So here it is....last full day here. Thankfully I've not had too much to do today as quite frankly I'm sick of talking for 8 hours a day. I took the opportunity to go up onto the roof of the office to take some panoramic photo's. The view of the city is amazing, but you only have to look down to see the piles of rubbish below and to be reminded that this city is very very different to anywhere else I've been.
As I had a bit of time, it was possible to have a walk outside of the office at lunchtime. I was taken up to a nearby railway bridge to have a look at the station below and the infamous cabbage pile. Last time my boss was here, he did the same walk but the wind was blowing in the opposite direction. The smell coming from that pile was so bad that he had to stop walking as he was close to throwing up. I think the wind saved me, but even so the smell was indescribable.
The other thing that did amuse me was the heat. 37C in March is a new experience for me. It really took it out of me, especially with the very high humidity. The only saving grace was that my Indian colleagues also suffered, they were saying that they have never known it to be so hot so early in the year.
After saying our farewells, it was back to the hotel. As we have a 4am flight back to the UK tomorrow morning, there is little point in me trying to sleep so i went to the hotel shop to buy pressies for a few people. I really could have spent a fortune; there was just so much nice stuff. I ended up buying some things for Louise's birthday and some things I promised to try and find for friends.
As it was our last night, my boss had arranged to meet up with the parents of an Indian guy who works in the UK. They were lovely and we managed to have a proper Indian meal that they ordered as our last meal in India. It was just fab!
So here I am....stuffed stupid at 1:30am and I'm leaving in 30 minutes for the airport. I'm really not looking forward to getting there as I know we will be hassled by beggars as soon as we get out of the car. Oh well, let's see what left of the trip brings....
Thursday, 22 March 2007
Wednesday, 21 March 2007
Boring food (not really!)
Work work work...spotting a pattern here yet?
Not much to say about today really, just finishing up the stuff that was postponed from Friday. My boss is feeling a bit dodgy today, he thinks it may be an upset stomach so it was decided that today would be a boring food day. That means no spicy food what so ever and eating in the "international" food court in the hotel.
Turns out that it is a bloody good Italian place that does wood fired pizza.. sufice to say I was happy!
After having Pizza we decided to play some pool upstairs in the lounge. I must say it's the best place i've every played pool. A great table, good beer (we managed to get some Indian stout!) and piles of roasted cashews..what better way to wind down after another days exposure to Indian driving.
Not much to say about today really, just finishing up the stuff that was postponed from Friday. My boss is feeling a bit dodgy today, he thinks it may be an upset stomach so it was decided that today would be a boring food day. That means no spicy food what so ever and eating in the "international" food court in the hotel.
Turns out that it is a bloody good Italian place that does wood fired pizza.. sufice to say I was happy!
After having Pizza we decided to play some pool upstairs in the lounge. I must say it's the best place i've every played pool. A great table, good beer (we managed to get some Indian stout!) and piles of roasted cashews..what better way to wind down after another days exposure to Indian driving.
Tuesday, 20 March 2007
I swear he's going to weld himself to that cylinder...
It's Tuesday, so that means.....more work (exciting huh!)
Another quite frankly incredible set of driving performed by the maniacs who drive here somehow managed not to kill me. I'm frankly amazed that i don't see an accident about every 10 seconds. After experiencing the traffic here I'll never moan about the traffic jams in the UK ever again.
Work was more of the same, hours of talking, repeating my self, talking, repeating myself again...etc tedious to say the least.
One good thing was we managed to get shown around the fabrication plant that makes storage vessels for liquid oxygen. It was certainly interesting seeing manual labour done without the HSE being anywhere near here. Some very interesting working practices indeed! That said it was cool to see these massive tanks that run at pressures of 18 BAR being made.
As there was a few people over from Linde, we got taken back to Oh Calcutta for more curry (and of course Beckti). I got talking to the Christian, the German guy and I think I've managed to swing an invite to the Linde beer tent in Munich at Oktoberfest
Another quite frankly incredible set of driving performed by the maniacs who drive here somehow managed not to kill me. I'm frankly amazed that i don't see an accident about every 10 seconds. After experiencing the traffic here I'll never moan about the traffic jams in the UK ever again.
Work was more of the same, hours of talking, repeating my self, talking, repeating myself again...etc tedious to say the least.
One good thing was we managed to get shown around the fabrication plant that makes storage vessels for liquid oxygen. It was certainly interesting seeing manual labour done without the HSE being anywhere near here. Some very interesting working practices indeed! That said it was cool to see these massive tanks that run at pressures of 18 BAR being made.
As there was a few people over from Linde, we got taken back to Oh Calcutta for more curry (and of course Beckti). I got talking to the Christian, the German guy and I think I've managed to swing an invite to the Linde beer tent in Munich at Oktoberfest
Monday, 19 March 2007
Work Work
After the excitement of the weekend it was back to work. Really not much to say except it was a dull 9:30 start and a dull 6:30PM finish.
The only saving grace was a visit to a fab Chinese called Mainland China. As Calcutta is so close to China, it has one of the oldest Chinatown's in the world. The means the food is very authentic and even tastier.
I had far too much of my new favourite fish called Beckti (or Batki depending who you ask). Firm, white and tasty. Yum Yum. So much for Bombay bum, I've got Kolkata Supersizing...
The only saving grace was a visit to a fab Chinese called Mainland China. As Calcutta is so close to China, it has one of the oldest Chinatown's in the world. The means the food is very authentic and even tastier.
I had far too much of my new favourite fish called Beckti (or Batki depending who you ask). Firm, white and tasty. Yum Yum. So much for Bombay bum, I've got Kolkata Supersizing...
Sunday, 18 March 2007
Seeing the sites.
Finally a day off, and to mark this wonderful occasion it was decided that we would hire a hotel driver to give us the sightseeing tour. I cannot believe how much we packed into five hours. In on particular order we went to St Paul Cathedral, Mother Teresa's mission, a couple of Hindu temples, the Governmental buildings, Eden Gardens Cricket ground (second largest in the world), went over both of the big bridges, the Botanical Gardens and the Victoria Memorial.PHEW! No wonder I felt shattered.
My back had been a bit stiff for the past few days so I booked myself in for a massage to try and sort it. I have to say it was spot on and my back has felt great since then. The scary part was how much my muscles actually hurt and how much my joints clicked when pressure was put on them. On the flip side, the paper pants were no fun what so ever...I'll be having flashbacks for years.
After sitting in a very hot steam room for 15 mins, I was done for and practically sleepwalked to my room for a well earned sleep.
My back had been a bit stiff for the past few days so I booked myself in for a massage to try and sort it. I have to say it was spot on and my back has felt great since then. The scary part was how much my muscles actually hurt and how much my joints clicked when pressure was put on them. On the flip side, the paper pants were no fun what so ever...I'll be having flashbacks for years.
After sitting in a very hot steam room for 15 mins, I was done for and practically sleepwalked to my room for a well earned sleep.
Saturday, 17 March 2007
Back after the Bunde
Now that the Bunde is over( strike to you and me), Calcutta is moving again and we can leave the hotel again. The papers are reporting that there were demonstration in Calcutta and people were hurt in attacks. I'm now very glad we had a boring Friday in the hotel lounge.
We had to go into the office for the morning to try and catch up with the stuff we missed on Friday, the upside was that Sudhish took us to a place called "The Banana Leaf" which is a restaurant the serves Southern Indian food,and all vegetarian. I had be wanting to try a Masala Dosa, which is like a large pancake (2 feet across) with a curried potato filing. It was fab!. Very filling and very tasty. it was washed done with Vard, which are like savoury doughnuts with dipping sauce and filter coffee, which very strong very milky and very very sweet coffee.
Feeling very very full, we went for a wander along the street to look at the shops. What a very different experience that was. I will describe it later as I've brought pressies but i don't want to let slip what they are.
We had to go into the office for the morning to try and catch up with the stuff we missed on Friday, the upside was that Sudhish took us to a place called "The Banana Leaf" which is a restaurant the serves Southern Indian food,and all vegetarian. I had be wanting to try a Masala Dosa, which is like a large pancake (2 feet across) with a curried potato filing. It was fab!. Very filling and very tasty. it was washed done with Vard, which are like savoury doughnuts with dipping sauce and filter coffee, which very strong very milky and very very sweet coffee.
Feeling very very full, we went for a wander along the street to look at the shops. What a very different experience that was. I will describe it later as I've brought pressies but i don't want to let slip what they are.
Friday, 16 March 2007
Bored...
As we could not leave the hotel, we set ourselves up in the top floor lounge and tried to work as normal, but it was very difficult. I think it did help that by midday we were all suffering from cabin fever and needed to get out but of course we could not.
Many cups of tea were drunk, to the point where none of us could face any more by 3PM. Somehow we also forgot to eat lunch so by the time we finished at 6PM we were starving. It was decided that we would eat in the Chinese place in the hotel. Being so close to China, Calcutta has the oldest Chinatown in the world (outside of China of course) so the food is very authentic and very tasty. More huge shrimps with garlic and chili were the order of he day, along with duck pancakes and seaweed. I was stuffed!, in fact so stuffed that I had to pass on a main course. That must be a first for me. We also discovered that they had a local Indian stout which after 3 days of lager was a revelation. cocktails followed as we decamped to a bar to watch some cricket. This was followed by an appalling display of pool playing skills and G&T's
*hic*
Many cups of tea were drunk, to the point where none of us could face any more by 3PM. Somehow we also forgot to eat lunch so by the time we finished at 6PM we were starving. It was decided that we would eat in the Chinese place in the hotel. Being so close to China, Calcutta has the oldest Chinatown in the world (outside of China of course) so the food is very authentic and very tasty. More huge shrimps with garlic and chili were the order of he day, along with duck pancakes and seaweed. I was stuffed!, in fact so stuffed that I had to pass on a main course. That must be a first for me. We also discovered that they had a local Indian stout which after 3 days of lager was a revelation. cocktails followed as we decamped to a bar to watch some cricket. This was followed by an appalling display of pool playing skills and G&T's
*hic*
Thursday, 15 March 2007
Mmmmm..Foooood
Today was the first full day in the office, so the first hurdle was getting there. Driving in India is....unique. Lanes are very optional, as are mirrors, signalling or have any perception of whats around you. I was pretty much convinced that i would not even make it to the end of the street let alone the office. It was so gobsmackingly dangerous that I had to video it otherwise no one will believe me.
Anyway, we finally made it in one piece. The office was surprisingly modern in places but the old office buildings looked very old and uncared for, but that is not too uncommon here. I spent the day doing the work i was sent out here to do and i found myself absolutely shattered by 6pm. It was suggested that we go out to have something to eat afterwards so we made our way to a nearby mall to a place called "Oh Calcutta!" which is a Bengali restaurant specialising in local food.
Wow is all I can say! The local food uses mustard oil a lot, which sounds bad but is in fact very tasty. A local fish which I have no idea what it's called was cooked in the oil and tasted fab. It was followed by mutton curry and flat bread, then finished off with shrimps the size of my hand. A milk desert followed, which tasted like very sweet Horlicks with pistachio's in it. All in all a great meal.
Even better was that fact I had no after effects :)
On a more serious note, the planned strike (Bunde) is going ahead tomorrow. We've been advised not to leave the hotel as it is expected things will turn nasty. We'll have to wait and see what tomorrow brings.
Anyway, we finally made it in one piece. The office was surprisingly modern in places but the old office buildings looked very old and uncared for, but that is not too uncommon here. I spent the day doing the work i was sent out here to do and i found myself absolutely shattered by 6pm. It was suggested that we go out to have something to eat afterwards so we made our way to a nearby mall to a place called "Oh Calcutta!" which is a Bengali restaurant specialising in local food.
Wow is all I can say! The local food uses mustard oil a lot, which sounds bad but is in fact very tasty. A local fish which I have no idea what it's called was cooked in the oil and tasted fab. It was followed by mutton curry and flat bread, then finished off with shrimps the size of my hand. A milk desert followed, which tasted like very sweet Horlicks with pistachio's in it. All in all a great meal.
Even better was that fact I had no after effects :)
On a more serious note, the planned strike (Bunde) is going ahead tomorrow. We've been advised not to leave the hotel as it is expected things will turn nasty. We'll have to wait and see what tomorrow brings.
Wednesday, 14 March 2007
It just got interesting here
Things here have just got interesting. An ongoing political issues over land being given to a company to build a factory near Calcutta has just become a lot more serious. The news reports that the police have opened fire on protesters and killed 14 of them. The opposition politicians have called for a 12 hour general strike on Friday. What this means for us is unknown but things will certainly be interesting in the next few days.
In the office - Calcutta style
An early afternoon start at the office was the plan and amazingly we nearly succeeded. It was agreed that we would meet for lunch at midday and then be driven into the office for about 1PM.
It didn't help that I had a call at 9am from the hotel staff asking if my room was comfortable (it certainly was) but it pretty much screwed up me sleeping. I ended up falling asleep again at 9:30 and bot waking up until 11:30. One quick shower and change of clothes meant we managed to have lunch and be ready to go at 1:15PM...amazing given the normal timekeeping of our department :)
Ah, driving in India. You think you'll be prepared for it. You've heard the stories....and they are all true and more. I'm sure we avoiding accidents at the rate of about one a minute. You have never seen tailgating, under taking and sheer suicidal lane changing until you have seen an India city at lunchtime. Scary is all I can say, although I'm informed today was "quiet". Yikes!
I managed to take a few pictures on the way, but they really do not do justice to the journey. India is certainly a land of contrasts. From our 5 star hotel to the office was only 2 miles but the sights were amazing. Shopping centres, slums, beggars, affluent people walking in the road and the frankly amazing road workers who work inches from roaring traffic with no protection. What really stuck out was the amount of rubbish everywhere. From the roof of the office was an amazing view of the city (need to get back up there with the camera) but looking down to the street all i could see was mountains of rubbish by the side of the road.
Work was OK, the office is pleasant and modern. Our Indians colleagues kindly laid on bottled water for us, as they knew we are all paranoid about drinking the local tap stuff. We were at the hotel at 7:30ish after another manic journey, this time in the dark where it seems headlights are purely optional.
A very welcome beer or three followed which were certainly needed. My boss was telling me his theory of avoiding Delhi Belly (or should that be Calcutta Craps?). Basically drink lots of beer. This had a certain appeal to me so watch this space to see if it works.
Cheers! (written with my 4th bottle of beer well under way)
It didn't help that I had a call at 9am from the hotel staff asking if my room was comfortable (it certainly was) but it pretty much screwed up me sleeping. I ended up falling asleep again at 9:30 and bot waking up until 11:30. One quick shower and change of clothes meant we managed to have lunch and be ready to go at 1:15PM...amazing given the normal timekeeping of our department :)
Ah, driving in India. You think you'll be prepared for it. You've heard the stories....and they are all true and more. I'm sure we avoiding accidents at the rate of about one a minute. You have never seen tailgating, under taking and sheer suicidal lane changing until you have seen an India city at lunchtime. Scary is all I can say, although I'm informed today was "quiet". Yikes!
I managed to take a few pictures on the way, but they really do not do justice to the journey. India is certainly a land of contrasts. From our 5 star hotel to the office was only 2 miles but the sights were amazing. Shopping centres, slums, beggars, affluent people walking in the road and the frankly amazing road workers who work inches from roaring traffic with no protection. What really stuck out was the amount of rubbish everywhere. From the roof of the office was an amazing view of the city (need to get back up there with the camera) but looking down to the street all i could see was mountains of rubbish by the side of the road.
Work was OK, the office is pleasant and modern. Our Indians colleagues kindly laid on bottled water for us, as they knew we are all paranoid about drinking the local tap stuff. We were at the hotel at 7:30ish after another manic journey, this time in the dark where it seems headlights are purely optional.
A very welcome beer or three followed which were certainly needed. My boss was telling me his theory of avoiding Delhi Belly (or should that be Calcutta Craps?). Basically drink lots of beer. This had a certain appeal to me so watch this space to see if it works.
Cheers! (written with my 4th bottle of beer well under way)
Off we go
Today's the day i flew out to India. I'm going to do some job transference skills to the Indian part of the global IS team.
So that meant an early start. Up at 7AM to get to Heathrow for my 10:15am flight to Calcutta. I have to say travelling on company expenses is pretty much the only way to do long-haul. Company policy says we have to use Business class for flights over 8 hours, o I got to go in BA Club World. Huge seats, good food and far to much beer. I think we very quickly got the reputation as the beer drinkers as pretty much any time the cabin staff went past we got more beer. Made the flight seem very short :)
We touched down in Calcutta at 1AM local time, where it was very warm and humid. In fact it was 24C which is a bit of a shock coming from chilly England. Mosquito paranoia kicked in as soon as I got of the plane and spotted my first as I queued for immigration.
Culture shock also kicked in as i left the airport. The hotel had sent a car for us but between leaving the airport and the car we must have has 20 people begging for money or trying to carry our bags. A very odd experience.
Getting the the hotel was a relief as I was very tired and hungry. We found that we had been upgraded to the "Taj Club" rooms. Top floor luxury with our own personal check in and butler to sort out the rooms. That was even more of a culture shock given the shanty slums just outside the hotel grounds.
A very welcome meal followed, by which time it was 3AM and it was agreed we would try to get some sleep for our first day in the office. That plan failed as by the time I'd unpacked, had a shower, setup the laptop and spoken to Louise it was 5:30AM.
Bugger!
So that meant an early start. Up at 7AM to get to Heathrow for my 10:15am flight to Calcutta. I have to say travelling on company expenses is pretty much the only way to do long-haul. Company policy says we have to use Business class for flights over 8 hours, o I got to go in BA Club World. Huge seats, good food and far to much beer. I think we very quickly got the reputation as the beer drinkers as pretty much any time the cabin staff went past we got more beer. Made the flight seem very short :)
We touched down in Calcutta at 1AM local time, where it was very warm and humid. In fact it was 24C which is a bit of a shock coming from chilly England. Mosquito paranoia kicked in as soon as I got of the plane and spotted my first as I queued for immigration.
Culture shock also kicked in as i left the airport. The hotel had sent a car for us but between leaving the airport and the car we must have has 20 people begging for money or trying to carry our bags. A very odd experience.
Getting the the hotel was a relief as I was very tired and hungry. We found that we had been upgraded to the "Taj Club" rooms. Top floor luxury with our own personal check in and butler to sort out the rooms. That was even more of a culture shock given the shanty slums just outside the hotel grounds.
A very welcome meal followed, by which time it was 3AM and it was agreed we would try to get some sleep for our first day in the office. That plan failed as by the time I'd unpacked, had a shower, setup the laptop and spoken to Louise it was 5:30AM.
Bugger!
Sunday, 11 March 2007
Matron
I'm taking a side-step away from the blog to explain why I call myself after the star of the Carry On films.
I could say that it's due to a love of them films, their humour and what they represent of a time long past. this would be kind of true but in actual fact it's a bit dull.
Many moons ago I was a beta-tester for what became the Xbox Live service. To allow me to log onto the beta system I had to register a unique name so my own name became my "Gamer Tag". This was fine for around 9 months, but then I had an email for Microsoft saying that I had to change my name as it had my real name in it, which is not allowed. So, as Carry on Doctor was showing on the TV *ping* flash of genius and I've been Sid James ever since.
At this point i would like to say that there is absolutely no truth in the matter of me being like my namesake....a dirty old man. This is my story and I'm sticking to it :)
I could say that it's due to a love of them films, their humour and what they represent of a time long past. this would be kind of true but in actual fact it's a bit dull.
Many moons ago I was a beta-tester for what became the Xbox Live service. To allow me to log onto the beta system I had to register a unique name so my own name became my "Gamer Tag". This was fine for around 9 months, but then I had an email for Microsoft saying that I had to change my name as it had my real name in it, which is not allowed. So, as Carry on Doctor was showing on the TV *ping* flash of genius and I've been Sid James ever since.
At this point i would like to say that there is absolutely no truth in the matter of me being like my namesake....a dirty old man. This is my story and I'm sticking to it :)
Thursday, 8 March 2007
What a Carry On...
So I have bitten the bullet and I'm Blogging. Why?, well if for no other reason it's a damn sight easier than writing in a diary (and if you've seen my handwriting you'll understand why)
I suppose the main motivation for me doing this now is that I'm of to Kolkata (Calcutta) on the 13th March for a 9 day trip to hand my job over. The company I work for has in it's infinite wisdom decided that it's more cost effective for my job to be done in India. The fact the it has cost them nearly £30K so far for travel costs for one small team makes me question their logic. Oh well, at least the directors will get their bonus, that's the thing that we need to keep in the forefront of our minds.
Anyway, as I'm going to India i wanted to have a way of documenting my day to day thoughts and experiences. My GF started her own Blog just before we went to the US on out hols last year and it turned out to be fun not only for her writing it but for me talking pictures for her.
So, here's my effort. I'm probably going to be the only person reading this so i can write pretty much what I like....I'll check back every day to see what I've been writing about myself :)
I suppose the main motivation for me doing this now is that I'm of to Kolkata (Calcutta) on the 13th March for a 9 day trip to hand my job over. The company I work for has in it's infinite wisdom decided that it's more cost effective for my job to be done in India. The fact the it has cost them nearly £30K so far for travel costs for one small team makes me question their logic. Oh well, at least the directors will get their bonus, that's the thing that we need to keep in the forefront of our minds.
Anyway, as I'm going to India i wanted to have a way of documenting my day to day thoughts and experiences. My GF started her own Blog just before we went to the US on out hols last year and it turned out to be fun not only for her writing it but for me talking pictures for her.
So, here's my effort. I'm probably going to be the only person reading this so i can write pretty much what I like....I'll check back every day to see what I've been writing about myself :)
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