My New Home

Today I traveled to Phaltan for the first time since arriving in India two weeks back.  Immediately I was transported to an era some 150 years behind the civilization I am accustomed to.  I was taken back by the natural beauty of this place.  The lush greenery, sugar cane fields, mountains and clear skies were a refreshing taste of scenery compared to the density of the city.

This large hill will be directly behind the PDC once constructed.

 A nice, freshly dug hole at our PDC site.  84 more to go!

Here are some of the Megasite contractors literally chiseling stones into blocks for one of our buildings by hand.

 A nice view of some of the mountains on the way to Phaltan.

Notice the PGBU gensets keeping this McD's serving up hot, fresh Chicken Maharaja Macs?

P.S. "Delhi Belly" has set in :-(

First Time Being Scammed

Well it's happened; a sweet, innocent, filthy street person with child in arms has scammed me for a huge bag of rice and an even larger jug of oil!  I will now be more careful when engaging these folks in conversation while walking into the grocery!  Hopefully those provisions will make her life and the child's a little better for a while though:-)

Public Transportation

Here are a few photos of some of the uncommon forms of transportation I have encountered in my first week here in India. 

A local soccer game where I was ridiculed by the children for wearing a Manchester United jersey!

So far my grocery selections have been a little limited, but I did attend a wine event and was pleasantly surprised with King Fisher's offerings!  I also found another favorite which I dined on for Thanksgiving.

My first taste of India

After nearly 24 hours of travel from Cincinnati to India I arrive in Hyderabad to find that my luggage hasn't accompanied me on this trip!

Fortunately after several hours with Air India's baggage claim department they were more than happy to put me up for the night at one of Hyderabad's most exclusive motels.

Being that it was now almost 2 a.m. I had no sense of my surrounds, but when I woke up in the morning to catch my connecting flight to Pune I was a bit shocked that such an "exclusive motel" was situated in this area!

Regardless, I made it to the Hyderabad airport and my connecting flight to Pune as planned.  Once in Pune I was off to Pune Central, one of the local malls, to shop for some underwear and a tooth brush.  Mission accomplished and I left the exclusivity of the Hyderabad motel behind for a not so well known hotel called the Westin.

After getting my bearings straight (and changing my underwear) I was ready to begin settling into the city and working on tracking down my luggage.  Thankfully through the constant pestering of the Westin staff, Jitendra Mangle (a local with "connections" at the airport, the key to getting anything done here) and myself I was able to be reunited with my luggage just 1 "short" week after arriving in India.

Throughout this week of not having my luggage I feel I bonded with my 1 pair of Banana Republic slacks, Cantebury of New Zealand Oxford, Sperry loafers and J. Crew undershirt more than I ever thought was possible and would like to thank this one outfit for keeping me company abroad during that first week.  Oh, and my iPad as well.

After an initially rocky start, I have found a flat to lease and corporate is working with legal to finalize the lease.  The flat was the smallest and least flashy of the 15 or so flats I looked at during my house hunting trip, but it was clean, newly furnished and did not have birds nests in the ceiling fans as some of the others had (this was critical for me).  I'm hoping to be in my new flat by December 1st and can't wait to setup my Christmas tree once the balance of my belongings arrive.

So this is the first week and a half for me in India and it has been a wild and at times a tough experience, but none the less it is an experience I will grow and better from.  Thank you to all my family and friends in the US and abroad that have sent me their well wishes during this time!  If you'd like to visit I've found a great little place that will accommodate all male visitors....