One correction I have to make here. The Civil unrest at the Honda factory is in Dehli, not Kolkatta.

Haha, when I asked the hotel employee where Gurgaon was (the place mentioned on the news) he told me it was in Gujarat ;p. Guess I'm not the only one in need of geography lessons.

Mumbai is flooding. Some of my friends are stuck chest-deep in the flood. Kolkatta is having a wimpy "monsoon season". It has barely rained since I got here. Since I have to walk to work every morning, I think that's a good thing. I NEVER want to have to wade through a hershey's bar to get to work again like I did in Mumbai. Somehow, I don't think my poor shoes will survive the experience.

I'm settling into the job quite nicely. They've kinda accepted me as "one of them" when I came up with a solution that they've been having trouble with and contibuted a module to a prototype they were going to show the AXA side.

Unfortunately in Software development terms, it means I'm going to have to work like a dog. Oh well, it's something to do anyway. Kinda better than having to swat flies in the office like some of my "luckier" teammates who have offices right next to the hotel.

Group Leader just informed me my Sunday is shot to pieces. Got to report for an update discussion/meeting on the project. Hmmm, if I get indispensible, there goes any hope of making it out of India. They might lock me in Kolkatta on the project like forever.

I scanned through the project members' biodata. Only the project leaders and I have any experience in C#. So, that's why they keep asking for my opinion during the meetings. However, it's going to be like the-blind-leading-the-blind, since I have NEVER done anything on this scale before (I certainly never followed the rules closely).

Ahem, however, I'm hoping that "In the valley of the blind, the one-eyed man is king." If I bull a little and fudge alot, this too shall soon pass. I can handle this but I just wish I was doing something else and learning new stuff.

My throat's healed up, Yay. I can start eating lunch again, but I'm not going to eat at my office, just yet. I guess maybe not ever again, the food there is so spicy, they even add spices to my cucumbers.

Oh Kolkata!

My viral fever had settled down and left behind a little something for entertainment. Ulcers. Yippee..this is more fun than I can stand.

I have always been vulnerable to mouth ulcers. It's a genetic thing. The ones I dread most are the ones which appear in your throat. It makes swallowing even water abit of a trial. I have learnt to deal with the pain over the years, but then I hadn't expected to shove spicy Indian food down my throat.

I'm seriously thinking of preparing my own lunch or foregoing lunch altogether.

My new company turns out to be AXG, the super-sized Insurance MNC. Our team is working to upgrade AXGDirect(Japan)'s business applications. It's C#, boring, boring, boring, but I guess I can do this, I've done this before anyway. One of the reasons why I left my job in the first place was because I was getting bored with C# programming.

We're currently putting up at another "5 star hotel" in the Salt Lake Area, Sector V. It's an ok place to work in, from everything we've experienced so far. From the newspapers and some of the people we've talked to, it's not a "good" part of town.

Some gang broke into a family's house in this area, gang-raped the daughter, cleaned out the house.

Another violent protest occurred in Kolkatta. They're protesting against Honda's closure of it's plant. The police got involved and now we have a lot of people in hospital.

We're have 2 weeks to find a permanent place of domicile and I need to get a mobile soon. We met some of the local AIESEC committee members, and they have helped us score a nice cheap place somewhere. Downside is, it's 1 1/2 hour journey each way to and from work. That, I can live with.I bought a library membership with the British Council, they're in town. If I lived in town, I could use it's facilities, which is a good thing.

Let me sort out my experiences a little before I go any further.

Visited the Backwaters of Trivandrum last Sunday. It was a very expensive trip (in more ways than one). Sitting in a Jeep stuck in one position for 3 hours either way is not a pleasant way to spend your weekend.

The Backwaters had an oldstyle-kampong-by-the-river feel. We took a 3 hour boat ride around the place. I'll post the pics as soon as I retrieve it from my camera. Everybody does everything in the water swim, wash, pee?(oh gawd I hope not, I'm pretty sure our laundry service comes from the Backwaters).

Me and Conner took back an expensive souvenir though. Viral Fever. Trivendrum's Viral Fever is like a punch to the gut. It's pretty scary, the fever comes and goes. You can tell when a fever is going to start up.

Unlike a normal fever where the heat from your extremeties saps slowly to your torso and head, Viral Fever drains the heat from your arms and legs so violently, they go numb, you are left shaking and shivering. When enough heat is gathered, you run a nasty high fever (40 degrees).

I swear Viral Fever is a fiendishly clever little Devil. Everything is aimed at draining as much bodily fluids as possible. If you try to rehydrate, it uses an assortment of tactics ranging from sweating to runny nose and sore throat to diarrhoea.

Monday was the final exam, had to face it all woozy. Tuesday was a project day. Around 3 o'clock, I decided I needed a doctor. When I arrived at the resident doctor's office, Connor was already there all stretched out with an IV drip in his arm.

Although I hadn't recognized the symptoms of Viral Fever, I suspected dehydration. I had taken great pains to keep myself well hydrated. I didn't need an IV and was given some medication before being sent back to the hostel to rest.

Everthing this week appeared to be conspiring against me. When I reached my room and was about to drift off to sleep, I was awakened by the Hostel staff. The TCS section in Calcutta wanted to interview me. And so, for only the second time this week, I did something important while being half-dead. I had a 2-day MC, but I knew our group was behind schedule for our Java Project, and so today I gritted my teeth popped more panadol and went to work. Project delivery on Thursday, I think we can actually pull this off. I just need to pop more panadol.

I noticed something else, the mosquitoes didn't bother me anymore. Those picky eaters wanted only healthy blood.

Connor used his MC fully. Wish I could too...sigh but duty calls and I must answer.

Viral Fever has taught me something though...you don't want to fall sick without insurance here. Healthcare is ridiculously expensive. Just bought me some coverage. It won't help with major things but it should be enough to handle minor problems.

Oh...I've just been accepted to the Calcutta section of TCS. I'll be working on an Enterprise System in C# for a Japanese MNC. It's something I'm good at, but it's almost useless back home. Every company in Singapore just wants Web developers in .NET. Oh well, I'm pretty sure I'll be learning alot there, but I not quite sure the experience will help me find a job in Singapore.

Finally, some pics to liven up the blogs! My journeys thus far...

Elephant island.

A little island 9 km south of Mumbai. We arrived at the island to greet the first rains of the monsoon season. The were no elephants on the island despite its name.

The place contained a series of stone carvings of shiva done by ancient Indian inhabitants. Not in too bad condition considering its age.

However, there were enough cows, goats and monkeys to generate enough dung, you would think there were a herd of elephants on the island.

Be warned, it costs a hefty 250 rs to get in, or slightly cheaper in USD. On our way up, the soft soil caused a tree to give way, falling square on a canvas tent in front of us.

Spices of Life.

The spices of India. Very deceptive. The mildest looking spices are actually the most evil.

If you ever come to India, AVOID the RED STUFF. You've been warned.










THE BIG MAC

No one should leave India without first trying the Chicken MacMaharaja. Delicious. A little strange at first bite, but my own burger didn't last 5 minutes, so I had to "borrow" Beyhan's.

Thanks Jih Shin, for the suggestions and also pointing out that you need to be a registered member to add a comment. I guess that put off casual viewers from actually writing anything.

I discovered another facet of the Indian personality today. We are usually kept isolated from the rest of Indian trainees, but today, we had a combined session talking about .... surprise surprise, the wonders of working for TCS.

Interesting nugget #1:

The attitude Indians take to their lessons is simply incredible. I'ld imagine my old lecturers in NUS would simply have a wonderful time here. The wheezy old geezers in my faculty would get a hernia just from the effort of keeping 50% of the audience conscious.

Here, everytime the lecturer asked a question, it would be followed by a chorus of answers, each person struggling to outdo the other in a super-sized version of fastest-finger-first.

Then I discovered interesting nugget #2.

They have a "herd mentality" which would put cows to shame. I noticed that the answers which were fired machine-gun style at the lecturer was essentially the same and came one slightly after the other. This theory was proved when a girl sitting beside me blurted out a short epithet which she bit off in mid-sentence after ripping her long shawl that had been accidentally caught under her chair. Unfortunately, the lecturer had just asked a question, and...hehe, 7 or 8 other people repeated the curse in the full form...before someone noticed there was something wrong with the "model answer".

Hmm, I wonder what would happen if I shout something hokkien everytime the lecturer asks a question? Nah...very malu to get sent home because of this.

Kids don't try this at home, this is for trained psychologists or pure psychos only!

***

The class had to come up with three large and famous companies and 3 reasons for why these companies were famous. As foreign guests, we could go first. Our group had a discussion and agreed that we wanted to pick 3 companies which would not be repeated to death by our herd of cows behind. Since the focus of our class discussions had been IBM, Microsoft and Hewlett-Packard, we wanted to, as much as possible avoid picking US companies. We settled on Sony, Nokia and Nike.

It worked. The groups behind us almost to a man picked....surprise surprise IBM, Microsoft and HP. DUH with a capital 'D'. This is a real pity since I've been with quite a few of them and I KNOW they are bright fellows. They had to be, since Tata's recruitment policy in India was remarkably strict and they went through a battery of tests. Tata also trawled through untold millions of applicants to come up with la creme de la creme. Every last one them are probably the equivalent of first class honour students from the university they graduated from.

What followed was another cracker....

They showed us some Tata propaganda clips. Some we had seen before and some new ones. This particular clip was DEFINITELY new, I would've remembered it if I had seen it. I don't think I can quite do justice to the clip, but trust me, it was hilarious...and it wasn't meant to be. I'll try to get hold of it somewhere somehow, it's worth the trouble. It was an MTV style music video on how Tata was "global". The sight of our CEO wiggling his bottom, was erm....well faintly disturbing now that I think about it. Much to the lecturer's chagrin, the entire class started to snigger.

Of course the day wouldn't be complete without an encore from our elite band of snoozers. Abid again with his hand in his head, carefully turned away from the lecturer. Big Mac Connor stretched out at the back of the class, oblivious to the clearly amused Indians sitting beside us. I think I may have lost conscious for 2 minutes as well.

I really wonder what they think of us....

Then again, maybe I don't really want to know....

Still deciding which photos to post. Tsk tsk decisions decisions....Hi hi sis & js ! Guestbook is up but ok, it looks more than a little crummy. I customized it a little. Maybe if I have time, I'll do a little revamp. But Sis, you remember what my taste is like right? Always a little offcentre and alot offbeat.

We're finally doing a little bit of programming, on PCs which could be euphemistically called venerable. Actually, I think marked-for-euthanasia would be a better description. However, we still had Indians coming in and out all through our Java practical session trying to use the computers. Finally, our lecturer couldn't take it any more and locked the door.

Our time in Trivendrum is about to draw to a close. We'll be gone by the 22nd. We have our official e-mail id and employee ids at last. Yay...official slaves of TCS. ;p. Oh yeah, we're so branded now. Can't wait to e-mail all my Indian friends from my official account. **background voices: Sooooo Hao Lian!!!**

Today we had the first of our "Cultural Presentation", where we get to showcase the diversity of our elite group of snorers (the incident in the Auditorium didn't count). Abid & Maxim spoiled the market thoroughly with a super-well prepared presentation. They had gifts and lucky draw prizes, short movie clips and flags and banners. Turns out the Canadian government had a hand in preparing the props. We had the Nigerian, Daniel talk about Nigeria. Then it was Beyhan the Turk with another market spoiler. Turkish coffee, turkish money and a long long presentation full pictures and nice stuff, all 19.5MB of it. Luckily we ran out of time before Singapore and Czech Republic had a chance to do the presentation.

Singaporeans out there, help me out here leh. I'm going to have to think up of something to show up the other countries, but I haven't the faintest idea what. I don't want to do yet another Singapore Tourism Board style limp promo. Come on leh, do your part! Stand up for Singapore!

I got to plan now! Cheong arh!

One more week....one week more....before I leave Trivendrum.

Power outs are getting more frequent and longer these couple of days. I'm starting to think that the power grid in Trivandrum is actually intelligent and monitoring my messenger conversations.

I was chatting with one of my friends back in Singapore and mentioned the frequent power outs we were getting. It immediately started to brown-out, i.e. the power started to wane, fans slowed and monitors started dimming and flickering. It recovered a little while later. Me and my big mouth had to type "haha...only a brown-out, nothing seri ---" tewwwpzzz.....This time it was a full blown black out, lasted half a day too.

I REALLY should learn to stop provoking the fates by putting my foot in my mouth at the most inappropriate times. It's like cursing the gods on a mountain top in the middle of a stormy night while wearing copper armour.

Today's lecture on quality management systems in the auditorium was a real torture in more ways than one.
Take one boring lecturer with an incomprehensible Indian accent rushing to complete in one day three day's worth of material.Add one boring subject taken in two 3 hour blocks.

the real torture was about to take place....

I had a good night's sleep, but I still had to struggle abit to stay conscious...or sane.
Picture this, we, the representatives of a global community, the pride of our nations in India, sitting in the front row of this big lecture auditorium crammed with Indian trainees, fighting hard to maintain the image of our respective countries.

Abid the Canadian didn't even bother to put up a fight. He sat back in the chair and went off to lala land. I heard a gentle purring behind me and when I turned around, Lo! and behold there was Alvarro from Chile stretched comfortably in his seat snoring gently. Big Mac Conor propped his big hands over his face and surrendered after a brief struggle. That left me and Beyhan the Turk. The little baby started to drool down the side of my leg....

The pressure to laugh was killing me. My shoulders were jerking spasmodically in silent laughter. I put my hands over my mouth pressing as hard as I could to stave off for as long as possible the inevitable explosion I knew was about to occur. It didn't matter anyway, the lecturer was about to look my way, and I knew there was NO way I could convince him that I wasn't laughing at him.

That's when I saw my open orange backpack. Desperate times called for desperate measures. With seconds to spare, I bent down and stuffed my head into the open bag.

oh what a day...

The group was saved. More or less. I managed to convert my incipient bout of mirth into a fit of furious coughing, which woke the group up. The lecturer was glaring suspiciously at us, but did not comment. Oh what a sad day for the international community. I wonder what the Indians were thinking.

I heard from my sister that someone she introduced my blog to liked my writing. Thanks Jih Shin. Hope to hear from you on the blog. Having people on blog helps me alot ;p. I followed my sister's advice and installed a guestbook link on my blog. Maybe it would encourage people who read my blog to add some comments. One can always hope.

Ahh Trivendrum...what a place....

Feels just like an "Ulu" village in Malaysia. You don't get this off-the-beaten-track feel even in Tekong anymore.

The "Executive Condo" moved into is luxurious (even without A/C) compared to the other places we've been in around India. Unfortunately, mosquito breeding is a cottage industry here. Here I sit in my room facing the world's biggest mosquito farm...8 by 5 pool of stagnant water. Et Voila... Executive Condo for Mosquitoes.

The Irishmen Carl and Connor are suffered the most the first night here. Connor had a record of 33 bites on one arm alone, earning the monikor Big MacConnor (Everybody eats there).

The main objective here in Trivendrum (after mosquito feeding) is to allow us some time for a little training and mixing with Indian associates before being pushed out into the world. Some of our group have their assignments already. Some of them lucky sods are getting SAP assignments, off to a flying start travelling the world, changing work locations every 6 weeks. Haiz...I'm one of the not-so-lucky ones. I wish they would hurry up and place me....it's getting on my nerves. So depressing...not getting your choice posting.....

Lucky buggers moving out this Sunday. My roommate paulo is one of them. I'm going to miss him, his guitar and his capoeira lessons.

Yes capoeira...Brazilian dance + martial arts all in one. Excellent cardio workout. I'm going to introduce Paulo one of these days. He's one Helluva guy.

Yeah so...the EC where we live...healthiest place on earth. I want out!

Only thing they serve in the hostel is vegetarian. Our baths are cold. A gym and capoeira lessons. Swimming pool nearby...no not the mosquito swamp....

I lost 3 inches off my waistline so far...if it goes any further I'll have trouble holding up my pants. The belt's not helping. I'm gaining muscles and a tan from the workouts and swims. If this continues I'll look great but feel miserable.

Definitely going to pick up a pair of contact lenses here...they're so cheap...like 1000 rs. That's like 40Sing. I'm wearing new glasses now (1300rs) ...I broke my old one.

There really is no concept of a queue in India.

Really, sometimes I'm driven to think that the idea that people can bring themselves to form something as remotely resembling order as a queue is alien ... no I think the word is incomprehensible, to the Indian mind. I give you a few examples.

The train system in Mumbai is like a feisty little old lady. It's slow, it wobbles, it screeches and smells funny but it still manages to somehow move hundreds of thousand people over miles of rail everyday. Sure, sometimes it's a little late, but at it's age, it's a tribute to Indian/British engineering that the old bat is even moving at all.

Ok, more to the point. Every morning thousands of Indian men, women and children at every Indian rail stop crowd around the trains and start to push,shove and kick their way in. It's actually quite a fascinating scene...if you aren't smack right in the middle of the maddening crowd. The first few times I was on the rail, I heard people shout what seemed to me like some kind of warcry as they exited the train. It turns out that if the people in the train wanted out, they had to work together and charge out of the door in unison, otherwise they get washed away by the human tsunami flooding into the carriage. I guess it's ok if you were a guy, but not so hot if you were a child or a woman. I guess that's why there is a women's compartment on the trains somewhere. Makes sense.

The training facility I am in has a nice little canteen serving Indian fare at an incredibly cheap price. I like eating at the place, the food's good (though a little unsatisfying) and there's often a little extra protein surprise waiting for you inside(Masala surprise!!...flies in yogurt anyone? I thought they were raisins....honest!). The canteen works like this: You look at the menu for the day hanging on the wall and buy a ticket for what you want from a guy manning a counter infront of the canteen. You take the ticket and claim the items from the people in the canteen. Everyday it was like the train. You basically kick, push, elbow, knee-in-the-groin the guy in front of you to get what you want or you eat last. I'm trained in Tae-kwon-do, Maxim in Jiujitsu and Paulo in Capoeira and Karate, between us, we can usually gouge a way through for our team.

I'm becoming a little more Indian every day. Today I just caught myself giving that sideways shake of the head indicating affirmation that Indians so love to use. I just hope that when I get back to Singapore, I don't get caught elbowing some old woman on an MRT. **SNORT**

Ok, a little something off topic here. If you followed my blog, you might think that from all the snivelling and whining I've been doing, I am having alot of problems adjusting to life here.

Actually, erm, nothing can be further from the truth. It's been a blast. Trust me. Life is a patchwork of little moments, some good, some bad and some truly ugly. It's just co-incidence(yeah right) or my twisted little mind that I remember all the fugly stuff.

I mean, yeah all the stuff's true. But here I am, with a huge bunch of real friends who will go through thick and thin with you (try finding some in your office in Singapore), sharing some truly unique experiences which I am sure I will carry to my grave. I'll give you a little something I remember.

Daniel (the crouching guy in the photo) had actually arrived 5 weeks before the first of our batch stepped into India. He had belonged to the previous batch, but had arrived too late to join that batch. He spent some rather times in India travelling, doing some rather interesting stuff (he was an extra on the set of a bollywood movie). We had to purchase our air tickets to Trivandrum and it cost something like 5000 rs. Daniel didn't have much cash left and had opted to travel by rail. A cheaper option at 1000 rs, but an uncomfortable two day journey. Guillaume and Beyhan suggested each of us contributing a little to pay for an extra ticket. That we did and Daniel travelled with us. Although I hadn't come up with the idea, I find this single act of comradeship truly (sorry for all the trulys, but I'm all shot up...can't think of an alternative term) inspiring.