31 August - Taj Falaknuma

Today we visited Taj Falaknuma (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falaknuma_Palace).  Vijay, one of the VPs in India hosted our day today. The day was overcast, and as it was the 3rd day of the Ganesha estival, and it was Sunday, the roads were packed. The roads are crazy enough here in India. On a busy day, you just want to close your eyes, hang on for dear life, and pray!

Taj Falaknuma, as the crow flies, is 9 miles from our hotel. As traffic dictated, it was about 1 hour from our hotel. We bypassed Hi-Tech City and went through some of the seedier parts of town, which was eye opening. But once we got to the Taj, it was a sight to behold! The construction of the Taj Falaknuma began in 1884 for the then prime minister of Hyderabad, Nawab Vikar-ul-Umra. It took 10 years to complete the construction.  Some of the high points I remember are 1) the Taj was equipped with electricity and telephone service 50 years before anyone in the city received the service, 2) the first indoor bathroom, complete with a fully equipped bath (including jacuzzi, hot and cold water, perfume, etc.), was added around the same time, and 3) I sits on one of the highest points of the city.

We had the pleasure of enjoying high tea on the patio. Though the rain soon arrived, it did not dampen our experience. Afterwards, we toured the palace and learned more about the history. Though we couldn't take pictures during the tour, we were able to capture some photos before and after. When the tour was complete, we talked round on our own enjoying the craftsmanship and beauty still very much alive here. I purchased a few souvenirs reminiscent of the culture, and we soon left.

Vijay then took us to the Hyderabad Country Club, where we enjoyed a light dinner.Dinner in India is very different from that in the United States. We marvel at how the folks here are so skinny! First we are plied with several offerings of chicken, fish, and vegetables. Afterwards, you spend time letting your food settle, enjoying drink and conversation. Then just when you think it's time to go, the main course arrives. This includes more chicken and fish, na'an, vegetable dishes, lentils such as Dal Makhani, and more. And even if you are full, your hosts ply you with more food and drink. "No  thank you I'm stuffed" is just another way of saying "Yes, please!" A few more drinks, another 30 minutes - after the main course is done - and along comes dessert. This is typically a mix of several different desserts, all in bite-size portions. Then, when you can inhale any more, along comes the tea (Chai Masala) or coffee!

Dinner here starts around 7:30 PM, and you're lucky if you leave the table by 9:30 PM; a very social and traditional meal of the day. Actually, I believe it is the most important meal of the day here.

We had a wonderful time. The weather, though wet, really cooled the city down, and our experience was very enjoyable. It was a lovely and relaxing day, and I am thankful for the experience. I took scads of photos, some of which I will post later. I just wanted to relate my experiences before going to bed.

What a different world we are in! More to come.

Namaste!

From Jacksonville (FL) to Milan

Our adventures began Tuesday, 19 August, in JIA (Jacksonville International Airport). Rick, Archie, his wife, Cathy, Vinay, his wife, me and my family (Rufus, Cassie, Chris, Gabriel) met at the Delta desk prepared to get our boarding passes. Scott and Cebil had flown into Hyderabad a week earlier. After many tears on my family's part - mainly me, we left to go through security.

The first leg of our journey was from Jacksonville to NYC (JFK airport). We flew on a commuter plane, and remember that Archie is disabled and only gets around via crutches. Now, JFK is under construction. It's expanding. So, where do we land? Out in No Man's Land! We deplane about a half mile from the nearest terminal, walking down rickety, narrow steps, waiting for the airport folks to push another rickety platform to the plane so Archie can cling to the sides and slowly ride down to the ground.

From there, we ride two buses to the nearest terminal, which was terminal 2. Our next flight is not for 8 hours, and this takes us from NYC to Milan, Italy. Since this is an international flight, we have to go to terminal 4. So, we go to baggage pickup, get our hundreds of pieces of very large, very heavy luggage. [Each of us brought 2 large suitcases and 2 carry-ons.] A porter is assisting us as she is pushing Archie's wheelchair (airport wheelchair). So, Vinay, Cathy, Rick and I are now hauling 5 pieces of luggage each. We use the (very small) push carts that sometimes do and sometimes don't work. The porter walks us through terminal 2, out of the airport, across the street (passing the subway entrance for Queens and Brooklyn), into the next building, to the terminal train. We wait for what seems like an hour before making our way onto a relatively empty train. It's muggy, sunny, and we are sweating profusely.

Five minutes later we exit at terminal 4. Now we have to go up and down, around and around, and through several doors before we find the elevators that will take us up to the departures floor. We get there only to find out the Emirates desks aren't open for another hour.

Luckily, we are flying business class on Emirates. This means we can make use of the Business Class lounge. Once the desks are open and we check in, we are directed to the lounge. Heaven! Blessed air conditioning, drinks aplenty, showers, and anything else we want to ask for. Vinay and I head for the showers. What a wonderful feeling! To be so clean!

Now Emirates is a Middle Eastern airlines, so the food is primarily . . . Indian, Middle Eastern... basically spicy. What is our last meal in the United States? McDonald's! And what tasty McDonald's it was! I haven't eaten at McDonald's in ages, but it certainly hit the spot. And for the next several hours we chill, enjoy champagne and other alcoholic beverages, sample the cuisine, and rest.

Then it's time to board. We are flying a 777, and each Business Class seat is comfortably roomy. The overhead cubbies are gi-normous. And every seat comes with a plastic wrapped blanket, headphones, a bottled water, and a mid-sized pillow. The seat includes a display screen and controller from which we can play games, watch movies, or learn about our flight's progress. The leg room is incredible! I stretch out completely and I still can't touch the seat in front of me! I even have my own snake reading light! The stewardess comes around offering complementary champagne, juice or water. Naturally, I accept the champagne.

Twenty minutes later we are in the air, and round two of the stewardesses begins. This time it's dinner. It's 10:30PM, but we are being served a world class dinner. I select Arabic Mezza for the appetizer, Salad, Sea Bass for the main course, and a chocolate mousse with caramel sauce for dessert. This is accompanied  by hot tea with milk, water, and a really good French red wine.

When this is cleared away, the stewardess offers, amazingly enough, a mattress for my comfort! The mattress is about 3 inches thick, and it makes laying down easier. And yes, I wrote Laying Down, because the seat extends and reclines all the way. I stay awake long enough to watch "Captain American: Winter Soldier" and then I'm drop off to sleep.

Sometime, during the seven hour flight, I am awoken to be asked whether I want breakfast. I'm so happily sleeping, I turn it down. I wake up about 30 minutes before we land in Milan, where we disembark at an actual gate. It only takes a few minutes, and we are on our way to the Business Class lounge. I get there only to realize I've left my phone on the plane. The lounge concierge quickly attends to the issue, and the phone is found and returned in 10 minutes. 

This layover is short; about 2 hours. We stock up on water and more Arabic food before boarding the plane we just vacated. We are now ready for the third leg of our journey, Milan to Dubai.

Who's Going To India?

Let me start this blog by introducing the key characters. My bname is Julia Jenkins. I am a 50-something career programmer. Married with three children, two dogs and a cat. I've been working with the same company for over 26 years. I love the intracacies, and I truly love sharing my knowledge.

My adventure was initiated by my employer who has offices in several of the United States and an office in Hyderabad, India. We recently hired our first group of mainframe developers, and I am part of a group tasked with training our new teammates.

My supervisor, Rick Scott, has been working with the same company for over 19 years. He is very passionate about what we do too. Rick is a big man, and he readily acknowledges that if Santa Claus took ill one year, he could easily take Santa's place and no one would be the wiser. Well, except for the balding patch at the top of his head.

My cohorts in this adventure are Cathy, Archie and Vinay.

Cathy is a strong CICS programmer and is Rick's right-hand person. She keeps track of almost everything! Cathy is a petite blond who is easygoing and very active.

Archie does some batch (straight COBOL) and CICS. He is the calm to our storm. Archie is originally from the Philippines. He is quiet only in voice. He also relies on crutches to get around.

Vinay is a native of India. When the groundwork of our trip was being laid, it was decided that we needed someone from India to be part of the group. While Vinay does not report directly to Rick, everyone agreed he was necessary to our team.

Vinay reports up through Scott Greenbaum, who is Rick's management counterpart. Scott also traveled to India, though his length of stay is not as long as the rest of us. Scott is relatively new to mainframe processing. His expertise is more of the web and GUI disciplines. He recently moved over to mainframe development, and his experience with servers, etc. has been invaluable in our preparations for this trip.

And then there's Cebil (ceb-ill, emphasis on the 'ill'). Cebil is a trainer at our company. He understands the system from the user perspective, and he primarily travels teaching the various systems of MSP. Cebil is a world traveler, he loves people, and he is up for trying almost everything at least once.

This is Cebil's third trip to India. His portion of the training is up front and lasts only a week. Mortgages, escrows, loans, none of these terms are used in India. Cebil's responsibility is to introduce these concepts, thus laying the groundwork for the rest of us.

And there you have it! Introduction 101. Stay tuned for more about our adventures in India!