India – First Impressions

I don’t have the patience or time to finish up the other “interim” posts I had planned to describe travels through Western WA and Nicaragua. Those might come later, but for now I want to write about India while I’m here.

Background: Since October 2009 I’ve been working as delivery manager at a small software company called Avalara, headquartered on Bainbridge Island (near Seattle).  The majority of our software development team is in India, and I’ve finally managed to wrangle a trip out to visit the team. I’ll be in India for nearly 4 weeks, from 12 Feb 2011 to 8 Mar 2011. 

Arrival: After 30+ hours in transit I finally arrived in Pune. I recommend Korean Airlines for a level of service much higher than anything I’ve seen with a US or European airline. I arrived in Mumbai (via Seoul) with Avalara colleague Rahul and his family. Rahul is from Mumbai; Sonya and their daughter Anushka will stay with family in Mumbai while Rahul and I are working in Pune. I arrived by shuttle in Pune around 7 AM Saturday and then slept until nearly 2 PM. After that I figured I needed to stay up as late as possible to get back onto a normal sleep schedule by Monday. Pune is 13 ½ hours ahead of Seattle (yes, and a half!) so it’s rather like travelling into the future. Weird.

Accommodations: I'll be staying all month at Seasons Service Apartments (hotel) in the neighborhood called Aundh.  I have a furnished apartment, probably ~1000sq ft with a full kitchen, living room/office, large bedroom and big bathroom. The hotel has three restaurants: a traditional upscale Indian sit-down outdoor dinner place with live music, a “world cuisine” dinner place on the roof near the swimming pool, and an extensive three-meals-a-day multi-ethnic buffet. There’s also room service, and a sports bar. My first Indian meal was an big buffet, but I was still a bit too tired to appreciate the experience -- which is saying quite a lot coming from this foodie.  In spite of all the restaurant options, I’m planning to prepare lunch for myself like I do back home – and fortunately there’s a big grocery store a few blocks away.

The most remarkable things so far:

1) Smog. The acrid stench was nearly unbearable from the first step out of the Mumbai airport along most of the 3 hour shuttle ride to Pune. The polluted haze made it difficult to see cars on the road, and the smell... yeech! My eyes sting and this nasty black goo comes out when I blow my nose. The other shuttle passengers said that's just the way it is. Pune is cleaner than Mumbai, but still stinks from time to time. It looks like folks burn their trash on the sidewalk every morning.

2) Contrasts. I'm staying in a fancy-schmancy hotel with what seems like a 1:1 ratio of staff to guest. It's not 5-star, but it's very comfortable.  From my 4th (5^th) floor window, I see down on the yard of my nearest neighbor across the alley, living in a little compound of corrugated tin roofs and dirt floors, and a wood fire in the yard for cooking, and a hand-filled basin outdoors for washing.  It's a different world less than 100 feet away.

3) Traffic. The roads are like rivers and streams. Cars, scooters, motorbikes, bicycles, pedestrians, buses, cargo trucks, rickshaw taxis, men pushing handcarts filled with produce... all share the roads continuously through the days with seemingly no rules. The most important thing, is seems, it to keep the flow moving. Everyone appears to be supremely aware of their immediate space, and continuously signaling their presence to others around them. Traffic swells and fills all open spaces to keep moving. At any given moment, the drivers may decide to fill three lanes in one direction and only leave one lane in the other. Bicycles and scooters fill in the open spaces between the cars and trucks. It all just keeps moving and swirling and everyone just gets to where they’re going, without any outward expression of road rage or even anxiety. Miraculously I haven’t seen any dented vehicles.  As a pedestrian, crossing the street is a bit of an adventure; like live-action “Frogger.”

3) Clothing. Ohmigod the women dress so beautifully here!! Shalwar kameez, sari, all the beautiful colors and shapes, every one of them flattering to each body type. I’ll be shopping. I’ve already picked up a tunic and Punjabi shalwar and expect to find a few more items to bring back home. 

(Link to web album)