Ok, I know this is really late, but i'm finally able to sit down and write up my activities from last saturday... yeah ... I mean 10/20/2007 hehehe.
I only had to travel 9,000 miles to finally make it Hollywood. HAHAHA. So I spent the day in Ramoji Film City. It was described to me to be similar to Universal Studios. At 1666 acres, it is the "largest integrated fim studio complex" in the world.
The setting was simply magnificent. It is about 25km(~16miles) outside Hyderabad to the South. However, I am staying in the North end of Hyderabad, so combining that distance and the traffic, the drive took about an hour and half. It didn't seem to take that long especially with Chanti, his wife, and her brother as company. 
On the way, we stopped at a fruit stand just outside the city since I had not eaten breakfast. We picked up a couple apples and an umma granite (see picture to the right). This was an amazingly interesting fruit. Each "cell" that you see can be pulled out whole and is filled with juice. The guy told us this one was seedless, but it clearly wasn't. Each of the little cell's also has a seed. They aren't super hard, taste a little like sunflower seeds. Not sure I can come up with a good comparison for the juice other than it was delicious.
Ramouji Film City is set in an area similar to the Hill Country in Texas. 
hehehe ok, now some real pictures of the gardens and backdrops
Like those better? Just after we went through some of the gardens we entered a mock cave where they had built a replica of several different caves around India, 
including one with a rather large statue of Buda (the snake picture was taken inside of this cave replica). Inside the cave they had employees wearing gray robes so they would blend in to the cave and not intrude on the guests experience. Lots of people found them scary and started screaming. YAY for 12 year olds!! When we exited the cave, it had started raining heavily so we ducked back inside the cave to stay dry. Imagine 100 people crammed into a 10x10 room and you'll know what it felt like. After the rain stopped, we caught the bus back to the main area of RFC only to find out we had missed the Western Stunt Show. Either that or it had been canceled, I'm not sure. So, we caught another bus out of the park and headed back to Hyderabad.
This was the same weekend as Vijayadashami (aka Dussehra). It is a celebration of good over evil when the Goddess Durga vanquishes the demon* Mahishasura. I was really lucky and Chanti took me to her temple to see the decorations and so they could briefly worship. It was an amazing thing to see. There were lights EVERYWHERE!!
Inside there were strings of flowers hanging from the ceiling and draped to the walls. Yellow and red were the main colors with smatterings of white here and there. In this photo you can see a young girl about the age of 6 or 7 dancing one of the classical dances to the diety. In the background you can see an example of the 
strings of flowers being draped through out the entire temple. I apologize for the exposure... it was near impossible to get good photos because of not using a flash and all the yellow and red flowers everywhere. We stayed and watched three dances and then left. It was an awesome experience and I'm really glad Chanti and his family were willing to take me to this temple and show me around and explain everything that was going on. The next day were the main festivities and the line to get in to the temple we visited extended around the temple and filled the quarter mile 4 lane road leading up to the temple (this temple is a very popular one for Durga). That night they set off several fireworks in different places around the city. I was not expecting this and started to get really nervous at the first couple "explosions". So I went up on the roof and saw that it was merely fireworks going off on the corner.
Next up: The Charminar
*demon merely means "evil not god" it does not have such a powerful negative conotation as the english meaning behind the word "demon"
Closest I've been to Hollywood...
Work Posting!!
The Southern Division IT group met in San Antonio to discuss Vision 2010. We came up with a Vision 2010 for the IT group. One of the main items in our Vision is to increase our percentage contribution of the Southern Divisions Net Profit from 4% to 10%. This is a huge jump in profit for us meaning we will need to over double our size (all things being equal).
I was discussing this with Jay Pandya over the weekend, and he had a fantastic idea. Instead of struggling to hire 30 new people in the Southern Division, we hire 3 or 4 very experienced people that want to lead a team of developers in our Weston India office. For every 10 people in India, we should hire atleast 1 person to manage the projects being sent to those new developers.
One possible way to handle projects in this manner is as follows: When we begin a new project, have two leads; project manager, technical lead, etc, at the project kickoff and requirements gathering meetings. One of these two leads would then head to India to be the initial point of contact for the team in India, while the other lead stayed in the states as the primary contact for the client and the development team. This way, the development team being in India is transparent to the client.
The benefits of this method is that we would not have to handle all the overhead of employing 30 or 40 new people or the cost of hiring that many new employees. Jay said this is the structure that others companies he has worked for use to manage projects in India.
I also spoke with a gentleman from another company on the plane that briefly described how his company manages their projects in India. He said that they perform UI and kernal development in the states, and use their India team to develop all the rest.
There are a myriad of other ways to utilize our group India, and I will keep you guys informed of other ideas I come across including pros and cons for each. Please feel free to post comments discussing these ideas as well.
A little bigger taste of India
So after walking all around Shilparamam Crafts Village (which is one place I'm going to visit when I decide it's time to buy a bunch of stuff) I came back home for a quick lunch (food discussion to come at the end of this post). Jaye then came back to we all went to Golconda Fort. There is a ton of history here and would take way too long for me to tell it all. Sooooo, here is a real quick brief history:
King built the fort out of sand...muslim king took over, tore down the fort and re-built in stone that they mined from the actual mountain that the fort is built on. When he did this, he left the original temple built at the top of the fort to show that the fort was a blending of
the two religions (hindu and muslim i beleive). Also, when kings died their bodies where taken out through the back entrance to the burial tombs; the big round things you see in the background of this picture -->
The reason for this was after the death of a king, the city/state/nation would go 40 days before the next king was named. During this time they were very succeptable to attack because of the lack of power (power vaccuum). So, when a king died, it was kept a secret until the successor was named.
The fort itself encompases about 7 square kilometers (that's about 2.7 square miles) there are a total of 14 entrances through the first, outer ring wall. The main entrance is built in similar style to european style castles, with the faux main entrance before the main gate. The main gate has a boiling oil/water chute to soak would be attackers (i know it has a name, but i can't remember it for the life of me). Also, directly behind this main gate area is a large domed supported by four pillars (and connected to the gate house). When you stand in the very center and clap, you hear a really qicked echo. If you pay super close attention, the sound is actually echoed 24 times due to the 24 "divets" or vaults in the ceiling around the central dome. Wait there's more... when you step about 3meters in any direction, the you no longer hear the echo even when someone else is in the center clapping, or you clap. The coolest part, i know that's pretty friggin cool right? wait till you hear this, when someone claps the sound can be heard at the very top of the fort at a listening station. this area is nearly 300 yards away and elevated about 
+100yards. Also, apparently you can communicate from the top of the fort back down to this area in the same manner.
No, this isn't the spot. But, this does show some of the really cool architecture they used. Instead of Completely tearing down the "mountain" they would carve away some of the rock to make bricks and then leave others as foundation supports. Did I mention that the fort took 62 years to build? and that is just the rock version. It was a really cool trip. TONS of walking. It has to be atleast 2 miles round trip from the gate house to the top of the fort and back down. But I will only say this once....
The view from the top of the fort was simply UNBELIEVABLE! You got a 360° view of the city. 
This picture wasn't even taken from the top of the fort. the building in the middle with all the lights is the room right behind the gatehouse that I was telling you about earlier.
The "listening station" is about another 100yards directly behind me ... well not straight back, it's up about another 100 feet or so. I wasn't able to take any pictures from the very top because it was getting too dark and my camera doesn't take very good night shots. However, this area was well lit and we were able to take a couple good shots with the cannon hehehe.
Food
And here begins my first entry about food in India. This first dish is actually the left overs from my first dinner out with Srikanth. I honestly can't remember the names of either of these two items, but the bread is just plain white bread from the grocery store. The green curry is a chicken based curry with pomagrenite and other veges. It was delicious, even after it was reheated. The second item is cauliflower dipped in some type of herb batter and then deep fried. At the restaurant we tried three different types of bread... two naans and another type of bread that was super thin, thinner than a tortilla. They actually call it handkerchief bread.
This dish, phew man was it good. It's a tomato based gravy with chicken, onions, and red peppers. This was the first really spicy dish I've had since I've been here. It was fantastic. The bread is just butter naan. I think this is my favorite bread. The only problem with it is all the butter makes your hands really greasy. We also had Hyderabad Biryani. You can get it made with any type of meat (cept maybe beef). We had it made with mutton which isn't my favorite meat consequently, this wasn't my favorite dish. I'm gonna have to try it again with another type of meat. Let me knwo if you have any questions about any of the food or anything else I've told you about.
A little taste of India
I woke up about 6 am and couldn't go back to sleep. So, I decided to go up to the roof of the apartment complex and watch the sunrise. Aparently I was a little too late to catch the sunrise, but I did take in the fresh air and the ... quiet of the early morning. When I looked down from the roof at the back of the building I saw a group of shacks where people apparently live. This is rather disconcerting to have such object povert living mere feet from 
So today I was finally able to get out and go around the city. Jaye came and picked me up about 11 this morning and we went over to Shilparamam Crafts Village. While i didn't buy anything, I definantly found a great place to go and pick up a bunch of stuff later. mainly we just walked around and looked at everything in the park/village. apparently lots of companies hold their annual meetings in the park in one of the several open areas. ... like this one
There is a stage off to the left and additional open area where they usually have bands play and can set up tables for people to sit and mingle. This is also a great place to take pictures of High Tech City in Hyderabad. You can see in all directions. We took some good pictures. I'm going to put all the pictures up so you can see them once I get them all organized.
Off to see more of the city.
First Day
YAY I got the pictures to work finally!!!
But, after reading the post again, I fear I have made a mistake. When I said “began my trip to Hyderabad at 7am this morning” I meant 7am SUNDAY morning not Monday. To make sure you know how long the trip was, my first flight left Austin at 11:40 am Sunday. I arrived in Hyderabad at 11:20 pm Monday. If you add it up, I spent about 22 hours in side of airplanes. That doesn’t take into account the amount of time standing in lines at the airport, wandering around the airports, waiting for luggage at baggage claim, travel time to and from the airport, and time change as I traveled east. If you take all that in to account, I was travelling for about 32 hours. It was AWESOME! 32 hours, 3 bad airplane meals, 2 airplane changes, 1 good meal with family, 1 long cab ride, 3 movies (that I was awake for), 2 magazines (I’m a slow reader… plus I slept a lot), 1 confused ticketing agent in Germany, 3 passport stamps and you too can join me in India!
It actually wasn’t nearly as bad as that sounds. Not once did I even feel like I was stuck in a plane. I think I was just so excited about getting here that I didn’t mind being stuck on planes for 10 hours at a time. I especially didn’t mind after I walked into my hotel room. I didn’t get any pictures of the front of the hotel, but to get to the hotel, you have to drive around this pond out front with fountains. Looking at the pictures I took of the room, it defiantly doesn’t look spectacular, but I have to say it was one of the nicest hotels I have stayed in. Of course it was the first hotel room I’ve ever stayed in that had a mini bar hahaha. When I finally woke up on Tuesday, I looked out the window at the country that is going to be my home for the next month…
I didn’t see much. So I took some pictures at the cool entry way of the hotel. 
Srikanth came to pick me up about 10am to take me to the apt I’d be staying in and then on to the office. Upon his arrival, I realized that I did not have any breakfast and was famished. So, we took a couple minutes to partake of the complimentary breakfast buffet in the hotel. It was really good. I highly recommend the breadcrumb fried eggs. It’s half a hard-boiled egg battered and deep friend. It was excellent. They also had friend fish and soup as breakfast offerings. Intriguing, to say the least. We finally left the hotel and drove over to the apartment complex. This is my first encounter with traffic in India. Wow. Wow. Talk about interesting. It’s almost as if the rules don’t apply. You drive however you feel like as long as you stay on the left side of the road. If there is a strip of pavement, there is a vehicle on it. No unused shoulders in this town. Stop lights? Yeah, they are good suggestions and a good warning, but few are followed. I think the most interesting thing is how aware everyone on the road is about everything that is going on around them. There are people, bicycles, motorcycles, mopeds, cars, busses, three wheeled cabs (they call them autos), trucks all weaving in and out of each other and no one is hitting each other. It’s pretty amazing to watch actually.
The other thing of note is how much construction is going on around the city. You can’t go 10 feet without coming across another construction site or work on the roads and sidewalks. One of the coolest things about the buildings they are erecting is the scaffolding. It’s all made out of wood. It’s pretty unbelievable
“I just can’t believe it Cotton.”
When we got to the office, I was greeted by the receptionist with a bouquet of flowers. They had also put up a sign in the front office welcoming me to India. Needless to say my face turned as red as some of the flowers. After this embarrassing moment, was taken around and introduced to everyone in the office. So, so many names. I’m sure you all remember what it was like when you got hired and introduced to everyone on your first day. Just a little bit disconcerting that’s for sure. By the time I finished meeting everyone, it was time for lunch YIPEE! Lunch is provided for everyone and is excellent! There are these rice chips that look like wagon wheels that are awesome. I have no idea what all of it is called, but I have yet to have something that I despised. I’ll try to get the names of some of the dishes for you all from now on … and more pictures.
Other than traffic, the most notable thing about India is how helpful everyone is. Since I met the driver at the airport, I have not had to carry any extra bags. I have actually had to demand to carry my own bags in some situations. I demanded to carry them do to the fact that I have no idea when it is appropriate to tip and how much. Though, I’m learning thanks to Satish, Srikanth, and Curtis. I’m sure I’ll be an expert by the time I leave in November.
Travel Time
Once in DC I had a little over 3 hours before my next flight to Frankfurt, Germany, so my parents came to have a late lunch. That was fun. I had what I believe is my last taste of beef until November. L I’ll make do. I’m really looking forward to trying all the new food in India. Apparently Hyderabad is well known throughout the world for its cuisine. I’ll definitely have more information on this subject as my trip progresses. In fact, I’ll try to include a quick snippet about what food I’ve been having on each of my blog entries.
The flight to Frankfurt was uneventful. Ate some bad chicken dish being served. Though I think I did give myself some amazing travel karma by giving up my aisle seat for one in the very middle of the plane. Yeah, I went from total free access to no access. Luckily I didn’t have to get up for anything. The food was pretty good… Ok I’ll be honest … it was edible. The Frankfurt airport, now that was an adventure. I arrive knowing that I need to check in to my flight and get a new boarding pass, so I find the counter and get in line get my ticket and directions to my gate. I end up having to go through TWO passport checks and security to get to my gate. Apparently, unlike the US, there are two levels of security at the airport in Frankfurt. I don’t know if that is common place in Europe, or I’m just lucky. So, after the passport checks and security screening, I walk all the way across the airport to my gate proceed to mill about the shops near the gate. Lots and lots of unlocked cell phones, I think I may end up getting a new phone before I get back. When I returned to the gate, everyone was standing in this giant circular line getting “checked in” to the flight. It was really interesting, instead of doing it as you went down through the gate, they check you in to the seating area. Then we rode a bus over to our GIANT plane and got all ready for the 10 flight to Hyderabad, India YIPEE!The flight to India was really uneventful other than the TV in Hindi, all announcements done in German, French, English, and one time I could’ve sworn they were speaking Spanish. All the stewards spoke German which was cool. This time I got two meals… man they were barely edible. I made it out alive though.
The two coolest things that happened on this flight was the sunset as we were entering India. It was awesome. I took two pictures (didn’t have a window seat otherwise I would have taken a bunch more), but I don’t think they really captured how amazing it looked. Everything was black and then there was this really bright streak of color across the horizon that looked like a rainbow except brighter than you’ve ever seen. And if you looked up slightly to the left you could see the crescent moon. It was awesome. I couldn’t get the moon in on the shots of the sunset… sorry guys. The other cool thing was as we were nearing Hyderabad, the flight was a little rough. Not bouncing all around, just some serious vibrations and then suddenly everything went perfectly still. It was hard to even hear the engines. It was one of the coolest things I’ve ever experienced while flying. I felt like we were on a giant paper airplane floating through the sky.Ok, that’s enough for the first entry. I’ll tell you about the hotel room and my first impressions of India in my next entry.