You Really Have to Be There

I’ve struggled to make order out of everything we’ve seen, smelled, and experienced, but I’m afraid that’s well beyond my capability.  Two weeks is a short time and India is a big, complex piece of geography, history and humanity.  The best I can do is to share some of the impressions we take with us.  They are presented here in absolute random order.  That is to say I’m writing them down as I think of them which may, or may not, have anything to do with how or when they occurred. I’m writing this as we’re on the way from Paris to Houston, a ten hour daylight flight after a nine hour night time flight which departed Delhi at 1:20 am.  So I ask for some...

The New India at Work

I met with Anil Aaggarwal on our first day in Delhi to have an introductory coffee and to size one another up.  He is an example of the young Indian entrepreneurs that I referred to in a previous blog.  Among other things he is the Founder and Chairman of iEnergizer.  iEnergizer is one of the new breed BPO (business process outsourcers) that have morphed themselves from the earlier call center models that sprouted like Johnson grass in the late 90’s throughout India. I had been introduced to Anil via email by Coley Clark of BancTec who does business with iEnergizer and had known them in his past role at EDS.  When Anil learned that I was coming to Delhi, he...

Land of Many Gods

Those of you how know me well know that I’m not exactly “traditional” on matters religious.  I guess that’s what you get when you send a boy to Baylor.  I tread here lightly for fear that any observation will offend, but please remember, these are only observations about something that I know little of and understand even less. The religions of India are pervasive as well as invasive.  They hit you in the face by their omni-presence.  They are everywhere and anywhere.  From the Muslim call to prayer at 5:00 each morning to the amplified music announcing the day to the Hindu.  The Sikhs are obvious by their turbans and beards, and the Krishna are annoying with...

Oh Boy, the Oberoi

I’ve stayed in them all at one time or another. Virtually all of the great hotels of the world.  I’m excluding here for this discussion the destination resort hotels where one goes en famille to squabble with fat families from New Jersey for deck chairs by the pool or get sand in unmentionable places while baking in the sun. I mean the hotels where people go when visiting a city for business or pleasure.  The St. Regis in New York, the Alvear Palace in Buenos Aires, the Okura in Tokyo, the Four Seasons pretty much anywhere, the Dorchester and Stafford in London, the Oriental in Bangkok, and so on….you get the idea.  And on this trip we’ve stayed at the...

Mad Dogs In A Meathouse

S. held back as long as she could.  She had been patient with seeing old palaces with guides that told us far more than we wanted to know.  She had even been a good trooper on the long and harrowing car trips.  But now, by god, she wanted some good ol’ fashioned shop til you drop time.  She even did research…..asked other ladies in the bar of the hotel, looked at he published adverts that the hotel handed out, she even asked advice from the guide.  She warned me that she wasn’t going to put up with any dithering or complaining from me, and I agreed that the day was going to be hers.  I was just along for the ride. She had targeted and placed a local...

The Ridiculous and the Sublime

I’ve got so many impressions and bits of information running through my mind that it’s almost impossible to develop a coherent theme.  I guess that’s the way India is.  It’s sensory and mental overload of the highest order.  We all come here with some preconceived notions about what we will find.  Some are seeking self actualization and seek out the Dalai Lama and the local ganja vendor.  Some are looking for stuff to buy, and they find it by the truckload.  Others want to revel in the grandure of the Maharaja’s world.  A few want to see the dark side of poverty and human depravity, and they can find that as well, because it hits you in the face from the...