So far, I've written about the early travel logistics that slowed down my progress as well as challenged my patience. I haven't written much about the country.
Amazingly, I arrived in Bangalore around 4 in the morning on Wednesday, the 9th of August. It is fortunate that a representative from the hotel was waiting for me and escorted me to the car which would take me to the hotel. The airport in Bangalore is not like airports you would find in the US -- complete with signs leading you to the various venues where you'd find customs, baggage, ground transportation, rental cars, shuttle buses and the like. The airport basically exits to the street, which was alive and happening even at this early hour.
The driver was very enthusiastic about showing me around in a little pre-dawn tour of the city. I could see remnants of the British Empire, which conjured up images of the aristocracy cushioned in a relatively plush existence compared to the lifestyle of the majority. I kept looking for the shimmering oasis that Thomas Friedman wrote about, but I never saw it. (I was informed by one of my customers after returning that EC1 and EC2 are outside of the metropolitan area, and about a 45-minute shuttle bus ride from town.)
In one of the travel books that I scanned before travel, I read about how the locals would enjoy talking about family, politics and values. Not being informed about current Indian politics, I stuck to the things I could talk about. The driver was delighted to tell me about his two children and wife, and how they are practicing Catholics. At the end of the ride, I offered him 200 INR (about $4.30 US) and he offered to be my driver to any destination I desired.
I was very happy to find the hotel, Le Meridien, to be a most suitable facility (quite pricey at $290 US/night and most certainly over-priced). It was good to get a couple of hours to settle in, check e-mail, etc. before meeting with my colleague at 8:00.
Short nights and long days were the norm for this trip, which I will continue to describe in subsequent posts.
These are the things that I think about, based on the things that I either do now or want to do in the near future. Occasionally, I write something that other people may find interesting. Mostly, I do this as a form of self-expression.
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