Thursday August 13th, 2009
Day 1 in India I guess you could say. We arrived last night around 1 am. We went through a H1N1 Health Screening and then through customs. The health screening consisted of walking past a camera that recorded body temperature. We had to fill out paperwork informing the India Government where we were coming from and where we have been. It was a pretty fast process and then we were on to the customs line. My first reaction when walking off the airplane was the humid air that hit us. It was immediately warm and spelled like musty/mold. It was the same smell as when you walk into a domed tropical rain forest like the Krohn conservatory. It was as though you don’t want to breathe in the air, but you have to. We couldn’t believe the number of people who were wearing masks over their face. Almost all of the airport workers had masks…what does that tell you?
We met up with Jens outside of customs and headed to baggage claim. I sent Ben and Jens to exchange money while I waited for our bags. The Indian people are very friendly, but at the same time they are pushy. More than once I saw them cut in line or wiggle to the front. I think this is just their way of life because of the over populated living conditions.
The bags came, the boys got money, and we headed out of the airport. We saw the security with their automatic weapons and then we took our first breath of Indian air. WOW! Not really wanting to breath, but having to. It was hot, sticky, and dusty upon first impression. We walked around the building to discover our driver waiting with a sign. There were a lot of people at the airport even though it was 1:30 am. Lots of young men around to help with bags all wanting a tip. Ben tried to give them paper money in Rupees, but they wanted euros or dollars. They know what is worth more than rupees! We left the airport and I prayed that we survive the car ride. I had heard driving was crazy, but I wasn’t expecting to see tractors on the interstate, no sense of driving in a lane, and the fact that honking is appreciated. That is the signal for “I am passing you.” All the back of the trucks say “Please Honk.” Very strange.
I was glad to see that we got to drive with the air conditioning on and the windows closed as the dust was flying. The roads we were on were paved, but still dusty. We got to the interstate and then the fun began. Tractors, 3 wheeled vehicles, big semi trucks, motorcylces, etc. Anything goes! We paid one toll and about 25 minutes later we were at BAX Hotel in Gurgaon. Not exactly the five star hotel that I was expecting. It was a complete hole in the wall upon first impression, but now that we have seen a few places I guess it is top notch. Our room had an air conditioner, but it was not up and running at full speed when we arrived. It was 2 am and we were dripping sweat. I didn’t want to complain so I popped two Tylenol PM and hit the sheets hoping I could fall asleep in a room that said it was 86 degrees. It took some time to fall asleep as I was scared and hot. I was wondering if there was going to be bugs or if we were in a safe part of town. We were in room 101 so we were on the main level. I was convinved someone was going to come busting through the window at any moment. I slept with my passport and prized possessions next to the bed.
Day 1 in India I guess you could say. We arrived last night around 1 am. We went through a H1N1 Health Screening and then through customs. The health screening consisted of walking past a camera that recorded body temperature. We had to fill out paperwork informing the India Government where we were coming from and where we have been. It was a pretty fast process and then we were on to the customs line. My first reaction when walking off the airplane was the humid air that hit us. It was immediately warm and spelled like musty/mold. It was the same smell as when you walk into a domed tropical rain forest like the Krohn conservatory. It was as though you don’t want to breathe in the air, but you have to. We couldn’t believe the number of people who were wearing masks over their face. Almost all of the airport workers had masks…what does that tell you?
We met up with Jens outside of customs and headed to baggage claim. I sent Ben and Jens to exchange money while I waited for our bags. The Indian people are very friendly, but at the same time they are pushy. More than once I saw them cut in line or wiggle to the front. I think this is just their way of life because of the over populated living conditions.
The bags came, the boys got money, and we headed out of the airport. We saw the security with their automatic weapons and then we took our first breath of Indian air. WOW! Not really wanting to breath, but having to. It was hot, sticky, and dusty upon first impression. We walked around the building to discover our driver waiting with a sign. There were a lot of people at the airport even though it was 1:30 am. Lots of young men around to help with bags all wanting a tip. Ben tried to give them paper money in Rupees, but they wanted euros or dollars. They know what is worth more than rupees! We left the airport and I prayed that we survive the car ride. I had heard driving was crazy, but I wasn’t expecting to see tractors on the interstate, no sense of driving in a lane, and the fact that honking is appreciated. That is the signal for “I am passing you.” All the back of the trucks say “Please Honk.” Very strange.
I was glad to see that we got to drive with the air conditioning on and the windows closed as the dust was flying. The roads we were on were paved, but still dusty. We got to the interstate and then the fun began. Tractors, 3 wheeled vehicles, big semi trucks, motorcylces, etc. Anything goes! We paid one toll and about 25 minutes later we were at BAX Hotel in Gurgaon. Not exactly the five star hotel that I was expecting. It was a complete hole in the wall upon first impression, but now that we have seen a few places I guess it is top notch. Our room had an air conditioner, but it was not up and running at full speed when we arrived. It was 2 am and we were dripping sweat. I didn’t want to complain so I popped two Tylenol PM and hit the sheets hoping I could fall asleep in a room that said it was 86 degrees. It took some time to fall asleep as I was scared and hot. I was wondering if there was going to be bugs or if we were in a safe part of town. We were in room 101 so we were on the main level. I was convinved someone was going to come busting through the window at any moment. I slept with my passport and prized possessions next to the bed.
Thursday August 13th
Day 2 in India allowed for me to gather a complete impression of the area. We awoke around 8 am and I let Ben test the shower out first. We know we can not brush our teeth with the water or drink the water so one has to keep their mouth closed in the shower. He showered and said it was good. Even though the towels looked dirty and I prayed there are no foot funguses I jumped in next. It felt great to shower after sweating so much the night before. The water must be hard because it does nothing for a girls hair. It would probably help if I had conditioner with me! I dressed in business close as we were going to Bens company Anand Automotive to meet everyone. I realized that the only shoes I had along were my Teva sandals. Therefore, I wore Teva sandals with my grey dress pants and a red shirt. I felt like a retard, but didn’t have much choice. Jens and Ben ate breakfast at the hotel. I opted for a PowerBar and 2.5 pieces of dry toast. I was scared to put anything on the toast as I didn’t want to get sick. Who knows if the butter is pasterized or if the fruit has been boiled? They laughed at me as they ate eggs that were absolutely disgusting looking. I drank my bottled water and waited for lunch.
The drive to the company helped to put things into better perspective as it was daylight and one could see everything a lot better than the night before. It allowed one to see the trash, poverty, bicyclists, and rickshaw drivers at their best. The trash, dirt, and filth is just really nasty. There are so many buildings that are half built with building materials just lying around. Unbelievable! However, they just don’t have the machines to put things together quickly. We arrived at Anand Automotive after driving past several automotive businesses. There is a large Honda and Toyota facility down the road. The company is gated and has security guards at the front entrance. We were dropped right in front and found the front entry to be very nice. It was like walking into any major company with a reception area and glass shelving with bushings layed out on display. There was a woman in a sari working at the front dresk and then we entered the office area. A nice and surprisingly clean office area with little cubicles. About 30 men and 3 woman working in the office area. We started meeting all of the management team and then went on a plant tour. We got the full tour from when they produce the rubber to when they ship it. The rubber area is similar to the rendering area of John Morrell as it smells and is the area where no one wants to work. From the stinky rubber melt down area we went to tooling, storage, inspection, and shipping. It is a small little facility with a bunch of German Desma machines doing some of the work. The majority of the work is manual labor by young men. Ben commented that the one area that had 18 men working in it has 2 in Hebron, KY due to the machine power. Here in India the manual labor is so affordable that I don’t think they can justify a machine or maybe they just don’t want to spend the money.
It was a warm plant tour as the plant is open and exposed to the 100 degree heat. Everyone just sweats and that is the way it is. The impressive thing is that everyone is wearing dress pants and dress shirts no matter what their job is or where they work. The plant tour was very impressive in the fact that they have lots of charts and paperwork displaying how to do certain processses and the proper way each part should be inspected and produced. Very Organized and well managed from that perspective!
We finished the plant tour and spent some time in the office. Jens and Ben met with a few people and then we headed off to lunch at the most popular India food chain called Harilyanas or something like that. One of the local employees came with us to show us the ropes. He ordered one dish from southern India and one from northern India for Ben and I to try. We drank Diet Cokes from a can with a straw and had our first Indian meal. Everything looked ABSOLUTELY disgusting to be honest. One dish had something that looked like sweet potatoes, one had black lentil beans, one had yogurt looking stuff, and one had tortilla looking bread. The other plate had a potato looking pancake with a crepe on top. However, the crepe was filled with vegetables and curry…yuck! I ate the pancake looking thing that had vegetables in it. Then I had a few pieces of tortilla type bread. I tasted the dessert, which the local man said was really sweet. I didn’t care for the texture of the dessert. It was like chalk dusk and not very sweet. Maybe it is a good thing if I don’t like the sweets here…weight management.
After lunch we spent the entire afternoon from 2-7 in the conference room. By the time we were finished I was spent. My computer battery was dead and I was tired and hungry. We finally left and then had to battle 8 pm rush hour. Traffic was nuts, but we finally made it to the mall. This was the light at the end of the tunnel moment. We looked around the mall a bit and then ate at McDonalds. There is no beef so you cant get a cheeseburger. Instead they have fish and chicken sandwhiches with curry on them. I was thankful to see that they recently got Chickien Mcnuggets. So, for 119 rupees I got Chicken nuggets, a medium coke, and a medium fry. 1 Euro is about 67 rupees so that was about 2 Euros or $3 for dinner. CHEAP! Even though it was McDonalds and everything tasted great I still had an uneasy feeling in my stomach. We left the mall and headed to meet and pick up Jens friend Rav. We got to see his junk apartment and meet 3 of his friends. We picked up Rav, grabbed some Tiger beer, and then headed to Delhi for Ex Pat night.
One would expect that the road to Delhi would be nice…wrong! It was a complete mess going one way and then the next. I have no idea how Jens and Rav knew where they were going, but we made it eventually. I was sitting in the back getting bounced around and positive that we were going to die. The vehicles drive on the left and they just honk and go. A very crazy system, but it seems to work as I didn’t see a single accident. There are people walking, biking, riding and hanging off of buses everywhere. The NRC has 26 million people. That is the Delhi and surrounding areas. I think Delhi has 12 million. There are people everywhere and I have no idea what they all do. However, if each person just picked up some trash it would do wonders! The place is a complete trash can with garbage everywhere.
The swine flu is in Punta right now and I bet it is only a matter of time before it hits Delhi. We are definitely going to have to get some masks to wear when we come back. With my luck I will be the one to get it!
So…we finally arrived at the Urban Café in Delhi where the ex pat event happens on Thursday nights. The boys finished their beers and grabbed some cigarrettes before we went in. We got red stamps because we were white and headed up 4 flights of stairs to the top deck. My first reaction was, “White people!” I had just noticed at the mall that I was the only brown/red haired woman in the entire mall. They treat me like royalty and the boy at TGIF even thanked me for using the bathroom. Good Times!
Day 2 in India allowed for me to gather a complete impression of the area. We awoke around 8 am and I let Ben test the shower out first. We know we can not brush our teeth with the water or drink the water so one has to keep their mouth closed in the shower. He showered and said it was good. Even though the towels looked dirty and I prayed there are no foot funguses I jumped in next. It felt great to shower after sweating so much the night before. The water must be hard because it does nothing for a girls hair. It would probably help if I had conditioner with me! I dressed in business close as we were going to Bens company Anand Automotive to meet everyone. I realized that the only shoes I had along were my Teva sandals. Therefore, I wore Teva sandals with my grey dress pants and a red shirt. I felt like a retard, but didn’t have much choice. Jens and Ben ate breakfast at the hotel. I opted for a PowerBar and 2.5 pieces of dry toast. I was scared to put anything on the toast as I didn’t want to get sick. Who knows if the butter is pasterized or if the fruit has been boiled? They laughed at me as they ate eggs that were absolutely disgusting looking. I drank my bottled water and waited for lunch.
The drive to the company helped to put things into better perspective as it was daylight and one could see everything a lot better than the night before. It allowed one to see the trash, poverty, bicyclists, and rickshaw drivers at their best. The trash, dirt, and filth is just really nasty. There are so many buildings that are half built with building materials just lying around. Unbelievable! However, they just don’t have the machines to put things together quickly. We arrived at Anand Automotive after driving past several automotive businesses. There is a large Honda and Toyota facility down the road. The company is gated and has security guards at the front entrance. We were dropped right in front and found the front entry to be very nice. It was like walking into any major company with a reception area and glass shelving with bushings layed out on display. There was a woman in a sari working at the front dresk and then we entered the office area. A nice and surprisingly clean office area with little cubicles. About 30 men and 3 woman working in the office area. We started meeting all of the management team and then went on a plant tour. We got the full tour from when they produce the rubber to when they ship it. The rubber area is similar to the rendering area of John Morrell as it smells and is the area where no one wants to work. From the stinky rubber melt down area we went to tooling, storage, inspection, and shipping. It is a small little facility with a bunch of German Desma machines doing some of the work. The majority of the work is manual labor by young men. Ben commented that the one area that had 18 men working in it has 2 in Hebron, KY due to the machine power. Here in India the manual labor is so affordable that I don’t think they can justify a machine or maybe they just don’t want to spend the money.
It was a warm plant tour as the plant is open and exposed to the 100 degree heat. Everyone just sweats and that is the way it is. The impressive thing is that everyone is wearing dress pants and dress shirts no matter what their job is or where they work. The plant tour was very impressive in the fact that they have lots of charts and paperwork displaying how to do certain processses and the proper way each part should be inspected and produced. Very Organized and well managed from that perspective!
We finished the plant tour and spent some time in the office. Jens and Ben met with a few people and then we headed off to lunch at the most popular India food chain called Harilyanas or something like that. One of the local employees came with us to show us the ropes. He ordered one dish from southern India and one from northern India for Ben and I to try. We drank Diet Cokes from a can with a straw and had our first Indian meal. Everything looked ABSOLUTELY disgusting to be honest. One dish had something that looked like sweet potatoes, one had black lentil beans, one had yogurt looking stuff, and one had tortilla looking bread. The other plate had a potato looking pancake with a crepe on top. However, the crepe was filled with vegetables and curry…yuck! I ate the pancake looking thing that had vegetables in it. Then I had a few pieces of tortilla type bread. I tasted the dessert, which the local man said was really sweet. I didn’t care for the texture of the dessert. It was like chalk dusk and not very sweet. Maybe it is a good thing if I don’t like the sweets here…weight management.
After lunch we spent the entire afternoon from 2-7 in the conference room. By the time we were finished I was spent. My computer battery was dead and I was tired and hungry. We finally left and then had to battle 8 pm rush hour. Traffic was nuts, but we finally made it to the mall. This was the light at the end of the tunnel moment. We looked around the mall a bit and then ate at McDonalds. There is no beef so you cant get a cheeseburger. Instead they have fish and chicken sandwhiches with curry on them. I was thankful to see that they recently got Chickien Mcnuggets. So, for 119 rupees I got Chicken nuggets, a medium coke, and a medium fry. 1 Euro is about 67 rupees so that was about 2 Euros or $3 for dinner. CHEAP! Even though it was McDonalds and everything tasted great I still had an uneasy feeling in my stomach. We left the mall and headed to meet and pick up Jens friend Rav. We got to see his junk apartment and meet 3 of his friends. We picked up Rav, grabbed some Tiger beer, and then headed to Delhi for Ex Pat night.
One would expect that the road to Delhi would be nice…wrong! It was a complete mess going one way and then the next. I have no idea how Jens and Rav knew where they were going, but we made it eventually. I was sitting in the back getting bounced around and positive that we were going to die. The vehicles drive on the left and they just honk and go. A very crazy system, but it seems to work as I didn’t see a single accident. There are people walking, biking, riding and hanging off of buses everywhere. The NRC has 26 million people. That is the Delhi and surrounding areas. I think Delhi has 12 million. There are people everywhere and I have no idea what they all do. However, if each person just picked up some trash it would do wonders! The place is a complete trash can with garbage everywhere.
The swine flu is in Punta right now and I bet it is only a matter of time before it hits Delhi. We are definitely going to have to get some masks to wear when we come back. With my luck I will be the one to get it!
So…we finally arrived at the Urban Café in Delhi where the ex pat event happens on Thursday nights. The boys finished their beers and grabbed some cigarrettes before we went in. We got red stamps because we were white and headed up 4 flights of stairs to the top deck. My first reaction was, “White people!” I had just noticed at the mall that I was the only brown/red haired woman in the entire mall. They treat me like royalty and the boy at TGIF even thanked me for using the bathroom. Good Times!
Friday August 14th
Day 2
Thank God we are leaving today! 2 days is enough for the first visit. We spent the majority of the day at the company with Jens and Ben in meetings. Lunch was brought in from Kebab King. MMM! We had chicken tandori and it wasn't half bad. It was a thin tortilla like bread with chicken meat and who knows what else that looked like an egg roll. One is suppose to dip it in their lentils. I was thinking that lentils (beans) and a full day of flying was not a good idea! The highlight again was the coke! We headed out apt. shopping in the afternoon with the VP of Marketing. After a little confusion with the realtor we finally arrived at our apartment. I guess it is good we liked it because that was our only choice. Thankfully it was clean and really nice. Built in March and has air conditioning. That is all I needed to hear. Our first place as a married couple...never expected it to be on the other side of the globe! We wrapped things up at Anand Automotive and then set off for downtown Delhi. The driver took us to Connaught Place where I was a little taken aback. The travel books made it sound like Central Park. We stepped out of the car to smell really strong urine. MMM! I guess it is the toilet of downtown. We walked around it a bit to see the shops and then went into QBA which is a gorgeous "American/European" standard restauant. We had cocktails and some of the best brushetta ever. We then headed to a revolving restauant for dinner. They had traditional Indian and Chinese food. I played it safe with an order of Nada bread and Vegetarian Wonton Soup. I threw in a little white rice at the end to top it off. In the process of downing two liters of Evian we managed to make a full rotation around the place. We finished dinner, located our driver, and headed to Gandi International. We waited in line forever, discovered we didn't even have seats next to each other, and then waited for everyone else to push their way onto the plane. Right as we were headed for the gate our check in boy found us and handed us 2 Business Class tickets. WOOOHOOO! Life in business class is really the way to go. I have a whole new appreciation for Air India after that flight. Our seats reclined into an almost flat position. We both slept like babies for 7 hours to Frankfurt.
TRIP OVERVIEW:
Overall, India was a rollercoaster of good and absolutely nasty. In the end I had myself convinced that we should be able to survive it. The first day was rough and I wanted to run back to the airport immediately. The second day gave me glimpses of potential. It may not be the best 18 months of our lives, but it will probably be the most mind opening experience in our lives.
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