Last Night

Tonight is my last night in India. I made it back from work, had some dinner and packed. Tomorrow the guys and I are going into the office two hours early to make sure we get enough training before having to leave for the airport. I have a long day of flying ahead of me!

Delta flight 8706 Mumbai to Paris (9 hours 10 minutes)
Delta flight 8496 Paris to Washington (8 hours 15 minutes)
Delta flight 6229 Washington to Cincinnati (1 hour 40 minutes)

ITC Maratha Mumbai

So pretty!

The ITC Maratha Mumbai has been my home for the past two weeks. One thing I have found to be amazing about India is the customer service. The people who work here at the hotel are amazing! Since last week everyone I pass in the hallway says “hello Miss. Susan”. The first few times I found this to be very strange. How was it possible that everyone in the hotel knew my name? I still have not figured out the answer to this question other than to guess that since I have stayed two weeks they decided to remember me. When our little group goes down for breakfast each day we get friendly greetings by name from the hostess, our waiter and other waiters who have served us previously. How nice!

I also included a few other pictures of my hotel room. This bed is way too big for me. I sleep with pillows on both sides of me!

Monsoon

Driving to work.

Today I was given my first taste of the Indian monsoons. This is monsoon season however technically the monsoons have not started. All day yesterday and today it rained very hard in Mumbai causing some major issues today.

The rain did not seem like a big issue to me as we have rain like this in Cincinnati all the time. I went about my business getting ready, eating breakfast and meeting the guys (another colleague, Adam, has joined us this week) downstairs to drive to the office. As I walk outside I see Adam and Steve standing next to our car, Adam on our driver’s cell phone. Adam is talking with someone from our office and I can see a strange look on his face. Our driver is being yelled at by the hotel staff to move his car because lots of other traffic was trying to get under the awning and out of the rain as cars are coming and going. We all load into the SUV as Adam continues to talk with the office. As we pull out of the hotel he gets off the phone and tells the driver to take us back.

Wet!

Evidently the city of Mumbai is under water and nobody can get into the office. We also find out that the Accenture office is flooded…awesome. We were told to wait two hours and have the driver come back to take us to the office. Back up to my room I went, unloaded my computer and proceeded to change around our training agenda for the day.

Glad we have a tall SUV!

Two hours later we met in the lobby and were off to the office. Driving was very different today….no traffic! Due to the flooded streets many people have stayed home and therefore it makes our drive nice and easy.

About half of our class was able to make it into the office. Evidently when the rain was at its heaviest it was also high tide in the sea. This caused the sea to flow into the city and waist high water was everywhere.

Notice the people in knee deep water.

Overall the day went well with our small class. Tonight when the driver picked us up from the office it was still pouring and I had my umbrella out and ready. I did not need the umbrella as he just drove right up on the curb and almost into the building so we would not get wet. The perks of no traffic laws!

Transportation in India

Mumbai traffic.

Rickshaws are a very popular mode of transportation in India. They are three wheeled motorized carts which seat three individuals. The driver sits in front and two passengers can sit in back on a small bench seat. They do not have any doors, just a small rail on one side and the option to put little shades down to cover the passengers. The rickshaws are very popular because of the traffic congestion that occurs. A rickshaw is much smaller than a car and can dart in and out of traffic easier than a car or bus. When the girls took me on the tour they talked about rickshaws as a nice mode of transportation for women. They were originally brought about because women were being molested in cabs and had no way out. Since rickshaws have no doors this is a safer option for women traveling alone. As you can see from the picture many of the rickshaws have bumper stickers saying “Don’t Spit. It Spreads TB”. Gross!

Rickshaws.

Busses are also a popular form of transportation in India. The busses are red and can be single or double decker. The girls tell me that the busses are for the “mean and gross men”. When our car drives next to busses we can see that people are crammed in, some standing, constantly throwing trash out of the window and spitting. The girls also told me that many of the bus drivers do not have real drivers licenses. Evidently many of them pay money for their license instead of taking the class and obtaining a license the correct way.
You can find regular taxis in India as well. They are not as common as rickshaws in the big cities but can be found in the less popular areas. The taxis seem safer than busses but I would never ride in one knowing that they are unsafe for women.

Bus...notice people hanging out of the windows.

Taxi.

Motorcycles and cars are also used for transportation. Motorcycles are quite popular as they can dart in and out of traffic and can hold two or three people. You do not see women on motorcycles very often and if you do they are sitting sideways. Cars are very small in India. You very rarely see Mini Vans, SUVs or any of the big cars like we have in the US. Most of the cars are very small and look like they have been through the war. Because of the traffic there are lots of fender benders and scratches.

Motorcycle...in a full suit.

The car I have for this trip is a nice Toyota SUV. This is very rare and many cars get out of our way when our driver is coming down the street. The driver is very nice and has safely delivered me at Accenture and the hotel each day.

The SUV I ride in each day to and from work. Sorry for the blurry picture but this is the best I could get this evening with fog and air pollution.

Gateway of India

At the Gateway of India.

Yesterday two of the girls we are teaching (Heena and Vedali) volunteered to take Steve and I on a tour of Mumbai. This was quite an interesting day! Since I am working NA time it is actually night time here in Mumbai when I am awake and daylight while I am sleeping. This provided interesting today as I needed to be awake during the tour. The two girls came to the hotel along with the driver I had been using all week at 2:00pm today which was 3 hours earlier than normal. Everyone loaded into the SUV and the day of touring began.

The train station.

Heena was already in the car when the driver came to pick up Steve and I. We were then off to pick up Vedali at her home. Heena described the area Vedali lived in as “upper class India”. It took about an hour to drive from the hotel to where Vedali lives which would probably have been about ten miles. In India you sit in a sea of cars moving about three car lengths and stopping for five minutes. This is constant wherever you go and is probably due to the fact that Mumbai has a population of around 19 million people. As we drove Heena was an excellent tour guide. She was able to tell us which counties of Mumbai we were in and described areas which were working class, middle class and upper class. Throughout the day they placed a big emphasis on class and your place in society. This must be a big deal in India.

Mumbai coastline. Notice the poverty and beautiful buildings behind.

Once we picked up Vedali we were off to our first stop of the day, an art museum. The museum did not cost anything to enter and consisted of just one room. The room had brass and soap stone sculptures along with beautiful paintings on the wall. After going through the museum we had been out for about 3 hours and I needed to use the restroom. Thinking about where we were going the rest of the day I did not think there would be an opportunity for a restroom break. India is very different from the US when it comes to public restrooms. Almost anywhere you go in the US you can find a restroom to use, this is not the case in India. When I asked the girls if there was a restroom in the Museum that I could use they both looked puzzled. We did ask a guard and he pointed us in the direction of a restroom. This was probably the worst restroom I have ever seen. There were three doors each containing a hole in the ground. Gulp….I held my breath and went for it, glad for the Charmin to go I brought with me as there was no TP. The bathrooms had no sinks, soap or towels to wash your hands. Also glad I had my Purell hand sanitizer with me! With that out of the way there would be no way I was going to drink a drop of water to have to endure that again while we were out.

The Taj Mahal Hotel. You can see on this corner where windows are boarded from the fire.

After the museum we were headed to the Gateway of India and the Taj Mahal Hotel. The Taj Mahal Hotel is where the terrorist attacks took place several months back. This hotel was bombed and on fire for an entire day. The Gateway of India is a monument in Mumbai (formerly Bombay). Located on the waterfront in Apollo Bunder area in South Mumbai. In earlier times, the Gateway was the monument that visitors arriving by boat would have first seen in the city of Bombay. When we visited yesterday there were many tourists and locals visiting the monument. Vedali and Heena told us that this is a location all residents of India like to visit as well.

Bandra Worli Sea Link Bridge which ties Bandra and western suburbs to the downtown area.

We drove by and visited several beaches in Mumbai. Mumbai is surrounded by the Arabian Sea and therefore has beaches on all of the coastlines. The coastline is also known as the Queen’s Necklace as all of the city lights speckle the coastline and appear as a pearl necklace at night. We also saw lots of beautiful government buildings, police stations and train stations. The girls told us that the trains in India have special Women Only cars as sexual violence against women is very high here.

Mumbai washing center.

My favorite part of the day was a visit to the Mumbai washing centers. This is where most locals have their clothing washed. Washing is actually a profession in Mumbai for men. The men will come to your house, pick up dirty laundry in a sack which they carry on their head to the washing center. They each have a basin and special clothes line which belongs to them. They take the clothing and bang it on concrete and move around in the water to get each item clean. The clothes are then hung dry, ironed, folded and returned to the home. I can’t imagine having my clothes cleaned in this washing center with dirty water from other people’s clothing. I found it really neat to see this!

Catholic Church.

Vedali also talked a lot about religions and the 33,000 “gods” in India. About 75% of Mumbai is Hindu, 15% Muslim and the other 10% is made up of other small religions. We actually visited a Catholic Church and monument dedicated to Mary. The Catholic population is about 5% in India.

In total I was gone for seven hours and probably spent five and a half of those hours sitting in traffic. The joys of Mumbai!

Today I slept in and spent most of my day relaxing. I finally found some American channels on the TV and was able to watch a couple of movies on HBO. I also get ESPN, CNN and the Travel Channel. I am doing some work right now and will probably grab some dinner before bed. Another week of training ahead of me.

Poverty and Begging

The view from my hotel window

The poverty in India is unimaginable. I have been taking a lot of pictures because it is hard to put the city of Mumbai into words. I would be scared to walk outside the security gates of the hotel alone. The line between riches and poverty is very slim. Our hotel is gorgeous however as soon as you leave the gates you are in the slums. When I look outside my window the view is horrible. I can see this swampy area with grass, dogs, birds, mud, trees and water. Within this area is a small white shack and people walking around. On Wednesday morning I woke up and upon looking out my window saw a man with no clothing on using the bathroom in a puddle and using that same water to clean himself.

Houses, trash and water from the monsoons

You also see a lot of little roadside “houses”. These little shacks that many people call home are made from plastic sheets, cardboard boxes and flat metal. You also see many people sleeping in cars or rickshaws. I have also noticed that people are awake at all hours of the day. When the car is driving us to the hotel at the end of our day it is 3:00am Mumbai time and many people are still out and about. Far less traffic than during the day but still very crowded.

Roadside store- notice the stray dogs

The people here walk around with no shoes on. I assume this is because they do not have or cannot afford to purchase shoes. When we are in the office everyone wears sandals or shoes but outside most people walk around barefoot. It makes me sick to see the filth in the streets and then people walking around with bare feet right over everything.

Children in the street with no shoes

Begging is something I had heard a lot about before coming to India. I was told not to look at or give money to beggars because that would signal many others to come towards you. I have also seen the Slumdog Millionaire movie which shows people forcing children to beg for money. I did not actually think I would come in contact with this. On our very first day driving to the office the car was sitting in traffic. All the sudden I heard a little tap on my car window and turned thinking a bird or something had come near the window. To my surprise it was a lady holding a baby begging for money. Of course I turned and looked away but it was so sad to sit there knowing this tiny baby was probably hungry. The lady stood and tapped on the window and talking at me the entire time the car was sitting in traffic at that point. So sad.

Tomorrow two of the girls in our class are taking Steve and I sightseeing and shopping. Our driver we have used all week will be taking us and they will tell us the good places to visit!

P.S. All of these pictures were taken from inside our car on the way to work.

Odd Things About India

This is a picture I took on the way to work today. You can see the markets and stray dogs.

1. [Everything is Backwards] Cars are backwards (the steering wheel and driver sit on the right hand side) you also drive on the opposite side of the road. Faucets turn on the opposite way. Doors open on the wrong side. You walk down the hallway on the left side instead of right. Escalators are on the wrong side (I constantly walk to the down side trying to go up and have people coming at me).

2. [Stray Dogs and Birds] Stray dogs are everywhere(on roads, in grass, sidewalks, middle of the street) in Mumbai. They roam around alone and sometimes in packs however do not seem to bother the people. Big black birds are always around. This is not like in the US where you see a few birds every once and a while- they are all over the place! The birds sit on cars, streets, market stands, fruits for sale and just pick at everything.

3. [Smell] India has a very interesting stench. The hotel smells very clean (almost like ivory soap) and fresh. When you walk outside the smell is strong. It is a sewage/sweat smell all in one. The Accenture building smells like Indian food all the time (wonder if my clothes will smell like this?).

4. [Security] Security is very high in India (although makes me feel very safe)! When our car arrives at the Accenture building the driver actually has to get out and be searched/questioned before he can drive us into the building. When our car arrives at the hotel they actually use metal detectors and mirrors to look under, inside and around the car. We then have to send our bags through metal detectors and walk through separate metal detectors to get into the building. They have security guards everywhere. Guards with huge guns are outside building gates, at every door entrance coming into the buildings and all over inside of the buildings. When I walk from our training room to the restroom I pass 3 security guards and it is a 20 second walk.

5. [Trash] Trash is all over this city. I am not sure if they have an organized way to have trash collection but from the looks of the city I can’t imagine it is very good. When we drive to the office you see huge piles of trash everywhere. The trash just blows around the streets and the people ignore it as if it does not exist.

Breakfast of Champions

I slept very well last night as I was tired from traveling. Today after waking up and showering I met up with Steve and we went down for breakfast. As we walked down it occurred to us that breakfast may not be quite what we would expect for a typical breakfast. We are working NA time so the local time in Mumbai was around 1:00pm. My breakfast consisted of barbeque chicken, Indian rice, spinach/corn cream mash and bottled water. Yum! Although it was an odd time of day for this type of a meal the buffet was very good and looked delicious. It is so tempting to eat the fresh vegetables and fruits as they have so many different types. Trying to keep my stomach happy I resisted.

The rest of the day went well. Our driver arrived in a Toyota SUV right on time and took us immediately to the P&G offices where we had a couple of meetings. He will be our driver for the remainder of the week and seems very nice. He gave us his phone number and as soon as our meetings were over reception called and he was at the front steps waiting to pick us up again. Off to Accenture we went.

Training went well today. We have 20 very eager students ready to learn. They fed us a traditional Indian lunch which was delicious! At 2:30am we left the offices and our driver delivered us safely at the hotel front entrance.

None of the hotel restaurants are open at this hour so I ordered a cheese pizza from room service which was very good! They even brought crushed red pepper.

Going to do a bit of work and one meeting then off to sleep awaiting another fun day tomorrow!

Oh What A Day!

I am now officially a world traveler! The past day was quite an adventure with airports, delays and lots of flying time! I arrived at the Cincinnati Airport on time and was actually upgraded to First Class. Unfortunately the airplane arriving to take me to Boston was delayed by an hour. Finally we took off and after a quick hour and a half flight made it to Boston...40 minutes prior to the flight to Paris. As I exited the airplane an attendant was standing there asking for passengers who were traveling to Paris on Air France...that’s me! She basically said I had to run as fast as I could to another terminal as the airplane was ready to take off. Awesome! So Steve (my travel buddy) and I ran to the new terminal according to the directions the attendant gave us. Little did we know this was a mile run across sky walks and through 4 different buildings. Finally we arrive at the gate hot, tired and out of breath to find out that our flight to Paris was also delayed. Thank you Delta flight attendant...we needed some exercise. After we regained our breath the attendant informed us that we could go sit in the First Class Lounge. Yay business class! In the meantime they are telling us that they are dealing with "technical difficulties" on the aircraft. Quite comforting as you are about to fly across the ocean on that specific aircraft. Three hours later we finally boarded and were off to Paris.

The business class seating was awesome! The seats reclined into a bed and had little televisions where you could choose movies, games, TV shows or to watch the flight path. They also fed us very well! They had magazines, newspapers, snacks, drinks and almost anything you wanted. You can see a picture above of the breakfast I was served. I tried to sleep on this flight but could only nap for a couple of hours.

Originally we were supposed to have a four hour layover in Paris however we used up that time in Boston so upon arriving to Paris it was another mad dash to our new airplane. The Paris Airport is somewhere I would be happy never returning. They have 25 little terminals and no connection to each. In order to get from one to another you take the bus service they have. These busses are insane and fly through parking lots with a ton of people on them. We were again hot and sweaty. We went through lots of security in Paris. This is difficult when you don’t speak French and have to rely on hand gestures as they tell you what is needed. After running around the entire Paris airport going through everything we were told was needed we ended up back on our new airplane which was parked right next to the one we had just gotten off of.

The flight from Mumbai to Paris was nice. Best part of this flight was getting to see the Eiffel Tower as we were taking off from Paris. I have a picture but you cannot see very well. I slept much better on this leg of the journey. As soon as we were up in the sky they served lunch and when lunch was over I fell asleep. I slept almost five hours and woke up right around the time they were serving dinner. After dinner we had to fill out a customs card and information about swine flu.

Once we were off the airplane in Mumbai it was crazy and HOT! There were people everywhere. Imagine leaving a Reds game with 3,000 of your closest friends. Walking was difficult with all of the bags and people. We also had to go through several security checkpoints, health checkpoints and customs. Checking baggage is not something I like to do because typically they lose what you have checked or something inside is damaged. Today my luck must have changed. I was amazed to see my checked bag waiting for me at the luggage conveyer. The bag is a bit beat up but everything is ok inside!

After we made it out of security with all of our baggage the next task was to find the man from our hotel holding a sign with our names. This is quite difficult as there are tons of people doing the same thing and everyone is yelling at you to come their way or exchange your currency with them. Eventually we found our guy and he loaded our luggage on a cart. We proceeded to a parking garage where he left us standing with the luggage cart as he went to find his car. WHAT? We just stood there in the middle of cars darting in and out, hanging out the sides and honking like crazy. The constant honking reminds me a little bit of Chicago cab drivers but worse. After 10 minutes of just standing in the middle of the garage wondering what we had gotten ourselves into the driver shows up and loaded us into the air conditioned car!

The hotel is about a three minute drive from the airport. You could have walked however it is unsafe and way too hot to even think of that!

My room at the hotel is very nice. The bathroom is beautiful, nice flat TV on the wall and a huge king size bed. I showered and unpacked along with a little snack. I am going to bed soon as I have to get up at 12:30am Mumbai time because we are going to a few meetings at the P&G offices before training tomorrow. I am sure tomorrow will be a long day. The rest of my stay I can wake up a couple of hours later for work.

I will send some pictures of the hotel tomorrow. Sweet dreams!

Arrived!

Arrived safely and have a very nice hotel room. I am going to take a shower and probably a nap. Will update later with details of my travel day.

Do NOT Drink The Water

I have learned a lot as I have prepared for this trip to India. In case you are curious below is a list of the lovely things I have had to do.

Hepatitis A shot

Typhoid shot

MMR booster

Polio shot

Malaria pills daily

I have three packed bags total that I am taking with me.

1. My one checked bag is mostly filled with food (power bars, granola bars, crackers, peanut butter, goldfish) in case Indian food does not agree with me or lack of good choices while at the office. For those of you who do not know, Indian water is really bad and full of bacteria that can make you have some serious tummy "issues". This is not a big deal to those living in India as their stomachs have adjusted. For visitors this is a problem. I cannot drink the water, get it in my mouth while showering, put it on my toothbrush or eat anything that could have been washed in the water and not cooked. No fresh fruits and vegetables for this girl!


2. My second bag which I will carry on is full of clothing and medicine. I am not kidding when I say that a third of that bag is taken up by a large blue zip bag we were given full of medicines and first aid supplies. For example, I will take 8 Pepto Bismol Chewables a day as a preventative measure to keep the tummy in check. We were also given thermometers, masks, tylenol, advil, antihistamine, a prescription in case the tummy "issues" arrive, flu drugs and anything else you can think of.


3. My third bag is just a small rolling computer bag that I will have my laptop and other items needed for work and the airplane.

And So The Trip Begins

Tomorrow will be a long day of traveling. I am flying business class but have several stops as you can see below. The only unfortunate thing is that when I arrive in Paris it will be 6:10am Paris time but 12:10am NA time. It will be a rough 4 hour layover in the middle of the time I should be sleeping. Hopefully the lounge will be nice and I can sleep once on the plane to Mumbai.

Delta flight 1722 from Cincinnati to Boston (2 hours and 8 minutes)
Delta Flight 2995 from Boston to Paris (6 hours and 40 minutes)
Delta Flight 8705 from Paris to Mumbai (9 hours and 15 minutes)