Kolkata

Today was the first day that we got to see Kolkata during the daytime. Wow what a different site it is. It is even more crazy than it is at night. One difference is that the traffic is a little worse at night than it is during the day. It is unreal to see the sea of humanity that is a major city in India. Most people have a driver which is nice because they are good at what they do (they have to be) and they are not distracted. I have seen maybe 5 street signs. I have seen no GPSs in peoples’ car, so I have no idea how people get around. The most amazing thing about the traffic is that everyone is going bonkers on their horns and no one gets mad. I started to get mad yesterday and I am not even driving. I was about to give people bad finger but I choose not to. The other astonishing part about Kolkata is the amount of diversity that is there. There are a lot of homeless people, even more poor people that do not have a complete domicile, middle class, rich and then stupid rich. It is pretty awesome to see how all of these people interact. Everywhere you go there are thousands of stands selling things. They are just small huts and but that is where I think most of India gets stuff done. Here is just a short list of things that are sold. Phone cards, veggies, chickens, thrashed sugar cane drink, mints, gum, and meals just to name a few. My guess is that if I ate the food from one of the street vendors, things would not turn out well for anyone.

I think this might be just an Indian phenomenon, but I could be wrong. India has this deal that when the first city gets to big and full, they just make a new one and call it “new whatever.” There is Deli and New Deli. Well Kolkata is the last major town to get this “new” town and the marketing wizards over here in India have decided to call it…New Town. Wow just amazing. I wonder where they came up with the name. Why would they do that? If they picked up all of the litter and all of the rubble there would be plenty of room in Kolkata to expand. They could take all of the rubble and make more city. It is just crazy. I cannot think of any other place that does that. Also when the new town is introduced, does the old town get jealous?

On our way to the meeting today, we drove into the New Town section and our local knowledge guy said that this is where a lot of the call centers are. I have seen a few billboards that advertize call center training but I had not see it in action. Well today I did. We drove past a bunch of the buildings and they look like any call center in the world. There are a lot of these call centers. I can’t wait until I get to call one of these and I can say to “Brian from Indianapolis,” “Come on Brian, I know you are in New Town Kolkata, why, because I have been there and seen where you work” Do you think he will come clean then?




Now that I can see the light at the end of the tunnel, here is what I have been thinking about since I left. I have gone through a couple of cravings that I want, so here is the list:
A haircut – I knew that if I got one before I left it was not time but if I waited it would be too late. I choose too late.
Pizza – I really wanted some good slices of Pizza early but that has cooled down.
Ribs – Something you do not see or get here and I have been wanting them for a few days now. I want the kind of ribs where you eat all of them before you pick up your napkin because wiping your mouth would be a waste.
Seared Rib-eye Steak with Caesar Salad and good veggies – Why, because it is so good and I have not found too many steaks on the menu here. Plus would you eat a steak that was cooked by someone who did not eat meat? I would not.
Not having to pack and carry my things everyday.


Now you can see that cows are everywhere. This one was standing outside of a major office building in a new section of Kolkata.

Post cards

As many of you know sending postcards are my thing. I enjoy sending them. I keep every postcard that I get from someone. It is just a cool thing. None of the postcards have any real information on them. Would you ever say anything real serious in a postcard? Everyone reads them. They are a cool way to keep in touch with people. The best part about them is that they arrive totally unexpected. Well the people that get them from me know they are coming, because I am out of town but usually it all works.
While I was in Canada we were in an area that does not really have postcards, so I had to wait. It was a total bummer. I waited until I got to the Toronto airport and they had lots of postcards. So I bought a bunch of them. Canada has this really cool postcard that has the postage already on it, so you can send them any where in the world. It is very easy and very nice to use. The issue was that I was already through security and I needed to find a mail box. I asked the woman behind the counter if there were any post boxes, she said “no, but I will take them for you.” This is not an uncommon response. Everyone I have asked to do this has been very helpful and really great. While I am waiting for my flight, I speed through all of the postcards and I give them back to the lady. I am stoked because two of the postcards had birthday messages on them and everyone will be happy.
It has now been 2 weeks since I have left Canada and no one has received their postcards. People have received their postcards from Germany but not Canada. I have never had that happen where someone says they will help you out and then just doesn’t. It really sucks. The money is not the issue, it is that the woman said she would do something and then didn’t. If she did not want to do it that is fine, I would have found someone else to do it. Don’t say you will do something and then don’t. So the moral of the story is: 1) send more postcards – everyone loves them and 2) Do not trust Canada.

Half way

I am sorry for the slow posts but not a ton has happened and I have not had a ton of time to write my thoughts. Hopefully this is a long post that will make up for it. As you well know India, is nuts. It is always just a laugh a minute. Things are great here. At this point there is only a week to go in my trip so that is very nice. It has been a long time since I have been home and I can’t wait to get back to America and see everyone.
We have left Bhilai and we are no in Jamshedpur for a couple of days. It only took 10 hours on the train but it went smoothly. During the night I opened the door and to watch the as the world goes by and it is a pretty crazy site. It is really just darkness where you can make out only a few things. Just thinking that if something happened and you slipped you would be in the middle of nowhere in India (which is really deep nowhere) and have no idea what to do or even where to go. So that was a little scary and I did not open the door again, but we made it so there were no problems. The trains are very nice now and you can relax and enjoy yourself. The best part is that they have electrical outlets in them so you can use all of your electrical gear.
Some people have asked about the cows, before I arrived, I thought it was a lot of talk about cows in the street and things like that. Let me tell you, it is 100% true. There are cows everywhere. It is nuts. Two days ago I saw one cross a busy intersection at about 9:30 pm and yesterday at about 10 am there was one in lying down in the middle of a pretty busy street. I saw one in a steel mill, on the side of the road, in the woods everywhere and one at the train station (picture below). It is crazy how common they are. These cows do not belong to anyone so I do not see this problem being solved anytime soon. They just walk down the street like people.

The traffic here is unreal. They do not merge, they just blend. In Bhilai there is a train crossing right by the hotel where we stayed. There were at least 6 lanes of traffic where there normally would be just 2 (picture below). On any given street you will see any combination of bikes (push and motor), rickshaws (pedal and motor) carts, cars, trucks and cows that everyone is going everywhere. They are always on their horn. It is unreal. They love to use it even when it is not necessary or useful. The only time they use the horn properly is when they are passing someone. Also everyone is going somewhere with something. They just make it work (picture below).





The service here is unreal. They have so many people working but so few that do anything, or even know what to do. When you ask for something it usually takes forever and you have to ask several times. No one seems to know what is going on. Also the waiters just look at you and when you tell them something it seems like they are just zoned out. Now I know how parents feel when they are talking to teenagers. The other big thing is that the people serving have very limited knowledge about things and the people being waited on have a vast knowledge on things. The other day I heard a man ask for an egg-white omelet. Do you think the chef has any idea what that is? The man had to explain it to him several times and I do not know if it was made correctly. Everyone just needs to understand who they are working with and go from there. If it is too hard to explain, then you probably should not order it.
We also went to the Bhilai zoo. The zoo was run down but cool. They did take care of the what few animals that were there. Not the best cages but they were clean. It cost us 5rp each to go it. The three people that went paid less than $.50 (total for all 3 of us) to go in and see the animals. We got to see both a white tiger and a Bengal tiger which was awesome. You forget how big and powerful they are. They are truly an impressive animal. I hope we can save them. The other cool animal that we saw was the Himalayan black bear. They are great. Just like most other bears, they sleep a lot, have a good time and eat a lot. They were just trying to stay out of the sun. I had never seen one before and it was good to see. The white “V” on their chest was very neat.

So now we are in Jamshedpur for the weekend and then it is back to Kolkata. I am sure there will be some stories from Jamshedpur. When we arrived (1:30 am) there were at least 1000 people sleeping in the train station. I do not know if they did not have a house or if they were waiting for their train but it is pretty crazy to see so many people sleeping with such bright lights on. More adventures to come.

The Indian Express

Here Click this first.


I am now really in India. Yesterday I left the friendly confines of the hotel to enter into the real India. We were off to our first meeting that is 14 hours away by train. First we needed to get to the train station. There was “no” traffic because of the Holi Holiday that was on Sunday. It is really a 2 day festival. The roads still seemed very crowded and everyone loved to use their horn. The way to fix this problem is to make the horn really expensive so that if they want to use it they will have to pay. We get to the train station and it is crazy. There is one woman with no legs (below her knees) and is walking around asking for money. There are a few beggers but not too many to really be a problem. Lots of dogs that are carrying various diseases. Also everyone still has the face paint on from the festival so it looks like a crazy dream.
There are three classes of train cars. There is 1st class which is what we are in with beds and your own private area. There is 2nd class which is seats and there is 3rd class which is first come first serve benches. Some people even stand. It is crazy the amount of people they fit in 3rd class. For the 3rd class, there is a line and everyone is holding on to the person in front of them. My guess is so that they do not loose their spot and no one cuts in front of them. If someone does try and cut, there is an officer to yell at them and hit them with a stick. I could only imagine what goes on in 3rd class. Because of the 3 classes of train, it is the most popular form of travel in India. Over 70% of the population uses the trains.
The trains are the same trains type of train from The Darjeeling Limited, and I feel like Owen Wilson. So that is how I feel a little bit. Small but very comfortable. Our train car is very new (built 2 years ago) so it has a lot of creature comforts like, it does not smell, no cockroaches, and it even has toilet paper in the bathroom. The 1st class cars even have power outlets for your computer or your cell phone which is totally awesome. Because there are 6 of us traveling we got 2 cabins; a 4 person cabin and a 2 person cabin. Sleeping was very easy because I am so used to sleeping on a boat, the repeating motion is no problem for me. I slept great and had a great night. I am sorry that I did not get any pictures of the train station but I did not want to stick out more than I already do. The countryside is vast and is very sparsely populated. Here is where we ended at the Grand Dhillon Hotel in Nerhu Nagar, Bhilai. We are off to our first meeting so we shall see how that shakes out. More adventures to come soon and pictures below.

Pictures from the train

The countryside of India.

One of Many of the Indian Villages we passed. If we could get the plastic bottles out of this world everything would look so much better.


This is a Hindu temple.

View looking back

Welcome to India

Well I am now in India. Things are good so far. The airport is crazy. We arrive and there are no jet ways; it is down the stairs, get onto a bus and get a ride to the terminal. Once we get to the terminal there are 3 people standing at the door before you get to customs. They are handing out these forms about H1N1 flu. These 3 men are wearing surgical masks. A very welcoming site. These forms need to be filled out; the problem is that there is no place to complete this task. No tables, no chairs, no counter no nada. They do not even supply something to fill the forms out with. Just nuts. So I fill this form out and get in line. A man borrows my pen so he can fill out his form (he did find me in baggage claim and return my pen). A quick aside, I needed to get shots to prevent me getting diseases when I came to India, don’t you think they should be worried about those diseases instead of H1N1? Just a thought. They have these heat cameras that are checking everyone out and I passed so that was good. I have no idea how they could tell because there was not so much a line as a bunch of people standing there. It took forever to get my bag but it was there and all is well. The other awesome thing is that India sells duty free stuff before you leave. How great is that, just get it at your end destination and you will not have to worry about forgetting it on the plane.
Oh did I forget to tell you, India is on a half hour time difference. Who does that? That should be outlawed. The streets were very quiet when I got here because it was 2:30 in the morning. On our way to the hotel we did not abide by one traffic law. We kept the speed down but went through every stop sign and every red light. The other reason for the streets being so quiet is because there is a festival on Sunday. This is the Holi festival. You are not supposed to drive from 6:00 am until 2:00 pm. So that is great fun. When I woke up this morning there were really no cars on the road. I guess they can control 1 billion people.
I am doomed here because it is just like Brittan where they drive on “the other side” of the road. I will forget to look the correct way or go the correct side of the car, something stupid. I would do ok here because I am left-handing, so shifting would not be a problem, but getting around is a different issue.. No photos just yet, but there will be some I promise. Also, it is very nice and sunny here. Probably about 25 or so. I am going to enjoy the day. From what I have seen so far (the drive to the hotel and out my hotel window), India is one crazy 3rd world country. I did see 4 people on a scooter already and there are a lot of stray (or wild (what is the term if they never had an owner?) dogs. India is really growing and doing a lot of projects. It looks like the whole place is under construction. At this point it reminds me of Venezuela. I will let you know if my feelings change. More to come.

Trains

On Friday I took the train from Salzburg to Frankfort. I really love taking the train in Europe. It s a great way to see everything and it is very relaxing. The train stations are so awesome and huge as well. They are all old buildings with great architecture. It is good that all of them did not get destroyed in WWII. I think there is something more romantic at a train station than an airport. Recently I was in the Munich train station and it is massive. It is right up there with the Paris train station. The first thing that is great about train stations are that they are usually in the center of the city so that is nice and easy to get to and get around. The other thing is that there is so much hustle and bustle going on. The trains are very fast; they reach a top speed of about 220 kmh (135+ MPH). The train I was on was 17 minutes late. I thought German trains were not late. Oh well. I really wish that America would do more trains so I could spend less time in airports and on airplanes and more time on crossing the country on a train. I think after riding the trains in India I might have a different opinion. We shall see. More to come.