are everywhere). Meenak came by later and we had some supper and then they drove me around Bangalore.

We went to MG Road (Mahatma Gandhi Road) where there are a LOT of stores and kind of outdoor malls. I was looking for someplace that had crafts, so I could find some chess pieces or other gift items. It was late and those stores were closed, plus parking was really hard to find.

We talked about the town and Meenak showed me a lot of places. The thing about Bangalore is it was kind a retirement type town until about 10 years ago, when businesses started building here. Now, in the last 5 years they have doubled their population, and the infrastructure just isn’t there yet. Consequently there is terrible traffic and it takes forever to get anywhere, especially during morning and evening traffic.

Basically, everyone squeezes as close together as they can on the roads and they just swerve and move where ever they can to get forward. They have some roads with lane lines on them but they are completely ignored. Pedestrians do NOT have the right of way, and the horn and flashing your lights is a way of communicating to the other drivers. Oh and I’ve seen 4 cows so far just wandering around. Maybe I’ll see an elephant some day!

I wrapped up the day by logging on at work and checking email.

Saturday 2-24-13

A picture from the first Lufthansa flight.

So Day 2 starts 8am (Frankfurt time) upon landing and we have to depart on the tarmac and take a shuttle to the terminal. It’s packed, I’m standing and I’m practically falling asleep on my feet. Then it’s go through security AGAIN (went smooth) and find my gate. Now I have a long wait. So, I pick up a couple of items for the kids and look for something to eat. I don’t read German and everything is in Euros so I’m not really sure if the food prices are reasonable or not. Turns out the taxes are pretty steep here and everything is expensive. Even though IBM is paying for it, I opt for McDonald’s…better the devil you know. For you Tarantino fans, I had a Cheeseburger Royale. :)

View from McDonald’s:

I sat at the gate and started nodding off when they announced that the plane was very full and we should consider checking our larger carry on bags. I’m first to volunteer my bag since I had to do this on the first flight, I didn’t think much about it.

After an hour and a half of sitting on the plane and not moving (apparently de-icing has to be done with us on the plane) we finally take off! Eight and a half hours later, we arrive in Bangalore, and as I’m departing, I ask the flight crew about my checked carry on bag…they assure me it will be on the luggage belt…not plane-side as I was expecting. I go through customs, and that goes smooth, I get to the baggage claim and start to worry when I see my carry on come off the belt. At this point my suitcase has not shown up yet. I call Meenak, who has brought Soukarya with him to meet me at the airport. He says he is waiting outside with the driver from the hotel. So now it’s a waiting game…did Delta transfer my luggage when I had to change terminals in Detroit? Did Lufthansa transfer it to the plane in Frankfurt? I’m starting to get concerned.

It’s now down to me and a small handful of other people at the luggage line…we all look at each other nervously. The guy next to me sees his bag. I hate him. I say congratulations and he guiltily walks away with his luggage. Just when I’m about to go to the lost baggage line, another batch come through, and there is my bag!

I go outside and meet Meenak and Soukarya and there is relief and smiles all around! I talk with them while waiting on the driver to bring the car around and after a race car 45 minute drive I get to the hotel. This place is gorgeous…more to come on that. For now…sleep.

Addendum: I put the red cord on the door to indicate privacy since I’m sleeping in…housekeeping calls at 2:30pm to tell me they saw the privacy cord and wanted to know if I wanted my room cleaned. Um…no…I wanted to sleep. :)

View from my room:

Saturday 2-23-13

So just when I thought everything was smooth, I discovered that my brand new awesome neck pillow is missing. Apparently all the terminal hopping had claimed a casualty.

I decided to get another (less awesome) one when the wheels on my luggage LITERALLY fell off. Brookstone was very accommodating and let me put my stuff into a brand new bag.

Travel gremlins 3, Mike 0.

Oh and did I mention the new bag seems ‘bigger’ to the Lufthansa people. :(

Friday 2-22-13

So my vaccinations included a series of three shots for Hepatitis A & B. I had the first one a month ago and I needed to get my second one on Monday, but the place called and had to reschedule it to last night. Well, my memory is crap, so while I was scrambling for all the last minute packing that needed to be done, I realized I had forgotten to go get my shot! I left a message for the clinic place to see if I could get in first thing this morning…then the ice started coming down. Luckily the clinic came through and called me early to get me in and I got my shot, so off to the airport I went.

I get to the airport and walk in the Delta doors and I see a HUGE line of all these military guys. So I think wow, maybe 2 hours early wasn’t enough. As I walk to the back of the line, I see my cousin Alan McNeal directing the military guys. I say hello and strike up a conversation (he doesn’t recognize me) and after a few minutes he realizes, there is no way in hell this old fat guy can be deploying anywhere (not sure where they were going) and he asks me where I’m headed and I say Detroit and he tells me I’m in the wrong line…the Delta counter is on the other side! Now that line is very short. :) Thanks for helping me out Alan!

So, because I can’t really take 2 checkin bags, my carry on’s are packed to the gills. And sure enough, the little flight to Detroit doesn’t have room for my size bags. Not a big deal, except I’ve packed them so tightly and expertly, that it’s difficult to extricate just the pieces of equipment I need to use on the flight. It’s a tight flight and I have a HUGE guy across the aisle…he looks (and smells) homeless. Ugh.

I arrive in Detroit and the Delta guy in Indy had told me when I get on Lufthansa in Detroit, it’s in a different terminal and the gate people will direct me. He also said they will transfer my bag for me so I won’t have to pick it up and tote it all the way to the other terminal. First thing I do is ask the gate people where to go…they’ve never heard of Lufthansa, much less another terminal. Luckily they were able to dig up a lady who seems to remember back in the old days that there is a shuttle that goes to this other terminal. She gives me very detailed directions (go to where they big hotel used to be and turn left or right) and so off I go. After studying some maps and starting to worry, I cross my fingers and go to the ground transportation where I see a sign for a terminal to terminal shuttle. While waiting in line I verify with a couple that this is the right bus (they have been looking for an hour) and we all get to the correct terminal, where I have to check in (and go through security) AGAIN!

At this point I find out that Lufthansa does not have my bag. I start to panic, but apparently the guy in Indy was good enough to give me all the luggage codes, so they can route my bag to the plane. I now get in line for security. In Indy I sailed through, in Detroit my bad full of chocolate bars looks like a bag full of C-4 on the security machine. They check it carefully. They were actually very friendly and nice, so I can’t complain.

I am now typing this at CHAMPPS next to my terminal and I have approximate 90 minutes until my next flight. Once I get on that one, I will only be available via email and Facebook. I hope to have some pictures in future updates.

Today, I’ll tell you about the timing of my trip.  Since there are different time zones in play here, I thought a little chart might be handy to know the times both local and here at home (Easter Time Zone).

It will be interesting to see how I deal with the jet lag…I’m hoping it’s much like Con on the Cob…5 days of no sleep?  No problem!  :)