the rich beside the poor

so india's poverty level is very clear every day during my commute to work. india might be the next powerhouse for IT, but as the rich are getting richer (ridiculous, what some of these people can afford), the poor, uhm, are really not getting any better.

tons of people are begging on the street, relentless in asking for a few rupees. there're tons made-shift of shacks, communities of them that build temporary homes in old aluminium, plastic bags and mud.

homes of the poor:

they even have a constant water supply where they wash clothes and bathe.

and RIGHT beside the poor, homes of the rich:

and this house is just ridiculous. err, who would want to live here?

back in U.S.A.

i'm back!!!! it feels like i've been gone forever, but it's only been 3 weeks (well, 2 months since i was back in sf).

now i have a ton of things to finish before jetting off again...sometimes i wonder if my life is too fast-paced...

good times

ahhh good times. more pictures.



the four of us being silly at this indian restaurant opposite my hotel. dang the food was good.



me in one of the autos. i think the driver was quite amused with the photo-taking. he also didn't mind that we paid him twice the actual fare, which ended up being 20 Rs (50 cents).



my team at novotel for lunch today. the white dude is the client.



and us and shags' friends at some party that we crashed. so shags is some known indian socialite. at a club, this photographer kept on taking pictures of her. even though we tried to run away. apparently she sometimes appears on the 'party section' of the times of india.

famous sightings!

so i saw someone famous!!!! while entering my hotel tonight, there was this huge hoo-hah around this one person with tons of bodyguards (i think?) ushering him straight in. my colleague who was with me informed me that that was the most famous bollywood actor (besides shahrukh khan) in india.

can someone tell me who i just saw?

p.s. ooooh i just ordered room service for some soup. how spoilt.

YUM stuff

so i'm totally having a blast eating a ton of stuff. i'm kinda proud of myself for remembering some of the names too.

so what i've had so far (that i like):

pani puri (this is a given) (balls with water in it)
puri (the regular kind) (another kind of roti which i fancy)
chola batura (huge ass puri with chick peas)
thali (banana leaf stuff)
pulao (indian veg fried rice)
ras malai (dessert with condensed milk)
jalebi (diabetic dessert)
indian chinese!!!!

me eating chola batura. the puri got all flattened already.

happy indian independence day!

i get an extra holiday!



i finally got to ride in an auto!!! it was very exciting. :)

and this is shags sailing (strange isn't it. i mean, she DOESN"T exercise), in the hyderabad lake, murky and green. apparently there's an animal in there that bites off the bottom of boats.



and her broken keel. one wonders how the boat is stabilized. ohhhh that's why shags kept on capsizing. makes sense now.



and a pani puri place!!!! i LOVE pani puris. :) but nope, i didn't dare eat out of this road side stall.


and. i'm immensely proud of my khurta. i wore it to work yesterday.



so volunteering was kinda hard today. shags had heard of a habitat for india (like the habitat for humanity in the U.S.) to volunteer in, but we couldn't find it. oh well. :) it's watching more indian movies time.

i lost my rsa token!!

:(

i think someone (again) stole it. maybe it's the same person?

observations:

#1: indians do not recognize personal space. they're highly comfortable with pushing and shoving, even when getting in and out of elevators. in a very full elevator, i had to push my way to get out because they wouldn't step out for a second to let me out before getting in.

#2: honking while driving is a must, and almost an accepted norm. a beep could be seen as a gentle nudge to tell someone you're coming through, but interestingly, people still glare at each other if you honk at an incorrect time.

#3: people here like stealing office stationery. although there're tons of perks available to them, i realize that these perks (ping pong table, games room, clinic, etc.) are...not steal-able.

par-tay in hyderabad!

i've had some wild partying nights, but i've never had a club reopened for me before.

last night shags took us to me her sailor friends and we hung out at a club till midnight, when clubs typically close. THEN her friends made some phonecalls, and viola, we headed off to another club that had already closed, but reopened cuz we still felt like partying. indian partying is fun!!! i had to wing a few indian moves, but shags was going wild on the dance floor.

this morning we had a cat fiasco. i was semi-asleep still, and shags was getting ready, when all of a sudden, i felt something leap on and off me, and shags screamming. apparently she doesn't have a pet cat (when she screamed i thought it was a rat). she yelled for her mom, who brought in an army of servants to locate the cat (i thought it was just underneath my bed) and reclean the room again.

now it's shopping time!

office perks

DANG. the firm's india offices are nice!!

in general, our offices around the world are furnished well. artistic walls, paintings, lots of glass and color, great view. but this hyderabad office even has a gym, travel desk (i had to go to the embassy myself to get my visa), LIBRARY, gAMES room (??!! they have a ping pong table, chess, some other indian games), movie on big screen in the cafeteria every thursday evening, CLINIC (with doctor hours), free shuttle from home to office (if you're fortunate enough to live along the routes).

but on the other hand they have to sign out for stationeries like a pen, or notepad, and provide a 'project description' on why they need it, and a billing code. i guess no stealing office supplies there.

i'm starting to pick up the shaking head from side-to-side. scary.

i lost my pen!

:(

think someone in the office stole it.

i.am.in.INDIA!

the city is crazy!

well. at least, the airport was. and the streets are. i've never seen so many indians before (duh) and some of them look at me like they've never seen an asian before.

when about to board the aircraft in frankfurt the lady announced it was time for 'the elderly and passengers with young children' to board. apparently every indian thought himself to be either elderly or with infants because everyone stood up and rushed towards the agent. (yes of course i stood up and rushed too, i wasn't gonna be left out of this). lol. totally expected this. i don't think they have the concept of lining up in an orderly fashion, or in any fashion at all.

hyderabad's kinda like KL but a step (actually, quite a few steps) lower in development. streets are crazily small and full of potholes, but people can't seem to drive without honking at each other (drive with one hand on the wheel and the other ready to honk). autos (very similar to the tut tuts in bangkok) defy all laws of physics as they pack in passengers like sardines and drives wayyy to fast for a 3-wheeler.

and shags the indian princess successfully manuevers on a stickshift here! as shags says, 'the key to driving in india is to drive slowly' as she avoids tons of cows just meandering down the street. families of cows, roaming around wild in the city. also got to meet her 'uncle' who was telling us about his cocaine days and story on the 'bird' and the 'kitten'.

what an interesting experience this'll be.

general useful tip #7

did you know that you can re-record voicemails?

press * to re-record, # to confirm.