Update from India
Meet my friend the hawk, having his breakfast. Have not named him yet. What should I call him?
Sunday -
I was still not feeling well after the lunch and the very hot day yesterday. I really had nothing planned, so I made up my mind to go out and walk around the neighborhood.
There is market place behind the hotel, and it seems to always be full of people so I decided to go there first. As I walked out of my hotel, I thought what am I doing? Most of the vendors were closed, I did find a coffee shop that was open. I looked inside and really wondered if I should go in, I didn’t.
Kept walking thru the market and they were selling food, vegetables and fruits. These were small stalls nothing major. What I was really looking for was a grocery store, to get some provisions. I had some delicious box juices on Saturday and I wanted to get several. I kept walking pass the hotel into the New Friends Colony area, there were some guys playing cricket in a field and I stopped to watch for a few. Kept walking and I decided to take another route to look at the menu of a Chinese restaurant I passed everyday. In order for me to get there I had to pass some homeless people. There I was having a debate alone in my head, I told myself keep walking and if they approached me I would just smile, say Namaste and keep walking.
Looked at the menu, went back to the market and decided to have McD’s for lunch. I had a McVeggie which was good, fries and a coke. I really wanted a Super Size coke, but, they don’t have those sizes’ here yet.
I left McD’s and all of a sudden this homeless kid comes running towards me, he lifts his shirt and points at his stomach, he also makes a gesture that he wants to eat. Just Broke my heart, I kept walking and another 2 kids come running towards me, I’m screwed I thought. Thank God the hotel is only around the corner, I start to pick up my walk and the kids are still on my trail. I reach the driveway entry to the hotel and sighed, the security guard in front of the hotel motioned to the kids to go away.
Walking up the drive I hear a waterfall, I look and there it is, the most beautiful sight, a sparkling pool. I went back to my room and changed, when I got to the pool there were only 3 people in the entire pool area.
I chilled, swam, tanned, swam some more. 3 hours later I go back to my room watch one of my DVD’s did some work, ate some Ramen and that was all for the day.
Monday -
I love what I’m doing for work, I am learning a lot and I finally got my mobile to work, Whohooo!!!! I don’t want to talk about work so much, if I went into details it would spoil what I’m doing, specially since this will impact both FC’s.
Anyway……
I left work at 6p and Ramesh was not there, I waited, I waited and waited. Now is 6:15p I called him and he says, Ok I’ll be there in 20 minutes. I was floored, we never agreed I would call him when I got out of the office, I thought he was going to be there. Oh well, so I stood outside of the FCE, Mathura road gates looking at the traffic, going deaf by the sounds of car horns. Still taking it all in, watched 3 cows walk by, Ok.
He finally arrives with a smile on his face, I can’t be mad. Probably some language miscommunication. I asked him to take me to the Chinese restaurant, we get there and the restaurant is closed. I guess I will eat in my room again.
I check out the room service menu again for the 100th time, hoping they’ve changed it. No such luck.
I ordered, Samduri Rattan which is Plump fresh water prawns, that were marinated in a citric blend of lemon juice, ajwain and green cardamom grilled on a tandoor, I ordered some garlic Nan and a piece of chocolate cake with vanilla ice… yeah I was hungry, I had no breakfast or lunch.
These prawns were the size of petite lobsters, and they were absolutely delicious. Well, my stomach did not care much for them… OMG here we go again.
I will not go into details but I think you know what I mean.
Tuesday
Still not feeling any better, but I decided to go into work. All day my stomach kept making these weird noices and I kept praying that I would not get sick in the office, then it him me… I have the goody bag Nurse Neisha gave me, I looked and I found them, pepto bismol tablets. Hurray, I’m saved. I take 2 then 2 more in 2 hours, so far so good.
I stayed for the whole day, when I left the building Ramesh was there. On the way to the hotel I kept thinking what to eat. I did not want to eat room service again, for my family reading this, yes I said it, can you believe this.
I had 3 options, McD’s, Dominos or Pizza Hut. What I needed was some hearty food with American Flair.
I get to my room looked out of the window and don’t see the kids, I think yes time to go.
As I get closer to Dominos I see no sign of the kids, great.
I ordered my food, they said 10 to 12 minutes, not a problem I’ll wait outside. I start to walk and there on the side of the building are not 3 but about 10 kids, my heart drops, I literally walk slowly backward hoping they did not see me, one did and made a bee line straight to me, crap.
The first thing this kid does is make the I want food gestures, I keep saying no, NO. I also before I left my room I looked up the word No in Hindi, and I could not remember what it was. I walked back into the Dominos store, and he stayed there looking at me begging for food. I was mortified, the workers from Dominos kept looking at me and I just said sorry. If I gave them money, for as long I will be staying at the hotel they would know I could give them money.
Ok, I keep looking out the store and hoping he leaves. Shortly after he left my food was ready, I looked out again one more time and there were no kids around. I step out of the store and out of the corner of my eyes I catch a little girl climbing out of a trashcan, I am not kidding. She saw me, crap, not again. Now I’m thinking how can I say no to food, I have a pizza and 3 cokes.
She makes bee-line straight to me, OH GOD I think. All of a sudden I started thinking mission impossible, all I need is the music now. I walked fast again to the hotel and made it with no problem.
Thank God Dominos delivers, and I got their number.
Around 830p I had a conference call with the Phoenix team, lasted about 1 hour.
Wednesday
Another good day at work, again on the way to the hotel I was thinking what to have to eat. I remember seeing a fast food place called Fast Trak, this was locate in the same marketplace I went to on Sunday. I’m feeling a little more confident going out of the hotel. I ordered a lamb burger, a chicken sandwich and some fries. Went back to my room and ate it…….
An hour later the stomach rumblings started, it was crazy. I guess I was meant to be really sick, and this was it. All night I kept running to the bathroom.
Thursday -
I did not make it to work, due to my stomach problems. I was a little bummed out because we were having a pot lunch and I was bringing the dessert.
I slept all day, kept taking Imodium and pepto.
Got up around 4p thinking what to eat???? WELL?????
I ordered Dominos. I had 4 slices and so far so good. I’m watching the final of Amazing Race 9.
I wanted to experience some local cuisine, however it does not like me. Looks like I will have to live on Ramen soup and jerky. Maybe a pizza now and then.
I’m still kinda tired of eating room service, yes I said it again.
I hope everyone has been enjoying reading this blog.
I will not post again until Sunday.
Saturday I’m headed to Agra to visit the Taj Mahal, should be an awesome day.
Do not worry about me, I only had a small set back with my stomach. I’m getting enough rest and I’ve learned my lesson.
Hey Sarah, I should’ve listened to you. Crackers with peanut butter.
Namskaar ( Good bye )
Sunday -
I was still not feeling well after the lunch and the very hot day yesterday. I really had nothing planned, so I made up my mind to go out and walk around the neighborhood.
There is market place behind the hotel, and it seems to always be full of people so I decided to go there first. As I walked out of my hotel, I thought what am I doing? Most of the vendors were closed, I did find a coffee shop that was open. I looked inside and really wondered if I should go in, I didn’t.
Kept walking thru the market and they were selling food, vegetables and fruits. These were small stalls nothing major. What I was really looking for was a grocery store, to get some provisions. I had some delicious box juices on Saturday and I wanted to get several. I kept walking pass the hotel into the New Friends Colony area, there were some guys playing cricket in a field and I stopped to watch for a few. Kept walking and I decided to take another route to look at the menu of a Chinese restaurant I passed everyday. In order for me to get there I had to pass some homeless people. There I was having a debate alone in my head, I told myself keep walking and if they approached me I would just smile, say Namaste and keep walking.
Looked at the menu, went back to the market and decided to have McD’s for lunch. I had a McVeggie which was good, fries and a coke. I really wanted a Super Size coke, but, they don’t have those sizes’ here yet.
I left McD’s and all of a sudden this homeless kid comes running towards me, he lifts his shirt and points at his stomach, he also makes a gesture that he wants to eat. Just Broke my heart, I kept walking and another 2 kids come running towards me, I’m screwed I thought. Thank God the hotel is only around the corner, I start to pick up my walk and the kids are still on my trail. I reach the driveway entry to the hotel and sighed, the security guard in front of the hotel motioned to the kids to go away.
Walking up the drive I hear a waterfall, I look and there it is, the most beautiful sight, a sparkling pool. I went back to my room and changed, when I got to the pool there were only 3 people in the entire pool area.
I chilled, swam, tanned, swam some more. 3 hours later I go back to my room watch one of my DVD’s did some work, ate some Ramen and that was all for the day.
Monday -
I love what I’m doing for work, I am learning a lot and I finally got my mobile to work, Whohooo!!!! I don’t want to talk about work so much, if I went into details it would spoil what I’m doing, specially since this will impact both FC’s.
Anyway……
I left work at 6p and Ramesh was not there, I waited, I waited and waited. Now is 6:15p I called him and he says, Ok I’ll be there in 20 minutes. I was floored, we never agreed I would call him when I got out of the office, I thought he was going to be there. Oh well, so I stood outside of the FCE, Mathura road gates looking at the traffic, going deaf by the sounds of car horns. Still taking it all in, watched 3 cows walk by, Ok.
He finally arrives with a smile on his face, I can’t be mad. Probably some language miscommunication. I asked him to take me to the Chinese restaurant, we get there and the restaurant is closed. I guess I will eat in my room again.
I check out the room service menu again for the 100th time, hoping they’ve changed it. No such luck.
I ordered, Samduri Rattan which is Plump fresh water prawns, that were marinated in a citric blend of lemon juice, ajwain and green cardamom grilled on a tandoor, I ordered some garlic Nan and a piece of chocolate cake with vanilla ice… yeah I was hungry, I had no breakfast or lunch.
These prawns were the size of petite lobsters, and they were absolutely delicious. Well, my stomach did not care much for them… OMG here we go again.
I will not go into details but I think you know what I mean.
Tuesday
Still not feeling any better, but I decided to go into work. All day my stomach kept making these weird noices and I kept praying that I would not get sick in the office, then it him me… I have the goody bag Nurse Neisha gave me, I looked and I found them, pepto bismol tablets. Hurray, I’m saved. I take 2 then 2 more in 2 hours, so far so good.
I stayed for the whole day, when I left the building Ramesh was there. On the way to the hotel I kept thinking what to eat. I did not want to eat room service again, for my family reading this, yes I said it, can you believe this.
I had 3 options, McD’s, Dominos or Pizza Hut. What I needed was some hearty food with American Flair.
I get to my room looked out of the window and don’t see the kids, I think yes time to go.
As I get closer to Dominos I see no sign of the kids, great.
I ordered my food, they said 10 to 12 minutes, not a problem I’ll wait outside. I start to walk and there on the side of the building are not 3 but about 10 kids, my heart drops, I literally walk slowly backward hoping they did not see me, one did and made a bee line straight to me, crap.
The first thing this kid does is make the I want food gestures, I keep saying no, NO. I also before I left my room I looked up the word No in Hindi, and I could not remember what it was. I walked back into the Dominos store, and he stayed there looking at me begging for food. I was mortified, the workers from Dominos kept looking at me and I just said sorry. If I gave them money, for as long I will be staying at the hotel they would know I could give them money.
Ok, I keep looking out the store and hoping he leaves. Shortly after he left my food was ready, I looked out again one more time and there were no kids around. I step out of the store and out of the corner of my eyes I catch a little girl climbing out of a trashcan, I am not kidding. She saw me, crap, not again. Now I’m thinking how can I say no to food, I have a pizza and 3 cokes.
She makes bee-line straight to me, OH GOD I think. All of a sudden I started thinking mission impossible, all I need is the music now. I walked fast again to the hotel and made it with no problem.
Thank God Dominos delivers, and I got their number.
Around 830p I had a conference call with the Phoenix team, lasted about 1 hour.
Wednesday
Another good day at work, again on the way to the hotel I was thinking what to have to eat. I remember seeing a fast food place called Fast Trak, this was locate in the same marketplace I went to on Sunday. I’m feeling a little more confident going out of the hotel. I ordered a lamb burger, a chicken sandwich and some fries. Went back to my room and ate it…….
An hour later the stomach rumblings started, it was crazy. I guess I was meant to be really sick, and this was it. All night I kept running to the bathroom.
Thursday -
I did not make it to work, due to my stomach problems. I was a little bummed out because we were having a pot lunch and I was bringing the dessert.
I slept all day, kept taking Imodium and pepto.
Got up around 4p thinking what to eat???? WELL?????
I ordered Dominos. I had 4 slices and so far so good. I’m watching the final of Amazing Race 9.
I wanted to experience some local cuisine, however it does not like me. Looks like I will have to live on Ramen soup and jerky. Maybe a pizza now and then.
I’m still kinda tired of eating room service, yes I said it again.
I hope everyone has been enjoying reading this blog.
I will not post again until Sunday.
Saturday I’m headed to Agra to visit the Taj Mahal, should be an awesome day.
Do not worry about me, I only had a small set back with my stomach. I’m getting enough rest and I’ve learned my lesson.
Hey Sarah, I should’ve listened to you. Crackers with peanut butter.
Namskaar ( Good bye )