Anh went to India TWICE and all I got was this lousy tshirt...

NOT!! Does Gary look Indian or what?! He got a kick out of the pants, it was a combo of skirt and pants. You see less of this in the city but here in the countryside was all the older men wear them.

he lovely faces of India

This little girl was ADORABLE!! She got a kick out of being photographed but her brother was a little shy. The old lady was sitting on the steps of the temple and didn't mind my snappy a picture, especially when I gave her some bills afterwards.

Fort Shaniwarwada in Old Pune

This is a peaceful place in the midst of busy old Pune. The sounds of honking vehicles can be heard, they do love their horns here. This mansion was built over 300 years ago and most are in ruins. The grounds are quite lovely. I noticed that it was a popular place for young couples who could be seen sitting quietly under the shade of the many trees surrounding the area.

Agakhan Palace

Saturday, March 12

I had a free day today so a day tour around Pune sounded like a good idea. I had asked the hotel concierge to give me some info on group tours bu the offered up one of their drivers to take me around for a half day for only $24. Turned out to be a great deal. My driver Hemant was so great! Each place we went to he would walk with me to buy my tickets, act as interpreter and would try his best to be a guide. His english was not so great but good enough to get the point across.

We started out at 9 in the morning so early enough to enjoy the cool temp. First place was Agakhan Palace which is know for the place of internment for Ghandi, his wife and his personal secretary. They were kept prisoner for almost 2 years back in 1943. His wife and secretary died here during that time so they buried Ghandi here as well. The grounds were beautiful with huge banon trees. The museum was nice and simple. I was the only one there for the first half hour. I saw the place where they kept the ashes of Ghandi and his wife. It was interesting to read about his endless energy and dedication to bring about human equality. The guy looked like he weighed 60 lbs, he looked fragile. I'll have to watch that movie with Ben Kingsley when I get back.

It was cool to walk around the peaceful gardens with the birds chirping and the sounds of the sweepers in the background. The sweepers here use a big broom made of big long branches so they make a scratching sound.

And now we move on the the fort in old Pune....

We had the best meal EVER!!

Friday, March 11

Our Indian colleagues took us out to dinner at a nice vegetarian restaurant on MG road. It was served thali style and the food was endless. My favorite was the eggplant. The desserts were yummy (last picture) too bad I was so full. It was fun to enjoy a nice meal with our colleagues. They are such a nice group of people. I decided to not take a cooking class since I couldn't be sure about the hygiene part so I made everyone promise to email me a favorite recipe. Madhuri told me she has 300! Hopefully they will come through, I would love to make some of these delicious dishes!

Coming up for air...

The security guards at the plant salutes us at the end of each day as we leave, how great is that?!! In all ways we get treated like VIPs here. I swear, my head has gotten really big here. There's a guy that deliver coffee, tea or coke whenever we want. Sometimes he delivers it even if we didn't ask for it! The day after Rafael was sick he said that his stomach was recovering they sent the security guard to town to get him some gokum juice which was supposed to be good for the indigestion.

We finally finished! Our final discussion yesterday afternoon went very well and we finished one day early. The plant was also having safety week and the final day was yesterday. They asked us to participate in judging some contest and had us hand out the awards and prizes. I had so many pictures of me taken with the winners it was a bit embarrassing. With all the employees watching the plant manager asked us to say something to the group. First of all, I'm not that good at speaking in front of a group and to do it on the spot was not enjoyable. Regardless I think I managed to say something halfway decent and complimented the people.

I was able to send our reports to germany last night so today we are able to catch up with regular work (and I could catch up with my blog big time!). It's been nice having Rafael as a partner. He is young but very smart. Even though he came to learn supply chain from me, I also learnt a lot from his finance and purchasing background. I think he will have a bright future with hkl. He has a chinese girlfriend and loves all things asian. He's travelled to asia many times and knows more about the asian culture than me! I was impressed to learn that he actually spoke chinese.

I will miss our drive to the plant. The countryside held such interesting scenery. It is so lush with so many different types of plants. You can see fields of different crops - sugar cane, corn, guava, pineappe, papaya, cantalopes, etc. When you are in Pune or Jejuri there are fruit and vegetable stands every 10 feet. The climate here is temperate so that they can enjoy it year round. I can't imagine someone buying a box of frozen vegetable here!

I also love seeing all the women in their sarees. In big cities like mumbai or dehli you would commonly see girls in jeans but here all the women wear the saree or punjab. I loved all the vibrant colors and designs. Most are fancy and full of sparkly beads and looked like they are going to a party. It's especially strange for me to see a woman in a beautiful flowing saree standing outside her home which happens to be a big tarp covered tent in a middle of a vacant field. The homes here are mixed. You see a range of stucco houses (not so often) or a small square room made out of metal sheets (more often) or tents with roofs made out of tarps and cloths (just as often). or one room stuccos with dirt floors. Most don't have indoor plumbing so there are lots of people carrying pots of water from community wells on their heads. If you don't appreciate what you have just come visit for a little while and it will change you forever. It just boggles my mind on such inequality on standards of living throughout the world.

I will miss our daily lunch at the plant

This picture is of Rafael and Datta who is in charge of the plant. Everyday around 1 we have lunch in the cantine. They cook the food fresh and it is always vegetarian. I have loved everything so far. We typically get 3 small bowls that are refilled throughout our meal. The ingredients are local and so fresh. They serve freshly made papads and chapati breads and then give you a scoop of rice towards the end of the meal to eat with the soupy dahl. I will miss a server bringing me a warm bowl of water to rinse my fingers! Just imagine my colleagues just getting a sandwich and a bag of chips when they visit us!

Shopping with a local

Sunday, March 6

When I told my colleagues what I paid for some things I bought the first weekend they just laughed and said I paid too much. I also told them I had a hard time finding a place that sold men's traditional clothes. Madhuri offered to take me shopping where I can find what I needed for cheaper prices. I'm no dummy so ofcourse I took her up on it! Madhuri picked me up at the hotel in one of the motor rickshaw, which I really love, so much more fun than a boring taxi. We rode through town, away from the nice touristy hotels to an older neighborhood. Let's put it this way, throughout our time I did not see one foreigner. Since Madhuri was with me I really enjoyed walking around the streets. It was also nice to have her as translator. In each shop she would speak to the people in Marathi (their local language in this region) and suddenly I have what I wanted. First we stopped at a shop where we bought some casual indian clothes for Gary. Then we walked to an area of local shops where I bought some scarves for gifts. Damn, the scarves I bought last weekend were 4 times as much! We stopped to get some uncooked papads that I could take home. During the lunches at the plant they noticed how much I enjoyed eating the fresh baked papads and so they made sure Madhuri took me to a place where I could buy some to take home. Finally we went to a nice shop where they sell fancy traditional outfits for men. Some were so intricate and beautiful and went for 500 dollars. I think they were more for weddings .I decided on a less fancy one for gary but it was still very beautiful. The shopkeeper must have taken out a dozen sample to show me. It was a lot of fun to see them all. I have no idea if Gary will ever have an occasion to wear this but I wanted him to have something beautiful. We will just have to find some indian friends at home, or else crash in on an indian wedding!

I had lunch Thali style

Friday, Feb 4

Today the ops mgr Prasad took me on a visit to a contract manufacturer that makes one of our products. It was a small factory in the industrial part of Pune. We drove through some really pretty scenery with tree lined streets. The owner was this 70 year man who was pretty fit and sharp for his age . They served us chai tea and we had small chats for at least 20 before I could do what I came to do which was to just walk around and check on their facility. My part was done quickly enough so they took advantage and talked business with Prasad. I saw that it's a very casual way of doing business, there was no powerpoint presentations or formal agreements. The owner would ride Prasad pretty hard about giving him more business and whipped out his notebook and quoted something that was said 5 years ago! It was just some hand written notes on a ledger!

Afterwards they insisted on taking us to lunch. He was very proud that this was lunch in the best hotel in this part of town. It looked like an equivalent of a motel 8 at home but I took his word for it. Our lunch was thali style which means you are served a big silver platter that typically carries an ensemble of small metal ramekins of different types of dishes. It's typical in southern India and usually only vegetarian. As soon as you sit down there are various servers that would come and start filling up your ramekins. I loved it, each dish was a burst of flavor. There were different types of dahl and curries and vegies. There was also this delicious milk dish with fresh fruits. They also brought us at least 6 different kinds of roti (bread). I learned to put my hand over the dish so they would stop filling up my ramekins. Throughout our meal these servers would appear out of nowhere to fill up your plate. You get distracted for one minute and your plate is suddenly full again, it's magic! I think this is the one country where I could easily become a vegetarian. At home being a vegan would mean boring salads and hummus and soy bean burgers. Here there are hundreds of veg dishes that would keep your palate happy. I have eaten chicken maybe once since I have been here and find that I don't miss meat that much.

And one falls victim to the indian food.....

Yep, last sunday Raf fell deathly ill from something he ate. We are still debating on what. That sunday we had lunch at a nice restaurant near our hotel. He ordered a kashmiri chicken dish and I ordered a fish dish. As usual we shared our food. It was SO good! That night Raf was vomiting and had severe diarhea. He felt that it was the chicken and I disagreed because I had the chicken and felt fine. He did eat more of the chicken and maybe that made the difference. I think it was more because of the other food he was eating. The night before, after our trip from the caves I decided to stay in and had room service. Raf decided to venture out and went to a bakery where he bought some some calzones and other baked stuff. He also ate some local sweets from the bakery. He did take me the bakery when we went to lunch the next day and it looked nice enough. Still, I follow my strict rule of not eating anything that has not just been cooked. I think this was more the reason why he was sick. Anyway, poor Raf had to go to the hospital on Monday morning to get medications and he was in bed the whole day. That night I had to go to the store to buy him some carbonated water and some bananas and crackers. He did go to work with me by Tuesday but did not eat anything but plain rice. Actually I wanted to kill him when he followed someone's advice and put yogurt on his rice at lunch. Doh! I reminded him later that my doctor at home told me to not eat the yogurt here (she's from india herself) and to just eat warm cooked food. That night he was feeling a little weak from not eating anything substantial the past 2-3 days and wanted something with lots of calories. He told me that he was going to go to McDonalds for a burger (chicken). I told him NO! Of all the things for him to eat after such an experience is to eat something from a junk food place and so heavy and greasy. I literally begged him to just stick to boring but safe hotel food. Today is Friday and Raf is finally eating normal again. Poor thing, before this happened he was loving all the food we have been eating and now I think this traumatic experience has scared him a little bit. These past few nights he has opted to just eat hotel food.

Sweet tea is a sign of importance

When we are at the plant there is a "tea guy" who brings a tray of hot tea with milk and sugar (chai). He comes around the plant 2-3 times a day or upon request. I have tried to drink it but find it too sweet. I made a comment to my Prasad who said that he finds it sweet as well. He then told me that it's possible that they made it sweeter than usual because of us. In homes sweet tea is a guessture of the importance of the guest. Sugar provides energy and they want to provide this to the guest.

Rafael and I have our own driver who takes us from the hotel to the plant and back each day. We get to the plant by 8:30 and the driver basically waits for us all day until we are ready to leave around 5:30pm. The plant manager actually encourages us to leave this time of the hour and a half drive back is done in daylight and less dangerous. He is right, there were a couple of days when we just couldn't leave in time and our drive was in the dark. There are no street lights, no road dividers, huge potholes, people walking in the streets, mopeds going on wrong side of the road, cows, oxen, goats, sheeps wandering along the road, etc. So you can have an idea how alert you have to be while driving. At night it's just harder to see all of these hazards.