Day 8-9: The Leela

We are now living at the Leela. A hotel right out side DLF Cyber City in Gurgaon. It is incredibly luxurious. The room is really nice, the service is excellent and the morning buffet so overwhelming that I lack for words. Coming home from work to a place like this makes you feel content in a way, that I rarely feel. Of course it is expensive even by Danish standards, but for now I don’t care.

This evening we went for dinner at the Spectre Restaurant at the ground floor. Food was fantastic and if I had to complain about something it would be, that the AC was turned down a notch to far for our liking.

Right now it is raining outside. Monsoon rain and everybody tells us that the rains should be over for the season. They are not. And outside in the green zone it also rains on the tents. This is a country of contrasts.

Day 7: Taj Mahal

On Saturday we went for a day trip to Agra and the Taj Mahal. 4 hours drive down from Gurgaon and 5 back due to traffic. Sights too see was the tomb/mosque of Sirikandar, the Taj Mahal and the fort of Agra.

At the mosque we were met by a guide who was to take us to all the sights. I don’t know whether that was good or bad, as he offered some insight we might not otherwise have gotten and smoothed the process of getting in out, but on the other hand he set the pace for what we saw and I think we would have liked to see more and spend more time at each site.

First of all. The Taj Mahal is just about as beautiful as it is supposed to be. It is amazing and it almost shine in all its whiteness. I know countless Danes have been here before, but this was one of the “wonders of the world” I had never thought I would see. So I was pretty amazed.

I tiny thing that means a lot to me in terms of how exotic every thing is, is the fact that there were monkeys in Agra. In the abandoned buildings in the city, climbing the walls of the fort and so on. Total Mowgli/Indiana Jones to me.

Day 3-6: More Days at the Office

I’ve had the pleasure of going to the office for a full week now. The work place is extremely nice and the food is good – even though some of my Indian co-workers complain that the caterer isn’t quite as good as when they first started. The usual office complaints.

Jasmina has been visiting Delhi and done all sorts of interesting things. Not me; I’ve just been struggling with work related issues.

MGF Metropolitan. One of the many malls in Gurgaon.

On Tuesday we went out for dinner at a restaurant called the the Coriander Leaf. I asked for a pint local beer as I could see that on the menu. Apparently local means nothing more than bottled in India. I got a 70cl Australian Fosters and since it was happy hour they gave me a second one too. I don’t particular like Fosters. We had a starter each and a main course. In India I think it is common to order a set of dishes and then share, but when the restaurant is fancy one like this, then I don’t know the norm. Anyways it was way too much food.

I had some spicy lamb in tomato. Very dry but good. My main course was chicken in some green curry. I didn’t like that too much. Jasmina’s dishes were the opposite around. The spring rolls (they weren’t really spring rolls, but I don’t know what to call them) were not that appetizing, but her main course was good.

The nights we have mostly spend in the apartment. It is a little boring, but very prestigious I understand.

On Friday my two of my colleagues were to return to Denmark, so the local management invited us out at Golfworx. A digital golfing venue with bar and restaurant. A really weird experience since we weren’t really into golfing and there was loud music. The weirdest part – if I have to pick one – was the coach why tried to teach us golf and his consistent “feel good comments” like “Good shot, sir” every time a made a 20 yard shot. Not impressive!

Day 2: First Day at the Office

So I managed to oversleep the first day I was supposed to meet the office here in Gurgaon, India. Embarrassing and I was pretty nervous on the ride in which took about an hour and 10 minutes. The traffic here is on another level of insane.

The office was a pleasant surprise. Really nicely furnished and decorated. I even recognized some of the furniture that had been sent from Copenhagen to India. But I really liked what I saw here.

The team I got to meet was a group of really nice people. I don’t know how my work went, but I was “on” for a long period of time. Very tiring.

We had lunch in the cafeteria. The people I had just met claimed that the food was getting worse. The exact same complaint I would have to any catering in a Danish company. A feeling so homely that it made me smile. Still, the food was way better than most food you’d get in an Indian restaurant back home.

I left the office at around a quarter to 7. Long day and I have 9 more ahead of me.

Day 1: Gurgaon, India–Just arrived

Yesterday we arrived in Gurgaon, India. It is one of the new tech-suburbs of Delhi and I am here on behalf on the company I work for.

The trip here was uneventful. Austrian Airlines over Vienna. MY first time using Austrian. It wasn’t that great, but at least there was plenty of space on the plane and that is fine.

A driver picked us up in the airport and drove us to the apartment that we own (not me personally). It is huge! We were tired and jet lagged and went to bed. Around 8 o’clock the maid arrived and we had to get up in order to let her in. There is so much electronics for handling that, that it got a bit confused. Back to bed and when we woke up she had gone. It is all a bit hazy.

At noon the driver came back to drive us to a mall. Just to get out a little. I think we were mostly doing this out of a sense of duty to get out and see something. True sightseeing will probably have to wait for next weekend. Anyways. The mall was noisy and not very interesting. Best part of it was having tea in the food court (such as it was) and an excellent dinner in an Indian restaurant.

The drive back to the apartment was more exiting: it rained hard and it was more like sailing a boat than driving a car.

Along the road you see more poverty than I can really stand and I am trying put it off my mind before going to the office tomorrow. As a co-worker said before I left: “big city poverty seems worse than country side poverty”. That is so true.