Money Issues

The conversion rate is about 48 ruppees per dollar. When I converted they mostly gave me 1,000 rupee notes that are worth about $20 each. The problem is no one will give you change for such a big bill. Since most items I have purchased are 50-250 rupees. Not one of these place would give me change. Finally I spoke with my manager and he converted some for me. He looked at the 1000 rupee note like it was a $100 bill looking for a counterfit.

I ordered Pizza Hut on Sunday night. A medium chicken classic pizza was 216 ruppees delivered or about $4.25. It was one of the more expensive meals I had so far. THe pizza was pretty bland, but it was a nice change of pace to all the spicy food. You can also get spicy chicken flavors, but most of the toppings are vegetarian.

It rained for the first time last night. The monsoons have started. The temp dropped immediately down to 90, but the humidity went sky high so it still feels like 100. It does feel much cooler though.

I bought a cell phone today, a basic NOKIA version for 1,299 ruppees or about $26. It gives me a little more comfort for when I start travelling about in case I need to get ahold of someone.

Otherwise I am still working about 11-12 hours per day. When it is from 9-9 it doesn't allow for much time to do anything else.

10:30 at night - The Heat

According to weather.com at 10:30 on Friday night it is 102 degrees but feels like 115 degrees in Noida. It is stifling to walk outside. I have been drinking 3-4 liters of water a day and still am thirsty.

I was planning on doing some site seeing this weekend, but it is going to be 120+ degrees during the day. I will wait for it to cool down a bit. Many of the temples that are visited require you not to wear shoes or sandals. On red tiles and bricks, I am sure that would do some damage to my feet too.

I am finally getting my appetite back and ate dinner for the first time since I have been here. I had Dum ki Biryani with chicken. It was a basmati rice that was spicy and oily. The chicken was dry and still on the bone. There was very little meat, just alot of bones. They also gave me a side dish of pourage. It tasted and looked like sour milk with carrot pieces in it. One spoonful was more than enough for me. I tried a desert called ozuni, or something like that. It was like a white donut hole soaked in sugar water and served chilled. It was very sweet and took the spicy taste of the rice out of me. It was very good and great in this heat.

Week 1 down

I am surprised how many people are clicking on this. 250 views of the blog already.

I did confirm that the bathroom sprayer was to “Clean the bum” and not the feet. The sprayer was introduced 2-3 years ago and has been quickly accepted as the new hygienic cleaning device. Remember the outhouse scene for Slumdog Millionaire where the man having to use the outhouse was carrying a bucket of water? I overlooked it the first time I watched it. That was the old way. Just one way India is staying eco-friendly, less paper waste.

Plus with the heat, the locals are even complaining. It has been a draught year and the hottest year in the last 50 years. Delhi is at the same lognitude as Phoenix and Austin. However it is get dark around 7:30 at night.

Another difference over here is the frequent power outages, about one every 2 hours. The power is only out for about 10 seconds before the backup generators kick in. Almost every PC in the office has a battery backup device. From what I have seen so far, it looks like they burn through them very quickly.

India 1 - Jason 0

In the last 4 years I do not recall being sick. Well 5 days into India I have a sore throat, a runny nose, a constant stomach ache and a case of delhi belly. I made the mistake of drinking the filtered water from the apartment complex over the weekend. The apartment leaves two full containers of filtered water and a 1 liter bottle of bottled water per day. They said the filtered water goes through the osmosis process and is very safe. After talking to the locals here, the Noida water is the most corrosive water around Delhi and should not be drinking under any circumstances. It is nothing but bottled water for me from here on out.

The working hours here are different. The majority of the people work from 9:30am to 7:45pm. Lunch is around 1:00-2:00. There has been an announcement everyday at around 7:30pm for snacks. The couple things I have had so far have been fried, spicy wonton like things. One was like a fried wonton of black pepper. Another had potato and a few other veggies in it. Another was a sweet fried bread. After snack time the place empties out. The a/c is turned off around 8:30. By 9 it feels like it is 90 degrees in there.

I am getting a ride to and from the apartment with a coworker. Just my luck he is the guy that is first in last to go, at least for this week. I have been in by 9 and out by 9. It makes for a long day when trying to recover from jet lag and not feeling 100%. They eat supper around 10 pm around here. I am still trying to figure out an eating pattern. So far it has just been breakfast at the apartment, lunch at the office and a couple granola bars for supper when I get home.

Tonight on the way home there were a couple of jack asses laying down in the middle of the road. There were donkey’s sleeping in the middle of the road with a couple of stray dogs sleeping besides them. I am still waiting to see an elephant.

The interesting part of the ¾ of a mile drive to work is crossing an under pass of a bridge. This part of Noida was just a jungle just 5 years ago. Now it is apartment building after apartment building. The road we drive has an under passing of a bridge that is about 1.5 cars wide. In the morning there are 4-5 lanes of traffic trying to squeeze into the underpass. This ends up blocking the on coming traffic from passing through and then everyone comes to a standstill. A bottleneck in traffic unlike I have ever seen. No one is moving and everyone is honking. The less than a mile drive has taken up to a half an hour as a result.

Another big difference I have noticed is the body language. They nod their heads from shoulder to shoulder to side to say yes, unlike me that nods my head up and down. The people at the apartment brought me something because they thought I was nodding yes when I was nodding no. I haven’t seen any body language for no yet. They also do this head bobble from side to side to say ok or I am listening.

For the most part everyone speaks Hindu at the office, unless they are speaking directly to me. Then it is English.

Attached are a couple pics of the office, a pic of my best friend here so far the a/c unit and a pic of my bathroom. As you can see on the left hand side is a spayer similar to a kitchen faucet sprayer. Every bathroom that I have seen so far has one. I am thinking it is either tp or the sprayer. Your choice.

Hello from India

I made it. 16+ hours on a plane is just too much.

I will start with a week in review. On Monday I had my last two vaccination shots. I also changed malaria prescriptions. Starting last Saturday I had a very anxious jittery feeling and was unable to sleep on Saturday or Sunday night. Thankfully the old malaria drug has now worked out of my system and I am feeling better.

Getting to the airport on Wednesday was an experience. The Limberg parking lot was full and we ended up parking at Humphrey. Both of my bags met the weight and size restrictions so no extra fees. I have never seen the airport so busy, a good thing for the economy? The line to go through security took about an hour. I was still there early enough to make it through in plenty of time.

I was hoping to sleep the first stretch from Minneapolis to Amsterdam, but my streak of not sleeping on a plane continues. I even took Ambien and could not fall asleep. I touched down in Amsterdam around 6 am and waited until 11 am for the next flight. The boarding process is a little different in Amsterdam, first the security check is at the gate you are exiting from. Once you go through security, they put you in a room. Then you wait for them to call your seat row order to proceed to the next room. Finally you get to board the plane after they call the seat order once again.

I was only one of about 10 Caucasians on the plane of about 300 passengers. I met a couple interesting people, one just gave a presentation at the U of MN for an oil study and another that was a gastro intestinal doctor. He gave me a few tips of what to stay away from for food.

Flying over the Caspian Sea looked like the moon. It was grey and looked like a washed out sea that had driep up. Between the sand, rock, and dried up river tributes it looked interesting. The plane flew over Afghanastan and Pakistan before hitting India.

The plane touched down around 11:30 pm. I had to fill out a form saying I was not exposed to swine flu. Other than that there were not any issues getting through security and immigration. What scared me was I did not see my driver. He was past the duty check area and I was relieved.

Taking my first steps outside around 12:30 am it was a cool 85 degrees. My driver spoke no English so it was a quiet 45 minute ride to the apartment. The drive was an experience though. Within the first mile, we hit a police stop and I had a flashlight glared over my face and we kept on moving. The first couple miles the roads were in terrible condition with potholes and construction issues all over the place. Then there was the driving. Passing was usually done on the right lane. A series of honking and giving the brights was used instead of turn signals. There were a couple close calls and we cut between two semis on a few tight corners. It seems whoever is moving the fastest has the right of way.

I was checked in and attempting to sleep by 1:30 am. The room was very nice and cool. The temp was set at 18 C or about 66 degrees. I actually fell asleep and woke up about 8 the next morning to my phone ringing. I was Kavita from work, Dipankar's assistant, wondering when I would be coming in today. I said I was not planning on it but could come in later in the afternoon. She said ok and would send a car for me at 11. I was half awake and took a luke warm shower and got ready for work. I stepped out of my room and was blasted by the heat. The hallways are not air conditioned and either is the lobby. Friday and Saturday got up to about 42 C or about 107 degrees. Today it is suppose to get up to 45 C or 113 F.

The drive was only about 5-10 minutes to the office. The office is in a brand new building and is very nice. Instead of cubicles it is a long table with with spaces about 3-4 feet for each person. I met Ruchika, the person I will be filling in for during her leave. She gave a quick overview of the divisions she supports.

Around 1 we went to lunch in the cafeteria of the building. It was a buffet. You either pay for veg or non veg. I did the non veg which included chicken. Everything was hot and spicy. I hadn't eaten all day so I had a few servings of a vegetable goolash and a spicy thicker soup like substance. I also had rice and flat bread.

After the meal I was half a sleep and waited around for the computer. Finally left around 4. When I got back I was so tired that I ate a couple granola bars and went to bed. Unfortunately I woke up about 1 am and laid in bed until the morning.

The apartment complex is almost like an all inclusive place. In the morning there is a breakfast buffet, otherwise there is a restaurant. I also have access to a swimming pool and a small gym. The best part of the breakfast was a mango/papaya smoothie.

Here are a few pics from the view from my room. There is a big construction zone with a few vendor market people set up before it. I heard the cow mooing a couple times.

Last Full Week in the US

The week in review.

I started off the week with a 1 hour risk management assessment and overview with a third party company out of the UK. The gentleman giving the overview lived in Mumbai for a couple years and was originally from the UK. The US Embassy just raised the terroristic threat of India. There is possible danger. We discussed what to do in scenarios such as being kidnapped, shot at, being around a bomb, and being in a riot. Also we discussed what to do in day to day scenarios. Basically keep a low profile and be cautious at all times. Most threats right now are not focused towards foreigners, but they are more focused on politicians and other higher power natives. Maybe he was just telling that to make me feel more comfortable.

The other item of the week was tracking down the progress of my visa. If I do not receive the visa in time, the trip will have to be postponed. India requires a visa to enter the country. After many emails and conversations, my visa paperwork was finally sent to the India Consulate in Chicago on Thursday and it was approved on Friday. The visa will then be overnighted to Atlanta, Georgia by Monday and then overnighted to me to receive on Tuesday so I have it in time for my flight on Wednesday. Hopefully all the timing will work.

On Friday I had my dental checkup. I have only one more doctor's visit to the travel clinic for two more vaccinations. I will be happy not to see another needle for a long, long time.

All that is left now is to pack up and say my goodbyes.

From 40 degrees F to 40 degrees C

A little background on the trip. I accepted a secondment position in New Delhi, India as Head of Finance supporting the India Shared Services Operations for Pearson. Pearson is an education and publishing company, not the candy bar company. I will be covering a maternity leave for the first part of the assignment and then assisting with planning and forecasting for the remainder of the assignment.

I will be working and living in a city just west of New Delhi called Noida. According to Wikipedia it is one of the fastest growing cities in the world. It is becoming the destination for global IT companies.

When I woke up this morning it was in the 40's F. In just a week and a half it will be in 40+ C or about 100+ F. My flight arrangements are to fly out on Wednesday at 3 pm from Minneapolis and arrive in New Delhi at 11 PM on Thursday. It is a 10.5 hour time difference between Minneapolis and New Delhi. The first week could be rough as a result getting use to the jet lag.

I have been creating lists and making sure I have everything in order in MN before I take off. The biggest question is what to pack. I have stocked up on beef jerky since 70% of India are Hindus and most are vegetarians resulting in only chicken and lamb really being available. Plus I have stocked up on the granola bars. I have enough Purrel that I could take a bath in it. Clothing is the big question mark. Even with the extreme heat, shorts cannot be worn in public as showing skin on the legs is a religious taboo. I might be buying some linen clothes over there. That might help in not looking so American.

Travel Clinic

My first call after accepting the 6 month secondment position to New Delhi was to the clinic for vaccination shots. I called my clinic and was forwarded to the Travel Clinic. The voice answering the phone said "Infectious diseases, how may I help you?" That caught me off guard but I it was the right spot.

A week later I was in the office going over the India consultation for immunization recommendations, potential diseases and viruses. As the doctor is going over the potential issues, I can see she is making check marks on a piece of paper. The end result is 11 vaccination shots over the next month including Hepatitis A and B, Mumps, Polio, 3 shots for Japanese Encephalitis (1 in 4 die if you get this one), typhoid, meningitis, and the all important flu shot. Basically I have every shot possible except for rabies. Instead of picking up the rabies vaccination, 3 shots into the stomach, I decide to check into emergency travel insurance for 24 hour emergency evacuation for life threatening issues. I will be keeping my distance from the dogs and monkeys.

My favorite part of the discussion was around "Delhi Belly" otherwise know as Montezumas or diarrhea. They even gave me a pamphlet on the issue to go over all the food and beverage precautions. In case of extreme issues, a prescription written. The best advice is to only drink bottled water and never under any circumstances eat the street vendor food. Bottled water should also be used to brush your teeth and when taking a shower keep your eyes and mouth closed at all times.

Next was the malaria discussion. There are only oral prescriptions to help prevent malaria. I chose the type that you take once a week, mefloquine. It only has a few severe and permanent adverse side-effects. It is known to cause severe depression, anxiety, paranoia, aggression, nightmares, insomnia, seizures, peripheral motor-sensor, balance damage and central nervous system problems. I am happy to report that after one week of taking the pill, I have no such effects.

Even after these discussions and feeling like a human pin cushion, I decided to go through with it. I have had 3 visits and 9 shots in total with 1 more trip and 2 shots to go.

My next stop was to Walgreens where I bought about $150 worth of over the counter medications. It might be a little overboard, but who knows what is available over there. If nothing else I will have my only little pharmacy where I am staying. At least I will be stocked on the Imodium and pepto. India, bring it on!