Thursday Jan 13
So far no big surprises. The short drive to the office on Monday overwhelmed my senses. It was my first clear glimsp of the streets in india. Vehicles of all kinds crowed the streets. Lanes? ha, what's that? Sidewalks? ha, what's that? Pedestrians sharing the streets with vehicle, so what? Trash everywhere. We were in a strange area where there would be new high rises mixed in with big deserted lots full of trash and squatters. Wild dogs everywhere. Most of the people were men, where are the women? Each day I look for a guy peeing in the side of the street and haven't been disappointed. There they are, standing by the side of the road with their backs to me, taking a piss. So many people, some were on their way somewhere, some just loitering. Again, small groups huddling around some burning twigs for heat. I was appalled at all this scenery but so fascinated.
The hkl plant consisted of 3 separated sites along one street. To get from one to another you have to walk along the street, maybe 50 yards between each building, that's narrow and full of people, cycles, cars. Again, everything and everyone is sharing a narrow street. It made me nervous and I was convinced I was going to get hit. We clearly stood out as foreigners by our looks and by the way we dress. Most of the people are thin, on the undernourish side so ofcourse we look fat! As a result we draw a lot of attention as we walk up and down the street between the buildings. I am starting to get used to being stared at!
Our Hkl India colleagues are all very nice. They are a warm and gracious people and go out of their way to be hospitable. Lunch is brought in for us each day. Bea is not a big fan of Indian food so there is pizza everyday, since all of the food I've eaten so far are on the spicy side, even the pizzas have hot peppers on them! At home I usually have a special hot sauce to add to my food, depending on what kind of food it is. Here, the food is spiced perfectly so I don't need additional hot sauce! I don't think Gary would be able to handle this spicy food. Anyway, everyday there is a large spread of food consisting of different curries, rices, breads and sweets. Cuisine from each region is different and you can see it in the curries. All the food I've eaten so far are different from the indian food I've eaten at restaurants in the states, it's awesome.
The general manager here has been so nice. His admin helps arrange everything for us, from transport from and to work and tourist stuff that we want to do. He had his admin research and book our day in Agra this Saturday, to see the Taj Mahal, I cannot wait!
I have tried to learn a few words in Hindi although most people in india also speak english. Namaste for hello and Dhanabad for thank you. My colleagues are very nice about answering my many questions on cultures and such. As it happened, on Tuesday there was a birthday celebration for one of the guys in the office. There was a birthday cake and some singing. Then the general mgr cut a small piece and fed it to the birthday boy. Then one of the colleagues took some icing and smeared it all over the birthday guy's face. It was funny I was talking to someone for 1 minute and then I suddenly turned around and saw the guy with huge chunks of icing on the sides of his face. I was told that this is customary. They also told me that in college or younger years the birthday guy would also get kicked as many times as his new age. Talk about fear of aging! The older you get the more painful it is, literally!
Today I was in a middle of an audit interview with a few colleagues when someone poked their head in and asked us to come out for a few minutes for an early celebration of Lohri which is this region's harvest festival. Tomorrow is the actual holiday but since the plant is closed tomorrow they wanted to do an early celebration today. We all gathered outside and a huge bonfire was lit. It was under a tree and I really thought we were going to burn down the tree! THere were two guys who were playing the drums throughout the half hour, reminding me of some african drum beats. They all gave us a mixture of popcorn, peanuts and sweets to throw in the fire for good luck. Then the workers took turns dancing around the bonfire. They tried to get me to dance but I was too embarassed! They told me that this is a citified version of the harvest celebration. In the smaller villages it starts around 8 in the evening with the bonfire and leftover from the current harvest are thrown into the bonfire for good luck and then they party into the night.
Tomorrow we have a free day so I can't wait to see a little bit of the city. The plan is to go to a local market where they have shopping but also entertainment and food from all regions of india. Finally I will get to take some good pictures for the blog. The pics above are from the inside of our car and not so clear.
No comments:
Post a Comment