Blog from 8/30 & 9/1... finally able to save it to disk to post.
August 30, 2006 – Delhi, India
10:00pm
From Seoul, Korea, the flight was about 7.5 hours. I no longer feel tall… just white and different. We arrived in Delhi at 11:30pm Aug 29th to a torrential downpour. After getting all of our luggage, we were accosted by men offering to push our baggage carts and load luggage onto the hotel bus. Being unsure as to whether they were with the hotel or not, we allowed them to help. In India, for the most part we are learning that you do not want people helping you because various individuals will try to gain money from you for things you don’t need or can get talked into. They are very pushy and will plead or follow or bug you until either you give in or they give up. Walking down streets, individuals will offer to help you find someplace to go and lead you to a specific shop where they will get a commission for bringing you there. You have to ask multiple people for help before you know which direction or shop is the correct one. Back at the airport, these men were trying to earn outrageous tips by pushing our baggage carts about 50 yards. We definitely looked like foreigners making us an easy target. The one helping me tried to get me to pay him but one of the professors in the group had already paid for all of us. Apparently this man didn’t think he’d been paid (or the others didn’t share with him) so he kept bugging me to pay him. We told him to go away to no success, so I waited until all of the luggage was loaded onto the bus before I would board, just to make sure he didn’t try to get paid by grabbing a bag.
It was dark and pouring so our first glimpse of the city was rather dismal. We did see some cows and traffic is outrageous! There are no actual lines for cars to drive between, they just take up space in the road where they can fit. One of the takis (tiny motorized vehicles with open doors – like a cart – that are used like taxis) was stalled in the ½ foot deep water and as cars went around, the occupants were drenched. Not a fun way to sightsee! The roads are dirty and there are potholes everywhere – not potholes like we have that just need repair, these are like large cracks or holes in the road. If a manhole cover looks loose – don’t step on it because you could fall in. Sidewalks are broken here and there and buildings look old and dusty. Everything looks like it is being piecemealed together. Cargo trucks are from various colors and appear to be an entourage of parts from different trucks. One part is bright yellow, another part green, another part odd looking chrome with more chrome…
When getting water from stands and even in the hotel, we have to make sure that the seals are not broken. Vendors will try to sell bottles of water that are just recycled. A pepsi bottle (from the old glass bottles) appeared dirty and had chips on the glass like the glass had been recycled and the coke just added. The bottle didn’t even look clean. A jewelry dealer offered me this, so I drank one sip and decided to pour it down the drain later in my room rather than risk getting sick.
This is the overall feel of Delhi to me – that of people making a living by scrapping what they can and making it appear new or better to get someone else to pay for it so that they can survive. The people are very ingenious at what they do. You will find people begging either with a child in tow or children will beg, or in the underground sidewalks (the only safe way to bypass the intersections alive), you will find people without legs or with deformities that look awful. They reach out to you with their cup as you pass. At the markets, everything is for bartering. While you look at different “booths,” other men walking by will follow you trying to sell you things that they say they hand carved or made (taking a look on the bottom is a stamp of “made in India”). They will follow you and incessantly bother you. Yet this is how they survive. They have to be aggressive.
The hotel we are staying at is nice. This morning I looked out the window and it’s like looking into the slums. The housing is nothing like the US. (Except maybe some dilapidated place in New Mexico or Texas but even then NM and TX have better infrastructure). Buildings look old and dirty. Water tanks are set on top of the buildings. Laundry can be seen hanging from lines and draped over rails. A temple is across the street from the hotel so there is ongoing chanting or singing or talking on the loud speaker. That’s another thing – the sounds here are quite different. From the horns on the cars which do not sound like ours at all to the singing in the temples to the sound of people talking, it’s strange yet beautiful. The smell is a cross between incense, kettel corn and dried fish. Sometimes I like it and sometimes I think I’ll be sick. Especially in the underground tunnels that smell of urine and filth.
The hotel soap appears to be “recycled.” It has a label that looks new and a used bar in the package. The water isn’t safe to drink so we use bottled water for brushing teeth. I have a roommate who I will be sharing hotel rooms with for the next three cities. The group is great. There are 16 students and 2 professors. Most are from the main campus and other than myself and one other gal, everyone appears to be in their early twenties. About 4 people are from India and several speak Hindi which is very valuable as we try to navigate the streets.
It is incredibly humid and hot here. This morning at 10am 7 of us went out to explore a little and buy cell phones/calling cards. Luckily my phone seems to work here (after I figured out how to dial out). [By the way – don’t call it/ leave messages until I get back - unless it’s an emergency, because I have to pay at least $1.40/hour if not more. After about an hour of hanging out we were all completely drenched in sweat. While waiting for the group to get their phones, Jessica (a Sociology student) and I went outside and two men walked up and started talking to Jessica. They start off simple and broad and then get down to whether or not she’s single, whether I’m single, and then get to “why just friends?”… Rather entertaining. Harmless as long as we’re together, but I’m not sure it’s safe to go out alone in this part of the city.
Food so far has been great. For breakfast we had traditional Indian dishes which I thought were more like lunch. They did have eggs, but we’re erring on the cautious side to avoid getting sick. Breakfast is mostly carbs such as crousants, some kind of rolled crepe item with potatoes and other stuff in it, and hash “brawns” which are the size of miniature muffins and taste a little bit like hash browns. There is breaded cheese (doesn’t taste like mozzarella sticks – bummer!) and breaded chicken. And of course dipping sauces. Lunch after haggling at the market and sweating was in a nice air conditioned restaurant and consisted of traditional India food again. This evening’s dinner was at a local Chinese restaurant. The fried rice has an Indian flavor to it but is Chinese overall. Since I’m a bit paranoid, I brought about 20 power bars, peanut butter and oatmeal and saltines just in case I can’t eat here or get sick. I think I also packed everything the pharmacy offered so if anyone needs anything I’m sure I’ll have plenty left after I get back.
Tomorrow’s agenda consists of options of going to get fitted for suits and shopping or sightseeing and then off to V-Customer, our first company visit. We will have a company brief prior to going to brush up on anything we should know.
September 1, 2006 – Delhi
12:30 am
It’s about noon Seattle time on August 31st. We’ve had a really full day today. Last night most of the group went to another hotel for drinks and had a great time. I thought I’d join them tonight but everyone was too exhausted. And now I’m staying up late instead to journal and download pictures.
I took over 500 pictures today. What I want to have pictures of is the daily life. The roads are filled with mainly men and some children and a few women. Traffic is insane. Did I mention… traffic is insane? Every car and yes this is every car, with the exception of a couple that appeared brand new, have dents and dings on them. It’s like driving while playing bumper cars. Our taxi almost hit a pedestrian today. It’s crazy. There are cars and taxis and tuk-tuks (known here as auto rickshaws) and motorcycles and bicycles and even people walking on the road ways. Even people can be seen walking along the “highways.” There are cows here and there, monkeys (I have yet to see one – although I did get blessed by the holy man at the monkey god in one of the temples…hmm hopefully this won’t be like the turtles in Hawaii Sherri??), and dogs that look horrible. They are thin and sickly looking.
Along the street there are so many people just hanging out, all day long. Some are street vendors, some are beggars, some are walking somewhere, some are military people or police carrying guns. I don’t feel safe walking alone here and will not try it. You are bombarded by beggars and “touts” as the book “Humbler than Dust” calls them. (Great book for those that want a taste of India – thanks Sally! Great selection. I’m not done yet but enjoyed what I’ve read. It’s right on with some of the descriptions). Seeing so many people milling around makes me wonder what they do all day. Why aren’t they doing something? Do they have jobs? Do they all beg for a living? Where do they live? And where are the women? There are a few, but there are mostly men just hanging out. The shops are nothing like the states. They are small holes in the wall where you barter for everything. And you trust almost no one because everyone seems to be out to help you so that they can get a commission. Even what appeared to be a guide employed by the Tomb we visited ended up being someone asking for money. Yes… the term “sucker” comes to mind. Supposedly there is a mall, but our tour guide today told us that the malls are not as popular in India because they cannot provide as good of service that the women like as the small shops and shop owners do. The culture here is so interesting yet so intimidating. I saw one white woman with her little daughter on the street today and was struck by how they stood out. Even though they appear to live here. Then it occurred to me how I must look. Especially hanging out of a taxi window with a camera as buses full of Indian men drive by and they just stare. Some will smile and wave, but most just look at you. Children will come up to the car and do somersaults and tricks in hopes of getting money. It is sad and you want to give them something but it only encourages this to be a norm for this population. But what options do they have? There are so many of them. It’s not like the US where they can have the opportunity to go to college if they work hard. Most of these people will work hard just to live and survive. It is unbelievable. And in a brief glimpse it appears almost unchangeable. Yet everything here is changing and changing rapidly as this country is emerging and competing with the rest of the world.
Today we had the option of getting fitted for suits that are about $100-200 USD or going sight seeing. I opted for sightseeing as we can also do suits in other cities. We visited Laxmi Narayan Birla Mandir – a temple in Delhi and Qutab Minar a tower in south Delhi. We took three taxis for 11 of us. We also stopped at a merchant shop where they sold silks, textiles, trinkets, and stone elephants, etc. Way overpriced but beautiful.
We met back at the hotel at noon and showered and had lunch and then the entire group (18 total) took a bus tour and drove by Parliament, stopped by the India Gate for pictures and then toured Humayun’s tomb. It is similar in some ways to the Taj Mahal except that this one was built by a wife for her husband.
From here we went to our first company visit, V-Customer. The V stands for Virtual. V-Customer is a call center for several companies in the United States. It was interesting talking to the manager of marketing. The life cycle of the boom of call centers in India is suppose to end about 2012. All employees working at this call center must have a bachelor degree. Most have bachelor degrees in Engineering or Commerce and managers have MBAs.
By the time this tour was over we were exhausted and slept most of the way back to the hotel. It took forever. It was 8pm and traffic was horrible and the horns are incessant. The horns here sound different and drivers keep one hand on the horn at all times because it is necessary just to drive down the street so that you can hopefully avoid others by using your horn to let them know you are coming and that they need to get out of the way or get hit or speed up. Needless to say it took an hour or two to get back.
It is still hot and humid. It sprinkled a little but no torrential downpour today.
We showered, had a bite to eat and most of us crashed. Except me… I’m still downloading pictures and trying to write something for the blog.
Feel free to e-mail me. I enjoy the contact from home. It is very different here.
10:00pm
From Seoul, Korea, the flight was about 7.5 hours. I no longer feel tall… just white and different. We arrived in Delhi at 11:30pm Aug 29th to a torrential downpour. After getting all of our luggage, we were accosted by men offering to push our baggage carts and load luggage onto the hotel bus. Being unsure as to whether they were with the hotel or not, we allowed them to help. In India, for the most part we are learning that you do not want people helping you because various individuals will try to gain money from you for things you don’t need or can get talked into. They are very pushy and will plead or follow or bug you until either you give in or they give up. Walking down streets, individuals will offer to help you find someplace to go and lead you to a specific shop where they will get a commission for bringing you there. You have to ask multiple people for help before you know which direction or shop is the correct one. Back at the airport, these men were trying to earn outrageous tips by pushing our baggage carts about 50 yards. We definitely looked like foreigners making us an easy target. The one helping me tried to get me to pay him but one of the professors in the group had already paid for all of us. Apparently this man didn’t think he’d been paid (or the others didn’t share with him) so he kept bugging me to pay him. We told him to go away to no success, so I waited until all of the luggage was loaded onto the bus before I would board, just to make sure he didn’t try to get paid by grabbing a bag.
It was dark and pouring so our first glimpse of the city was rather dismal. We did see some cows and traffic is outrageous! There are no actual lines for cars to drive between, they just take up space in the road where they can fit. One of the takis (tiny motorized vehicles with open doors – like a cart – that are used like taxis) was stalled in the ½ foot deep water and as cars went around, the occupants were drenched. Not a fun way to sightsee! The roads are dirty and there are potholes everywhere – not potholes like we have that just need repair, these are like large cracks or holes in the road. If a manhole cover looks loose – don’t step on it because you could fall in. Sidewalks are broken here and there and buildings look old and dusty. Everything looks like it is being piecemealed together. Cargo trucks are from various colors and appear to be an entourage of parts from different trucks. One part is bright yellow, another part green, another part odd looking chrome with more chrome…
When getting water from stands and even in the hotel, we have to make sure that the seals are not broken. Vendors will try to sell bottles of water that are just recycled. A pepsi bottle (from the old glass bottles) appeared dirty and had chips on the glass like the glass had been recycled and the coke just added. The bottle didn’t even look clean. A jewelry dealer offered me this, so I drank one sip and decided to pour it down the drain later in my room rather than risk getting sick.
This is the overall feel of Delhi to me – that of people making a living by scrapping what they can and making it appear new or better to get someone else to pay for it so that they can survive. The people are very ingenious at what they do. You will find people begging either with a child in tow or children will beg, or in the underground sidewalks (the only safe way to bypass the intersections alive), you will find people without legs or with deformities that look awful. They reach out to you with their cup as you pass. At the markets, everything is for bartering. While you look at different “booths,” other men walking by will follow you trying to sell you things that they say they hand carved or made (taking a look on the bottom is a stamp of “made in India”). They will follow you and incessantly bother you. Yet this is how they survive. They have to be aggressive.
The hotel we are staying at is nice. This morning I looked out the window and it’s like looking into the slums. The housing is nothing like the US. (Except maybe some dilapidated place in New Mexico or Texas but even then NM and TX have better infrastructure). Buildings look old and dirty. Water tanks are set on top of the buildings. Laundry can be seen hanging from lines and draped over rails. A temple is across the street from the hotel so there is ongoing chanting or singing or talking on the loud speaker. That’s another thing – the sounds here are quite different. From the horns on the cars which do not sound like ours at all to the singing in the temples to the sound of people talking, it’s strange yet beautiful. The smell is a cross between incense, kettel corn and dried fish. Sometimes I like it and sometimes I think I’ll be sick. Especially in the underground tunnels that smell of urine and filth.
The hotel soap appears to be “recycled.” It has a label that looks new and a used bar in the package. The water isn’t safe to drink so we use bottled water for brushing teeth. I have a roommate who I will be sharing hotel rooms with for the next three cities. The group is great. There are 16 students and 2 professors. Most are from the main campus and other than myself and one other gal, everyone appears to be in their early twenties. About 4 people are from India and several speak Hindi which is very valuable as we try to navigate the streets.
It is incredibly humid and hot here. This morning at 10am 7 of us went out to explore a little and buy cell phones/calling cards. Luckily my phone seems to work here (after I figured out how to dial out). [By the way – don’t call it/ leave messages until I get back - unless it’s an emergency, because I have to pay at least $1.40/hour if not more. After about an hour of hanging out we were all completely drenched in sweat. While waiting for the group to get their phones, Jessica (a Sociology student) and I went outside and two men walked up and started talking to Jessica. They start off simple and broad and then get down to whether or not she’s single, whether I’m single, and then get to “why just friends?”… Rather entertaining. Harmless as long as we’re together, but I’m not sure it’s safe to go out alone in this part of the city.
Food so far has been great. For breakfast we had traditional Indian dishes which I thought were more like lunch. They did have eggs, but we’re erring on the cautious side to avoid getting sick. Breakfast is mostly carbs such as crousants, some kind of rolled crepe item with potatoes and other stuff in it, and hash “brawns” which are the size of miniature muffins and taste a little bit like hash browns. There is breaded cheese (doesn’t taste like mozzarella sticks – bummer!) and breaded chicken. And of course dipping sauces. Lunch after haggling at the market and sweating was in a nice air conditioned restaurant and consisted of traditional India food again. This evening’s dinner was at a local Chinese restaurant. The fried rice has an Indian flavor to it but is Chinese overall. Since I’m a bit paranoid, I brought about 20 power bars, peanut butter and oatmeal and saltines just in case I can’t eat here or get sick. I think I also packed everything the pharmacy offered so if anyone needs anything I’m sure I’ll have plenty left after I get back.
Tomorrow’s agenda consists of options of going to get fitted for suits and shopping or sightseeing and then off to V-Customer, our first company visit. We will have a company brief prior to going to brush up on anything we should know.
September 1, 2006 – Delhi
12:30 am
It’s about noon Seattle time on August 31st. We’ve had a really full day today. Last night most of the group went to another hotel for drinks and had a great time. I thought I’d join them tonight but everyone was too exhausted. And now I’m staying up late instead to journal and download pictures.
I took over 500 pictures today. What I want to have pictures of is the daily life. The roads are filled with mainly men and some children and a few women. Traffic is insane. Did I mention… traffic is insane? Every car and yes this is every car, with the exception of a couple that appeared brand new, have dents and dings on them. It’s like driving while playing bumper cars. Our taxi almost hit a pedestrian today. It’s crazy. There are cars and taxis and tuk-tuks (known here as auto rickshaws) and motorcycles and bicycles and even people walking on the road ways. Even people can be seen walking along the “highways.” There are cows here and there, monkeys (I have yet to see one – although I did get blessed by the holy man at the monkey god in one of the temples…hmm hopefully this won’t be like the turtles in Hawaii Sherri??), and dogs that look horrible. They are thin and sickly looking.
Along the street there are so many people just hanging out, all day long. Some are street vendors, some are beggars, some are walking somewhere, some are military people or police carrying guns. I don’t feel safe walking alone here and will not try it. You are bombarded by beggars and “touts” as the book “Humbler than Dust” calls them. (Great book for those that want a taste of India – thanks Sally! Great selection. I’m not done yet but enjoyed what I’ve read. It’s right on with some of the descriptions). Seeing so many people milling around makes me wonder what they do all day. Why aren’t they doing something? Do they have jobs? Do they all beg for a living? Where do they live? And where are the women? There are a few, but there are mostly men just hanging out. The shops are nothing like the states. They are small holes in the wall where you barter for everything. And you trust almost no one because everyone seems to be out to help you so that they can get a commission. Even what appeared to be a guide employed by the Tomb we visited ended up being someone asking for money. Yes… the term “sucker” comes to mind. Supposedly there is a mall, but our tour guide today told us that the malls are not as popular in India because they cannot provide as good of service that the women like as the small shops and shop owners do. The culture here is so interesting yet so intimidating. I saw one white woman with her little daughter on the street today and was struck by how they stood out. Even though they appear to live here. Then it occurred to me how I must look. Especially hanging out of a taxi window with a camera as buses full of Indian men drive by and they just stare. Some will smile and wave, but most just look at you. Children will come up to the car and do somersaults and tricks in hopes of getting money. It is sad and you want to give them something but it only encourages this to be a norm for this population. But what options do they have? There are so many of them. It’s not like the US where they can have the opportunity to go to college if they work hard. Most of these people will work hard just to live and survive. It is unbelievable. And in a brief glimpse it appears almost unchangeable. Yet everything here is changing and changing rapidly as this country is emerging and competing with the rest of the world.
Today we had the option of getting fitted for suits that are about $100-200 USD or going sight seeing. I opted for sightseeing as we can also do suits in other cities. We visited Laxmi Narayan Birla Mandir – a temple in Delhi and Qutab Minar a tower in south Delhi. We took three taxis for 11 of us. We also stopped at a merchant shop where they sold silks, textiles, trinkets, and stone elephants, etc. Way overpriced but beautiful.
We met back at the hotel at noon and showered and had lunch and then the entire group (18 total) took a bus tour and drove by Parliament, stopped by the India Gate for pictures and then toured Humayun’s tomb. It is similar in some ways to the Taj Mahal except that this one was built by a wife for her husband.
From here we went to our first company visit, V-Customer. The V stands for Virtual. V-Customer is a call center for several companies in the United States. It was interesting talking to the manager of marketing. The life cycle of the boom of call centers in India is suppose to end about 2012. All employees working at this call center must have a bachelor degree. Most have bachelor degrees in Engineering or Commerce and managers have MBAs.
By the time this tour was over we were exhausted and slept most of the way back to the hotel. It took forever. It was 8pm and traffic was horrible and the horns are incessant. The horns here sound different and drivers keep one hand on the horn at all times because it is necessary just to drive down the street so that you can hopefully avoid others by using your horn to let them know you are coming and that they need to get out of the way or get hit or speed up. Needless to say it took an hour or two to get back.
It is still hot and humid. It sprinkled a little but no torrential downpour today.
We showered, had a bite to eat and most of us crashed. Except me… I’m still downloading pictures and trying to write something for the blog.
Feel free to e-mail me. I enjoy the contact from home. It is very different here.
posted by Joyann | 1:56 AM
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