Scott Visits India

Sick Days and All About Sandeep

May 19th, 2006 at 3:23 am

Firs off, I put up some pictures that I actually took here in India. The sun is really bright here so I ended up getting some lens glare and really weird contrast, but regardless, there are new pictures online.

Work, work, work, that is all I have been doing. This makes the 4th straight day of straight from hotel to work to bed, I am ready for the weekend! Saturday we have a tripped planned to see the Taj Mahal and some other sites in Agra and then Sunday I think we will try and see some things in Delhi. That is when the real pictures will come.

I am sad to say that Dolores had to go back to the hotel sick today. We had planned to go out for dinner tonight because we have ordered Pizza Hut the past two or three days in a row and wanted something different. Turns out I was stuck on multiple conference calls working and was unable to go so our host ordered us some sandwiches from the cafeteria. When I went in the room where the food was delivered, Dolores had already eaten hers. After looking and seeing that it was mayonnaise and cucumber sandwiches (two things I don’t eat anyway, much less in India), I decided I wasn’t going to risk it. After taking an obligatory bite, I excused myself and went to my desk where I ate tuna and peanut butter crackers. I talked to Dolores when she got back to the hotel and she seemed to be feeling better, so hopefully tomorrow she will be good to go.

Aside from that one bad food experience, so far we have been OK. We have talked to some other people here from the US and are hoping to get a list of “safe” restaurants so we can eat something other than hotel food. I think I could recite the menu to you on command.

We have had some further developments with the locals. Dolores got a call from the guy at the hotel restaurant that wanted to go to the Taj Mahal with us and told her he had looked for us in the cafe for two days now. Turns out we are working the same schedule he is, so we never saw him. She had to tell him that we weren’t going to be able to take him with us because our host company was arranging the trip. I think he was pretty bummed about it. Dolores just keeps turning down the dates!

I also got a chance to talk with Sandeep some on the way home since I was by myself. He can’t speak much English but I did discover that he just had his two year anniversary and will be having his first kid in August. He also is the only one in his house that works and he takes care of his mom and dad too. I can’t imagine supporting a wife and kids in addition to your parents and maybe even your wife’s parents if she has no brothers. Sandeep seems like a very honorable man.

The question of the night is: Do they have casual Friday in India too? The work dress hasn’t been real formal anyway, so I might just role in with shorts tomorrow. Of course I am kidding, but it sure is tempting when I look at the weather and see the high tomorrow is once again over 110 degrees.