First times

I just arrived back in Ireland.  I know its just after 5pm on Thursday but my internal time clock has no clue what time it is.

I expected that having lived in India for almost a year that I would have very few first-times during my 8-day stay here.  But I was wrong and there were quite a few firsts.

First time being in India without being sick. 

Hurrah!  OK slightly under the weather one day but generally good.   While I bless my good luck and hope it lasts, I also have a theory that the microbes in Southern India are less lethal than their cousins in the North.

First car accident. 

Shocking really that I never had one before they way people drive here coupled with the number of vehicles, people and animals on the road.  But one night on the way home from work the driver hit another car.  We had been going slowly and nobody was injured.  Both cars pulled over and stopped.  The driver and the finance manager got out while my colleague and I waited in the back of the car.  I feared there might be long discussions and paperwork (paperwork can be extensive in India) but as it happened both parties agreed there was no damage and we continued on our way.

First time drinking a glass of beer

I am not a big drinker and before this I had only supped tiny bits of beer.  But a senior person in the company invited us over to his house for a beer and there seemed to be no way to avoid drinking without causing offence. 

At least I managed to persuade somebody to share a can so I had only about 250 ml and that’s probably enough for me for quite a while.  I drank slowly.  The first few mouthfuls were OK (surprisingly so actually).  I spent the evening carefully nursing the drink to avoid refills and towards the end the beer was warm and nasty

In Tamil Nadu its very hard to buy alcohol so this beer had been specially brought from Pondicherry where in alcohol sales laws the French influence remains.

First time in Tamil Nadu.

Not as hot as the Delhi and Rajasthan in summer but still far too hot for me!   I don’t think it ever got below 25 even at night and many nights were 29/30.  During the day it was always mid thirties and we got 38 one day.

Mughal buildings (the Taj Mahal being the best example) are found in the North and the Muslim influence seemed more prevalent not just in architecture but also in food and attitudes

In Tamil Nadu, there was little Mughal influence and there were beautiful carved Hindu temples (also many gaudy ones like the North).  Also I saw no images of Hanuman (the Hindu god who is part monkey and part human).  Hanuman always freaks me out (I don’t know why) so his absence was a good thing.  I did many statues of Ganjesh (the elephant god) but I never find him as disturbing.  I should add the last paragraph is just my impression and I have no evidence to support it.  Perhaps there are many people Tamil Nadu with a special devotion to Hanuman but I saw no evidence of it.

First time I had a large flying creature in my bedroom

The last night I was having a shower. I came out of the bathroom and went into my room.  The fan was spinning and beneath it I saw something flying.  I wasn’t sure what it was.  It wasn’t very big but far too big to be a moth.  But large enough to be scary.  Courage utterly deserted me.  I screamed.  Not very loud but still a scream.  I called my colleague.  We cowered outside the room, looking in. How unfortunate to be stuck outside my room with only a towel on but there seemed to be nothing else I could do.  Then the creature left my room and we both scurried to our bedrooms.  After a few minutes I emerged (this time better clad than in the towel).   I felt better that my colleague had shown about equal lack of courage.  We agreed it was a bat and as it had entered the kitchen we closed the kitchen door and dashed away lest it somehow follow us from behind the closed door.

As  I was packing each time I opened a cupboard door or moved something I feared a bat would fly at me. 

I slept badly, waiting up often thinking that I heard bats flying while my sleep was cursed with nightmares of bat bites and flapping wings.    The next day there was no sign of the bat but I didn’t go looking and I was glad to leave the house behind me.

Friday night in hip and happening Vellore!

First of all thank-you to all the people who responded to my blog.  You are the reason there is another post.  So thanks Lorraine, Debbie, Jennifer, Ruairí, Brendan, Anne, Sunil, Souri, Lorraine, Brian and Dan

Nice things people said to me –

• “forgot how entertaining you accounts of India could be”
• “best of luck....I'm sure you'll like it better this time.  Although that's a low bar.”
• "You're a brave lady"
• “your blog makes it all sound unbearably exotic and glamorous” - not sure it was my blog that was being read in that case!

So thank-you all, here goes the next post.

Its Friday night and I’m writing this in my room under the pleasant breeze from the fan and air conditioner.  Every so often I think about the massive amount of electricity the air conditioner must be using but then I think how horribly hot and sticky it is without it.  I have first-hand experience because every night the electricity has gone off for 5-7 hours.  The back-up power keeps a few lights on and a few fans but no air conditioning.  This morning I woke up in a lather of sweat since the air con had been off since midnight and the 30C plus heat had steadily weaved its way into my room.

The last 2 days I’ve worn no make-up.  The only mirror is quite far removed from the only functional light (on back-up power) so I decided that the results might be scary and the audience unappreciative!  But thank God for blemish Balm.  Not make-up but it does wonders to my skin.  Its still far from flawless but it makes an OK skin day look like a good skin day.

I suppose often a business traveller has a very different experience from a regular traveller.  Since I’ve arrived in India I’ve had to do no organising as to how I get places.  I just need to be ready when I’m told.  A car picked me up from the airport and brought me to the office.  Every morning and evening the finance manager’s driver takes us to/from the compound.  At work we go to lunch in the canteen.  As there’s not much to do in Vellore we just stay in the compound and work (mainly my colleague) and play on the internet (mainly me*).  There are also few restaurants deemed suitable for visitors (the good people of Vellore may argue against this).  We were advised to bring all the food we needed so I’ve been dining on fruit (last Apple has just been gobbled) packet soup, cereal bars and Ryvita.   This has all resulted that in 4 days I haven’t spent any money.  Extraordinary!  I suppose this diet should also result in weight loss - fingers crossed!

Suddenly feel guilt-ridden colleague has just come in to tell me there was an issue in the reporting data (a mistake in a BW report criteria – feel some of my readers will understand that – possibly better than I do)

But on the other hand it is 10.15pm on a Friday night. 

Tomorrow we go to Pondicherry.  It’s a former French colony which is supposed to have beautiful towns.  I fear the once beautiful towns will, like most of the rest of India, show all too clearly the country’s poverty.  But I reserve my judgement until I’ve visited.  Maybe just maybe there’ll be another blog entry next week.

I’ve taken 10,000 rupees (about €140) out of the ATM tonight so the shops in Pondicherry had better watch out.

Have a lovely weekend and I hope you are having a more fun Friday night than I am!

* typically I have loads of work to do but right now most of my seems to depend on other people who are not here so I’m somewhat limited.  Those who have worked with me will know most of the time I’m not a slacker at all

Return to the sub-continent!

There hasn’t been a blog entry here for more than 5 years.  But I find myself back in India so it seemed appropriate to include a postscript (though if I get loads of nice comments I will post again later this week)

The visa application process was difficult as ever.  Not on the epic scale of 2006 where I was trapped (somewhat happily) in Ireland waiting for a visa that eventually the legal department decided I didn’t need that type of visa at all. 

But I had to find two weeks when I able to be without my passport (not as easy as it sounds and only possible because I flew to London with Aer Lingus rather than evil Ryanair)

Anyway after 4 invitation letters, one last-minute cancellation and 2 expired visas and over €400 in visa fees, I am finally back in India.  Again its for a work trip (no surprise to most of my readers).

I flew from Dublin to Chennai via Dubai.  When I heard that Emirates were adding a daily service from Dublin to Dubai I was surprised.  Surely along with Etihad’s 10 flights a week there cannot be enough to fill all those seats.  But Emirates know their business model.  There was not a free seat to been seen.  Alas for me (but good news for future public pension funds) the flight seemed to have a lot of babies two of whom formed a ghastly chorus of screams for the final 30 minutes as the flight descended.   

I had a few hours in Dubai airport, then I met up with a colleague (as planned) and boarded the final flight.  Again the flight was full and my carefully selected aisle seat had been surrendered to a family with a small children leaving me in a middle seat.  

After a surprisingly quick (for India) immigration procedure but still involving a lot of paper (of course!), we collected luggage, went through customs and within 45 minutes were in the company car that was waiting for us.  Now company car may conjure up images of white air-conditioned luxury vehicles with cold towels and chilled water (indeed this was so in my former life).  But this was an elderly jeep-shaped automobile with one broken door (possible to exit by, not possible to enter by).  There was limited air conditioning but there was no water!  For a 3-hour drive!  Also I had no rupees even if I could persuade the driver to stop and buy me some.  Here my hoarding came into its own and I was able to drag out the bottle of Evian bought at Dubai Duty Free. 

I am sure India has changed in my 5-year absence.  But the traffic hasn’t.  The most important piece of equipment in a Indian vehicle remains, without a shadow of a doubt, the horn.  In the west we use the horn to warn of impending danger and to show frustration towards an idiot driver (I’m sorry mistaken road user).  In India beeping your horn just says you are coming.  It may mean “I’m about to overtake you” I estimate I use my horn in Ireland twice  a year.  An average Indian driver must use his/hers at least 10 times a day.

As well as interesting driving, there were cows, entire families on motorbikes, fruit sellers and general chaos.

At noon we arrived at the office.  I had forgotten how many Indian men (and its nearly all men) wear moustaches.  We had general meet and greet.  Lunch was typical south Indian – simple, a bit spicy and very good. 

Its now 6.45  here.  Not very late.  But late when the previous night’s sleep was on a plane and I still have to prepare my own food tonight (seems there are no restaurants suitable for foreigners in Vellore)

 I’m staying at the company compound.  Reports are not promising  - electricity supply is not constant so the air conditioning doesn’t always work, there is no a/c in the kitchen.  But at least there will be a bed - where I can sleep!

Happy Birthday and Volcanoes

Everybody must be nice to me – its my birthday (or at least I have not yet gone to sleep so it still counts as my birthday). As most of you know I have been on an extended holiday since August. The original plan was to keep a blog of my travels and activities. However I was too busy to do so. November is national blogging month and the 2 blogs I read have committed to posting daily. Inspired by then I will do the same. Every day from now until end of November I will blog either on what I have done that day or from the last few months adventures in Mexico, France, Italy, Spain and Hawaii.

I am often melancholy at birthdays thinking about what I haven’t achieved and how I am getting older but not always wiser. Additionally this birthday is somewhat significant (my age is between 30 and 40 and is the product of two prime numbers but I am neither 33 nor 39). So there were all the ingredients for quite a depressing day. To combat this I arranged to go to Hawaii with my friend E.

We arrived in Honolulu on Saturday. We are staying on Oahu but today we flew to the Big Island to visit the Volcano. I am fascinated by geothermal activity, that’s why I love Rotarua in New Zealand and Yellowstone in USA. Every so often I think it would have been better to keep on geology rather than choosing chemistry but then I remind myself of how terrible geology field work is in Ireland – standing on a narrow road trying to avoid the passing traffic as I look at rocks while failing to keep myself or my notebook safe from the relentless Irish rain. But its different in Hawaii. We had no rain on the Big Island and despite the relatively short time on the Island, we saw some of the newest land in the world and an active volcano.

The US state Hawaii is a series of 8 volcanic islands. The pacific plate is slowly moving over a geothermal hotspot. The older islands are to the northwest and no longer have volcanic activity. Maui has both dormant and extinct volcanoes but real geothermal activity is on the island of Hawaii (also called the big Island because it’s the biggest – indeed all the other Hawaiian Islands could fit in its landmass). The Big Island is actually 5 different volcanoes in different stages of lifecycles
1. Kohala—extinct
2. Mauna Kea—dormant
3. Hualālai—active but not currently erupting
4. Mauna Loa—active, partly within Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park
5. Kīlauea—active: has been erupting continuously since 1983; part of Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park

As we only had a day we took an organised tour which visited the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. Before that we visited a black sand beach. To be honest the beach was tiny most of the area was covered with hardened black lava. The lava had flown underground until it reached the sea where it cooled. It was amazing the amount of land that had been created. Also the old shoreline was still easy to spot with lines of mature coconut trees. Some baby coconut trees were growing in the black rock. I thought there was no way the rock could sustain plant life but there was overwhelming evidence against me (even though they were only baby coconut trees)

After the beach we went to Volcanoes National Park. We saw an active caldera complete with gaseous plumes. Unfortunately there was neither lava nor magma to be seen. Probably just as well as the lava is dangerous. The visitors centre had a display about the geologist who got caught up to his knees in lava. After several months he was able to walk again but if that can happen to an expert, God only knows what might happen to the lay people!

But the best part of the day was the birthday wishes I got from all over the world (from Europe, the US, Asia and the Middle East). I got emails, texts, facebook posts and a present from my friend E. I also spoke with my sister, brother and mother. Thank-you everybody for helping me have a happy birthday. Over the next few weeks I will be in Chicago and Toronto so some of you can help me celebrate in person (because November was Helen’s birthday month long before it was national blogging month)

Random India fact with picture

I've recieved a lot of feedback (some might call it complaints but feedback is a more positive term, don't you think?) I have lots of photos of India and here is one from Qutb Minar in Delhi. This complex has the largest minaret in the world. It also has a iron pillar. I'll let wikipedia tell you about the official story

The pillar bears an inscription which states that it was erected as a flagstaff in honour of the Hindu god, Vishnu, and in the memory of the Gupta King Chandragupta II (375–413). Made up of 98% wrought iron of pure quality, it is 23 feet 8 inches (7.21 m) high and has a diameter of 16 inches (0.41 m). Also, it was confirmed that the temperatures required to form such kind of pillars cannot be achieved by combustion of coal. The pillar is a testament to the high level of skill achieved by ancient Indian iron smiths in the extraction and processing of iron.
It has attracted the attention of archaeologists and metallurgists as it has withstood corrosion for the last 1600 years, despite harsh weather. Its unusually good corrosion resistance appears to be due to a high phosphorus content, which together with favorable local weather conditions promotes the formation of a solid protective passivation layer of iron oxides and phosphates, rather than the non-protective, cracked rust layer that develops on most ironwork.

Apparently in the 1970s, some people were amazed that the Iron pillar did not rust and concluded (as one does) that it was evidence of alien landings on earth.

Back in Chicago

On Friday, March 2nd, I arrived back in Chicago. The weather was bitterly cold as I took a taxi to my friends’ apartment. M & R invited me to stay the first night back which was wonderful as my apartment had been vacant since the tenants had left in early February. Despite carrying all sorts of strange Indian spices and having only been in the country twice since obtaining my green card, I successfully negotiated the US immigration and customs.

On Saturday, all my belongings came out of storage. I was reminded of something my mother often says “Helen, you have so much of this world’s goods”. Well it’s very true. I’m still unpacking a week later (this morning I found some curtains that I have only the vaguest memory of purchasing; also a very cool meat thermometer that I remember contemplating buying but thought I had decided against, seems not)

On Saturday night M & R invited me over to dinner. There’s a group of us who meet up for games every so often and we were doing that night. However when I got to there, I discovered they had organized a surprise welcome back party – the first time ever I had a surprise party. I was very surprised but many people said I didn’t seem surprised at all – probably it was due to the jet lag. At the party were the following


M&R – bought a new apartment, both got new jobs.

E – moved appartment, acquired a long-term boyfriend in my absence. I had never met boyfriend who I insisted on calling “the mysterious X”. E was the friend who forwarded all my mail to India. At least he enjoyed reading the several magazines to which I subscribe.

J – work colleague. You may remember her from the transcontinental gossip. Been promoted in my absence

J – work colleague. Completely rescued me in India by sending over Shiseido skin softener, crystal light and ant poison.

K – work colleague. She sent Clinique pore minimizer to me while I was in India. Retired in my absence

R – work colleague– lost 20 lbs in my absence

P&R – became pregnant in my absence. They were there with their adorable daughter K who has got much much better at walking since I left and is getting more bilingual by the day

I – the friend I met in Singapore. Bought her first apartment while I was away. Also interviewing for other jobs

G – got engaged in my absence. Also fiancée broke off the engagement – poor guy

T – the friend I met in Sydney. Is now an official architect.

Also there were D and M. M – no significant news that I know about. Meeting M for dinner tonight so will check for gossip.

It really was a wonderful evening. I am very lucky to have such great friends (especially M&R). And it’s very very nice to be back.

I plan one more blog entry probably next weekend and then I’ll be finishing a year in India blog.

Quick entry - the final days!!

On Saturday I called my recently engaged friend L who mentioned that I hadn’t updated my blog. So well things are busy (I know it’s my usual excuse but it’s true). It’s gone midnight and the movers are coming at 9.30 tomorrow morning. So I am busy getting ready (oh my god how do I accumulate so much stuff). I do plan to post a few more entries (various ones in the works – mainly only in my head)

As I haven’t been emailing people I’m going to post my travel plans too

Tuesday to Thursday (Feb. 20th- 22nd): Munich
Friday to Monday (Feb 23rd – 26th): Brussels
Monday to Friday (Feb. 26th to March 2nd ): Cork
Friday March 2nd Chicago.

Yes it’s going to be a busy few weeks and I’m supposed to do some work too!!!!