We spent the evening prior to our midnight flight at the lounge in the Mumbai airport. The business lounge has food and drinks complementary. Which means sometimes you drink a little more than you might otherwise. Ed and I had a few beers, and our flight was delayed, so we kept availing ourselves of the service. At one point the server comes by and says "are you done?" and I say "Yes, we're done. Unless you have more beers."
"Yes, we do." He says. Two more on the way.
And I search my wallet for any remaining Rupees. I find a ten Rupee note thinking I want to express my appreciation. Only for my colleague Ed to bury his head in his hands. "Dude, that's like tipping someone ten cents."
No more beers for us.
Friday, May 31, 2019
Latte art
The Polaris lounge in Newark not only has showers (saving grace for my upcoming day of meetings in Newark). Also you can order a latte and the barista has a machine that prints a design on top of the foam. He could select from a variety of designs and the machine prints like any ink jet printer. Only in foam.
Juhu beach
On Thursday before we left Mumbai we had time to kill before our 11pm flight. We took an Uber from our hotel near the airport to a trendy neighborhood to "experience" Mumbai. It was hot and sticky, and not fun to be outside so we "experienced" a Starbucks (which looks like every other Starbucks in the world).
We walked a bit and saw a temple that had thousands of bells. It was called Shree Ghanteshwar Hanuman Mandir. When I read the description it sounded much bigger. Some of the bells were so very small. It wasn't big enough to even go inside, just see from the street. And we were the only tourists so the packed street around us was looking at us like we were the attraction.
We couldn't stand the heat so off we went to the beach. Thinking the breeze would cool us off. We got an auto, which is the little three wheeled death machine that whips through the streets. We jumped in and immediately our driver got pulled over by a traffic cop. With the meter running, they're arguing over whatever he did wrong. He pulled out his license and I'm thinking we needed to bail to get a new auto. But he figured it out and off we went dodging in and out of traffic with little to nothing between us and the other cars, autos and motorbikes.
We got to Juhu beach in no time. What we didn't count on was that everyone goes to Juhu beach which means that's where the street urchins hang out waiting for people just like us. As we walked along the beach eight or more small kids no older than five swarmed us and asked for money. As we walked on they started touching our feet and our hands, even putting their hands in our pockets. We couldn't get them to go away regardless of ignoring them, saying no, even yelling at them to stop touching us. They followed along and even a local Mumbai resident tried to help scare them off.
We ended up heading into a Marriott hotel on the beach where the security kept the kids out (and the air conditioning kept the lobby ice cold). We tried to have a drink but the bar wasn't open yet.
Along the beach we found a beach hotel that had a kitschy look to it. Hotel rooms along a small path. It looks like something from the fifties. Except there were workers overhead working on a scaffolding up 20 feet on bamboo with no safety ropes or anything.
We braved the outdoors again and found a beach bar called the Raspberry Rhinoceros. The bar had neither raspberries or rhinoceroses. They did have air conditioning, cold beer and a view of the beach. We had a beer and enjoyed the view before heading back to the hotel.
We walked a bit and saw a temple that had thousands of bells. It was called Shree Ghanteshwar Hanuman Mandir. When I read the description it sounded much bigger. Some of the bells were so very small. It wasn't big enough to even go inside, just see from the street. And we were the only tourists so the packed street around us was looking at us like we were the attraction.
We couldn't stand the heat so off we went to the beach. Thinking the breeze would cool us off. We got an auto, which is the little three wheeled death machine that whips through the streets. We jumped in and immediately our driver got pulled over by a traffic cop. With the meter running, they're arguing over whatever he did wrong. He pulled out his license and I'm thinking we needed to bail to get a new auto. But he figured it out and off we went dodging in and out of traffic with little to nothing between us and the other cars, autos and motorbikes.
We got to Juhu beach in no time. What we didn't count on was that everyone goes to Juhu beach which means that's where the street urchins hang out waiting for people just like us. As we walked along the beach eight or more small kids no older than five swarmed us and asked for money. As we walked on they started touching our feet and our hands, even putting their hands in our pockets. We couldn't get them to go away regardless of ignoring them, saying no, even yelling at them to stop touching us. They followed along and even a local Mumbai resident tried to help scare them off.
We ended up heading into a Marriott hotel on the beach where the security kept the kids out (and the air conditioning kept the lobby ice cold). We tried to have a drink but the bar wasn't open yet.
Along the beach we found a beach hotel that had a kitschy look to it. Hotel rooms along a small path. It looks like something from the fifties. Except there were workers overhead working on a scaffolding up 20 feet on bamboo with no safety ropes or anything.
We braved the outdoors again and found a beach bar called the Raspberry Rhinoceros. The bar had neither raspberries or rhinoceroses. They did have air conditioning, cold beer and a view of the beach. We had a beer and enjoyed the view before heading back to the hotel.
We headed to our businesses partner's office for a meeting late afternoon after we checked out. They welcomed us with flowers and the red dot on our forehead for good fortune. We met in their boardroom where they had previously arranged to have the drinks they had seen Ed and me drink throughout our five days together: Red Bull and Coke.
Halfway through our meeting our hosts brought in street food that we had been asking about all trip. We ate the Mumbai signature food vada pau which is like a Mumbai burger made from potato instead of beef. We also had samosas and some kind of pastry (pani puri) you fill with a cold soup and eat in one shot. As much as I tried, I still made a mess and got the soup all over.
Airplane dress code
Just about everyone loses their inhibitions and dress code once you get on a long flight. Some people wear sweat pants or yoga pants. Some people wear pajamas. I love that United gives you pajamas on flights over 12 hours in business class.
On my flight there's a guy stripped down to a basic undershirt. I'm in my pajamas. Everyone is wearing slippers.
The flight attendants are in their uniforms. Snappy looking suits and dresses. I always wonder what material they make flight attendant uniforms from because even after dozens of times putting that life jacket on for a demo they still look pressed.
We are almost landing after 15 hours in the air and there's a business man who had a white button down shirt and a suit. It looks wrinkle free as though he just got it from the cleaners. How does he manage that after 15 hours on a flight. The best adjective for me is frumpy.
Service from a script
The flight steward on the flight from Mumbai to Newark came down the aisle and said to each of us "we appreciate having you on board.." a long 2-3 sentence script he would say exactly the same to everyone. I watched him say it to the five people in front of me. Exactly the same. When he got to me it was rushed and the same. Kind words with no meaning.
Throughout the flight the same steward would reply to requests for a mattress pad ("i havent seen any") or a drink ("we ran out") in a way that was fine but clear that he was missing the point of service in his role. He is the steward in a business class cabin where people are paying thousands of dollars per ticket. This is the x factor I think international airlines still win hands down on international flight.
Thursday, May 30, 2019
Caybins and Carlys
One thing I find is that I really have to work at communication when I'm here in India. It's not a stretch to say that sometimes the only thing that seperates me from the folks I'm talking to is the English language.
I was in a meeting about benefits for an hour talking about Carlys. I heard how we have to figure out the Carlys benefit. Who gets the Carlys, and what to do to convert the Carlys benefit to our new company. I would nod and agree and not know what it was, just know that we needed to have the Carlys benefit that people expected. It took some time before I realized we were talking about a car lease benefit for employees.
As we looked at offices we often would talk about how many Caybins the office had. Does this facility have enough Caybins? How many? Are they big enough? I kept looking when I toured offices for thee Caybins, and I didn't see anything out of the ordinary. Are Caybins a relative of the alligator-like Caymen? No, I found that I was scheduled to have a meeting in Cabin 3A which was my dedicated office for the day. And the facilities would have three offices or "cabins".
I was in a meeting about benefits for an hour talking about Carlys. I heard how we have to figure out the Carlys benefit. Who gets the Carlys, and what to do to convert the Carlys benefit to our new company. I would nod and agree and not know what it was, just know that we needed to have the Carlys benefit that people expected. It took some time before I realized we were talking about a car lease benefit for employees.
As we looked at offices we often would talk about how many Caybins the office had. Does this facility have enough Caybins? How many? Are they big enough? I kept looking when I toured offices for thee Caybins, and I didn't see anything out of the ordinary. Are Caybins a relative of the alligator-like Caymen? No, I found that I was scheduled to have a meeting in Cabin 3A which was my dedicated office for the day. And the facilities would have three offices or "cabins".
Wednesday, May 29, 2019
JW Marriott Mumbai Lounge
Probably spoiled from the St Regis and the Westin I have found the late check-in last night at the JW wasn't nearly as seamless or welcoming. I am sitting in the Executive Lounge at the JW Marriott near the airport in Mumbai. The lounge is nice and the look classic as though it were a library in a stately home.
As I sit here looking out the window, I can't help but look at the books on the shelves. Obviously here to give a feel for a library and higher learning. And I zoom in and read some of the titles.
Star Trek Pop Up Book
Whose library is this?
Tuesday, May 28, 2019
Power
The power at the Westin in Hyderabad goes out two to three times every day. It comes back on after about seven seconds. It's always a question of whether it will come back on. You're sitting in the dark, waiting to see the power will come back. I wake up at night to the sound of my computer as though it were unplugged and plugged in again. I've been in the restaurant when the power goes out and the entire dining room goes black. I have yet to be in the elevator when the power goes out but I can't imagine it's fun. The temperature here is 110 and I think the constant demand on air conditioning is what makes the power less reliable. I still find myself counting to 10 when the power goes out hoping I don't reach 10 knowing if I do the power may not come back on. You don't really realize how much you rely or expect something to work until it just goes out couple times a day.