The Indian Adventure Begins. . .

My colleague, Heather, and I left San Francisco on Sunday evening around 9:50pm. We had an early dose of European flair from the lovely flight attendants of Lufthansa. A great sushi dinner at Ebisu in the airport + some generic Ambian (?) meant that my flight to Munich was quite pleasant. I slept 7 out of 10 hours of the flight!

We were in Munich just long enough to catch some Apfel Streudel (for me) and a beer (for Heather), before jumping on our flight to Delhi, also with Lufthansa. This time, the sleeping pills did not quite trick my body into sleeping the full flight, but still I caught a few winks (and a Bollywood flick) before we touched down. From the air, Delhi is already quite different from home. The horizon is as blue as an ocean, though I suppose it's from smog, and the earth is a rust red, quilted over with a patchwork of green fields, mirrored rivers, and the sharp points of smoke stacks.

Fortunate girls, we were met at the airport by a fellow ex-pat, and so were eased rather gently into the Gurgaon experience. Our guest house is Essel 201, and just across the hall in 202, we have four other colleagues in residence. For the six of us, there are six, live-in house staff, all men. We're already learning the intricacies of cross-cultural communication, but so far so good. After quick showers, a breakfast of cut fruit and chai, plus partial unpacking, we headed into Google's Gurgaon office, which is quite nice. We had lunch with a few of the managers that we will be working with and headed to 'NHO' (that's New Hire Orientation) to meet the other folks who are new to the office this week. Over the next few weeks, I'll get re-trained on ad approvals and emails, Gurgaon-style, all of which will be a good refresher.

The traffic in India is as eclectic as it has been billed to be. Our sightings for today alone include brahmas, a heard of donkeys, hogs, mopeds, buses, cars, rickshaws, auto rickshaws, and highway pedestrians. If you try to watch it all, you get serious sensory overload. This YouTube post gives you a taste of what Gurgaon is like:

We just had a great Indian dinner, made by our cook, Abdul. My vow to diet is going to be sorely challenged here, as fried bread, curries and all sorts of lovely gravies over rice seem to be the order of the day. And, the chai is wonderful. I am trying to get an initial post out, because there is so much that is new and different here, but I'm fading fast since I've essentially been up all night by West Coast standards.

As a parting shot, here are a few key learnings from my first day in Gurgaon:
1. When the menu says 'mutton', that might mean goat - even in the Google canteen.
2. Goat is yummy!
3. There are delicious fruit that I have never tasted. I had my first chickoo today.
4. Pointing out that there's no hot water is a sure-fire way to get a blow-by-blow explanation on how to operate a faucet.
5. Much like the Europeans, Indians don't seem to believe in large cups. Ergo, all coffee cups in the office are the size of an espresso shot.
6. Hairdryers use a whole lotta voltage.
7. My new haircut CAN air dry - who woulda thunk it?