So... I'm in India
So I've been gone about a week. It was a bit difficult to get away, with something exploding in the office while I was unavailable... all of it due to an inadvertant choice of words in an email. The result being a total and complete disaster. I feel horrible for the people in the office caught up in all of the trouble, I hope none of you were too put out (although it cost me a lot of sleep).
The flight (Air Canada's direct to New Delhi) was a bit tough... 14 hours with a reasonable number of small children who didn't like being cooped up for 14 hours. Thankfully my e-shure 2c headphones made things a lot more bearable by helping my ipod nano block out a lot of the screaming. The in-flight entertainment included 3 movies, 2 Hindi flicks that I couldn't watch and Mr. and Mrs. Smith. The Hindi flicks were unwatchable largely due to the fact that the subtitles were being cut off the screen, so I couldn't follow along.
After arriving in Delhi, I went straight to the hotel (bear in mind that the flight left Pearson at 9:30 pm or so Oct. 17, and arrived the next day at about 9pm Oct. 18), did some office related emailing, and crashed.
Then it was possibly the most hectic day possible on the 19th. I visited 3 patent firms here in India. The problem is that the distances between everyone's offices were huge and traffic was a nightmare. In a 12 hour day (left the hotel at 10:45 am and returned at about 11:00pm) I spent more than 3.5 hours driving from office to office. It strikes me that most of the drivers in this city (taxi and otherwise) don't really know the city all that well. Having said that I've had some amazing India cuisine (including some at a restaurant named Punjabi by Nature... they really have to come up with better names).
On the 20th, I hired a car, left the hotel bright and early in the morning (something like 5:20 am... so I learned that it does happen if you go to sleep the night before), and went to Agra. For those of you who haven't seen the Taj, I could describe it for hours, and show you every photo that I took (and I took lots), but if you ever come to see it yourself you'll understand that when you get through the gates, you just stop dead. I have never in my life seen anything this beautiful. Below is a photo that I took at night. My day time photos were off loaded from the camera, but I don't have the proper cable with me to get at them on the laptop... when I fix that I'll come back to post some more.
While in Agra, I saw the Taj, Agra fort, another tomb that preceded the Taj and really foreshadowed the work that was done, and spent a lot of time telling my guide that I really didn't want to spend my day looking at shops. Every driver and guide I've encountered so far wants to take me to a shop with really good prices and special deals (the deal being that they'll collect a comission off me). I think from now on, I'm just going to ignore them all and try to see things on my own.
So after a one night stay in Agra, I'm back in Delhi. I did 2 meetings on the 21st, and have another one today. Then it's off to Varansi (formerly Benares), a true Hindu holy sight, where if my senses leave me I'll take a dip in the Holy Ganges and improve my lot in the next life. Then it's off to Calcutta.
I'll post more later.
The flight (Air Canada's direct to New Delhi) was a bit tough... 14 hours with a reasonable number of small children who didn't like being cooped up for 14 hours. Thankfully my e-shure 2c headphones made things a lot more bearable by helping my ipod nano block out a lot of the screaming. The in-flight entertainment included 3 movies, 2 Hindi flicks that I couldn't watch and Mr. and Mrs. Smith. The Hindi flicks were unwatchable largely due to the fact that the subtitles were being cut off the screen, so I couldn't follow along.
After arriving in Delhi, I went straight to the hotel (bear in mind that the flight left Pearson at 9:30 pm or so Oct. 17, and arrived the next day at about 9pm Oct. 18), did some office related emailing, and crashed.
Then it was possibly the most hectic day possible on the 19th. I visited 3 patent firms here in India. The problem is that the distances between everyone's offices were huge and traffic was a nightmare. In a 12 hour day (left the hotel at 10:45 am and returned at about 11:00pm) I spent more than 3.5 hours driving from office to office. It strikes me that most of the drivers in this city (taxi and otherwise) don't really know the city all that well. Having said that I've had some amazing India cuisine (including some at a restaurant named Punjabi by Nature... they really have to come up with better names).
On the 20th, I hired a car, left the hotel bright and early in the morning (something like 5:20 am... so I learned that it does happen if you go to sleep the night before), and went to Agra. For those of you who haven't seen the Taj, I could describe it for hours, and show you every photo that I took (and I took lots), but if you ever come to see it yourself you'll understand that when you get through the gates, you just stop dead. I have never in my life seen anything this beautiful. Below is a photo that I took at night. My day time photos were off loaded from the camera, but I don't have the proper cable with me to get at them on the laptop... when I fix that I'll come back to post some more.
While in Agra, I saw the Taj, Agra fort, another tomb that preceded the Taj and really foreshadowed the work that was done, and spent a lot of time telling my guide that I really didn't want to spend my day looking at shops. Every driver and guide I've encountered so far wants to take me to a shop with really good prices and special deals (the deal being that they'll collect a comission off me). I think from now on, I'm just going to ignore them all and try to see things on my own.
So after a one night stay in Agra, I'm back in Delhi. I did 2 meetings on the 21st, and have another one today. Then it's off to Varansi (formerly Benares), a true Hindu holy sight, where if my senses leave me I'll take a dip in the Holy Ganges and improve my lot in the next life. Then it's off to Calcutta.
I'll post more later.
posted by Dilip Andrade at
7:41 a.m.
3 Comments:
Dilip, if you were willing to dip yourself in the St. Lawrence at Megan's then you have now excuse (other than infection) to dip yourself in the Ganges
Jason.
D'oh. Meant 'no' instead of 'now'. Maybe if I signed up I'd get to just edit the post.
Jason.
The St. Lawrence seems like purified water in comparison. I'm scared that if I jump in, I'll come out with every communicable disease known to man, and a couple that are still yet to be identified.
dilip
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