India – Spring 2014

Tickets to a (very long) ride

My view from Seat 31K

My view from Seat 31K, next morning

Wind power in Germany

This was my first 747 flight. HUGE plane. I need to upgrade next time!

One last little hop and I’m in India

I bet this translates to " Welcome to India Customs "

Bengalaru International Airport

Bangalore from the Hotel on Friday morning

Soup with extra chilis (in honor of my friend Chandan) while meeting with a team from Oracle India

One of the Oracle offices in India. I think the security guards told me to delete this picture. Oops…

It’s Mohan!

Bangalore, Friday night

My local loaner Blackberry

Bangalore, Saturday morning

World Wide Workout!

More pics from the hotel. I like cityscapes

Saturday traffic. Trust me, it’s only insane to people who don’t live there!

A roadside snack shop. I think the script on the sign is Kannada (one of several India languages I don’t speak…not yet anyway 😉

Under that greenery and dude is a motorcycle. A motorcycle going really slow.

I think this is the Infosys building. Kind of weird in and of itself, but check out how it’s surrounded by shacks and huts!

And, it has this big ol’ round thing.

This is the road where Mohan is when he and I have evening conference calls. Now I know where all the traffic noise comes from.

The next set is of some cool looking government buildings

(and motorcycles – lot’s of ’em!)

(And an “Auto-ricksha” – that green and yellow mini cab thing.)

Mohan had no explanation for why there is a white rabbit holding a trash can.

A temple. They are everywhere, small, large, colorful!

Ground level in the streets of Bangalore…

…with traffic…

…and cows….

…(apparently cows roam the street, until they are bored and find their way home!)…

…and autoricksha’s…

and people.

Out shopping on MG Road.

Coffee? Mohan said “no thank you” after surveying the offering, seems it wasn’t up to the best standards.

Chaps working on a mini-temple-thing.

Ciber’s office!

Hotel elevator. It took me two rides to find the “7” button. Three guesses why.

Sunday – more city pics. I like the unique shapes.

Oracle, another building of theirs.

Mohan and I went to a movie on Sunday – "Two States"

It was all in Hindi, with no subtitles. Neither Mohan nor I speak Hindi.

The ladies next to Mohan did somewhat speak Hindi, so on those parts when everyone but us laughed, Mohan would lead over, get the low-down, and share the joke with me.

It was essentially Romeo and Juliet, with lots of bright colors and dancing. I recommend it 🙂

Monday morning business traffic (looks suspiciously like weekend traffic).

Ciber’s Oracle Team managers – Ugandhar, Mayur, Ankur, and Nagaraj. Finally, humans to go with the emails and Skype calls 🙂

Sixth floor, Oracle team in action. The picture is not fuzzy; rather, the office is so full of energy I could not keep it still!

Yes, they did!

Monday lunch includes a car accident. Louis said he’d never seen an accident despite the insane traffic. Here’s me taking a picture of Louis taking a picture of said rare occurrence.

And here’s the accident.

7th Floor – where Ciber folks get their cafe.

Traffic (there’s a theme building here).

Night lights. Bangalore is quite colorful.

The price of dinner for one. In Rupees, not dollars 🙂

This music video was from "Two States" movie.

(I told ya there was dancing!)

My new favorite sport – Cricket! I think this is Hyderabad (batting) vs Royalston (bowling).

Lot’s of construction in Bangalore.

Mohan convinced some kids to let he and I take a few cuts at sandlot cricket. I won 🙂

Outside the Marriott hotel.

Anoop, who has a very stylish haircut (and has more hair than me).

Vani and Madhu.

Yum – this was yet another awesome Indian dining experience.

These chaps circle back regularly and keep you filled up with tasties.

Thanks guys 🙂

830am IST – one of the rare times the Ciber office is quiet.

Guru – my driver for the week. He kept me in traffic and on time, always with a charming smile.

This should be the first slide, but I didn’t think to take it until the end of the week. Guess I’ll have to go back (many times).

It rained in Bangalore. Once.

Then it stopped, and I took pictures of the city. Did I mention my like for cityscapes?

My last dinner was cereal. The hotel staff dug out the breakfast stuff and hooked me up.

Marriott – Whitefield, Bangalore. Awe Some!

Time to head homeward.

Goodbye, Hotel Taj Regeny

So long, nightly IPL Cricket games.

Namaste, really cool art everywhere.

A nod to my esteemed colleague Ryan in our Infor practice.

With fuzzy vision I board for Frankfurt, 235am IST.

9am CET Saturday in the Lufthansa lounge, Frankfurt.

Ja, this airport is HUGE!

3pm CST Saturday – Oh Hair! no….wake up… O’Hare!

1130pm eastern, Saturday (still!) – Hartford, Bradley International’s parking lot 5b. My chariot awaits.

That ends my first trip to India. Dhan’yavad! Namaste!