Harrowed Halls

I’ve decorated my office with the souvenirs I got from India!

Now that I’ve had some time to process all my pics, I’ve created an online location where you can see them all.

I’m still working on getting them added, so check often.  :)

Sunday 3-10-13

So 16 very long hours later we land in Newark. Whereupon we go through customs and border patrol, then baggage pickup, and then baggage drop off (that’s right, even though the bags are tagged with their destination I had to pick them up and re check them). And yes, you guessed it, I had to go through security again!!!

Now I have a 4 hour wait for the last flight to Indy, which I’m sure will be a lane too small for my carry on bags.

Well, flight is delayed by 20 minutes, I am sooo homesick.

The pilot got us in on time and Dawn and the kids were waiting for me at the airport. Home sweet home!

Saturday 3-9-13

I slept in late and then went for breakfast. I tried to print my tickets but something was wrong and they said I needed to get them at the airport. So, I arranged for a late check out of 4 pm and went back to the room to pack and sleep and watch tv and read and play som iPad games.

I went for a late lunch at the panasian place. It was pretty good but way too expensive. Finally I called down for a bellboy to take my bags and I went down to wait for the driver in the lounge.

He arrived about 15 minutes early and we got to the airport in 45 minutes, about 5:40 pm or so. With 5 hours to kill, I decided to get my tix and go through security only to find out the United counters don’t open until 7pm!

I finally got my boarding pass and the. Had to go through some sort of passport check, then through security. I was asked to be at the gate at 8:30, so I hoofed it down there, but another flight was leaving so I rested and waited again. Finally, they opened the gate for United only to find out they have another security check!

Thursday 3-7-13

I got up early to join another IBMer on a trip to the Taj Mahal in Agra. We left at 7:30am as it takes 3-4 hours to get there. But as it turned out, this time we were taking the brand new Yamuna Expressway, built especially for the trip from Delhi to Agra. It also goes by the new F-1 racing facility in India. There was practically no one else on the road and we were soon traveling a swift 90km/hr to Agra…still took 3 hours. :)

The first building we saw in Agra was the Red Fort (there is one in Delhi as well – built by the same guy – but I’ll get to that in the next update). It’s called the Red Fort for the obvious reason that it’s built out of red clay bricks and so…is quite red. And quite old.

Then we got to the Taj Mahal where we had to switch to another vehicle (electric as no gas engines allowed near the Taj Mahal) and another guide (apparently the Taj Mahal falls under the auspices of the United Nations since it’s one of the 7 Wonders of the World, only UN sanctioned tour guides are allowed).

According to the official story Shah Jahan, a Mughal emperor of India (apparently he may not have been a Mughal) had married for the third time (he 47 and she 17) to a beautiful Persian woman Mumtaz Mahal, because his first two wives had bared him no children. As a Muslim he is allowed four wives as long as he takes care of them for the rest of their lives.

Mumtaz had 14 children and six lived to adulthood including four boys and two girls. On her death bed after delivering the 14th child, he professed his love to her and she said “prove it”. She had him make three promises. One, do not marry again. Two, build something lasting to show his love and three…I forget. Doh! Can’t find it on wikipedia either. Oh well, maybe Mark will remember.

There is a LOT to learn at this place and not the least is how the marble was made and how the gems were inlaid in it. All the color and art on the building is made from precious and semi-precious stones, inlaid in the marble! It’s incredibly detailed and manual process. We stopped at a marble place where the descendants of the original workers work and they make beautiful pieces. The marble is at once non-porous and very dense and also translucent! They actually put a light behind it and the marble glows! Here is a chess board I really wanted to buy…but it was $3,000!

After the visit to the marble place, we went to a restaurant in Agra and I finally found my yellow curry dish! It was kind of greenish yellow, but it was great! Mark was not too interested in expanding his horizons and so only had a bowl of soup. He did try it and thought it was too spicy. I think he liked the buttered Naan though…that stuff is like crack to me. Great meal!

We headed back to Delhi and as we went through Agra, there were a LOT of cows on the road…in fact, we saw one in the back of a cart, it must have been dead. Not sure what they do with the dead cows in India. I’ll have to ask somebody.

It was a long day and I slept like a rock, but we had more to see of Delhi starting at 10am on Friday!

Wednesday 3-6-13

Due to some strange planning on my part (or on the travel agents part I think) I had an 8:30 am flight to Delhi. But because of traffic in Chennai, I had to get up at 4:30 in order to be ready for a 5:30 pickup so I’d be at the airport in plenty of time for my flight.

The hotel had set aside a large box of breakfast items for me (the muffins were still warm). I’m certain they do think I’m the IBM liason for the Taj hotels! I got to the airport in plenty of time and worked my way through security (much easier in India) and then tried to nap a little. I didn’t have much luck, so walked around (it’s a very small airport) until it was time to board. The flight was 2 hours and they served a breakfast on board (I don’t even think US planes do that anymore).

After landing, my bags were pretty fast on the carousel and I quickly found my ride to the Sheraton. I ordered up some room service and logged on to finish up some work.

That night I had dinner at the restaurant and an Asian couple sang love songs. They were very good but I was the only one clapping. I think they were singing to me.

It’s off to Agra in the morning to visit the Taj Mahal!

Tuesday 3-5-13

I went in early today to meet with some folks who didn’t have a chance to talk with me yesterday. Once that was done, the Chennai team took me out to lunch to a place called BBQ nation. Basically they have a square hole in the middel of the table where they drop in a grill filled with hot coals and then you cook Kabobs of meat, vegatables, and fruit. The food was fantastic. Then Hema and the team presented me with a very thoughtful gift that I will proudly hang on my wall with my other souvenirs from India. Sadly, I had to say goodbye to the Chennai team.

Meenak and Navin then took me to a clothing store where I bought a traditional Indian outfit…I’ll post pictures as soon as I wear it back home. Then, Meenak took me back to the hotel where I finished my day and got everything ready for a very early flight in the morning to Delhi.

Monday 3-4-13

Today was a work day. I had meetings with the PMs and got some feedback. We talked about their projects and any issues they were having. Also, Meenak, Vamsi and Soukarya came over from Bangalore so we talked more about projects. I also got to meet several of the delivery managers. It was a good and productive day.

At lunch we went to a Pizza Hut! I think the pizza here is better than we than one at home. It wasn’t as greasy as PH usually is. I had the spicy chicken. It wasn’t spicy at all. It was good though.

That night I got back to the hotel and logged on to do some reporting work. Because of some limitations at the office, it’s easier for me to run reports from the hotel WiFi.

I had dinner in the main restaurant. I started with some Thai spring rolls with a sweet and very spicy hot sauce. They were fantastic. Then I had a spicy tomato sauce with spaghetti. Also very good.

No pics from today. But tomorrow I should get pics with everyone and we will be going to a BBQ place. I’m starting to sound like a food blog. :)

Oh, and this was waiting in my room. :)

Sunday 3-3-12

I spent the morning with a mild relapse, so I took the medicine the travel place gave me and voila…all better. Pradeep M and Hema both called to check on me, and we decided to try some more site seeing around 4pm, after the heat of the day had passed. I watched some TV, checked some email, and took a nap around 1pm. At 4pm I was ready to go!

Pradeep M showed up with Kumaran, a PM that I used to work with when I just took over Program Management from Marty Shellhammer. Kumaran has moved off the account but wanted to see me and volunteered to show me around with Pradeep. We went back to the Shiva temple because there are several stores there that we didn’t stop at on Saturday. I bought several more souvenirs and Kumaran bought me a tie! I don’t often wear ties, but I promised to wear it when I go downtown Indy to meet Bruce next week. :)

We then went to the Cathedral of St. Thomas here in Chennai. I was amazed to learn, that St. Thomas is actually buried here and this is only one of three church’s built on the tomb of an apostle. The other two are St. Peter in Rome and St. James in Spain. I took a lot of pictures but not with my iPhone so, you’ll have to wait until/if I upload them to FB or something. :)

We then went to a botanical gardens near the US Embassy. It was evening and the shots look very dramatic to me. Again, not iPhone. Sorry. We finished up the evening at a South Indian restaurant where they ordered some food for me. I don’t think they were too hungry as they eat much later in the evening, around 10pm or later. But I had not had anything since breakfast so I was hungry. We had a great meal, and Kumaran and Pradeep were wonderful hosts, I thank them so much for taking time out of their weekend. It means a lot! Here are some pics of the dinner.

Pradeep is on the left and Kumaran on the right. The green leaves on the plates are from a banana tree, I think, at either rate, I learned that they use almost every bit of the banana tree for food and now the bark for clothing. They serve their food on the leaves. Kumaran explained that they use their hand to eat with because it’s easier to gather up the gravy and rice with the bread. The naan was delicious, as good as any I’ve had here.

I got home and watched a little TV (Johnny English sequel…which I enjoyed very much) but couldn’t keep my eyes opened through the very end and just fell asleep. It was a good day! :)