Monday, June 20
Our first work day
Having been pretty full from the south
Indian dinner and wine, I went to sleep at 10 and woke up about 4:45 to
check the time. As I was dozing back to sleep I heard more sounds
outside, didn't sound like birds quite yet since it was still
dark. Yep, it's "call to prayer" time again....
So being up I took a shot of "dawn over Hyderabad", and a few an hour or so later when I did actually get up.
We had standard American breakfast - eggs, chicken sausage, hash browns, and I found they had baked beans, a particularly Australian breakfast food. Mmm...
Our meeting isn't until 3PM today because this company's staff works a shift to align more with those in the U.S., so we won't be going there til this afternoon. That lull gave me time to do these updates. More later!
Update 8:45 PM IST:
Our meeting with the company went very well. Without giving out any info regarding the review we performed, the company was very cooperative and helped us accomplish our goal.
The vendor arranged for a driver to pick us up and drive us to the company. It turns out they provide this service to all of their night-shift workers, as a security measure. It's much safer to drive them around than risk injury. Cabs must be quite cheap - we don't know how much because we're just signing vouchers.
As usual, the drive was some of the most fun of the trip. I think New Yorkers wish they could drive like these folks - whatever direction you want, as fast as you can go (which works out to 20-40 mph) and make turns wherever you feel like, even across sidewalks, in no-turn intersections, whatever. Traffic rules? Fuhgeddaboudit. Actually there probably are rules, but the only one I've picked up on is honk when you're approaching to pass someone. Oh, and oxen have the right of way.
Here's some pix from the drive to/from the office, which is located in Cyber City.
Notice how th cars on the left are facing left? They're going to go down the same side of the street as we are on, which is opposite the flow of traffic. You drive on the left in India (well, mostly)....
One of the infrequently obeyed stop lights, complete with timer.
You see people cramming into these little diesel rickshaws - most say max capacity 4, but I've counted as many as 9 full-grown people in and hanging off of these vehicles.
An also common site is a beat up old bus. These are all over the place.
The final entrance to Cyber City. The round building in the background is the first building in the campus.
They are constructing apartments and new office buildings continuously.
Here's the building which houses the vendor we visited. Pretty cool construction, eh?
The drive home was like the drive to the office, just with more people, less lights, more beeping, and more oxen.
So being up I took a shot of "dawn over Hyderabad", and a few an hour or so later when I did actually get up.
We had standard American breakfast - eggs, chicken sausage, hash browns, and I found they had baked beans, a particularly Australian breakfast food. Mmm...
Our meeting isn't until 3PM today because this company's staff works a shift to align more with those in the U.S., so we won't be going there til this afternoon. That lull gave me time to do these updates. More later!
Update 8:45 PM IST:
Our meeting with the company went very well. Without giving out any info regarding the review we performed, the company was very cooperative and helped us accomplish our goal.
The vendor arranged for a driver to pick us up and drive us to the company. It turns out they provide this service to all of their night-shift workers, as a security measure. It's much safer to drive them around than risk injury. Cabs must be quite cheap - we don't know how much because we're just signing vouchers.
As usual, the drive was some of the most fun of the trip. I think New Yorkers wish they could drive like these folks - whatever direction you want, as fast as you can go (which works out to 20-40 mph) and make turns wherever you feel like, even across sidewalks, in no-turn intersections, whatever. Traffic rules? Fuhgeddaboudit. Actually there probably are rules, but the only one I've picked up on is honk when you're approaching to pass someone. Oh, and oxen have the right of way.
Here's some pix from the drive to/from the office, which is located in Cyber City.
Notice how th cars on the left are facing left? They're going to go down the same side of the street as we are on, which is opposite the flow of traffic. You drive on the left in India (well, mostly)....
One of the infrequently obeyed stop lights, complete with timer.
You see people cramming into these little diesel rickshaws - most say max capacity 4, but I've counted as many as 9 full-grown people in and hanging off of these vehicles.
An also common site is a beat up old bus. These are all over the place.
The final entrance to Cyber City. The round building in the background is the first building in the campus.
They are constructing apartments and new office buildings continuously.
Here's the building which houses the vendor we visited. Pretty cool construction, eh?
The drive home was like the drive to the office, just with more people, less lights, more beeping, and more oxen.
The staff were great - they had a big
sign inviting their honored guests from their client company (us), and
gave us bouquets of flowers. They introduced all their management
team, served us tea and biscuits, and we started our discussions.
We later toured the operation and gathered information for our
report. Later they provided dinner, which was something unusual
for them - Pizza Hut! This made Rachel very happy since it was
not spicy. And actually pretty good, including garlic bread, two
kinds of cake and fruit salad. Later we met the CEO.
Regardless of our observations regarding the operation (good or bad,
I'm not giving any hints here), the visit was very enjoyable.
Tomorrow morning we're up early for another company visit. Work work work...
Tomorrow morning we're up early for another company visit. Work work work...