It was another whirlwind day here in Bangalore; today was my first day reporting to the office, and meeting the team that I have spent so much time corresponding with via email and phone.
The day started like this: my driver was supposed to arrive at 9:30. At 8:20 am I get a phone call from the front desk telling me that my vehicle was here... so it was a rush to get out the door, and I made him wait while I had some breakfast.
I made a photo/video journal of the commute. Monday morning traffic was even crazier than over the weekend! As one of my colleagues put it today: "we only recently introduced the lane system. Most people still do not really know how it works."
The first thing I noticed was that my driver had a strawberry shortcake towel draped across his lap. He must have been very proud or protective of it, every time he got out of the car it came with him, draped over his arm.
In the US this would be a 2-lane highway. We were driving 4 abreast, with motorcycles zooming by between the cars. I could have rached out and touched this car in the foreground!
Click for live action commute movie, showing off the multitude of Bollywood posters.Getting into the office compound was interesting. Bangalore has some pretty serious anti-terrorism precautions in effect (which I am grateful for.) I had to check in with multiple security guards, they check under the car with mirrors (I assume for explosives) and I also had to check my laptop in and out.
The amazing Indian hospitality continued; the front office was prepared for my arrival, and they had reserved an office for me. I've never had my own office before; I've had some damn big cubes, but not an office. How swank!
Not to mention the regular coffee, tea and cookie service. Pretty sweet...
I made myself at home with some postcards of Washington mountains...
I was glad I got there early, as I had a few minutes to get my computer working and gather my thoughts before we got into it.
Meeting the entire team was overwhelming; there was probably 50 people in the room when I showed up. I was really glad that I brought a lot of gifts; I had 2 boxes of chocolates, a company swag (pens, office supplies, frisbees with the corporate logo) as well as lots of Washington/Seattle related souveniers (Thanks Paul!) Everyone really appreciated the stuff, and we all hit it off right away after that.
The team raiding the 'swag'!
I then spent the rest of the day meeting with each individual project group on the team. My jet lag is still kicking my ass, and I started dragging butt by noon or so but I powered through until about 6:30. Of course the team will be there working late into the night. Apparently that's how they roll here... my intention is to be there with them, but I need to get my internal clock synched a little better. By the time my driver picked me up, I was exhausted, hoarse from talking all day and ready to have a few quiet minutes to myself.... after of course another hair-raising commute. But it was all worth it. I feel like I made about 50 new friends, and spent all day in working whiteboard sessions answering every question posed to me about our business model, legacy techonolgy systems and architecture and coding issues with the new systems. (We had to cram about 8 chairs into my tiny office, and we still had folks sitting on the floor or standing.) I think I got everyone the answers that they needed, as they got to the point where they stopped asking questions and said "that's enough to keep us busy tonight!" But it was well worth it as several issues that have been dragging out for weeks via email were decided and put to rest. That's what I came here for.
The office... much like any office stateside. The culture also reminded me a lot of my own company... a good partnership fit!
Now... I think I've earned a beer. Cheers!
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