Don't Panic

Saturday was the first Saturday I think I’ve really had since I’ve been in India. I woke up late and headed straight for the pool. Every day when I head outside, I think it gets about 5 degrees hotter. I haven’t really been checking the weather (no reason to, since it’s hot and sunny every day), but I would guess it’s in the high 90s here daily. After 2 hours of laying in the sun and dipping in the pool, Kathryn and I showered up and got ready to go to Charminar to meet two other women from our office there.

Charminar is in old Hyderabad with the biggest mosque in the area. However Charminar is also known for its bangle shopping and other shopping. I had heard only that the area was extremely crowded with people harassing you everywhere, so I was a bit nervous. As we got closer to the area, the traffic and crowds increased. There was at most, an inch of room between our car and the cars next to us. Our car was continually hit from behind because of how crowded it was. “In Charminar, medam, there is quarreling,” Neelakanta told us. “Be careful, medam.” Great, I thought. Getting in a street fight in India sounds awesome. We pulled up near an area where we would get out, but there were motorcycles, cars, bicycles and people EVERYWHERE. Imagine the most crowded place you have ever been – an el car, a concert, the start of the Shamrock shuffle – then add another 50 people. That might give you an idea of just how crowded it was and why all of the sudden, I felt like I was about to have a panic attack. “Just wait,” Neelakanta told us as he looked cautiously out the window. Then – “get out medam!” and we bolted from the car and down the street. Immediately, five young guys appeared with jewelry. “Necklace mam?” “No thank you.” “Fifty rupees madam, it’s very nice.” “No thank you.” “Just look, twenty five rupees.” “No, that’s ok.” “Mam it’s very fine.” “NO!” “Just look mam.” The only way to stop this is to either buy something which is not nice at all, or duck into one of the stalls, which we did when we spotted Jill and Judy. “It’s a different world, isn’t it girls?” Jill asked us. That summed it up quite well. There were bangle shops as far as the eye could see down the right side of the road. Down the left side, saree shops as far as we could see. And everywhere in the middle, people.

“See this color,” a man said to me as he began to put some bangles on my wrist. Bangle shopping is actually very fun because they load your arms up with bracelets – honestly, I felt a bit like a princess trying on so much jewelry at once. I began to relax a little, but it was also unbearably hot in the stall with lights burning above us and a weak little fan blowing hot air all around. I ended up with three sets on my arm for Rs 600. I asked for 300; he countered with 450. “okay,” I said, a little too quickly. Hey, I’m not used to bargaining. Somehow after purchasing the bangles, I felt a bit better. Seems shopping is therapeautic in any country!

I did better as I went on and actually nearly walked out on one purchase, so they finally agreed to my price. “Take it mam!!” All in all I probably spent a little more than I would have liked to, but not terribly bad. Suddenly, you realize you’re arguing over a dollar or two and it doesn’t seem like such a big deal anymore! As we passed shops, the salesmen would yell to us or make some kind of chh-chh noises, like one you would use to call your pet! to try and convince us to come inside. Four American women are about as obvious targets for shopping as you can get! Once we finished (for now) with the bangles, we followed Jill and Judy to a store called Fancy Cloth. When we got to Fancy Cloth, we slipped off our flip flops outside the door and climbed three flights of narrow marble stairs to the third floor loft, where the floor was covered in mattresses. Later we realized why, as we ended up sitting up there for nearly two hours. Several men were helping to bring up fabric after fabric while one man was showing them all to us. “See this one, see this one,” he said as he unrolled one after another. The fabrics were so delicate, hand embroidered or painted, in bold colors and patterns. They unrolled fabrics for probably an hour while we oohed and aahed over every one (I realize this blog is incredibly boring for any man reading it, so I apologize, but for a woman it was really something to see!!). I settled on two fabrics. Then, what to do? The possibilities were infinite. Traditional Indian dress, tunic, skirt, tank top, skirt, full skirt, jacket, western dress, anything!!! Fortunately the owner was quite good, and Judy happens to be a seamstress and was able to explain what we would want in tailoring terms. We figured out how to make a skirt, two tanks and a jacket for me from one of my fabrics. Once you purchase the fabric, the price includes any of the alterations, so it is actually extremely reasonable. Thursday we head back to see how everything turned out.

At this point it was 10 o clock and we were on the way home to quickly change and then head to the Taj Krishna for dinner. We went to a Chinese restaurant there which was probably 3 times as expensive as anywhere else in Hyderabad, but worth it. We tried some fried lotus root (delicious!) dim sum and also more mainstream items like sesame chicken and kung pao. No Peking Duck due to the bird flu, but that’s a good reason to be out of duck. It was a perfect ending to one of the most expensive days I’ve had in India!

Ugadi!

Thursday was another holiday - Ugadi, the Telugu New Year. Not as big of a deal as Holi, but still very interesting and fun. Ugadi literally means “the start of a new year,” and it is believed that the creator of the Hindu pantheon, Lord Brahma started creation on this day. People spring clean their houses on this day and decorate them with garlands of mango leaves (this was done in the cafeteria). Also, Ugadi happens to be an occasion for many sales and for people to buy new clothes! Everyone dressed up to work – the girls wore beautiful sarees and bangles of very bright colors and elaborate designs, and wished each other a Happy Ugadi. Also, I tried some Ugadi Pachhadi, which is a mixture of (according to the Hyderabad Times) neeem flowers, jaggery, raw mango, tamarind juice, green chilies and salt. If it sounds like a weird combination, let me assure you it is. I had just a teaspoonful – it wasn’t bad, just very very different! The mixture of different tastes in this crazy concoction is supposed to represent the mixture of all the things in your life – sweetness, sorrow, triumph, suffering, etc.

I Try

Still working a lot and not much to report there. But I have other things I can discuss about India…like more stories about eating.

I would not describe myself as a picky eater. Sure, I don’t like olives (much to the chagrin of the Casazza family), but that is really the only food I can’t tolerate. I really love all kinds of food and also the social aspect of it, going out to dinner with friends and enjoying a nice piece of meat and a glass of wine. India has really taught me a LOT about food.

My eating experiences have been unusual, to say the least. First, breakfast, which I will demonstrate with a few graphics. For breakfast every day I make an egg sandwich and have a little banana usually. For the past 3 weeks, I have been using a flat skillet that is curved like this ) so the top is arched, just slightly. So for the past 3 weeks, my egg will either slide all the way to one side of the pan like so:
),, or, it will slide to one side, and I will unsuccessfully try to slide it evenly to the other side, but instead it goes everywhere and my sandwich is horribly flat like this ). Did you ever think when you make eggs in the morning how lucky you are to have a decent fry pan!! I have found however a new skillet that is flat, but deeper, so now the egg stays put but I can’t flip it, instead it kind of just rolls to one side and then the other and cooks. But I have three more weeks to figure that out. Also, I make toast. To make toast, you have one of two choices. You can A) stand at the toaster and hold the lever down, because it will not stay down, and literally watch your bread toast for 3-5 minutes, or B) stick a spoon between the lever and toaster so that the lever stays down, at which point you are free to go, but chances are 4 in 5 times, you’ve burnt your toast by the time you’ve come back to remove the spoon. So far I’ve only burnt mine one day this week. Kathryn seems to not be as lucky. I also recently got some cereal and “slim milk” (yes, slim milk) but have been taking it as snack after work. Maybe if I want to have a less adventurous breakfast, I will have it then too.

Next is lunch. Except, I don’t take lunch in India. (“Take” is something I’ve acquired while being here!) I eat breakfast around 1pm and then sometimes will have a samosa (veg pastry puff) around 6 or a granola bar. And candy of course because there is always candy here. But I don’t eat again until dinner at 8 or 9. So I am pretty much starving for a good 2 hours before I go to dinner. For dinner, we eat a lot of pizza hut which is good – I stick to veg. Other times in the cafeteria I will get a cheese sandwich and fruit plate (total cost - $1). Sometimes also biryani (rice). I know my poor mom is distraught that at this point I have not mentioned any vegetables (sorry mom, I get my biggest intake of vegetables from the veg pizza!)

Monday night I wanted to try some Szechuan noodles that I saw other Americans eating. And I love noodles and am sick of rice. “They will be a bit spicy mam,” my cashier told me. “It’s ok, I like spicy,” I replied. I took my ticket to noodle man and presented it. He shook his head. “Too spicy for you,” he said. “Too spicy?” I said indignantly. No one tells me what I can and can’t eat at 25 years old. “Can I try them?” He looked at me and shrugged his shoulders, as if to say, “stupid American, don’t say I didn’t warn you.” “I can’t believe that, too spicy. I like spicy!” I thought. I sat down and took a bite. Mmm…noodles…spicy…yes…very spicy, but good. Bite #2. A little more spicy. Bite #3. Now time for some juice. And maybe some of Kathryn’s fruit too. Cooled off now, for bites 4, 5, 6 and 7. hmm no….too hot again. Need juice need juice! Lips starting to tingle. But noodles are so good…2 more bites and I am sweating. 1 more and my eyes are watering. And after 10 bites, I’m done trying to eat noodles in India. I had to swallow my pride (and several tums, later) and get a cheese sandwich. My stomach hurt all night from just those few bites. One of my colleagues told me that when I return to the U.S., I will find the food too bland. Maybe so, but that sounded good to me on Monday!

Public Service Announcement

Since I am still working a lot with not much with not much to report, I am interrupting my regularly scheduled blog session for some ruminations about this year's NCAA men's basketball tournament. A Brit I was speaking with here didn't know what March Madness was, and I have to say, I felt this person was really truly deprived. As much as I love all sports (except unfortunately for me, not cricket), March Madness I have always really loved because there are so many games on in such a short time, and it usually involves a little drinking and a little gambling.

Having not being able to watch the games but only read about them is not as fun. And it looks like there were some amazing games this year, like there are every year, only maybe a little bit more amazing this year than last year according to my sources (Justin and Zach who have been updating me). Seems like every game I checked scores for went into overtime. Although I haven't watched any games or even followed basketball as much this year (after Vandy took a downturn), I think I've developed some new strategies for next year.

So what have I learned?

I learned that the 5 over 12 upset is still a slam dunk, as long as you pick the right one (I didn't).

I learned that Illinois is about as good as I thought they were last year (which is - not that good).

I learned that I have to stop picking Florida to choke, because they finally didn't. OK to still pick Arizona to though.

I learned that Duke may not ever win the NCAA tournament again unless Laettner finds an extra year of eligibility somewhere and can work some magic.

I learned Tennessee should stick to football. Take that, Rocky top.

Will Gonzaga ever make it out of the sweet 16?

I learned that my mom is now a college basketball fan!

Finally, I would just like to ask, does anyone know anyone who went to George Mason? Does anyone know anyone who picked George Mason to do anything? Not by chance or on a coin flip, but maybe because they are an alum or they've always rooted for the George Mason (insert name of mascot for this school which I have no clue what it is). I really hope that person went with their gut and picked GMU to go to the sweet 16, the elite 8 and maybe even the final 4. I hope they didn't brush off their allegiance to GMU for a Duke or a Memphis (who would pick Memphis anyway??) to try and win the office pool. If there is such an individual out there, I commend you. If I could ever get a drink in this country, I would raise my glassto you. I hope you enjoy the ride. And I thank you for taking UCONN out of the tournament so the entire extended Dreiss family does not have to feel too sad about Villanova losing too.

Now, back to your regularly scheduled program...

On week later...

As you can probably tell from my lack of entries this week, I’ve gotten quite busy with work. I worked at least 13 hours every day this week, including Friday, and 9 hours on Saturday. Emotions are running high in the office here and at home, where it’s getting a little close to our deadline and things are running behind schedule. As usual. This happens every year so I don’t understand why it seems to be a big surprise. Regardless, everyone is working long hours. But, we are able to take little breaks every now and then. First, one of the expat managers brought in a huge bag of candy on Wednesday (American chocolate, which she somehow got here, which wasn’t exactly the same but it was close). People went crazy!!! I didn’t get up from my desk and somehow still managed to get 6 pieces. Everyone here is very into sharing – whenever someone has “biscuits” or chips, they will always walk around and offer one to the rest of the group.

Friday night we ordered our team dinner again, which was Chinese food this week. I ordered sesame chicken and stir fry vegetables. What I got was chicken that Kathryn and I called “red hot chicken” which was in a bright red sauce and some spicy yellow sauce that apparently had vegetables in it, but it didn’t taste that way to me. It was by far the spiciest Chinese food I had ever had. I thought of my grandpa who always said he could tolerate any level of spice and wondered if could have taken this in stride. We had some chow mein noodles with yogurt (interesting combo) that helped to cool things off. It was the first time I had noodles in nearly a month and it was glorious!!! To top things off, we bought ice cream for the team – choco chips cones which are like drumsticks, not quite as good but almost there. The ice cream here really is pretty good, and the flavors are interesting (I had mango the other day), but I am looking forward to coldstone when I get back.

Later that night, around 230am, we got into a discussion about American movies. One thing I have noticed about the office is that when 2 or 3 people get involved in a conversation, slowly but surely the rest of the group will stop working, get up from their desks and come to chat. It’s actually nice to all take a break like that at the same time. Some of the movies that were mentioned that people really liked were Love Actually, Beethoven, Armageddon, You’ve Got Mail…notice a theme? Seems like all the guys here are romantics and not afraid to admit it! We also found out that Bryan Adams is one of the most popular singers here because he gives a lot of concerts in India (true, I have heard people blasting summer of 69 at least 10 times since I’ve been here). Also Michael Jackson was mentioned and how did he come up with the moonwalk? We said we didn’t know. The best part of the night for me was that we finally found out the song that Neelakanta has as the ringback on his phone, which we hear twice a day, every day and love. Of course we didn’t know any of the words so we couldn’t tell anyone what it was. It is from a film called Geetangeli, about two lovers who are both sick and end up dying. Sorry to ruin the ending, but I figure you probably won’t be picking that up at Blockbuster anytime soon. A lot of the songs that are popular here are from films, and they said that is the one thing that is missing from American films is the song and dance.

Well I’m headed to the office again and NK is apparently in a crazy mood, so I can’t keep him waiting. More to follow. I actually went out and had a beer last night – only the 3rd time I think I’ve done that since being here.

Sunday Morning

Sunday we finally got in a little R&R. We headed over to the Taj Krishna, one of the “leading hotels in the world” as it advertises. It certainly is an impressive hotel. As you walk in, a guard who seems to be about 8 feet tall (I realized later that he has on shoes that have about a 6 inch heel, I guess they are made cushy since he stands all day) wearing a fez, a long Indian dress shirt, a giant unibrow and possibly the most impressive mustache I have ever seen holds the door for you and says “good day, madam.” Guys get a salute! The lobby and halls, which are about as far as I’ve ever gone, are entirely marble, with marble statues adorning the sides, huge mirrors and gold drapes. When you think of India, a lot of times this image of grandeur and riches comes to mind (the other times of course, total poverty comes to mind), and the Taj Krishna really seems to show that. We met Emre, Paula and H at the pool which was sunken in behind the hotel – you had to walk down a long path of stairs to get there. All of the lounge chairs were full but the attendants brought out mattresses for us to lay on, which were very comfortable, but totally impractical for reading or basically doing anything but laying down. (To my Vandies - anyone remember Ash curling up asleep on the beach during senior week…these would have been perfect for that!) I got a veg club sandwich (totmato and cucumber) and French fries for lunch that were SO good. I think because I haven’t had anything remotely close to French fries in almost a month. It was practically the most expensive meal I have had since being here, but worth it. It was super hot outside but the water was very pleasant, so it made the afternoon nice.

At 3 Kathryn and I headed to pick up a gift voucher and some sweets for our colleague, Naren, who was getting engaged that evening. There are sweet shops everywhere here – I mentioned the incredible sweet tooth before. We got a kilo (!) of sweets for Naren and a small packet of pista chuhli for us to share (pistachio candy). As we got back in the car, I offered a piece to Neelakanta. “Do you want a piece of this pista candy?” “Yah medam!” he said as he flashed me a huge grin, snatched the entire bag out of my hand threw it on the seat next to him in the front. Needless to say, that was the last we saw of the pista chuhli.

Vivek, another colleague of ours, picked Kathryn and I up and we drove some 45 minutes to Naren’s house. When we arrived, we were ushered up a narrow flight of stairs to a rooftop terrace, where there were about 50 people seated (women all on one side, men all on the other) watching Naren and his bride to be, who were seated on a stage under some hot spotlights. By this point it was about 5:30 pm; the actual engagement ceremony had started at 3:30 or so. There were some other rituals done with each couple in the families, and then it was time for the tradition of feeding the newly engaged couple a piece of cake. Maybe not every guest, but at least every person from Deloitte (which was about 15) and numerous others went up to feed them cake. “Please come,” Naren’s brother asked us, “it is your turn.” So we went up to feed them as well, although you could tell by watching that they were both about to puke with every bite. While we were up on stage, they wanted a picture of the two Americans with the couple. I don’t mean to sound conceited but I felt like the room became quieter as everyone paused to stare at us in the photo! After this it was time to eat, which meant of course biryani, some spicy sauces I couldn’t recognize and a sweet. I looked around as people were happily digging in and stirring the rice up with their right hand. Just then someone handed me a spoon. I don’t really mind the eating with your hands, but the thing that gets me is there are no napkins in India! At least, there were none at Naren’s, and they are around but not plentiful in the U.S., and people will take one or two, not a handful. All of Naren’s friends joked that the food was too spicy for us (which it was). Someone offered us water which we politely declined, having no idea where it was coming from. Then two seconds later, someone else appeared with diet cokes for the Americans. I am greatly enjoying India and trying to do things the right way here, but I’ll happily play the American and take the spoon and the diet coke any day.

It was really interesting to see, but I couldn't help but thinking how overwhelming it must be to get engaged this way to someone you barely know. Vivek told us that about 30% of marriages now are love marriages and the other 70% still arranged (as this one was).

Catch Up

So I haven't done a very good job of keeping up on the blog lately. But I have been trying to post pictures, and they don't load, and the internet in the flat is spotty and slow. I'll do a quick recap of what's happened in the past few days since Holi:

Wednesday Night: Dad was here!! We had a nice dinner and talked about our experiences working here and the differences between our companies and teams. Very interesting and it was great to see him. Had you told each of us 3 years ago that we would meet up in India for business, I don't think we would have believed it. He also helped me with my NCAA picks (doing well so far, in 7th place in my pool out of 41...)

Thursday:
Nothing happened. I worked a long day. So, you didn't miss anything there. Oh well I did work out and watch an Indian version of "Deal or No Deal" while I was running. I couldn't tell if he won or not because it was in a different language and the program was also naming amounts of Indian money that I don't know how much is like Lahk I think was one. Anyway...

Friday:
Friday we came to work late, at 2 which was quite nice. That night we had our team dinner as we have promised to buy dinner every Friday for the team. We ordered food from Hyderabad House and Olive Garden (no, not that one. that's what I thought too) and gathered in the canteen to eat. As we sat down, I looked around and noticed everyone eating with their hands. Or should I say, their hand. Only the right hand was used to eat. Not a big deal if you are having pizza or a sandwich or something. But we had rice and a bunch of other stuff I couldn't tell you what it was, except that it was veg and spicy and saucy, and also chapati bread (like pita). I watched slightly amazed as people tore the bread with one hand, actually just with their right thumb and 2 forefingers. Kathryn and I were not very good at this and used our left hands as well at first, but instead of being rude we decided to struggle through it. It was very difficult, and one of the few times in my life that I have really felt like I was a minority, as I have rarely experienced that being a white middle class person. We went back to work for a few hours and headed home around 3.

Saturday:
Saturday the plan was to get up and go shopping, but instead I slept in again. I can't get enough sleep here, it seems like. We went to work only from 12 to 7 and then we went to Viraj's house, an expat here, and met up with a large group of other people mostly from IAS. He lives in Banjara Hills (nice area of Hyderabad) - we walked up onto this aweseome terracce that was huge, covered in beautiful flowers (it smelled so good!) and overlooked the whole city. He also had 2 dogs which were so cute that he brought from the U.S. - it was nice to be able to play with them instead of having to run away like we do from the stray dogs. I felt sick all day Saturday (I think it was something I ate at Coffe Day) but was able to enjoy most of the evening. Around 11, after having drinks and appetizers we headed to the Secunderabad Club. I can't really describe it except to say that it was huge, outside, and had a band playing American music, with the lead singer singing in an Elvis like manner. Pretty funny. We had dinner at 11:30 (more rice and more Indian food, which I like but am beginning to get a little sick of) and stayed until about 12:30, just chatting and drinking. After that it was home to bed.

So, I told you, nothing really exciting going on here. I'm heading to work again. And I am feeling better after a rough weekend. My experience with food has been that I am either starving because I haven't eaten anything all day, or I feel sick from what I just ate. Pretty much every time I eat I feel like I am taking a huge risk! But I have been mostly ok so hopefully I can survive the next few weeks. I do really enjoy the fresh fruits, juices and ice creams here!