I know that it has been three days, sorry for my lack of updates but working nights makes me forget just how fast the days are going. That, and each day at work is wall-to-wall questions with very little time to think. My second night here I went to help a colleague right when I walked in… and got back to my desk some fifteen cases later about three minutes before I had to leave for the day. It’s hectic here, and I love it.
My first day of work Brian again helped me with the scheduling and we met his driver at 8:30 PM India Standard Time (IST) here. This gets us to work right around 10:00 AM Mountain Time (MT) in the US, and we typically work until 6:30 AM IST. This means we work a regular schedule back home, and lends itself to an interesting sleep schedule! Realistically it’s almost no different. I know that sounds weird, and perhaps it is altered a little, but since it’s 11.5 hours different there’s not much to it really. I’m not by windows at work (though they are all over) and so I don’t really mind if my clock says 3:30 AM or 4:00 PM.. it’s all the same to me. As long as the sleep schedule stays constant, I’m fine!
We got in the car, and started heading for work. Traffic is distracting here. It’s actually hard to hold a conversation at night because you are just staring in wonderment at the things that are going on in the streets. People pushing carts, stepping out into traffic, all the things I mentioned in my last post that I still can’t get over. It’s like watching a very large clock with immeasurable pieces, all winding and intertwining… and somehow not killing anyone that I have seen!
The first day of work I was introduced to Ragav, the manager here in charge of the North America, South America (NASA) hours team, and got set up. I brought an extra USB-monitor that has been serving me very well, and almost immediately after getting everything working we had a full center meeting. We have the same thing in Broomfield every quarter, this is the first one in this office this year, and it started out normally enough… and then there were pushups for the late people and a flash-mob that started by breaking in and playing like they were going to rob everyone. Yes, they were dressed up so that their faces were hidden and brandishing fake weapons!
Given that we were in a secure office building, I didn’t think too much of it and on the show (as it became a show) went, it was entertaining! It was fun to hear the perspective from the India office, and in fact we have many of the same concerns on the other side of the world, and we all blame each other for not doing enough. I suppose it’s easy camaraderie when work traverses the globe, and it was all in good spirits as are ours. It was just interesting to hear the same concern from a different perspective.
This led to pizza, actually! Pizza Hut delivered what effectively tasted like a barbecue pizza, and we snacked on that during the night. They came in little individualized pizza packages with four slices each, like the “personal pan” pizzas used to. It was good, though a little odd! It was… “almost” the same as the US, though I still can’t quite put my finger on why. Pizza led to the balcony where we have a cafeteria, and a very large game of chess:
My work has a life-sized(ish) chess board!
From there we finished our pizza, headed back down to work, and then back to the hotel eventually. It was a light night!
On the second night (second day in the US) I was as busy as I mentioned, and I really started to meet some people. The first night I had one or two questions. The second night… I met a whirlwind of people who would ask questions as others were asking questions. We all had lines of people asking for out help, and we did everything we could to fulfill their belief in us. I love it, it allows me to get out of my box from work and jump into a lot of things I don’t know. I may not know that specific product… but I know how to read a log file, and I’ll look at just about every piece of software we sell because I’m curious. It made the night go fast, and I shot a few pictures on the way back home the next morning. I did miss the man on the back of his horse, texting. I wish I could have gotten that picture!
A small building on the side of the road on the way back home from work
I tried to capture a tuk tuk on my phone, and ended up with a motor bike too. This is nothing like normal traffic… just early morning comings and goings!
A residence in Bangalore, I liked how brightly colored it was
On our third day, I had training and was unavailable to the team, which was disappointing but I attended an early Eastern Time training, which meant leaving early here (2:00 AM IST). We were lucky, though, because it meant missing a transportation strike that is taking place right now as I write this. India is attempting to pass laws to better-govern the traffic across the nation. I’m not exactly sure what that would entail or how that would even begin to be done… but they’re fed up with it being unsafe and they want change. I’ve heard through the grapevine that the same bill failed two years ago and looks to be on the same path this time. There are no real traffic laws here and the people are not about to ask for any either.
For regular daytime travelers, this means no cabs, no tuk tuks, no buses… the entire country shuts down for twelve hours. We got home four hours before it started, and head in three hours after it finishes. Sometimes it’s lucky to work at night. It reminded me a lot of the day Jen and I left Cape Town… the night before protestors from groups who represented taxi drivers had stopped buses, emptied them of passengers, and then lit them on fire. Hopefully today’s demonstrations are less violent… we’ll see tonight how bad traffic becomes as a result.
It’s time for bed now, about 10:30 AM here and I need to be up again by 3:30 PM. I did sleep for about five hours this morning so it should all work out. So far, a bout four full days in, I’m having a very good time. I can’t wait to see what else is in store for me here.
P.S. Just for fun… I’ve been keeping track of animals I see in the road that stop traffic. So far, it’s been a horse, a cow (really! a painted one with decorations!), what I lovingly refer to as a “flock of donkeys” all tied together, and a rooster.
