India April 2000
Jamnagar, India
April 2000
Dad Squared to India
Warning from your internet server: This is a non-descript generic email intended to make you wish you were enjoying whatever glorious activity or at whatever luxurious locale the sender is currently indulging. Do not be fooled or become envious. Things are never as good as they are portrayed in these types of emails.
Hello from sunny India!
Jade was beginning to get used to me after two weeks as her Dad, so I was promptly instructed by my enslaver to leave the country for three weeks. Rachel said that Jade is learning quick regarding my travel since she was home for four days when I jetted off to India again. Fortunately, PwC has what they call "Work Life Balance" which doesn't give us any time off in the case of a life-altering event, but sounds neat and is supposed to make us feel better about being a slave. With the time change last weekend, India is now only 10 1/2 hours ahead. The year did not change, however; it is still 1955 here. To my knowledge, India is the only country that uses a half hour increment for a time zone. I am certain that the four months I have spent in India have by far been the longest years of my life.
It has gotten at least 20 degrees hotter in Jamnagar since I left three weeks ago. And, it was pretty warm then. Thank a god (pick one of 360 million gods they have here to thank) for the swarms of mosquitoes - at least they block the direct sunlight and keep things cooler. Otherwise, it could be really miserable. With the safety record of the plant, I take comfort in the 100-200 mosquitoes per office. I view them similar to the canaries the miners took into the mines to warn of poisonous gases. As long as their alive and biting me, I know I am safe from harm and that the person monitoring H2S has not fell asleep at the gauge. Of course, when my luggage didn't make it on the company plane from Mumbai, all the mosquitoes dropped dead upon my arrival the third day in the same set of clothes. Fortunately, my luggage has now arrived. It is suspicious that I left it the custody of the company in Mumbai, it was flown on a company plane, driven by the company van and dropped off at the company guest house and yet the locks had been jimmied. I've been suspicious for some time that they are watching and reviewing everything I do. (We are not!) Good thing I'm not paranoid.
I haven't been inundated by beggars lately, so we went into Jamnagar last evening. Actually, it went pretty good. At my last outing to Jamnagar, I looked like the pied piper of beggars. Although it was very frustrating at the time trying to walk or move with about a 15 beggars grabbing my arms or legs, I'm sure others viewed it differently. Especially those with me that waited until I wasn't looking to cut out for the car so I could enjoy their beggars also. Heck, I'll probably look back years from now and find the whole situation still very frustrating. In Mumbai, there is such an excess of people and shortage of land that people sleep on the 3'-4' medians in the middle of the road. At about 1:00 am Monday night in route from the airport to the hotel, I counted over 50 people sleeping on the concrete medians. Hopefully, none of them sleep restless or sleepwalk.
They drive on the left side of the road in India. We were discussing at lunch one day on which side of the road someone should walk. At home we are instructed to walk on the left, opposite traffic flow, but here I noticed that virtually everyone walks on the left with traffic. An Indian joined our group and someone asked him, "Do you walk into opposing traffic here?" He just looked puzzled for a second then replied, "No, I try to avoid walking into any traffic." Touché!
The last time I tried to leave here, the client blocked my ticket and, in effect, caused it to be canceled, because they were afraid that the project would be jeopardized without my presence for three weeks. I had to explain that their health would be jeopardized by my continued presence in Jamnagar when I needed to leave to pick up Jade from China. This time I bought the return ticket in advance with my credit card. I wouldn't say these conditions are the worst I've ever worked in. I would say they are the worst that have ever existed since the beginning of time. Working in a ghetto would be an improvement. Although the building is only about six years old, most of the glass is at least cracked and you can see sunlight through the crumbling walls. Paint is only a suggestion offered by a few flakes that have not yet fallen to the floor. Sitting down without checking the structural integrity of the chair is like playing Russian Roulette with 5 chambers full and one empty. (We've had one on our staff hospitalized for a week when a chair he was sitting in collapsed.) I walked into the conference room yesterday and a rat big enough to bridle, saddle and ride to Mumbai once he stopped bucking was on the conference room table. I'll bet you can guess the first thought that flashed in my mind...MEAT!!! (I've been among vegetarians for too long!) This guy was big enough, however, if he'd said he was thirsty, I'd promptly brought him the soft drink of choice. I just backed out, found the director that was responsible for my interment in India and told him there was a client rep wanting to meet with the big cheese in the conference room.
I am scheduled to be home the day before Easter. But, there's no rules against sending emails to communicate in the meanwhile! Just keep them text only, since when I am fortunate enough to get a connection steady enough for a modem, it is often for a very brief period. Come and visit once I'm home.
-Guru Keith
PS: Resigned from the firm in May 2005 to join an oil drilling company!