Today was my first full day in Mumbai. It started with breakfast at the hotel with the two colleagues I am here with, Andreas and Joachim. They have been here for a week at this point and this is Andreas' 20-30th trip so they are seasoned Mumbai visitors at this point. Breakfast consisted of some "Western" staples along with some Indian offerings. I'm definitely not in Kansas anymore.
After breakfast we hopped in the car to go to the office. Driving here is an artform. The horn is used liberally not to direct anger toward someone but rather to signal presences or the desire to pass. The roads are mostly 2-3 lanes wide but there are no lines. In some places two lanes of traffic pass and in others 4 are stacked up. It's a mixture of cars, tuk tuks, motorcycles, bicycles, people, busses, and trucks. I took some video today of our drive to the office and our drive to dinner, but it was raining so the quality isn't the best, but you get the idea.
We arrived at the office in about 15 minutes, which I was told is unusual. There are multiple security gates to pass through, but similar to the hotel it's not true security but rather a bit of a show. Our car dropped us off right at the front door and we went inside to the elevators. To take the elevator you select your floor from a keypad nearby and an elevator is assigned to you. There are no floor buttons in the elevators themselves.
Once we arrived on the floor of the office there were two additional security checks. The first involved a "random check" box where if you have a bag you reach in and pull out a colored ball. Green means no check, red means they peek in your bag. I picked red. Then my badge didn't work. We talked our way through the first door indicating we'd have one of the local colleagues sort it out later. But the guard at the second door was having none of it so Andreas went and got the local colleague who talked to the guard to straighten things out.
Lunch was served in the cafeteria downstairs around 2:30pm. We had a small area segregated from the rest of the bustling cafeteria. There was a selection of chicken and other dishes with rice. I was told where I had to sit to follow the local custom. Several of the local colleagues joined us and we had a good conversation over lunch.
We spent the rest of the day meeting with various groups and talking about how they could do their assignments better and gathering their observations through small group feedback sessions.
After work we went to dinner (around 8:30pm) with one of the local colleagues, RC, who rotated off the Bayer account a year or so ago. This involved a short ride to another section of town. We had dinner at the Rajkumar Hotel. RC did all of the ordering and we had a great selection of chicken and vegetable dishes.
Driving to dinner, again traffic was light because of the rain.
After dinner I was exhausted. We headed back to the hotel, I called home to wish Peggy and the boys a good morning and then went to bed. Another long day at the office awaits me tomorrow.
The view from my hotel room. It's still raining so I can't see too far.
A view from the hallway window at the other end of the hotel.
After breakfast we hopped in the car to go to the office. Driving here is an artform. The horn is used liberally not to direct anger toward someone but rather to signal presences or the desire to pass. The roads are mostly 2-3 lanes wide but there are no lines. In some places two lanes of traffic pass and in others 4 are stacked up. It's a mixture of cars, tuk tuks, motorcycles, bicycles, people, busses, and trucks. I took some video today of our drive to the office and our drive to dinner, but it was raining so the quality isn't the best, but you get the idea.
Drive to the office, traffic was light due to the rain.
We arrived at the office in about 15 minutes, which I was told is unusual. There are multiple security gates to pass through, but similar to the hotel it's not true security but rather a bit of a show. Our car dropped us off right at the front door and we went inside to the elevators. To take the elevator you select your floor from a keypad nearby and an elevator is assigned to you. There are no floor buttons in the elevators themselves.
Once we arrived on the floor of the office there were two additional security checks. The first involved a "random check" box where if you have a bag you reach in and pull out a colored ball. Green means no check, red means they peek in your bag. I picked red. Then my badge didn't work. We talked our way through the first door indicating we'd have one of the local colleagues sort it out later. But the guard at the second door was having none of it so Andreas went and got the local colleague who talked to the guard to straighten things out.
Lunch was served in the cafeteria downstairs around 2:30pm. We had a small area segregated from the rest of the bustling cafeteria. There was a selection of chicken and other dishes with rice. I was told where I had to sit to follow the local custom. Several of the local colleagues joined us and we had a good conversation over lunch.
We spent the rest of the day meeting with various groups and talking about how they could do their assignments better and gathering their observations through small group feedback sessions.
After work we went to dinner (around 8:30pm) with one of the local colleagues, RC, who rotated off the Bayer account a year or so ago. This involved a short ride to another section of town. We had dinner at the Rajkumar Hotel. RC did all of the ordering and we had a great selection of chicken and vegetable dishes.
A small shrine in the hotel where we ate dinner.
After dinner I was exhausted. We headed back to the hotel, I called home to wish Peggy and the boys a good morning and then went to bed. Another long day at the office awaits me tomorrow.
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