This is a perfect name for a driving school here- if you saw the traffic, you would know what I mean!
In case it doesn't work out for Clai at IBM, he has an option- McDelivery....
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Words of the day
Vocabulary lesson: Some key phrases, taught to us by our clients:
English: Hindi
Water: Pani
Tea: Chai
Rice: Bhat (or Chawal)
Potato: Aloo
Eggplant: Brinjal
“Bottle Gourd” (not sure exactly what this is supposed to be… some kind of squash we surmise)
: Lowki
Chicken: Chicken (I like that this is easy, but many restaurants don’t have meat anyway, so not that useful!)
Mutton: Mutton (this one too, although I don't like to eat it!)
I don’t want: Nahi chahiye
I want: Chahiye
This one: Ye
That one: Woh
Take it easy ( our client tells me this all the time!): Also means “Doesn’t matter”, Also can say “no issue” for “I don’t mind/care”: Koi Bat Nahi
How are you: Kaise Ho
Good morning: Suprabhat
Goodnight: Subhratri
How much does it cost: Kilna Hai
Thank you: Dhanyabad (more familiar/casual) or Sukriya (sounds like “Shukriya”?)
Yes: Han
No : Nahi (sounds like ‘nay’ when said quickly, as they do it here)
English: Hindi
Water: Pani
Tea: Chai
Rice: Bhat (or Chawal)
Potato: Aloo
Eggplant: Brinjal
“Bottle Gourd” (not sure exactly what this is supposed to be… some kind of squash we surmise)
: Lowki
Chicken: Chicken (I like that this is easy, but many restaurants don’t have meat anyway, so not that useful!)
Mutton: Mutton (this one too, although I don't like to eat it!)
I don’t want: Nahi chahiye
I want: Chahiye
This one: Ye
That one: Woh
Take it easy ( our client tells me this all the time!): Also means “Doesn’t matter”, Also can say “no issue” for “I don’t mind/care”: Koi Bat Nahi
How are you: Kaise Ho
Good morning: Suprabhat
Goodnight: Subhratri
How much does it cost: Kilna Hai
Thank you: Dhanyabad (more familiar/casual) or Sukriya (sounds like “Shukriya”?)
Yes: Han
No : Nahi (sounds like ‘nay’ when said quickly, as they do it here)
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
A losing battle- work = losing, weight =gaining
What a TOUGH day Cecilia and I had today (Wednesday Sept 1) at the Bombay Chamber of Commerce- the toughest part was actually just the commute! After our 1 1/2 hour taxi ride into the office, we got settled in and started soem work (10 a.m. is the office start time)... but before we could get too far, Vijay came in to see about getting us some tea. As we were finishing up our tea (you can't say no to the hospitality), we had a meeting with Kabi, Mamtha, and Bob from CDS and IBM, with our clients. So we went into to the Director General's office with our client, Nandita, and the Executive Director, for a chat. After about an hour and giving them our IBM gifts (the Museum of Modern Art pen seems to have been a hit with the DG), we wrapped up and walked our visitors out and chatted with them on the sidewalk. It was probably around noon at this point...if you're keeping track. We were thinking about ordering lunch from the super delicious place we'd ordered from the previous day, but our client informed us that we were being 'driven' somewhere for a nice lunch, as the ED said we are their guests and should be having a nice lunch every day to show their appreciation. So, we met our driver, Kamaraj, and set off for our '10 minute' drive to the restaurant. you'll find that everything here takes longer than it should and our driver, although very nice, doesn't really know his way around very well... so our 10 minute drive took about an hour- but we had a nice view of the sights of the Fort and Churchgate area downtown and the oval maiden (park with some cricket lawns). So we know where to explore this weekend. We finally made it to the Southern Indian restaurant (non vegetarian), Ankour- 
and the owner had been queued up by BCCI to know of our arrival. Needless to say the service and the food were absolutely fantastic. And luckily, Cecilia and I both like prawns, so we were in prawn heaven...
prawns koliwada - these were fried shrimp in batter with yummy seasoning
garlic butter prawns- Indian shrimp scampi- delicious
and reshmi chicken (like tandoori but not as spicy)
Rice and some garlic naan (bread) as well, of course
And of course, we were not allowed to pay.
So delicious- but how do you go back to work after that- it's nap time!
So we reunited with Kamaraj and made our way back to the office (this was a bit faster but still more than 10 minutes). At this point, it had to have been about 3 pm... so of course, Vijay was back, awaiting our tea/coffee service for the afternoon tea.
(nope, I'm not exaggerating even one little bit)
After tea, we did a bit of work, but lo and behold, it was time to leave the office for our long journey to the IBM office at the B&K complex (about an hour away from BCCI, sort of enroute to our hotel), to pick up Cecilia's (hopefully) fixed laptop. Her motherboard died day 1 on the project- that was a 'facing adversity' challenge for her first day!
so we wrapped up our (scant) work for the day, and got back in to the car for another long ride and to collect the laptop. We talked about the project plan in the car ride, since this was on our agenda for the day at work and obviously didn't get completed (or really even started!) At least something besides tea and food happened today!
At the IBM office, this time, I waited in the taxi since the security process is rather tedious- but I learned that so is sitting in the taxi with cars honking at you and the a/c off... won't be choosing that option if this happens again!
Back to the hotel and then out to dinner with the team.. for more delicious food (although Cecilia and I went light on dinner, we were still pretty stuffed from lunch!)
I think perhaps tomorrow we will try to get some work done. Let's see how we fare.
Score: Work= 0, Weight= 100 lbs of garlic naan
prawns koliwada - these were fried shrimp in batter with yummy seasoning
garlic butter prawns- Indian shrimp scampi- delicious
and reshmi chicken (like tandoori but not as spicy)
Rice and some garlic naan (bread) as well, of course
And of course, we were not allowed to pay.
So delicious- but how do you go back to work after that- it's nap time!
So we reunited with Kamaraj and made our way back to the office (this was a bit faster but still more than 10 minutes). At this point, it had to have been about 3 pm... so of course, Vijay was back, awaiting our tea/coffee service for the afternoon tea.
(nope, I'm not exaggerating even one little bit)
After tea, we did a bit of work, but lo and behold, it was time to leave the office for our long journey to the IBM office at the B&K complex (about an hour away from BCCI, sort of enroute to our hotel), to pick up Cecilia's (hopefully) fixed laptop. Her motherboard died day 1 on the project- that was a 'facing adversity' challenge for her first day!
so we wrapped up our (scant) work for the day, and got back in to the car for another long ride and to collect the laptop. We talked about the project plan in the car ride, since this was on our agenda for the day at work and obviously didn't get completed (or really even started!) At least something besides tea and food happened today!
At the IBM office, this time, I waited in the taxi since the security process is rather tedious- but I learned that so is sitting in the taxi with cars honking at you and the a/c off... won't be choosing that option if this happens again!
Back to the hotel and then out to dinner with the team.. for more delicious food (although Cecilia and I went light on dinner, we were still pretty stuffed from lunch!)
I think perhaps tomorrow we will try to get some work done. Let's see how we fare.
Score: Work= 0, Weight= 100 lbs of garlic naan
Monday, September 7, 2009
Gateway to India
Gateway to India
Some other building that looks cool ! (I should look it up.. sorry!)
Sunday, September 6, 2009
India- “In your face”
They say that India is ‘right here’ (as in, 2 inches from your face) or as we’d say in the U.S. “in your face”… and it is true. The sights, the colors the smells, the spices… pretty amazing. From the traffic coming to and from anywhere – anytime of day or night it seems- to the beautiful women in their saris in so many colors, to the amazing foods we’ve eaten.. Oh, and I shouldn’t forget about the noises! I grew up in New York City- and it isn’t as though Boston is quiet- but WOW- this is a noisy, polluted city. I will know more about this as I sit in the taxi for 3 hours a day on average for my commute to the office. It should be interesting. We had a fun tour of our little ‘neighborhood’ and then the team went for lunch together with Kabi and Bob from CDS. It was really delicious- we had different Naan breads, “Bombay Duck” (not a duck , actually it is a fish and was fantastic) and Tandoori Prawns, which I’ve never seen before. These might have to be hunted down in our local Indian restaurants when I return home. Fabulous.
(Sandra, enjoying Tandoori Prawns!)
It was a great, huge meal- but we were all also surprised when we spent about $25 USD each on this meal as we expected everything in India to be so cheap. We were then told this was the priciest restaurant we’d probably go to, which is good as our per diem is only $25 and this will have to include any transportation beyond getting to and from the office!!
(Sandra, enjoying Tandoori Prawns!)
It was a great, huge meal- but we were all also surprised when we spent about $25 USD each on this meal as we expected everything in India to be so cheap. We were then told this was the priciest restaurant we’d probably go to, which is good as our per diem is only $25 and this will have to include any transportation beyond getting to and from the office!!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
