Apr 2007

One big question everyone has for me (here and in the US) is "How do you like the food?". My answer is "It's great! I like it!". Although it took my stomach a couple of days to adjust, and at times it still doesn't understand what goes into it, I must say it has been a highlight. I don't recognize most things on the menu...every dish has it's own Indian name, so I have been having people order things for me or make recommendations.

There are so many new and different spices and herbs I have never before tasted. Where have all of these flavors been hiding?! Some are great, some are.....different. For example, last night we (US expats and 5 of the staff) headed out to dinner at Angetthi's to celebrate Steve's departure back to LA and went to an authentic Indian restaurant that looks like Punjabi dhaba.
"In India, highways are dotted with local restaurants popularly known as Dhabas . They generally serve local cuisine, and also serve as truck stops. Very commonly, Dhabas are found next to Petrol pumps, and like Petrol pumps, most remain open 24 hours a day. Since most Indian truck drivers are of Punjabi descent, and Punjabi food and music is quite popular throughout India, the word Dhaba has come to represent any restaurant that serves Punjabi food, especially the heavily spiced and fried Punjabi fare preferred by many truck drivers." (thanks Wikipedia )


We tried many different dishes - samosa (triangular pastry filled with veggies), chicken biryani, fried spicy stuff, and other things I don't even know the name of! But, I think the hightlight of the meal was the after-dinner paan. There was a paan shop inside the restaurant - really, it's just like a walk-up window or bar with a guy inside. So, a few of the guys encouraged me to try this paan. They told me it has many purposes -- digestive, breath freshener, and you will even get a buzz from it (similar to chewing tobacco). It was in the shape of a fortune cookie and held together by a toothpick (see picture below). A Bettel pepper leaf held together the inside ingredients of coconut, cherries and spices. I put the whole thing in my mouth and started chewing. The first taste is sweet, as the outside was dipped in a foil-looking sugar. Then I immediately tasted the perfumy, soapy, minty flavor of the Bettel pepper leaf. VERY interesting. Then it was subdued by the coconut, cherries and spices. It was pretty fibourous....taking quite a few chews to break down the leaf and raw coconut. Afterwards I had a strong taste of perfume (not that I eat perfume!) in my mouth, but it felt refreshing at the same time. It lasted a few hours until I brushed my teeth thouroughly.

Whew! I finally found a free minute to add an entry about the last two days. I definitely hit the ground running! My first day in the office was Tuesday. I left the hotel at 5:15am with a couple of other US expats on rotation from the Los Angeles office. Yes, it was still very dark. Luckily, the commute is only about 5-10 minutes. We entered "Hi Tech City" (this is the name of the area where the Deloitte office is) through a big gate that had this name overhead. I wish I had gotten a picture of it...there is a "map" (really it's just some big arrows) of the area directing you towards the different companies' buildings that are there. Dell, Motorola, Oracle, and Deloitte were the headlines. Ha! I thought I was in India! Deloitte has 4 buildings (A, B, C, & D Block), each about 5 stories tall. Our group is in A Block. Here is a picture - outside and inside.

Once inside, I was in the elevator and recognized 2 girls that are assigned to the San Diego office - Shruti and Sudeepthi. I was thrilled to finally meet some of the faces that I had only seen pictures of. I was shown to my assigned cubicle and met Soumya (someone I have been working with a lot over the last year) and also Nikhil and Dinesh (two guys that have been a great help to me for a while now). We were very excited to finally shake hands and put faces with voices and emails.
The rest of the day at the office was a bit of blur. Soumya showed me around and helped me get settled in. I had breakfast with Nikhil at the cafeteria (see picture below).

There was a lunch meeting with the tax executives from our region. I was pretty adventurous and tried a lot of the spicy food, and it made me suffer the rest of the day. But, I finally made it back to the hotel room about 5:30pm and had time for a power nap of 20 mins until I had to meet everyone to go to dinner. Gotta love the power naps! I woke up feeling a little better, but still exhausted. I met everyone in the lobby to caravan to the dinner that was across town. Since we left during rush hour, the 10-15 mile trek took us about 50 minutes. Man, is there A LOT of people and no traffic organization whatsoever. I think we only saw 1 traffic light the whole time (and these are very crowded roads!). The ride was adventurous, to say the least. Rickshaws (like a covered 3-wheel moped), motorcycles and cars battle it out constantly. Beeping is constant.
I was very glad to finally see the hotel where we were having dinner. Dinner was great -- chinese food in India, who knew??

After dinner, we enjoyed more drinks with the tax execs.

I FINALLY stumbled into bed around 12:30am. I was SO happy to see my bed (although it's pretty hard)!
Today (Wednesday) was easier. Even though I only had less than 4 hours of sleep, I woke up even before my wake up call at 4:15am. I felt great! And, I even figured out how to get warm water in the shower. (yes, I'm an idiot and couldn't figure it out, so I took cold showers for 3 days).
We had another big meeting today - our CEO, Chet Wood spoke to the entire Region 10 office (which is about 1,000 employees!).

Now I am back in the hotel room (it's 6:10pm) and getting ready to leave again for another tax executive dinner. Thank goodness this is the last one! They (the execs) all leave tonight. WHEW!

It's Monday, April 2nd. My first full day here in Hyderabad. I had a GREAT night's sleep last night. I was worried that I wouldn't because I took a 6 hour nap yesterday. I ordered room service (first time ever doing that) for dinner. It was great. Tomato soup (my fav), naan and dahl. Yum! The naan was my favorite part - if you don't know what naan is, it's a round, flat bread usually baked in a clay oven. Dahl is a spicy curry-ish thick soup with herbs and lentils. It was also wonderful.

This morning I woke up around 7am and decided I felt good enough to find the workout facility and get the blood moving. They have a very nice workout room with some treadmills, etc. and weights. 2 minutes into my workout, Ara (our tax HR person for San Diego...as well as LA and OC) says "Hey Steve" to the guy next to me and I sort of turn around and she says "Hey Kelley". She was with 2 other tax partners showing them around. Steve, who I had been emailing with but never met, introduces himself. Small world of Deloitte-ians all right there. Pretty funny!

After I showered, I went down to the restaurant for breakfast. They have a nice, big buffet with lots of different stuff. Good for trying new things! After breakfast, I decided to lounge by the pool and soak up the warm weather and sun. It's pretty warm here. I saw on TV it will be 38 degrees Celsius here today. That's high 90s Fareinheit. It sounds terrible, but it's actually not bad at all (but, I like it hot!). There was a nice breeze when I was by the pool, so I stayed out there about an hour reading my book and taking some pics - see below.

Tonight I am meeting up with a co-worker from the LA office for a drink before a "Tax Executive Dinner" here at the hotel. Our CEO, Chet Wood is here, along with a few other big wigs. Should be interesting!

Man am I glad to FINALLY be here! I arrived at my hotel around 8:30am on Sunday (that's about 8pm, Saturday for you SD folk). Prakaba (? not sure of the spelling but he told me his name means "sunrise") was the driver who met me at the Hyderabad airport to pick me up - see the photo below. After a LOOOONNNNGGGG journey, I was extremely glad to see the inside of my room. And even more thrilled to find out it is one of the nicest places I've ever stayed. The total travel time from San Diego to Hyderabad turned out to be just under 40 hours. Not exactly what I expected. The original itinerary was supposed to be about 26 hours. Thanks to the bafoons (yes, that includes you Schwartz! jk) at the Chicago airport, we took off 2 hours late. I pretty much knew that I was going to miss my connecting flight in Frankfurt, since there was only an hour layover, before I left Chicago. Sure enough, my flight from Frankfurt to Hyderabad was gone by the time I got there. So.....after waiting in 3 lines for an hour, I was re-routed to Delhi to catch a domestic flight to Hyderabad. I was relieved that I wouldn't have to spend the night in the Frankfurt airport. Although, looking back, that may have been a better idea than what I went thru in Delhi.

Now in Delhi (it's around midnight local time), I had to go thru customs and pick up my luggage since I was taking a domestic flight to Hyderabad. Got the luggage, now I'm heading towards the exit of the airport. I knew I had to go to the domestic terminal (which is really a separate airport), so I'm looking for signs that will direct me. Nothing. Meanwhile, there are about 100 people lined up waiting and staring at everyone coming out (yes, kind of awkward). So.....I see a room with a sign that reads "Intertransit Lounge". I'm thinking "ok...I'm waiting for another flight so, maybe this is where I wait?". There is a tall guy in a uniform with a huge gun (almost like a machine gun) standing at the entrance. So I ask him if he knows how I can get to the domestic terminal. He will be able to help me, right? So, he asks to see my ticket. Then he motions to a young guy to help me with my luggage cart and leads me outside. He explains (in a dialect very hard to understand) to me that we will wait for the taxi and it will take me to the other terminal. I asked "Isn't there a shuttle I can take?". He says that since it is so late (1am now) the shuttle and the airport is essentially shut down until 6am....just past my flight time of 5:30am. Okay, fine. So, I ask him if I need cash for the taxi (since I only have $10 on me and no Rupees). Yes, but I can pay in dollars. Great. It can't be more than $10 to the other terminal, right? WRONG! Once the taxi pulls up and they load my things inside, they (the guy escorting me and the driver) show me this "official" brochure with gov't published taxi rates. He points to amount I must pay - $45 (yes, American dollars). I tell them I don't have that much, so he gladly says he will show me the ATM back inside the airport. Okay, thank you! So, I try to withdrawal cash from my bank account and it is not letting me. Crap! I tell the guy maybe the ATM isn't working and we go back to the taxi. Down the road about 2 miles, we pull into a gas station with an ATM. I get out and pray that this one works. It doesn't. But, I remembered that I had been carrying a debit card for a bank account (with $30 left in it) I had meant to close. I wasn't sure what the conversion rate was from rupees to dollars, but I knew I need at least 2500 rupees for the taxi. I tried for 3000 and prayed it would work -- YES! It worked! Thank God.
About 10 minutes later, we arrived at the domestic terminal. Whew! I got out of the taxi and tried to take a photo with the 2 guys (thinking that they were SO nice to be patient and stop so I could get $)....but my stupid camera was acting up and I wasn't able to get the shot. Oh well. At the entrance to the airport, 2 more guys in uniforms w/ guns were guarding the door. They stop me and ask for my ticket. They ask if I came by taxi from the other terminal and I say yes. How much did I pay? I tell them and an astonished look comes over their faces. 2500?! Yes, 2500. Is that too much? They didn't say "yes" directly, but asked why I didn't take the shuttle. I told them the guy said the next one wasn't until 6am. Wrong. I guess they run all night. Oops. Again, they ask how much I paid and, to make sure, one guy wrote down on his newspaper 2500. Yes, that's right. That was too much, wasn't it? Yep. Well, I said, I guess I got screwed! How the heck was I supposed to know? Great. Now I had about 4 hours to waste until my flight. The terminal was not the greatest. No available seats (everyone there was streched out asleep on all of the benches in the lounge area). And, I had no rupees left (with tip for the drivers and for the guy escorting my luggage, it was gone quickly) so I couldn't eat. I plopped down on the hard marble floor and wrote in my journal (thanks Adria!) and listened to my Ipod for a while. Finally, at 5:30am, I boarded my flight to Hyderabad. I was never so happy to get onto a plane!