Greetings from Pune, India. I've been in India since the wee hours of last Saturday, arriving in Bangalore in Karnataka Province, in southern India. That's where I'd worked in January of 2003 and send back emails describing what I saw, thought, and experienced. It was a fun trip, though not all fun.

The current trip started out purely as fun. I went to Bangalore to visit Rohith Rajagopal and his wife Sruthi (Shrouthee, the t and h not acting as English th, but just as themselves. Same in Rotith's name.) I'd gone to Bangalore in 2003 to complete transfer of the project I'd worked on for 9 years to India. Rohith is a very bright and able programmer who took my place. He was a pleasure to work with. He was single at the time and so I had not met Sruthi. When he got married I hoped it would be to someone as nice and capable as himself. Meeting her this trip was a great pleasure. She is a lovely and bright young lady. Another friend, Sethu, who is great fun and had, at the end of the last trip, wanted me to return to Bangalore soon, phoned me just a day or two before I left on this trip. He was in Chicago, working temporarily on an assignment. That was unfortunate timing.

Rohith and Sruthi met me at the Bangalore airport shortly after midnight last Saturday. We drove to their apartment, or almost there. We parked in front of Sruthi's parents' house and walked the last two short blocks. Parking there is easier and so they do that regularly. They have a nice two bedroom apartment that reminds me a little of the duplex I lived in while in grad. school when I was first married. Though I didn't know it at the time, they gave me their bedroom to use. The bed was large and just the same firmness as my bed back in Texas. That was sure comfortable!

In the morning I got up, not too awfully late, and showered. Rohith had mentioned the night before that the shower didn't work, but I turned it on anyway to see what was wrong. There was water. Ah, but it didn't get hot. I took a cold shower, but maybe I should say cool. In southern India it isn't like snow melt.

We had a very nice homemade Indian breakfast. The toast and jam was familiar but the way the eggs were prepared and the rest was not. It was all good. I read the newspaper while they cooked and got ready. Many of the news stories were the sort of thing one might read in Dallas. One you would not likely read in Dallas, at least not yet, was about the upcoming holiday, Ganpati, that is a ten day celebration honoring the god Ganesh. He has the head of an elephant and is known as the remover of obstacles. The celebration started the next day.

We were going to Lalbagh Gardens, a lovely park in Bangalore. First we walked the short distance to Sruthi's parent's house. We went in and met her mom. She's a delightful lady who teaches and, I believe Rohith said, runs a school. She brought out cookies and offered me something to drink, with coffee being one option. Now I never have coffee in the U.S., but Indian coffee is special. There was a little machine in the lunchroom in the office in 2003 that made instant Indian style coffee at the push of a button. Rohith had told me on a visit to Lalbagh Gardens back then how the real thing is made by boiling the milk and mixing about half coffee and half milk. Then some sugar is added. Even the instant version was delicious, but Sruthi's mom's coffee had it beat by a kilometer, maybe by a mile. I had two and a half cups. Yum! Sruthi's mom invited me to dinner, not knowing that I'd be leaving the next day. When Rohith told her she said to come back, stay longer, and come to dinner then. I know I'd enjoy that.

We next drove toward Lalbagh Gardens and, though we'd just had breakfast only 2 or 3 hours before, we were first headed to a famous restaurant for lunch. There was no parking by the restaurant. It took a bit of looking to find a place to park. We actually walked through a corner of Lalbagh Gardens to get to the restaurant. Meals are served there in the same fashion as the Christmas meals in Norse or Cranfills Gap, Texas. All the tables are filled at once, and it's a large place. Everyone is served the same meal. Everyone leaves and the next group is seated. I think there were about twenty different items served, more or less sequentially. Rohith warned me away from three really spicy items, and the rest were great. Rohith has commented on visits to the U.S. that the serving sizes are ridiculously large. But, they are no larger than the quantity of food we were served in this restaurant, and Rohith admitted as much. What a nice, large meal!

Then we went to Lalbagh Gardens to spend some time and enjoy the scenery. We stopped first at a little shop where Sruthi bought some of the sweet that I'd liked so much in the restaurant and gave it to me. It is ground almonds and a sweetener, but doesn't taste like marzipan at all. It may be that the sweetener is jaggery, an Indian sugar product. As we walked to the garden I tried a little taste of betel nut which was served at the restaurant at the end of the meal, in a little package to go. It was interesting and turned our mouths slightly red, but I didn't really like it.

In the gardens we saw a couple trees with enormous diameters. I couldn't help but think of Mark Twain's "Marcus, King of Liars". These and the glass pavilion I'd seen three and a half years before, but most of what we saw this visit was new to me. At one point we walked along the side of a fenced lake. We sat down on a bench and noticed that there were monkeys in the trees just a little farther along. I walked over with my camera and took some pictures, but I needn't have. The monkeys were headed our may, some by ground and some in the trees overhead. There were some little babies and their mothers and others of various sizes. One sat on a park bench down from ours. There were people on it, but that didn't bother him. Someone gave a piece of banana to one monkey. I got a picture of someone else reaching up with some food to a monkey above, the monkey with one outstretched hand and the other clinging to a branch. It was fun to watch them go by, but when a splat hit the ground not far from us and it was too large to be from a passing bird, we got up and went on. The gardens have interesting plants and are pretty.

We returned home and I'm not sure just what was going on. I remember talking for a while to Sruthi while Rohith was maybe making arrangements for some of the group I'd worked with there in 2003 to get together. The time had been set to meet at T.G.I. Friday's across from the "Diamond District" office buildings and apartment complex, where we had worked in 2003, at 6:00. One of the guys actually showed up at 6:00 I think, long before we were ready to even start for Friday's. Rohith commented, with a wink, that he'd spent too much time in The States. Sruthi reminded Rohith a couple of times that he ought to get going and we finally got off about 7:00 p.m. We were going to take an auto rickshaw, an "auto" as they call them, but it took a while to find a driver who would accept such a short fare. There was one eventually and we found Ram Mennon waiting for us. Ram Iyer, Sachin, Murali, and maybe someone else I'm forgetting at the moment, made it. I didn't recognize Murali. Now he looks like a young man rather than a kid. He had a new car that he came in. We had some things to drink, OJ for me, but nobody was hungry, me least of all. We walked over to a nearby ice cream store and all but I got something. Rohith managed to drink a chocolate milkshake, but where he found room for it after that huge, late lunch I don't know. It must be youth that allows one to do such things.

Murali took us back and dropped us off near Sruthi's parents' house. Sruthi had spent the evening there studying for an entrance exam, something like the Graduate Records Exams in the U.S. Rohith explained. She'd planned to stay the night there, but the light was on when we arrived so Rohith got out his cell phone and called. She waved from the window and then came out and we walked home together.

The next day I got up and took another cool shower. Later that morning the subject of the shower came up and it turned out that it was only the regular shower head in the wall that didn't work. I'd been using the hand held shower head and could have had hot water if only I'd known to turn on the electricity to the heater and wait 15 minutes. Oh, well.

As previously, Sruthi drove when we went to the airport. We saw many idols of Ganesh along one street. They were mostly covered in transparent plastic sheets. Some of them were big, maybe 12 to 15 feet high. Most were about 5 feet high I think. There was no place to park very close to the airport so Sruthi stoped and Rohith and I got out after I said good-by to Sruthiher and thanked her. Rohith showed me where the Jet Airlines ticket desk was inside the airport and then I said good-bye to him. He watched me go through security, and I turned around and we waved, and that was the end of the beginning of the trip.

I'd checked my suitcase and had three items I was carrying: my camera, my fanny pack, and the sweets Sruthi had bought for me. On the other side of security I found that the hand cleaner in my fanny pack was not allowed. I'd expected that in the U.S. and flights going to the U.S. There was certainly heightened security at the Frankfurt airport, though I'd unknowingly walked unimpeded into the area where only ticked passengers to the U.S. were allowed. I'd had some trash and spotted a trash can in there. Anyway, at the Bangalore Airport all carry-ons get a little tag with an elastic band for attaching it. The tags get a purple stamp when the item passes, but I didn't know that at the time. The fanny pack's tag was not stamped because of the hand cleaner. The guards had no idea what hand cleaner was, but I couldn't take it on the plane. So I gave it to them, picked up my pack and went to the seating area by the gate. When it was time to go out to the plane another guard checked all tags to see that they were stamped. When he saw that my fanny pack's tag was not stamped he thought fast. The sweet was in a bag with enough space to hold the pack, so he pointed and said, "Put it in there." I did and went on to board the plane.

An hour and a half later I arrived in Pune, which Google Earth tells me is 66 miles from Mumbai (alias Bombay). I realized, when I saw no familiar faces outside the airport that I didn't have any phone numbers to contact anyone. Three of our Indian group, Raghu, Girijesh, and Puneet, had spent 6 weeks in Dallas and I'd sort of expected to to see one of them, or Vasu, their manager. But they had told me that I would have a car and driver at my disposal while here, and it was the driver they'd sent and he was standing there with a sign. I walked right past him. But as the number of people lessened and I was still standing there, the driver came over and asked if I was "Mr. Garr". This is a polite form of address, and I address him as Mr. Sayed in return.

He took me to the hotel, the Taj Blue Diamond, Pune. The room is very nice, probably the nicest hotel room I've had in my life. Mr. Sayed wasn't sure the office would be open before 10:00 the next day. Things start late here. So he suggested that he pick me up at 9:30 in the morning. I agreed, figuring that I could use the extra time to sleep, though I couldn't sleep.

A different driver picked me up in the morning. Mr. Sayed is owner of the company. We got to work about 10:15. Traffic is awful and the hotel is not near work. Arrangements for my trip were made on fairly short notice and that is the reason for the remote location and the upgrade of the room from "economy class" to fancy. Vasu asked Mr. Sayed if he could be my driver in the future, since it was hard for the other driver and me to communicate. That wasn't necessary, of course, but I've enjoyed talking to him going back and forth. One subject we talked about was the 10 day Ganpati celebration. At the end of the 10 days they take the, usually clay, idols and put them in the nearest large body of water to dissolve. Here in Pune that's one of two rivers. The environmentally conscious, like Mr. Sayed, are unhappy with the rivers being so polluted with the clay and paint from the idols. It kills fish. I guess every family has an idol of Ganesh and business districts buy large ones. So that's a lot of clay and paint being put in the rivers on this coming Tuesday. Mr. Sayed said some people want everyone to use vegetable dye, but the colors aren't as bright, so most people don't.

The day at work was largely unproductive. There was a non-laptop computer in the office, Vasu's office, which he is letting me use. Vasu is sharing the neighboring office with Pradeep. I started installing software on that but got a laptop at the end of the day and started all over again. I did attend several meetings and was introduced to nearly all 70 employees. Worksoft doesn't have that many people here. This company is EMC-i, and about half of their employees work for us. ECM-i was started by a couple of former i2'ers. i2 Technologies, Inc. is my former employer too.

Tuesday and Wednesday were spent in meetings. I conducted 4.5 hours worth of training meetings and others I observed or participated in. Both afternoons there were lengthy discussions in my office.

By noon Wednesday I wasn't feeling like eating at all. That's the norm for Americans visiting India. Hard as you may try you get a drop or two of water inside you and that's it for a while. A while in my case was only 3 days this time, so that's not so bad. But Vasu came in around noon and said that they were going to take me out for lunch. I figured it wouldn't be all that hard to eat something. The food was good and not spicy. I enjoyed it, but eating nothing that day would have been OK too.

Wednesday evening we had phone meetings with supervisors Mike and Dave back in Dallas. I mentioned to Dave, my supervisor, that I'd gotten nothing done of the work he'd assigned me before I left. I'd been setting up the computer, which took till Tuesday evening with the four talks I'd given, the preparation for them, the other meetings, the discussions, and the lunch out. So he told me to stop all those activities and do the two other tasks. I completed them about 1:00 Friday. So now it's back to talks and meetings when Monday afternoon comes again. Monday morning and Sunday we are going on a "trek", which is the term of choice here. It's an overnighter to a camping lodge with nice accommodations, if I understand correctly. It's about 70 km. from here, in forest or jungle. I was told we well have a camp fire. It should be interesting.

And that brings me up to today. I had a visit, at my request, with the hotel doctor, Dr. Dalal. I have a bacterial infection in my head and a viral infection on my lip and cheek. I look pretty bad, and it itches, but I guess I'll recover. Dr Dalal seemed to think so. He wanted me to call him before going out to dinner with Raghu and a couple other people from ECM-i about 7:30. I think it was because I'm allergic to so many antibiotics. If I don't call he can tell the hotel to make funeral arrangements :-)

The rest of the day has been spent at my laptop. I have answered very, very little email since leaving Dallas on Aug. 24th and this is Sept. 2nd. So I answered some personal emails and then began this travel log of my trip. A couple hours ago, while writing, I heard drums and a big commotion. I went out to see where it was but couldn't hear it. I went out to the street, took a couple pictures back at the hotel, and gave up and came in. I'd been out about noon when the room was tidied up for me. I went out the hotel gate, turned left, and thought I'd walk around the block. I walked an awfully long way, but there was no cross street. I came to what they call here a "fly over". It's an over pass that typically crosses several blocks. I turned around there and returned but when I got back I walked along the side of the hotel. There was a tiny plant shop near the front in a room that couldn't have been more that 7 feet by 7 feet. There was nothing else till I got way to the back. There was an open gateway and a couple of guards in front. There was a delivery area to the left and the wall that ran from the road at the front of the hotel on the right. I turned around and went back to my room.

Up in my room the drums continued. I could see a tiny part of the street from my room and noticed that my room was over the alley I'd been walking down shortly before. There was nothing to be seen anywhere. I kept on writing. The drums kept on too. I figured it was a practice for a parade, but I just couldn't figure out where it was. After an hour or two the drums got noticeably louder. I went to my window again and looked out to the road. Nothing. I looked down at the alley and there I saw heads with read in their hair. They were in a rows and columns. I figured that whatever it was, it was what I'd been waiting for, so I grabbed my camera again and went down and out in front.

It was a small parade with dancers, drums of different kinds and a cymbal. At the back was a carriage pulled by an ox with Ganesh in it. The dancers were all boys. There were large fire crackers being set off ahead for the procession. They stepped to perform in the area in front of the hotel. They were fun to watch. At one point someone laid out a string of small fire crackers that was perhaps 25 feet long and lit one end. I took pictures of as much as I could. The people in the procession all had red ocher powder in their hair and on their faces. It was also often on their clothing, probably unintentionally. Now and then a handful of the red dust would be thrown up in the air. Not long before they went out the front gate to the road, a man came by and offered me some of the red dust. After a second he realized that I didn't know just what to do with it or how, so he took some of it between two fingers and reached for my forehead. I leaned forward a bit to show that he could see I was a willing participant in this. Then he smiled at me and went on to see who else needed some ocher.

I took some pictures in the lobby as I went in. I asked the young clerks at the counter if I could take their pictures. They agreed. The young lady was curious to see the result and then didn't think it was very good of her, so I took another and showed her. She had a nice smile this time in the picture and was happy with it.

This laptop of mine doesn't have enough USB ports to take pictures off the camera memory and let me use the keyboard and mouse at the same time. So I think I'll send this out now without pictures and then, when the pictures are on the computer I'll send some pictures to go with this. A couple of you have slower Internet connections so I won't send the pictures to you. I'll show you when I get back or put them on my web site, or both.

I guess that's it for now. I hope things are fine with each and every one of you.

Bye for now,

Garr