Lunch with TWI

Today (Sunday) was a great day! Some of the local ThoughtWorkers not associated with ThoughtWorks University decided to organize a lunch for the TWUers so we could learn more about "The Real" ThoughtWorks. Sadly, I can't remember the name of the restaurant we went to (on the 4th floor of a hotel near Church Street), but the food was delicious!

And I got to try "real" sweet paan for the first time (as opposed to the packaged paan at MTR); I didn't "not like it" so much as I didn't dislike it (ya dig?), but I'm not sure I'll try it again. Ah, who am I kidding? Of course I will! ;-)

After lunch, we split into 2 groups: one went shopping on commercial street, the other went to play snooker at a place on Brigade Road. I made the right choice by going with the snooker people, because it rained pretty heavily all afternoon and into the early evening. We didn't get to play long, however, because a group came in that had already reserved the table we were on, so we went to a local coffee shop, Java City, to listen to some live jazz. This was followed by another trip to The 13th Floor. I had a splitting headache, so I didn't enjoy the bar too much, but towards the end of the evening I met the owner of a local steel & plastic company who invited me to go golfing with him sometime. I'm not sure if I'll take him up on the offer (I'm not much of a golfer, you see), but it was still really cool talking to him and his wife (have I mentioned how friendly everyone is here?).

All in all, another great day!

Fantastic Four

I went and saw "Fantastic Four" tonight at the Symphony theater on MG Road with Christina, Marwan, Paul, Raymond, Rick, Scott, and Vyv. This has got to be the dumbest movie I've seen in a long time. Yet funnily enough, it's still entertaining.

After the movie, we walked over to a shopping mall on Brigade Road and had dinner at Subway; I had a 6-inch "Chicken Ham" sandwich. Don't ask me what chicken ham is, because I'm not quite sure myself. It looks and tastes an awful lot like processed chicken lunch meat, but then that begs the question: why not just call it a chicken sandwich?

What has my mom been telling Anil?

From Anil :

I have asked him to find a nice Indian girl and get hooked when he comes back to the US.

Dude, did my mom put you up to that? She's been nagging me to "find a nice girl" (Indian or otherwise) ever since my brother got married. ;-)

I am loving it here, though! This city -- and its people -- is fantastic! Andy's work at TW brings him to Bangalore for 4-6 weeks every couple of months. Where can I sign up for that?

New photosets on Flickr

Early last week, before I lost my camera, I downloaded my new photos to my laptop, and they're now available on my Flickr account. There are photos from some of our restaurant visits, our classroom sessions, the ThoughtWorks India office, our tour of Bangalore last weekend, and a new photo of some artwork in my apartment.

When I get my camera back, I'll upload more, including a photo of 2 eagles that I took at Leela Palace yesterday (hopefully it turned out ok; as I was taking it, KP was yelling at me to get back in the classroom. "Eagles, KP; Eagles!"). That's another thing I love about Bangalore: every city (including Bangalore) has pigeons, but how many cities have *eagles*?

TWU bowling night

The TWU bowling event last night was a huge success! I'd post all the pictures I took to my Flickr account, but I no longer have my camera. :(

Towards the end of the night, Rolf and I went upstairs (the Ameoba Sports Bar on MG Road has 3 levels: a restaurant on the first floor, bowling on the second, and video games on the third) to play some video games. We were only up there for about 10-15 minutes, but by the time we came back down, all the TWU bowling games had finished and everyone else had left! Oh, yeah, and my camera, jacket, and hat were missing!

The security guard saw me looking for my things, and said that one of the TWIers (Mohan? Suresh? The guard didn't know their name) had taken my belongings with them. I'm not too worried about it, but I sure do feel naked without my camera!

Anyways, I only got to bowl 1 complete game because the place was so crowded and all the lanes were full, but I bowled a 125 and was happy to stop while ahead (125 is a really good score for me). :)

I am not Jack's food blog

Funny; I just realized that this has become a "food blog." That's not intentional, I swear! :)

I promise I'll write about other subjects in the future. For instance, tomorrow night all the TWUers (and, hopefully, a bunch of TWIers) are going bowling. And Saturday, we're going to have a scavanger hunt on Commercial Street. So I should have something more substantative than food and alcohol to talk about. Could be interesting?

Good company and chat (a quadruple-entendre)

There was a conference call with Roy (CEO of ThoughtWorks) this afternoon. Boy, does it feel good to work for a "real company!"

After the call, a huge group of TWUers went to Kartik's (across the street from Bombay House, where we went last week) for chat. I believe South Indian cuisine is the epitome of blended tastes: every bite is sweet, sour, salty, and spicy. Needless to say, I love it!

After our "snacks," Sidu invited us back to his home to hang out. Don't tell Webby I said this, but Sidu's dog Elsa might just be the friendliest dog I've ever met.

After another long day of class, Peter and Deven (both graduates of the first Bootcamp) took us to Purple Haze. Its similar to Styx, but bigger, more laid back, and with a wider variety of music (heavy-metal, hard rock, and classic rock, mostly). Also, it has prettier girls. :)

At one point, our table was empty except for Vyv and I, and a group of locals sat down and started talking to us; two of them were helicopter pilots, and the third was a software engineer. They didn't mention it at the time, but we found out later that the Indian Space Agency is headquartered here in Bangalore, and they do a lot of helicopter research and experimentation there. I wonder if the pilots were part of that program?

I also had an interesting experience this morning calling Dad to wish him "Happy Birthday." All day yesterday I kept thinking "It's the 19th; I have to call Dad for his birthday." And each time, I would have to remind myself "No, wait; it's still the 18th in Chicago." My body has fully adjusted to the time difference here, but my mind hasn't. Doh!

We had a really long day of class today, so a group of us (me, Colin, and the Brits) went across the street to TGI Friday's for drinks (2-for-1 before 8:15pm every night). Afterwards, Jonas and I came back to the office and ordered Domino's Pizza. We weren't sure what to expect -- everything Western here is "Indianized" -- but it was fantastic! Then we headed back to Colin and Randy's apartment again for some more drinks.

I can't get over how nice and friendly everyone here is! I don't know how ThoughtWorks does it, but they've managed to build their organization around incredible people who break the "geek" stereotype: everyone is both very intelligent and extremely social. I should have quit my old job a long time ago! ;-)

I stayed late at the office last night, and went out for a cup of chai with some other ThoughtWorkers at a standup across the street. My stomach was a little "delicate," so I didn't have anything to eat, but the food looked pretty good, and the prices were even better than Ramdev Sagar. So, tonight I went back for dosas with Paul and Raymond. It wasn't as good as Ramdev Sagar, but it was still mighty delicious!

Today is all about resting & recuperating after our first, exhausting week in India. Some people are planning a return trip to Forum, but I think I'll just stick around the Diamond District and rest some more.

Today was the Bangalore tour! We visited a couple of local temples, had lunch at MTR, and then visited Tipu Sultan's summer palace.

I went jogging around the Diamond District when we got back, but it started to rain so I went back to take a nap; woke up at 8am this morning. Oops!

Too much has happened this week for me to bother recapping it all, but a few highlights:

1). I love ThoughtWorks
2). I love India

The people here (both the experienced ThoughtWorkers and the freshers) are amazing, and I have made some really great friends with people from all over the world (unfortunately, ThoughtWorks Australia is on a different recruiting schedule, so no Aussies).

One funny story, and then I'm gonna go (Kent, say "Hello!" to Traveler's Diarrhea). There's a laundromat here in the Diamond District which advertises "Dry Cleaning and Laundry," so I took them a load of underwear to wash. I specifically told the guy I wanted them *laundered*, but they actually dry cleaned everything. So, yeah; I spent US$16 to have my underwear dry cleaned! They must think I'm an idiot ("Why did that foreigner bring us his socks?!").

Ah, well.... Live and learn.

Rajiv took us out to Manduri Grand for dinner tonight. The food was delicious, but it is kind of far to walk. Maybe next time we'll take auto-rickshaws. ;-)

During dinner, Rajiv mentioned that the Leela has a bowling alley in the basement, so he and I headed over there and bowled a few games while the others returned home. It turns out, there's a whole shopping mall in the basement of the Leela, including restaurants, bars, and a coffee shop!

We went back to Ramdev Sagar for dosas tonight with the other US and UK freshers. Then we walked over to the Reebok store to browse, and the supermarket to get some more necessities (read: beer). Then we all headed back to Colin, Randy, and Raymond's apartment for a little party.

I think today is my last day of jetlag; I woke up super early and couldn't get back to bed, and I've been super exhausted all day long. Hopefully tomorrow I'll be more energetic.

Sidu and Deepti took us out again tonight, this time for "snacks." We went to Bombay House to sample several different chats. Hrmmmmm. :)

We walked back to the Diamond District, and stopped at a little supermarket on the way to buy some necessities. The prices there were much better than at the store by my apartment, and it's within walking distance, so I think I'll be doing all my shopping here from now on.

Sidu and Deepti -- two of the Indian freshers -- took us to Ramdev Sagar for dosas tonight. Needless to say, I won't be going back to Bombay Post: the food at Ramdev Sagar was just as good, and much cheaper! ;-)

Our training is actually being held in Leela Palace, one of the nicest hotels in the world!

Wow!

That's all I can say.

It begins!

Today was the first official day of ThoughtWorks University - Monsoon Session. We all had breakfast together at the TWI (ThoughtWorks India) office, followed by an ice-breaker, a tour of the Diamond District, lunch at IndiJoes (Indianized versions of Western food), an administrative session to get our local cell phones, and dinner at the Park Plaza Hotel.

Whew! What a day!

Then a group of freshers from the US and UK went with Andy (one of the people who interviewed me in Chicago, actually) to a local dive bar for some drinks. The power in the bar was out (power outages are a frequent occurrence here, annoyingly enough), but they set us up with some candles on the top floor (no windows or walls) and we ended up having a great time.

Today we visited Forum, Bangalore's Western-style shopping mall. It was just like any other shopping mall I've ever been to, only more crowded.

We also met the freshers from the UK, and had a wonderful dinner at Roomali With a View. Some people went to The Corner Shoppe for ice cream afterwards, but Colin and I went to TGI Friday with the Brits for some drinks.

I never expected to spend my first night in Bangalore drinking at a heavy-metal headbangers bar, but, well... there you go!

We spent the afternoon attending some orientation classes with the Indian "Freshers" (ThoughtWorks-speak for "new hires"), then headed across the street for some Indian food at "Bombay Post" (verdict: delicious). After dinner, some ThoughtWorkers took me, Christina, Colin, and Paul to Styx, the heavy-metal bar. It was quite a treat, actually; they have several video screens were they show music videos, and everyone sings and headbangs along!

Unfortunately, there is some new regulation that all bars have to close at 11pm, so we had to call it an early night.

We have arrived!

More to come latzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...