Go Steelers!

I just have to say that I'm happy that I was able to watch the Steelers beat the pants off the Seahawks (sorry, that was just for Liz' benefit!) And see my favorite Steeler, Hines Ward, win the MVP. Although, I must admit, getting up to watch the game at 4:30 AM and not getting to watch all of the new commercials did put a damper on the excitement of the game. I had to go watch it at my friend's place (I don't have cable) and his mother thought that I was crazy to get up that early to watch the game, though I know many, many Indians who would get up at that time on consecutive days to watch cricket. It's all a matter of perspective I guess...

I've added pictures from December and January to the blog now, so enjoy!

Hyderabad

Liz has accepted a training position back in the US, so she's left me all alone and headed back home. Well, I guess she hasn't left me completely alone; the kittens are always there to keep me company and drive me crazy (not necessarily in that order). :)

Before she left, we decided to take a trip to Hyderabad, the capital of the state of Andhara Pradesh. We were dying to get away for a bit and the trip took on extra significance due to Liz' upcoming departure. We took the train again, and I must say, there is a significant upgrade between 3rd class AC (experienced on our Kanyakumari trip) and 2nd class AC here.

We both enjoyed playing tourist and spending our time sightseeing. First, we saw the Birla Mandir, a beautiful white marble temple. Then, we took a boat trip to the Buddha statue in the middle of the Hussain Sagar. We met up with a friend who had moved back to Hyderabad from Chennai. He took us for a drive around the city, including Hi-Tech City where all the BPOs are located. I have to say the architechture there is so much nicer and more creative than that in Chennai! The climate is much cooler and less humid than Chennai and the air itself feels cleaner and less polluted than Chennai.

The next day we took a trip to Ramoji Film City, where many of the Bollywood movies are filmed. They have 21 or so different gardens that can be used for all those dance scenes where the hero and heroine are transported to an exotic location in the middle of the movie. We got the feeling that not very many foreigners visit here because people kept coming up to us and asking to take pictures with us. I was thinking that we should have negotiated our entry ticket prices down a bit, since it seemed as if we were part of the tour. :) Anyway, despite that, Liz and I enjoyed taking melodramatic posed pictures throughout the gardens.

For our last day, we took a tour of Golconda fort-all 750 steps of it. (Boy, as we were puffing through it, we were thinking that we need to get away from our desk jobs more often!) :) The views and architechture there were amazing! I was especially amazed at the hall where you could hear whispers clearly from one side of the room to the other. After that, we headed to the Char Minar (4 towers) bazaar to shop! Hyderabad is known as the Pearl City, so Liz and I both splurged on some pearl jewlery. This bazaar is also known for fancy footwear and glass bangles, which we both indulged in. We had to bargain for everything, so I'm sure we paid more than we should, but we were both happy with the bargaining that we did.

Sunday we had a nice relaxing brunch at the Taj hotel before catching the train. Overall we enjoyed our trip; however, we both felt that we were stared at/ogled at so much more than we are in Chennai. Not that people in Chennai don't check you out, but I feel that they are a bit more subtle about it. Liz also had her butt grabbed three times while were there-and once was even in the temple!!! I didn't have the same experience, and I'm not sure how to take that-is my butt not as attractive as Liz'??????????? Hmmm...maybe on that note I should not allow comments to this post. :)

Appearances

On Sunday morning, one of our friends had an emergency come up, so I ended up baby-sitting for her two boys-aged 9 and 2 1/2 for a bit. I called a friend of mind to ask for suggestions on where to go and he said he would take us somewhere to entertain them. I assumed that he would bring his car, so I was quite surprised when he showed up with just his bike (motorcycle). Let me take a minute here to explain that it is not uncommon in India to see whole families riding on the back of a bike-the parents and two or three small children all squeezed together, so I'm assuming that he didn't really think twice about planning it out that way. It was just a bit of a cultural clash for me because I never thought that I would end up crammed with two kids on the back of a bike. Even though I am jumping ahead in the story a bit, I should also point out here that my friend is a white American married to an Indian, and the kids reflect that.

We took the kids to a video game parlor which they seemed to enjoy. However, at a stoplight on the way home, I notice a guy on a bike ahead of us looking at me strangely. As we started to move, I realized that it was the youth leader from my church. :-0 Uh oh! Let's review the details to make sure everyone understands how bad this looks: First, I wasn't at church that morning due to the emergency. Second, I (a white American) am sitting with two kids (1/2 American, 1/2 Indian) and an Indian man on a bike, just like any Indian family. Third, I've professed to be single numerous times at the church. Additionally, I know that I'm not going to be at church the next week because I'll be out of town on vacation with Liz. I'm thinking that this doesn't look good at all. Will I ever be able to show my face again at the Madras Vineyard???

Mocha

The Monday after Pongal was the day for final assessments for my mortgage batch. They were a really good batch overall and they all passed their final assessment. (For some reason, I seem to have better luck with my even numbered batches-and they were #6.) After class, they wanted to take me out to treat me, so we chose a new coffee shop that had just recently opened-Mocha. Mocha cafe is a chain here in India (I visited one when I was in Delhi), but the one in Chennai retains much of the feel of Java's or Spot Coffee in Rochester. It is located in an old house and one of the rooms-the bathroom-uses toilets as seats for one of the tables. They have also filled a bathtub with pillows for seating at another table. It's pretty cool! We usually end up sitting outside, though, so that we can smoke the hookah (yes, Pete, I've finally joined the club!) :) However, we didn't get one this time (I didn't want to shock the girls in my batch too badly!) It was the first time any one of my batches has planned an outing like this and it was really fun! They even got me flowers as well! Awww...!

A Day at the Races

This weekend was the celebration of Pongal, the harvest festival in Tamil Nadu. Pongal is a three day holiday with different celebrations on each day. It seems as if it is similar in nature to Thanksgiving back home with celebration time with family and traditional foods to eat. Pongal (the food) can be either sweet or savory. The savory form is traditionally eaten for breakfast around the year, but the sweet form is eaten on Pongal. It's made of rice, dal, & jaggery.

Saturday was the start of pongal. This day is literally the day to be thankful for the sun. We spent the day at the Madras Race Track, watching the derby. (This is not a normal way to celebrate Pongal; it was just a coincidence it happened on the same day.) Racing is not a big sport here in Chennai (apparently one person owns most of the winning horses here), but my friend's husband is a horse trainer/owner, so she invited us as her guests. We had a lot of fun, placing Rs. 5 (~10 cents) bets on the horses, even though my friend wouldn't give us any insider information!

Sunday was mattu pongal, a day of thanksgiving for the cows. I hear that, in the villages, the farmers give their cows a day of rest and decorate them with paint for the festival. I was disappointed not to see any of the city cows painted for the holiday!

Monday was kaanum pongal, a day typically reserved for visiting friends and relatives. Of course, we still had to work, so we were unable to join the throngs of people that flock to Marina Beach to picnic on the holiday.

Call Center Humor

I'm trying to collect various examples of call center humor. Here's what I have so far:

1.) The Onion: New Tech-Support Caste Arises in India

2.) The Humor of Melvin Durai: INDIAN ENGLISH: IT VILL BE WERY HELPFUL, YAAR!

3.) Conan O'Brien clip: Andy Blitz' trip to a Hyderabadi call center

If you can't see the humor in these, then you haven't had enough customer/technical support experiences to appreciate what we are doing here. :)

Yes, Pete, the mistletoe is broken! :)

Liz and I took the Christmas decorations down this weekend. The cats are sad now that they don't have anything to climb on... :) It was actually a rather sad experience for me at least. When we bought all of these decorations, I remember thinking that we would be able to use them again next Christmas. We were in the mindset that we liked being here so much, we would be able put up with the company for another year. We had all of these plans of what we would buy for the next year and what we would change in the next year. However, as we packed up the Christmas decorations, it seems that this is not going to be the case. I don't think I can live with the proposed changes in the contracts, so I'm setting my expectations that I will have to leave here in March. It was rather subdued as we divided up what we each wanted to take back and talking about who we could pass the remainder onto instead of packing it up for next Christmas. I don't want to leave...but I don't think I can live with these conditions...

Cultural Day

I've started training a batch for our new mortgage program, the company's first foray into the financial services industry. (Who would have thought that I'd be back working with financial stuff again??) Some of it is fun (training for a new program instead of the repetition of shooting out tech support batches), but some of it is frustrating (dealing with people who don't know the system and having to develop curriculum at the same time as teaching). The batch has been pretty receptive, however, to trying different things. They have a lot of pressure on them, being the pilot batch for the program, but generally they seem to be coping well.

I was proud of them: when auditions for our company's annual cultural show were announced, they managed to get together enough people for two entries into the show-one vocal performance and one fashion show-all in about two days. Luckily for me, the vocal group managed to get their performance together without asking for my help. I only required that they pick an English song, since they were in accent training. They chose "As Long as You Love Me" by the Backstreet Boys (appropriate since there were 5 guys in the group!) The fashion show, however, was a different story! When I asked them (3 guys and 3 girls) what they were going to do they all looked at me blankly. Somehow I managed to choreograph a few moves for them. (Luckily, I remember watching various fashion shows at the Basant Festivals, sponsored by the Indian organization at RIT!) I was a bit nervous because some of them seemed to have trouble remembering the routine.

The show was actually very good-although a bit too long! Liz and I got there early in the morning so that I could practice with my group a bit before it started. We did a run-through, practiced walking a bit, but weren't able to practice with the music that they had selected. ("One Love") Throughout the day, Liz and I were able to see people from the various programs that we had worked with showcasing their talents, which was great! My singers went on right after lunch. They surprised me by dedicating the song to me-and I was extremely touched by that. Unfortunately, the fashion show was one of the last events. Due to time constraints with the stage, they cut the fashion shows' allowed time in half. This turned out to be a benefit to my group. They all managed to remember their cues (for the most part) during the first few positions or at least cover it up when they forgot. And it did look pretty good (if I do say so myself). Again, luckily for me, they didn't get to the part where they had wanted me to come up on the stage (like the designers or hosts of the shows have to). :)

Happy New Year!!!

...and Merry Christmas while I'm at it! :) Liz and I managed to have a nice Christmas here, even though we were both missing being at home for the holidays. On Christmas eve, we went to a midnight mass, where we were pretty much able to keep up with the service (well, except for not catching on to the kneeling part!), even though neither of us has a Catholic background. Christmas morning, we got up and began to cook an American-style lunch. (Which actually turned out pretty well. It made me think about attempting to cook here every now & then.) Raghu came over, we all opened presents, ate, and headed over to the apartment of one of the other American trainers for a party. All in all it was a good day.
Now that it's a new year, it's time to look to the year ahead. First, we need to take down the Christmas tree, especially since the ornaments are already dusty and the kittens have now decided to use it as a jungle gym. :) Secondly, it is time to start evaluating what I'm doing here, if I'll stay for another year, and what I'll do if I don't stay for another year. Supposedly our contract renewals start on the 10th of this month. The word on the street is that there are 8 things different from our old contracts (not that those were adhered to that well anyway), but I'm betting that the changes are not going to be ones in our favor! *sigh* All I can do is wait and see... Waiting is always the hard part: too many questions start running through my head! Do I even want to stay? Yes, I love being here in India, but working for this company can even take the joy out of that at times. But what will I do when I get back to the US? Go back to school and get a degree in education? Or, do I apply to teach in another country? What is the appeal: Teaching? India? Or specifically, teaching in India? I was hoping that this year in India would clarify things a bit for me...but right now I feel just as confused as when I left. :)

An emu farm?

This weekend Liz and I were invited to visit an emu farm, run by one of the students currently in new-hire communication training with another trainer. We were both surprised to hear that there was such a thing in India, so we readily agreed to go...even though we had to leave at 6:30 AM to get there!! (Ugh! I haven't been up that early since I got moved off of the morning shift!) The farm was located about 2 hours away from Chennai, a bit across the boarder in the state of Andhra Pradesh, with only a smallish town nearby. It was a big occasion because it was the second anniversary of the farm and it seems as if they had really done quite a bit with the land in that time. Besides the emus, they also raise turkeys & cows as well as several fields of corn and rice. The place seemed quite scientifically run-we weren't even able to enter the hatchery because it was a sterile environment. [It has to be since the eggs can each run upwards of Rs. 1500 (~US$35)]. We were, however, able to go into the pens and pet the adult birds, which were a bit softer than they looked. After our tour of the farm, they treated us to a nice lunch (Andhra food is generally spicier than that in Tamil Nadu!) and we headed for home to find our own animals crying for dinner. :)

Meow, meow, meow, meow

So in addition to all the Christmas shopping, Liz and I have also acquired some company in our apartment. We have adopted two six-week-old kittens that were birthed on Liz' friend's porch. Pet ownership, especially of cats, does not seem to be very common here in India; although stray animals roam freely in the streets. It some areas, these animals cause big problems. Some celebrity here (Amitabh Bachan?) needs to take up Bob Barker's crusade ("have your pets spayed or neutered") Although, I guess it would have to be "have the strays in front of your gate sterilized!" :)

But I digress. Yes, we now have two lively kittens running around our apartment. We wanted to give them good south Indian names, so we have chosen Lakshmi and Priya. Apparently, this many of our friends are shocked by this-they feel that pets should only have cutesy pet names, not real person names. For the first couple of days, we also referred to Priya as "the noisy one". She was constantly crying from the time we put her in the box to take her to the apartment to the time we let them out in the living room. She hated to be picked up and hated to be put down. It was a long night and it made me repeat my mantra ("this is why I don't want kids") over and over. :) Lakshmi was much more pliant. She reveled in the attention and was calm about being handled. However, after a few days of settling in, it seems as if the personalities have been reversed. Priya still doesn't like to be picked up, but she settles in next to you on the sofa without too much protesting. Lakshmi is now loudly demanding more and more attention, as if she has just now realized that she's not going to get to go back to her mother.

It definitely has brought more life to our apartment...especially the amount of time we have to spend cleaning up the messes!!!! UGH!!!! :)

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

Well, the cyclone seems to have passed us by or petered out somewhere before it hit much land. We all were a bit tense to know whether we would get stuck at work Friday night again, but luckily the rain didn't hit too hard.

Liz and I were quite happy because it meant that we could spend Saturday shopping for Christmas decorations for our apartment. One of our friends lent us an extra tree and we found a Christmas store in Egmore where we could buy trimmings for it. And buy we did! :) We got lights, garland, and ornaments to cover our 5-ish foot tree. Without planning it purposely, we ended up with a patriotic red, blue & white (the lights) tree. Hmm...maybe we are a little homesick!!!! We got stockings, a manger scene that lights up & plays 'silent night' and even mistletoe!!!! Afterwards, we went to dinner at the American diner that opened up recently. Sparky's diner is great-real American food at reasonable prices. I've been there twice now and had a real burger (with no extra spices added) and a meatball sub on homemade Italian bread. MMMMM!!! One of the best parts is the ambiance. It's decorated all over with Christmas lights and Christmas decorations. And they play real, honest-to-goodness Christmas carols the whole time. The owner of the place-an American himself-is even having a special Invitation-only event that we are planning on checking out on Christmas Eve. I never really thought of spending Christmas Eve in a diner, but I am really looking forward to it.

Please Pray!

This is an update that we are still being plagued by rain and flooding in Chennai. On Sunday, our pastor said that if the water rose another 3 feet, even our church building would be in the water. The water in the rivers is so high, officials are worried that any one of the bridges could give way at any time. Crowds were gathering on the bridges just to see the depth and the current in the river.

Not only is it a spectacle, but the flooding has already displaced the many people that lived in huts along the river. Our pastor pointed out that the more the flooding continued, the more money would have to be diverted for flood relief from other civic necessities.

Cyclonic storms are again predicted for the next couple of days, so I'm asking-PLEASE PRAY FOR THE PEOPLE OF THE CITY!

Aloha!

I just got back from my quick trip to Hawaii and I'm feeling great! (Well, except for the jet lag, that is!) I guess a vacation to a tropical paradise is always good for the soul, no matter where you come from! :) I had a wonderful time in Hawaii celebrating the union of my friend Heather to her partner Alexis. They had a beautiful ceremony on the beach and all of the events were full of love from the family and friends surrounding the couple. They both made the guests feel loved and valued as integral parts of their lives. I greatly enjoyed getting to know Alexis' side as well as meeting Heather's friends that I had heard so much about during our time in college.

After the wedding, I was able to meet up with one of my close friends from elementary through high school. She now works as a dolphin trainer at Sea Life Park. I remember her saying that she wanted to work with dolphins from the beginning, so it is pretty exciting to see her now living out that dream! We even got to go "backstage" to meet one of the penguins and one of the dolphins and learn a bit about their training. It was such an awesome experience to be that close to both animals! I managed to survive my 7-hour layover in Singapore Airport, even though almost all of the shops were closed (which may not be a bad thing in terms of my budget!). Luckily I managed to find the movie theater to keep my mind engaged for some time. The trip back to India really reminded me of what I had been missing while I was gone. Indian Airlines has got to be one of the worst airlines ever! Everything about it was bad: the plane itself should probably have been retired at least 5 years ago-I was sitting next to the emergency exit and I could hear it rattle the entire time, the seat covers were all torn and falling off and there was no movie screen at all (for a 4 hour trip.) The food was horrible-completely unrecognizable and tasteless! I didn't know what to say when the steward who collected my tray said, "I hope you enjoyed your meal!" :)

One of the more amusing parts for me was that while we were descending for the landing in Chennai, the Indian passengers were all standing up in the aisles, opening the overhead bins for their carry-on luggage--completely ignoring both the seatbelt sign as well as the instructions from the crew! Then, the two people next to me got up and moved to seats in the front of the plane so that they could be sure to be one of the first ones to get off!

When I got through customs at the airport and was waiting for my luggage, the power went off! Welcome back to India! :)

In Transit

Well, I'm now about halfway through my journey to Hawaii. I'm currently in Nerita (Tokoyo) and I have to occupy the next 6ish hours here. All in all, the flights and transfers have, thankfully, gone smoothly and neither flight has been full. I left Chennai last night (I think!) :) and flew to Singapore via Singapore Airlines. That was a really great flight! I highly recommend Singapore Airlines (for those of you planning on coming to visit me!) ;) The food was good, the on-demand entertainment selection was quite extensive and there seemed to be a good amount of space between the seats-even in economy class. Singapore airport is great too; I'm glad because I have another 6ish hour layover there on the way back. There are plenty of restaurants and even several places to get a dayroom to sleep! One of the great parts is that the internet is free! (Unlike Heathrow, where you have to pay for it!)

Japan Airlines (my second leg-from Singapore to Nerita) is not bad either. There's a little less room between the seats and I don't recommend the Teriyaki eel for lunch. But the hostesses have been very helpful so far. However, Nerita is not an airport that I recommend for an extended layover; there doesn't seem to be many shops or restaurants, but at least the internet is also free here. I may take another trek around the terminal to see if I missed anything in a couple of hours. Or I may try to snag one of the reclining chairs around the corner and catch a few winks!

Speaking of sleep, I'm hoping that this has some coherence because I didn't really sleep much on either flight. But, I did catch up on some chick flicks that I had missed-Must Love Dogs and the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants-and I recommend both, as chick flicks. :)

I have one story for those of you that know me well. You know how I'm fascinated by the way Indians can find out someone's name and instantaneously know what part of the country he's from, what religion he is and what caste he is. Well, on the way here, I sat next to an Indian. When the stewardess came around, I found out his name was Ghosht (or however you spell that!) [Luckily I had just read an article about a Bengali author of the same name!] We chatted a bit, so I asked him if he was from Calcutta and he was. I was pretty excited to have been able to put it all together! :)

Leaving for Hawaii...

But, seriously, I'm glad that I was able to celebrate with Liz before I left. Tomorrow I'm flying off for almost a week in Hawaii to celebrate the wedding of my friend and college roommate, Heather. Tropical Paradise, here I come!!!! Hmmm...I think those words would have more effect if I was coming from a place where it was snowing already (see Sarah's blog) but I'm definitely looking forward to the event as it will be a very non-traditional ceremony. I'm honored to be in the wedding, as we've lived on separate coasts for almost 8 years now.


I'm hoping to be able to update pictures on here while I'm there, so stay tuned. :)

Happy Birthday Liz!

Isn't it great how some people like to stretch their birthday celebrations for more than one day? :) Well, we spent all weekend celebrating Liz' birthday, which is actually today. Saturday, we went out to a lounge in one of the big hotels here, Provogue. It was a fun time-the drinks were good (although a bit pricy) and another friend knew the manager, so they arranged for a cake for us to celebrate. We put out the word and people just kept showing up. The cake was good too-it felt more like an American cake than most of the ones that I've tasted here (Plus, it was chocolate!) Afterwards, we went to an after-party near the beach where the music & dancing were good. Sunday, we got up and went shopping to get Liz a saree to wear to work on Monday. We had a good time picking them out (she got two) and accessorizing them. After dinner, we went back to our apartment so that she could learn how to wrap the saree to wear into work. Let's just say that laughter was filling the apartment at the first couple of trials. :)

A few of us joined together and got a cheesecake and surprised her with it at midnight. It was a good time and such a fun weekend!

Festival season

It's still raining here. I read in the newspaper that the death toll due to the floods is now up to 148 in Tamil Nadu.

But the rains did not dampen the festival spirit that was here last week. Last Tuesday (November 1st) was Diwali (The Festival of Lights) for the Hindus and last Friday (November 4th) was Eid (the end of Ramzan, the month of fasting) for the Muslims, so everyone was experiencing the holdiay spirit. Liz and I celebrated Diwali, since we both had the day off of work. Diwali basically celebrates the triumph of good over evil from a story in (I believe) the Ramayana. It is, most probably, the biggest holiday in India (in some places the celebrations go on for 5 days!) and is compared to Christmas in the West. Most people try to be home to celebrate with their families. They traditionally mark the occasion by doing a pooja and putting on new clothes in the morning. Then, in the evening, lamps are lit along the outside of the home. Here is an explanation from an article my manager sent to us:

Diwali literally means a row of lights, and the main attraction is the candles and lamps, called diyas, that are lit in almost every home after puja (a ceremony where the lamps are made). The lights are meant to welcome Lakshmi, goddess of wealth and prosperity, and to bring joy, mirth and happiness in the new year, which starts the day after Diwali.

Liz and I celebrated by going shopping a few days previous to purchase new clothes to wear (like we needed an reason to shop!) :) We then watched a Tamil movie (Thirmalia? Something like that...) to feel culturally connected. :) We also took a walk down the street to the local temple to see the activities going on there. We came back home and lit lamps along our balcony rail and outside our front door.

The other thing that is done to celebrate Diwali is the bursting of crackers everywhere. It was so loud here for quite a few days! The kids started with pop guns the weekend before. Both the morning before Diwali and the morning of, I was awakened at 6 AM by people setting them off. I managed to sleep in a little bit, intermittently, but, for some reason, my dreams were filled with war images!

And the rains came to Madras...

As you might have heard, Chennai was in the news last week because of the major flooding that occurred here. It had been raining pretty much every day since I got back, so I didn't really realize that it had rained continuously for 24 hours, starting in the afternoon of October 26th. You might be thinking that a country that has monsoons should be prepared for something like this; however, I have been informed that Chennai doesn't actually have a proper monsoon. I actually once heard it described as a "reverse monsoon." The monsoons that hit the western coast of India head northeast across the country, but are driven back by the mountains. This backlash is what hits Chennai.

Normally, there is only moderate rainfall during this time. However, as I mentioned earlier, it had been raining almost every day since October 19th. The drainage here is not equipped to deal with a steady rainfall, which resulted in the flooding of October 27th. The parking lot in my apartment complex was covered with water up to my ankles. The road outside my apartment complex was covered up to my calves. In many other parts of the city, it was even worse. I heard 11 people actually died from stepping on downed power lines throughout the city. Needless to say, the company was unable to get a cab to pick me up for work. [Yes, I was still expected to turn up for work that day. In fact, I later found out that they wanted me to be there to help TRAIN the 90 or so students that actually made it to work then (that's less than half of the normal amount.) As if anyone was thinking about LEARNING in the midst of that! But that's what my boss was more concerned about, rather than the fact that we were facing an emergency situation. (Yes, let's bring in more people that we'll have to transport back, especially since they were unable to get the people that worked the shift that ended at 8:00 AM home until noon.) What a great company I work for!]

I did actually walk down the street in the afternoon to get some lunch, groceries and minutes for my phone. Boy, it was quite an experience-then only shallow part was in the middle of the road, which you had to share with the few cars, autorickshaws & bikes that were out. As you may imagine, I was completely soaked and ready for a nice, warm shower when I got back! :)

Lines/Queues-Part 2

So it has been a whirlwind time since I have been back in Chennai. I have many posts to write, but I'm trying to keep everything in order. Since I have been back, I have been assigned to work the morning shift (UGH!) Most of you can probably imagine how much work I actually get done starting at 8:00 AM. I've discovered this malt beverage called Boost that is helping me get through my mornings, but it was a hard adjustment-particularly since working night would've kept me on a similar schedule from being in the US. :)

But, what I really want to rant about first is my experiences flying back. Not that I want start a huge debate like the last time I brought up a similar topic. When I boarded my first leg of the British Airways flight in Chicago, they began boarding in a nice, organized fashion. First, they boarded people who needed assistance and families with young children. Second, the first class and premier world (or whatever.) Then, they began general boarding starting from the rear of the plane. Very organized. However, when I boarded the flight from London to Chennai, it was quite a different matter. First of all, they stuck us at a gate that was quite far from the main terminal-down a maze of hallways. Also, the PA system didn't work there, so even though they attempted to announce that the plane was delayed, it was ineffective. [I only heard it because I was at the counter verifying my boarding pass.] When the plane did arrive and boarding began, there was absolutely no organization; the British Air staff didn't even try! One woman began only boarding the passengers with small children and then ones who needed more time...but she didn't even say that out loud, just sent people away. The other line just started boarding general boarding, regardless of where your seat was in the plane. It was mass pandemonium-people were just headed en masse up to the ticket counter!

This is the second time similar incidences have occurred while flying to India on British Air. Has British Airways given up on trying to get Indians to board in an orderly fashion? Is this subtle discrimination? Or, is it an example of exemplary customer service in accommodating their Indian customers?

The fun part was, though, watching all of the other foreign tourists get annoyed with the Indians who tried to cut in line at customs. I think I've decided that the customs counter in the Madras airport is the only place where having white skin is not an advantage-the Indians go through much quicker than the foreigners do! (Yes, yes, I know the opposite is true when I hit customs in the US!) :)