Finally, a hamburger!

“Who was that?” Chad asked.

“I don’t know. Just someone who wanted to meet me,” I said.

Chad titled his head and gave me his patented That-Makes-No-Sense-At-All look. If you know Chad, you know that look.

I let him stew on it a moment, but not too long. I didn’t want him to have an internal null pointer exception or anything. That would be one stack trace no one could debug.

“It happens to me all the time,” I said.

“What does?”

“Random people just walking up and wanting to meet me.”

Chad laughed. It was a real laugh, but it lacked sincerity. “Yeah, right,” he said.

Here’s what had just happened. We were at a sightseeing location when out of the clear blue, some stranger walked up to me and stuck out his hand for me to shake. I hesitated for a second, but he jerked his hand closer and I got the feeling he was insisting. I thought nothing of it and shook the guy’s hand.

His family was standing behind him. They were all smiling ear to ear, faces glowing with twinkles in their eyes.  Before letting go of my hand, the gentleman looked me square in the eyes and said something to me. I couldn’t quite make out what he said, but I’m sure it was along the lines of “You are a great man and should be honored daily. My life has been nothing until the moment I met you. Just being around you has blessed me and my family for eternity. Thank you, thank you, thank you.”

I sighed. “Look, Chad,” I said, “if it makes people feel better to meet me, shake my hand, and be in my presence, then the least I can do is try to accommodate them. I owe mankind something, don’t I”

Chad rolled his eyes. “Oh, here we go,” he said.

“Hey, it’s not easy being me,” I said. “It’s a very heavy responsibility being who I am. It’s quite a load to carry.”

Another laugh from Chad. Much more sincere this time. “Yeah,” he said. “It’s quite a load, alright, but not the kind of load you’re referring to.”

Chad just doesn't understand that I'm a "people person." In general, it’s hard for people to accept my greatness……

The last couple of days have been long, being at the office rather late. Chad and I heard that one of the bars in the hotel serve an actual hamburger and fries. WE stopped in to try it out. It wasn’t bad, but it was definitely Indian-ized. The fries were terrific, but the burger was a bit soggy, I guess. It was good, but it wasn’t a good ‘ole American cheeseburger, which I’m really jonesing for right now.

The burger wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t the best I’d ever had either. Go figure…… the meat was kind of mushy.

Afterwards, we hit the bar for a few Kingfishers. Must be the time change because regardless of beer, work, whatever, at about 10:00, I am absolutely zonked and ready for sleep. So, needless to say, we didn’t make it a late night.

So, have you ever gone out drinking, looked at your pictures the next day, and found one that makes you think, “What the hell?” Well, these two fall into that category.

 

The sad part is, it looks as though I’m enjoying it…..

I snapped this one while I was attending the video conference between the offshore folks in Chennai and the Madison folks.

 

Today (Friday) is our last day in the office, and it’ll be a short one. At 2:00 we head out to a flea market/bazaar thingy with about 100 local vendors. That should give me plenty of chances for trouble.

If I don’t get arrested, we’re also going to check out the Harley Davidson shop for some t-shirts.

Lastly, for today, I want to do a call out to Beth, Rachel, and David out in the San Francisco area. We may get a chance to meet you folks when we visit in February. But until then, make sure to take care of Izzy! She’s like the cows of India – Sacred! We love and miss her immensely.

Until the next post, Cheers!

 

Hugs and kisses to Double L.

Dave.

Pictures

Hey folks,

I've been feeling a little under the weather the last day or so. Nothing serious, just a sore throat, a cough, and some sinus congestion. Must be from all the fun I'm having. As my buddy Rich, so eloquently put it in a comment to my last post, it has nothing to do with food or bowels.

Anyway, thought everyone might enjoy some pictures rather then my incoherent musings.

Enjoy!!


This is one of Chad at the O'Hare ticket counter before our first leg. We were booked on business class, so pay close attention to Chad's aggressive interpretation of "Business Casual." Quite the trend setter.

Me scoring another brewski at the British Airways premium lounge at O'Hare.

These are the entry stairs at our hotel. They are monstrous. Chad and I have a bet to see who is the first one to stumble down them drunk....

A bus we saw one morning. It was so crowded that it was leaning at about a 30 degree angle. We saw another one where people were actually hanging on the sides!

Thought about eating here one evening, but I was the only one who considered it a good idea. Unfortunately, we didn't stop.

 

Me looking pretty cool at a temple they took us to see. Had to go barefoot (or socks) around the whole thing. I threw the socks away afterwards.

 

I wanted to drive the taxi (remember, the driver's side is opposite of that in the states), but they said I was too sober to get behind the wheel. Even when I resolved that issue, they still wouldn't let me drive.

 

Motorcycles seem to outnumber automobiles over here about 3 or 4 to 1. There are tons of them. And what's interesting is that they really load them down, with multiple riders at one time. Here's a couple of shots of motorcycles with entire families on them, cruising down the roads in this horrendous traffic at regular speeds. Four people to a motorcycle seems about as common as a 3-leaf clover -- they're everywhere. We're watching for one that has five people on it....... and notice that the dad always has the helmet.

 

Me looking at some relic at an ancient church they took us to. The same thing happened years ago when my band went to Kiev, Ukraine. The officials took us to all these temples and ancient monasteries and such. And although they're interesting to look at, I want to find the sleazy bars with the live, loud bands. That's where the real fun is at!

Random cow on the road, of which there are many. They seem to come out in the morning, disappear during mid day, then reappear again in the evening. Not sure why this one has painted horns. Don't think this guy would make much of a burger.

These are tuk-tuks. I really want to drive one, even if it's only around the parking lot of the hotel. Our hosts are scoffing at the idea, but I've got hundreds of rupees burning a hole in my pocket (about $10), so I'm betting some industrious tuk-tuk operator will work with me on the deal. Our hosts have no idea what they're up against...... I always want the cookie that I'm told I can't have!

Alright, that's it for today. More to come soon. Oh, and by the way, it was in the mid-80's today with the same expected pretty much all week. I have to say, really nice weather.....

Love and kisses to Double L,

Dave.


 

Day 1..... I'm in India.

The temperature was barely ten degrees above zero. I dragged my suitcase across the parking lot to where the Van Galder bus stood idling at the Park & Ride on Broadway and Route 51. The large doors on the right side of the bus were open, revealing the cavernous areas located in the bowels of the vehicle used to store passenger luggage while in transit. The driver stood alongside the open doors and blew into his cupped hands, shifting his weight from side to side, both in a useless attempt to stay warm.

I dropped my bags at his foot.

“What terminal?” He asked.

“International,” I said, “and thanks.” I then quickly sought the interior of the warm bus.

Chad had saved me a seat next to him about halfway down the aisle. I stowed my laptop in the overhead compartment and plopped down in the aisle seat.

“You ready for this?” He asked.

I shrugged. “As ready as I’ll ever be, I guess. Doesn’t matter. ” I sighed. “Looks like it’s gonna happen.”

He nodded, and then looked out the side window.

Having apparently decided that all the riders were aboard, the driver heaved the baggage doors shut. One door would slam down, and then a locking mechanism was heard turning into place. All three doors went down and locked with equal amounts of time between each. It was obviously not the first time the driver had done this. There was a definite cadence in the maneuver, a rhythm acquired over many years of repetition.

The driver stomped up the stairs and stood facing the riders. He leaned forward a tad to peer out the side window. Satisfied that no last minute passenger was running towards the bus, he said, “Okay, let’s go.” He then hiked up his pants as he turned towards the front of the bus and parked his ass on the worn out upholstery of the seat. He pulled a handle and the door shut, sealing me inside.

Sealing my fate.

Blocking my last chance of egress. My last chance to escape.

A ting of adrenaline raced through me when I heard the door whoosh shut.  My heart skipped not one, but several beats. I wiped the cold, clammy sweat from my brow. This couldn’t be happening. I couldn’t actually be going to India.

But I was going to India. I really was.

And now I am in India…….

I got here on British Airways from Chicago to London to Chennai. Round trip, including layover and bus ride, totaled about 24 hours. The flight from London to Chennai was ten hours. It reminded me of the lyrics “that’s a long time to hang in the sky” from a John Denver song called Starwood in Aspen,

The good thing is that the company splurged for business class tickets. And let me tell you, after going business class, I’m not sure I can ever go back to being one of the riff-raff riding in coach. No comparison.

Private TVs; beds that lay flat; enormous leg room; impeccable attention by the flight attendants; lots of overhead storage; and -- in theory – better food. Actually the food quality, by airline standards, was excellent, especially the deserts. But the selection was not designed for my finicky pallet. On the second flight, the combined choices for lunch and dinner were curry, lamb, fishcake, salmon, or crawfish, none of which I would ever consider eating. As a matter of fact, I became unbelievably nauseous each time a flight attendant prepared or served one of the seafood dishes. The noxious fumes permeated the recycled air of the cabin until everything seemed to smell like some species of aquatic creature unfit for consumption.

I settled for three rolls, two deserts, two glasses of wine, and four beers. And lots of sleep.

Another nicety is that the turbo-fans on the Boeing 777 are incredibly quiet. Other then take-off, engine noise was barely perceptible. But on the first leg, I was seated backwards in the club seating configuration. That is an unsettling experience. I would rather sit facing forward. Just as in life, I prefer to see where I’m going and not where I’ve been.

The entire Sentry Insurance entourage and luggage arrived safe and sound on Sunday morning around 1:30am India time (that’s about 2:00pm Saturday, Madison time). We were met outside the airport building by some of the Cognizant staff (contracting firm we are here to work with). They had taxis waiting and we were soon off to the hotel, which was an experience all of its own. I plan to talk more about the insane traffic over here in a later post, but just as a primer, let me say that we ran three red lights just on the way to the hotel.

And our taxi was not the only vehicle doing such things. We saw others speeding through red lights without a second glance. Seems there is very little regard for any type of traffic law or consideration in this country. Our “hosts” made it crystal clear that we are not allowed to drive while we’re here.

But they don’t have to worry about that. I have no intention of getting behind the wheel of any vehicle. Except maybe one of those three wheeled taxis called a tuk-tuk. Our hosts don’t seem to express any overwhelming enthusiasm for this idea. They just look at me with a rather sour expression on their faces.

“That is not such a good idea, Mr. Dave,” they say.

But for the right amount of rupees, I bet I could find a tuk-tuk operator willing to work with me on the idea. I just need to get out on my own a bit and see what I can stir up……

Right now it’s Sunday night. Because of Republic Day here in India (similar to our 4^th of July, Republic Day is a celebratory day to recognize India’s independence from England – seems like half the world has told the British to go pound sand), the day has been dry.

That’s right – no alcohol sales.

Of any kind!!

This Indian version of a blue-law should clear itself sometime tomorrow…… hopefully. There are eight bars in this monstrosity of a hotel, and I’d hate to think that I couldn’t have a beer in each one of them all because India had grown some balls 50-60 years ago and tossed out the Brits.

With tomorrow’s blog post, I’ll try and post a few pictures. I haven’t taken very many yet, but I’ll dig up what I have anyway. Chad probably has some better ones, but I’m too proud to ask him to send them to me. You could check his FaceBook page – he said he was going to upload them.

I know some of you think that going to India would be a good experience for me. I’m beginning to think all of you were correct. But not for the reasons you think…..

 

Hugs and Kisses to Double L,

Dave.

 

Cleared for Takeoff!

After several months of planning and countless hours of complaining, the big day is finally upon us. Lord willing and the creek don’t rise, at 5:05 PM tomorrow, Friday, January 24th, on one of the six monster runways at O’Hare field in Chicago, a Boeing 777, owned by British Airways, will accelerate down the airstrip, point its nose towards the heavens, and lead the rest of the massive aircraft into the sky. Somewhere inside the mighty plane, sprawled out in the opulent business section, sipping a cold beer while trying to figure out how to operate the video player, I will be on the first travel leg of my trip to Chennai, India. I don’t know what to expect, nor, for that matter, does India. I invite you to come along for the ride. But please.... for everyone's sake ….. try to keep an open mind…….