A busy day

Day one of two for meetings with the Pythian India staff was a success, at least from the eyes of this ferenge. There was an eager and dynamic group of about 17 or 18 in the office all day for a bevy of discussions. It all started about noon with pizza (spicy of course) and friendly chit-chat. We got down to business and met most of the afternoon, culminating in a webinar with Ottawa at 7pm. The gang was lovely, almost every one in the room contributing to the discussions. Those who did not speak much displayed paragraphs of input by their body language and facial expressions showing approval or disapproval of things others were saying. We then came back to the Katriya for dinner and I headed upstairs about 9:30pm.

I wrote an essay with my feedback for Ottawa about the meetings. I planned on writing a page or two but ended up with more than twice as much. I rambled and rambled and rambled and rambled and rambled and rambled and rambled, so unlike me as I imagine you may have noticed. I then crashed and was lucky enough to sleep until 6:30am. A whole consecutive 5.5 hours was appreciated.

I settled in on what, so far, is the major difference between Africa and India, using a common life experience to sum up what I have noticed. In Africa (Ethiopia in particular) one orders a coffee in a restaurant and it NEVER arrives; in India, when playing out the same scenario the does arrive ...................................................... eventually (most of the time). The servers stand around and visit with one another long enough to lead me to believe my coffee must be ready. They then visit some more until the coffee is finally ready, and then they do nothing until ................ eventually. The service in this hotel is great and the rooms nice. They use top sheets without being asked so would rate high on the Sweet Thing-scale used universally to rate hoteliers and, unbeknownst to most, more widely accepted than Zagaat or Frommers!

The Hyderabad Deccan Chronicle arrives at my door every morning (except when it does not) and it is a treat to read. 50% of its content is modern current-day Hydarabad and the other half the small town banter we so appreciate. I saw a note yesterday about a rise in chain snatchings in the city. I assumed they were referring to the chains used as barriers to protect parking lots from the swarm of vehicles that end up occupying unchained lots. I thought to myself why would anyone steal these chains, especially a rash of these law breaking activities in succession. I discovered to day while reading a follow-up article on this serious travesty that it is actually scooter thieves pulling chains off the checks of unsuspecting females. I was glad to clear that up.

Needless to say, based on my incessant banter about nothing in this and previous BLOGs, you have probably figured out these sojourns into unknown territories please me to no end. Speaking of ends ... still no action there which

1. is a good thing (for me)
2. I am sure you will sleep better tonight knowing

I am close to settling on my activities for weekends 2 and 3 in India. The second weekend I will go to Bangalore Friday afternoon (maybe morning) and come back Sunday. The third W/E I will go to Goa and beach resort it on the Arabian sea. What fun ... the first weekend I will explore Hyderabad, my goal being many achievements including seeing the throngs upon throngs of natives on ever-so-crowded thoroughfares.

Subhajit, if you happen to read this, I still have not heard from your parents so will not be able to fit them into my schedule, sorry :) To any other natives of this lovely country who may read this dissertation ... the optimal word is "lovely"; the people and everything else.