Odds and ends from my trip

First, I’m pretty much over the jet lag, although I was fairly useless yesterday. Mostly I felt slow but I wasn’t particularly sleepy until about 6PM. I did well to stay up till 7:30, to be honest.

I made the whole trip using my carry-on bag plus my laptop bag (a backpack). What I love about my suitcase is that it will fit in the overhead bins of all except the really tiny planes, the ones that have no first class and bins with sliding doors. That’s helpful when connections are tight, even gate checking can mean you miss the next flight. In this case, on my return trip I was changing airlines and potentially terminals in Frankfurt. If I’d checked a bag, I’d have had to clear customs and immigration, then retrieve the bag from baggage claim and clear security again. That was a hassle I didn't want.

I wore everything I packed with the exception of one company-branded shirt. I have two of them; one is pink and the other one is black. They’re polo-styled shirts and travel well only the black one is cut smaller than the pink one. I hadn’t tried on the black one or I’d have left it at home. I didn’t end up needing it anyway.

The food was really good, also spicy but that’s fine by me. One of our new associates had made it her mission to find the limits to my enjoyment of spicy food, but she never did. Last Tuesday night at the hotel restaurant, I ordered a chicken dish that was labeled as spicy. The server even asked me a couple of times to make sure I knew it was spicy. I told him I hoped that it was—and it was, but not too spicy for me. Even the crackers are spicy. I’m not sure if that’s peculiar to all of India or specific to southern India, but they were.

Here are some random photos of the food I had over the nearly two weeks I was there. I don’t remember what anything was called, just that it was really good.

It was in the shape of a heart :)

This one is dhal (I forget what kind)

Those little round bread things are yummy.

It's HUGE! And filled with some
sort of potato mixture.

A quick summary

So I’ve been in Bangalore (which is actually spelled Bengaluru here) for nearly a week. In all honesty, my experience here is rewriting the awful, wretched, very bad, no good experiences we had with our insane upstairs neighbors in Boston. I’m starting to believe that those neighbors—the Ferals—were the aberration. My team and my colleague’s team of associates are nothing at all like the Ferals. In fact, the differences couldn’t be more stark. (Should that be starker? Microsoft Word certainly thinks so.)

I already told you about Monday’s amazing dinner (still in awe of how fabulous it was). Tuesday, J and I were on and began training our new associates. We started with a quick session on cultural differences. We’d had our US associates answer two questions:

• When you think of the US . . .  and
• When you think of India . . .

And then we had our new associates in India answer the same questions. That made for some good conversation. We concluded that part by asking our new associates to provide us with five areas that they believed would help promote team communication and collaboration.

The rest of the week has been spent on more job-specific materials and I have to say, these guys are sharp and quick. I’m really pleased with how things have gone and think the five I am picking up are going to help our team produce even more at a very high quality.

On a non-work note, last night J and I went to Commercial Street. We didn’t realize that the drive was so long but it was wonderful to get out, see more of normal Bangalore/Bengaluru and do some shopping. J snapped a selfie of us and yes, she’s quite tall:

She’s gone now, or nearly so (her flight leaves around 9PM local). I’m here through very early Thursday morning and will be joined by two other colleagues Tuesday evening.

I hope you have a great 4th of July holiday. I’ve certainly spent my fair share of Independence Days in non-US locations but I never expected to be in India on this day!

I'm alive

Greetings from India! I arrived early (EARLY) Monday morning—12:15 AM to be precise—and got to my hotel about 2 AM. After a short four hour nap, I was up and heading out to work. So far things are going well, and I’m nearly over jet lag. In fact, I think after tonight’s sleep, I’ll be pretty much acclimated. Just for reference, India is 10 ½ hours ahead of Kansas City so it’s a big swing in time. But yesterday I was pretty tired.

I’m getting to have lots of yummy, spicy food and I think my new team members are a little surprised how much I like spicy food. We had a lunch brought in yesterday and most of them found one of the dishes too hot. I found it delicious and had seconds ::burp::

Last night, our head of international operations took us to dinner at an amazing place (do check the link, the pictures are worth it). We shared about five or six different appetizers and entrees and oh my goodness what a great dinner. I used to say my favorite place to get Indian food was in London but now I’ll have to say Bangalore.

No pictures yet, but perhaps this weekend I can get some.

Random catch up post

Whew—the last two weeks have just flown by. I have been buried at work, getting presentations ready for India (I leave Saturday), and also working on a spreadsheet so I can forecast the work pipeline. And our India agenda has shifted several times. Never mind the details, as Inigo Montoya would say, “Let me explain . . . No, there is too much. Let me sum up.”

The other manager who is supposed to be there with me for the first week had a hiccup with her visa application—India requires a visa for entry into the country—so there’s a slight, OK more than slight but not huge, chance that her visa won’t get here in time for her to leave on Saturday also. So she and I have been developing two agendas: one that includes both of us and one that’s a solo agenda. While I can present everything alone, it would be much better for both me and our new associates if we were both there. So stay tuned on that.

In other news, my granddaughter has written a play and enlisted the help of her brothers and mom to put it on. When I read that blog post, I had to smile because I did that all the time when I was a little girl. I’m sure I drove everyone nuts around me putting on all these plays—some were musicals, some were dramatic and all were at least to me, very complex and of course important. I loved theater and for a long time, I was convinced I’d be an actress when I grew up.

My step sister used to put on beauty pageants. She wanted to be Miss America in the worst way and so she held these pageants in the back yard. I can remember her swanning around with a book on her head (for better posture), and then arranging us in dress up clothes for the evening gown competition. She was around eight and I was five the year I sang a really long, involved song (“Just wait until I comb my hair”) for the talent competition. Turns out one of our next door neighbors has passed that story down to her own children which just cracks me up.

It’s been hot here, really hot. Oddly enough, it’s been a bit hotter here than it is in Bangalore (where I’ll be). Although the air quality is better here—which is a little alarming for me and my lungs. I won’t be running in India, that’s for sure.

And I think I’ve pulled together clothes that will suit in India and still be things I can wear here. Did you know that flowy pants are a thing again this year? Normally I’d pass on a trend like that but with my need for less form fitting clothes, I got a pair from Loft. And I picked up what’s called a boyfriend shirt from Old Navy, plus a couple of other flowy-esque tops elsewhere, and I think I’m good. I don’t need to blend it, I just need to not offend.

I’m planning on not checking a bag. In addition to just preferring to travel that way, I have a tight connection on the return trip—I have to change airlines and terminals in Frankfort which means I would have to get my bag from baggage claim before clearing security again. I’d rather not add that kind of time to my trip.

The next big trip

Well, I’m going to India—this is a work trip, and I’ll be gone nearly two weeks this time. I’m picking up some new direct reports and the plan is for twice yearly visits.

I’ve been reading up on everything I can find about doing business in India: manners, business customs and clothing. Everything I’ve read stresses how important it is to dress modestly and the guidelines are spelled out: for example, no shorts. Yoga pants are a huge no-no as are any tight pants (of course what’s popular right now for pants in the US? Skinny pants . . . ). Bare arms are out, as are short skirts or dresses. In fact, below the knee is the skirt or dress length most commonly mentioned in everything I’m reading. Tights won’t solve the length issue either, because they are form fitting. These guidelines pose a bit of a problem for me because India is quite hot and the idea of being covered nearly head to toe makes me sweat just thinking about it. Jeans are OK, but not for me at work (that’s a personal preference to be honest but also I can’t imagine wearing jeans in a Bangalore summer).

While I’m respectful of local customs anywhere I travel, I think it’s especially important when I’m traveling for work. I want my new associates to focus on the information I’m sharing with them, not my hemline or arms or what have you. So I’ve been scouting for clothing that will be acceptable, not overly hot and also not uni-clothing.

Uni-clothing is like a uni-task tool—a garlic press is a uni-tasker, as is a toaster that only lets you put slices of bread it the slots. For clothing, some clothes by design must be and should be uni-taskers too.  Think of bathing suits or wedding dresses—those are uni-clothing and of course you’d expect them to serve just the one purpose. But when I consider how I need to dress in India, what with the coverage and length requirements, I may end up with clothes that fit a specific location and won’t work anywhere else. So it’s a challenge.

Right now I’ve found a pair of linen pants, a flowy, longer top, and I’m examining the rest of my closet. My normal, go-to travel skirts are just above the knee and I suspect I’m going to need to find one tea length skirt that goes with everything—so probably black or charcoal. I have some light sweaters that come to my elbow which will help with the bare arms, and can also be buttoned over my chest.

Work outs will have to be in my room. I didn’t plan on running in Bangalore anyway—I have some reactive airway issues and air pollution is a problem there so running doesn’t seem like a good idea. And since workout clothing is specifically called out as being problematic (too tight, too short, too much skin), it will just be easier to skip the gym and do room work outs.

Have you ever made adjustments like this? I’d love to hear your story.