Travels to India

For years I have worked with software developers in Europe and India. Three years ago we met in Germany for a planning meeting, and this May I learned that I would be going to Hyderabad, capital of Andhra Pradesh state, in south-central India for training, and to work with a team for a week.

I left Lane End on a cool summer evening, preparing for a late all-night flight to Dubai, and spending most of the following day awaiting a flight to Hyderabad. Flying east, it was about 24 hours door to door, but I gained 5 ½ in timezones. That’s right: 5 ½. India is quite wide (East to West); it might conform to the timezones used by countries around it, but has chosen its own, in order to have a single zone for the whole country.

Dubai is quite an airport: placed right on the Gulf, it is a nexus for flights to/from Europe, Africa and the Far East. It is a bright, 24/7 arcade of global shopping full of travellers from every culture either hiding from the glare of the global consumer culture, or reveling in it.

Hyderabad is known for five things: high-tech-development – which is why I was heading there -- pearls, Hyderabadi Chicken Biryani, and Golconda Fortress.

Just one anecdote about the high-tech bit: My company has about 250 people working in two buildings in Hyderabad, and our operations are dwarfed by many global technology names you’d recognize. India has many many young people who are very very smart, and looking for a place in hi-tech business.

Plans for one of my two Saturday mornings in Hyderabad were very slightly disrupted, as my colleagues had to deal with an unexpected ruckus at the office. It seems we expected to have some job openings, and word had gotten out that the doors would be open for an informal, un-scheduled “meet and greet” session for recent college graduates. Our people work long days during the week (by western standards), and the office isn’t normally open on Saturdays, but a few people would be on hand.


Saturday morning came, and there was a near riot, as literally hundreds of upwardly mobile, ambitious young graduates descended on the building, spilling out onto the busy city street, jostling with each other to try to get their resume accepted and make an impression on one of our people. English people wait patiently in queues and complain mournfully. That is DEFINITELY not what Indians do(!!) There was no loss of temper or violence, but it was more than anyone had bargained for.

I’ve posted a variety of pictures, with some commentary on each, but I’m doing something different than in other blogs: sharing these on FLIKR(!) If you've not used it before, I suggest you click on pictures individually, as you'll also see some comments about each.

• The Adventures in India album shares a few photos of the markets and old buildings of Hyderabad.

• We had a fascinating side trip to a small village well outside Hyderabad, and you can read about Weaving in India.

• On my last weekend in town my colleague Raji took me down into the marketplace for some shopping, and Venkat guessed my interest in getting out of doors. So he took me “bouldering” with an Adventuring group of which he is part; as the website says: "Durgam Cheruvu (Secret Lake) is a small picnic spot behind Hyderabad’s IT hub, the Hi Tech City. The place consists of a lake surrounded by rocks and hills of small size which make the scenery photo perfect. You can climb these rocks, spend time in garden, go boating or just sit around watching nature."
  I hope you'll enjoy looking at my pictures and descriptions of Shops and Boulders.
  
  There's a brief glimpse into what I saw of India: I could tell many tales, and am intensely curious to go back and to experience more of this huge country and diverse people.
  
  That’s all for now.
  

So, What's the Plan?

OK, well you might ask: what are these guys doing, anyhow? Where are they headed? Well, both of us have resolved to post some blog material about our excellent adventures in our final summer in UK. (I say UK because we’ve made it to various bits of England, Wales, and Scotland since June, and perhaps Northern Ireland and Ireland are in the immediate future as well.)

With many more country paths left to take, we are planning to leave our home in Lane End by the end of October. Every day brings a new twinge of regret for friends we may not see again and church spires we won’t climb. But life is short, and we’re moving on. Two things have molded our future: First, my employment requires that I be back in the US by the first of the year. Second, our weeks in Andalusia last winter led us to again long for a Mediterranean sun instead of English gloom in the short days of winter.


We have bought a European (left drive) car, christened “Bluebell,” in honor of the flowers that herald English summer. We are finalizing the insurance for driving it to Italy, and are selling our trusty British (right drive) Corsa.

We’ll spend the next 4-5 weeks winding up business here, we’ll pack up the car, and drive down to Dover together in the third week of October. I’ll see Ellie off on the ferry, likely explore the wartime tunnels in the cliffs, and catch a train back to Lane End. (I have business that will keep me here through at least the 26th.)

Ellie’s daughter Sophie leaves for Germany in a week or two, travelling with friends to see sights and learn some about European farming. The plan is that she will meet up with Ellie in France in roughly five weeks – more specific plans will unfold.

Ellie and Sophie will make their way to Italy, with Ellie hoping to finalize plans to stay with some friends, or to find cheap flops. I will finalize affairs and vacate the cottage here the the end of October , and fly somewhere to meet them. Cheap one-way flights make Venice seem attractive, perhaps for a few days.

One way or another we’ll all end up in Puglia at our rental near Ostuni (in Puglia, south-eastern Italy), in early November, and will make a nest at Casa di Nonna.


Hopefully we entertain guests and explore for 2 months. We have English, German, Polish, and Greek friends we hope will visit during that time – not to mention family members, and a tentative invitation for Christmas in Naples.

I will fly from Rome to NYC on 4-January, and will likely lay my head in northern Alabama for a few months, working at the “home office.” That seems more friendly than doing a lot of irritating whining about winter, which you’d hear if I came back to Vermont. Ellie will stay on in Italy studying Italian language and culture, and entertaining friends.

Ellie packs up everything in Italy and sells Bluebell by the end of March and flies home. Our home in Cabot will be available to us in April, and we’ll settle back in.

Perhaps. We’ll see. . . . .