Thursday, March 18, 2010
Good Bye Bilu
It's hard to get out of India without someone throwing a party. But looking at all the smiling faces I recall a party at UCB when the honree could not make the party and I believe it was Sascha who said, sorry you could not see all the smiling faces........
You can not out-do the masters of throwing a party, even if if it was a lame excuse as "We are celebrating October and September birthdays...LOL..OMG that actually had me thinking...Neha....Neha ha ha ha.
Check out and see if you find Yatin NOT talking on the phone...HMMMM Romance in the air?? I hope he was paying attention when he gave me a "lift" on the back of his motocycle to the restaurant in busy time (7:00am-6:59am everyday) Mumbai traffic. I think the claw marks are still on the side of is bike.....
Deepali, PYT I will never read another horoscope without picturing you two and Anup Vijaja and Shradha.
Vishal is my resident expert on American movies from 1930 to present. Vijaya is lord of the dance.
Yatin...still on the phone. A group of ladies as fine as these come into your life once, I did not let that moment pass me by.
Rajesh and Sathish, two contagious smiles, had nothing to do with the drinks....
Manali is our resident poet. Dnyanada ( from Canada), makes her name easier to pronounce Yanada from Canada.
This is the Princess with her grandfather in the background. This older guy kept showing up at different parties and functions, a real ladies man.
Finally this is the table they prepared for me. Not sure if Yatin
You can not out-do the masters of throwing a party, even if if it was a lame excuse as "We are celebrating October and September birthdays...LOL..OMG that actually had me thinking...Neha....Neha ha ha ha.
Check out and see if you find Yatin NOT talking on the phone...HMMMM Romance in the air?? I hope he was paying attention when he gave me a "lift" on the back of his motocycle to the restaurant in busy time (7:00am-6:59am everyday) Mumbai traffic. I think the claw marks are still on the side of is bike.....Deepali, PYT I will never read another horoscope without picturing you two and Anup Vijaja and Shradha.
Vishal is my resident expert on American movies from 1930 to present. Vijaya is lord of the dance.
Yatin...still on the phone. A group of ladies as fine as these come into your life once, I did not let that moment pass me by.
Rajesh and Sathish, two contagious smiles, had nothing to do with the drinks....
Manali is our resident poet. Dnyanada ( from Canada), makes her name easier to pronounce Yanada from Canada.
This is the Princess with her grandfather in the background. This older guy kept showing up at different parties and functions, a real ladies man.
Finally this is the table they prepared for me. Not sure if Yatin
Sunday, March 7, 2010
Shopping trip and temple visit
This started as a shopping trip to get some jeans back in the first week of February so that I had something to work for in my weight loss challenge. they are lose on me now...Sundar....
Sunita, Yatin and Vilas took me out "shopping" and we ended up at this temple. The statues of gods were incredible.
We then went to another "temple", The Mall..LOL. and I had my picture taken with this statue...
Sunita, Yatin and Vilas took me out "shopping" and we ended up at this temple. The statues of gods were incredible.
We then went to another "temple", The Mall..LOL. and I had my picture taken with this statue...Michele this is the size of purse you need to carry all the time.
Below is me, Sunita and Vilas( who just celebrated a birthday this Friday). You wouldn't guess it but Sunita LOVES ice cream....!!!!!
Below is Yatin( the protector) , me and Sunita waiting for our cab to take us home. This was a great weekend and I am always impressed when the team takes me out and sacrifices their time to make me feel at home, most of them had another 2 hour trip to get home after leaving me at my hotel. It is not necessary, as I keep telling them , but it is always appreciated.
Below is me, Sunita and Vilas( who just celebrated a birthday this Friday). You wouldn't guess it but Sunita LOVES ice cream....!!!!!
Below is Yatin( the protector) , me and Sunita waiting for our cab to take us home. This was a great weekend and I am always impressed when the team takes me out and sacrifices their time to make me feel at home, most of them had another 2 hour trip to get home after leaving me at my hotel. It is not necessary, as I keep telling them , but it is always appreciated.
I had my eyes on that cone of Sunita's since we left the ice cream shop. I ate mine in something like 10 seconds and I think she just kept enjoying hers to make me crazy.......
Yatin
Below is a childhood picture of Yatin. Even here at one year old he was big. He is my "body guard". LOL. When he showed me this snap ,I asked him if I could put it on my blog. Yatin is co-lead on the Cimzia 46 project with Sunita and is one of the original 12 hired. Yatin and Sunita....two people at opposite ends of the growth spectrum. He is my gentle giant who has a passion for biostatistics. He and Sunita ( Princess) keep Ganesh in flowers at their desk to preside over the ORCHID team to bring good luck.
Lunch from UCB
Last Friday it was my pleasure to take both GSP and GRM ( Eileen that means you have to take GSP out when you come..LOL..we only have 26 people in GSP...) out for lunch. After being here for 2 months and never had to pay fro a single lunch or break chai and several dinners, I thought it would be nice to treat. I know , looking below it looks like maybe I treated half of Mumbai.. It is possible I did, because the waiters had to keep adding tables to accomodate everyone. LOL.
It took 2 pictures to attempt to get everyone in the picture. Typical for Satish and Bhavesh they had arranged that the head waiter bring out a bogus bill of I think it was 95,000 rupees which would have been about 2000 American dollars. The actual was 11,000 rupees and a greatdeal. Evidently everyone over here is related to Satish because we keep getting these great deals in restaurants. ORCHID, all of ORCHID, has been very accomodating and I want to thank them all. I will miss you very much when I leave. From the Horoscope readings from my new friends in GRM to the many many chai breaks to the cafeteria lunches and Spice 5 restaurant trips for lunch and most important ice cream. Not once was I left out of a celebration. Each morning I was greeted by the team and felt welcomed. Each mporning Sundar and i would spar as to who had lost the most weight ( truth be told he looks great) . Sundar graciously gave up his office so that I would have privacy for some of my UCB meetings.
Below Sundar was counting up all the palms from all the drinks he had during lunch. Pankti(I call her "PYT") had to load him in a taxi and send him home. He was still brooding over losing the weight loss contest.......
....
It took 2 pictures to attempt to get everyone in the picture. Typical for Satish and Bhavesh they had arranged that the head waiter bring out a bogus bill of I think it was 95,000 rupees which would have been about 2000 American dollars. The actual was 11,000 rupees and a greatdeal. Evidently everyone over here is related to Satish because we keep getting these great deals in restaurants. ORCHID, all of ORCHID, has been very accomodating and I want to thank them all. I will miss you very much when I leave. From the Horoscope readings from my new friends in GRM to the many many chai breaks to the cafeteria lunches and Spice 5 restaurant trips for lunch and most important ice cream. Not once was I left out of a celebration. Each morning I was greeted by the team and felt welcomed. Each mporning Sundar and i would spar as to who had lost the most weight ( truth be told he looks great) . Sundar graciously gave up his office so that I would have privacy for some of my UCB meetings.
Below Sundar was counting up all the palms from all the drinks he had during lunch. Pankti(I call her "PYT") had to load him in a taxi and send him home. He was still brooding over losing the weight loss contest...........
Surviving The Mean Streets of Mumbai
OK, As I was walking today thinking pleasant thoughts of my last 7 weeks here in Mumbai and my last week as I held back the tears and had another epiphany: The Survival Pyramid of Mumbai. You know we have food chain pyramids, well here is a westerner's view of surviving the ever moving and less forgiving streets of Mumbai.
The bus. Top of the chain of survival. Don't walk in front of one and think that they will stop. Neither wind, nor rain, nor old bald white man, nor brown for that matter will prevent this vehicle from its appointed stop. Today the bus was travelling light, there are some laden with local passengers hanging on the windows from the outside while the rest are like sardines inside. I think the outside ride costs more because you can see where you are going and just drop off at anytime. That is why the Indian culture have no obese, they have to run and jump on some of vehicle in motion, no stopping, just like in Indiana Jones or is it Kevin Jones...not sure.
Ahhhhh, next in line is the Goods Carrier, smaller than a bus but able to leap most medians except the one on the way to the Accenture building where I waited in traffic for a half hour as one of these was straddling the median, all 4 wheels off the ground. Possibly tried to avoid a pedestrian...Nahhhhhhh, more likely a bus and he were headed straight on for each other and the driver let the bigger vehicle, I guess let is not the best word, the driver in fear for his life took the high road.
The next is your typical auto, can range anywhere from a suzuki version of a mini to a full grown Honda Accord or Mercedes. On my way home to write this a small compact and a small Goods Carrier could not share the road, recall in another blog, I said that there at times only 6 inches of space between vehicles, these two were like they were soldered together. The auto stops for nothing smaller than itself. It is usually driven by someone with no regard for human life or some woman looking for a new sari to wear to work on Monday.
OK, here we have the ever popular auto rickshaw. Capacity, 3 Idiots. I actually jumped into the back of one of these with Satish and Bhavesh last May while it was moving and carrying my laptop. Good times, good times. While in the auto rickshaw keep your arms and legs inside the vehicle(remember only 6 inches between vehicles) and if you have a bad back be prepared to see a chiropractor when you get out. However do NOT come to Mumbai and NOT ride in one. I will be taking Michele shopping in one when she arrives. Don't worry Michele, it's just like that wooden roller coaster at Hershey Park only there is nothing to strap you in and you can't raise your hands up and scream, well, you CAN scream, but it will do you no good because you won't be heard over the honking horns.
Lari, look , motorcycles!!! As I said, these puppies can carry one to 5 people and at times a whole family. If you could drive one of these for more than 15 minutes in Mumbai without getting in a wreck you could drive on one of those extreme tracks in the US. These are to me the most dangerous because they do not slow down for the speed bumps. I forgot to mention there are speed bumps usually on the side streets. the bikes can go around these and not slow down, and trust me just because you are walking and prone to be maimed or killed, this is not a deterrent.
The bus. Top of the chain of survival. Don't walk in front of one and think that they will stop. Neither wind, nor rain, nor old bald white man, nor brown for that matter will prevent this vehicle from its appointed stop. Today the bus was travelling light, there are some laden with local passengers hanging on the windows from the outside while the rest are like sardines inside. I think the outside ride costs more because you can see where you are going and just drop off at anytime. That is why the Indian culture have no obese, they have to run and jump on some of vehicle in motion, no stopping, just like in Indiana Jones or is it Kevin Jones...not sure.
Ahhhhh, next in line is the Goods Carrier, smaller than a bus but able to leap most medians except the one on the way to the Accenture building where I waited in traffic for a half hour as one of these was straddling the median, all 4 wheels off the ground. Possibly tried to avoid a pedestrian...Nahhhhhhh, more likely a bus and he were headed straight on for each other and the driver let the bigger vehicle, I guess let is not the best word, the driver in fear for his life took the high road.
The next is your typical auto, can range anywhere from a suzuki version of a mini to a full grown Honda Accord or Mercedes. On my way home to write this a small compact and a small Goods Carrier could not share the road, recall in another blog, I said that there at times only 6 inches of space between vehicles, these two were like they were soldered together. The auto stops for nothing smaller than itself. It is usually driven by someone with no regard for human life or some woman looking for a new sari to wear to work on Monday.
OK, here we have the ever popular auto rickshaw. Capacity, 3 Idiots. I actually jumped into the back of one of these with Satish and Bhavesh last May while it was moving and carrying my laptop. Good times, good times. While in the auto rickshaw keep your arms and legs inside the vehicle(remember only 6 inches between vehicles) and if you have a bad back be prepared to see a chiropractor when you get out. However do NOT come to Mumbai and NOT ride in one. I will be taking Michele shopping in one when she arrives. Don't worry Michele, it's just like that wooden roller coaster at Hershey Park only there is nothing to strap you in and you can't raise your hands up and scream, well, you CAN scream, but it will do you no good because you won't be heard over the honking horns. 
Lari, look , motorcycles!!! As I said, these puppies can carry one to 5 people and at times a whole family. If you could drive one of these for more than 15 minutes in Mumbai without getting in a wreck you could drive on one of those extreme tracks in the US. These are to me the most dangerous because they do not slow down for the speed bumps. I forgot to mention there are speed bumps usually on the side streets. the bikes can go around these and not slow down, and trust me just because you are walking and prone to be maimed or killed, this is not a deterrent.
These two were just sitting there, I am sure the drivers were somewhere tallying up the number of people they made go home and change their underwear today.
And next to last the bike. "Fat bottom girls you make the rockin world go round....get on your bikes and ride....." Again, prey to larger vehicles but more powerful than the pedestrian or westerner looking up in the sky to see the wondrous sites of plants on the top of the buildings and hotels.
OK, we are now at the bottom of the survival pyramid.
And next to last the bike. "Fat bottom girls you make the rockin world go round....get on your bikes and ride....." Again, prey to larger vehicles but more powerful than the pedestrian or westerner looking up in the sky to see the wondrous sites of plants on the top of the buildings and hotels.
OK, we are now at the bottom of the survival pyramid.
Here we have man, well sort of, this is Sundar, mentor for ORCHID and revered professor of telling tales out of school. He is here washing his hands after gorging himself on a meal I paid for. I guess he finally gave up(I.E. "washing his hands") on trying to surpass me in my weight loss. I am at 75.5 kgs a whopping 7 kgs from where I started around 15-16 pounds lighter.
Monday, March 1, 2010
Holi
Holi Celebration, Batman.
Satish took me to his neighborhood to give me the experience of the Indian Holiday called Holi.
Involves a huge bonfire. Also powdered paint which get APPLIED WHEREVER
One of Satish's frriend, an old man, and Satish's brother Sudish.
Satish took me to his neighborhood to give me the experience of the Indian Holiday called Holi.
Involves a huge bonfire. Also powdered paint which get APPLIED WHEREVER
One of Satish's frriend, an old man, and Satish's brother Sudish.My spelling of some names may be off....
Prayers and offerings are given to the fire. I'm glad it wasn't me.....
And so the fun began.
And then things got better...This is Gigoo, Satish's best friend and Preeti Satish's wife. You can tell she really likes the two of us....
It got better........
Everyone LOVES Holi. This little princess danced the whole time.
I had a great time and it was a fun experience.
This was the last photo , Preeti,Satish and me. We actually went to a resturant later, where Preeti tried to convince me that marrying Satish has made her very happy..........someone is delusional..
Prayers and offerings are given to the fire. I'm glad it wasn't me.....
And so the fun began.
And then things got better...This is Gigoo, Satish's best friend and Preeti Satish's wife. You can tell she really likes the two of us....
It got better........
Everyone LOVES Holi. This little princess danced the whole time.
I had a great time and it was a fun experience.This was the last photo , Preeti,Satish and me. We actually went to a resturant later, where Preeti tried to convince me that marrying Satish has made her very happy..........someone is delusional..
Old fart at an old fort
A few weekends ago the team ORCHID took a trip to an old fort, Janjira Fort, that started being built in the mid 1500's and completed over a century and a half. The fort was never conquered. Below I have some pictures of that trip and the Arabian Sea.
The sunset was as beautiful as those in North Carolina and made me home sick.
I took dozens of pictures but will only upload a few .
The team had cottages that bordered the sea. We spent one full day and returned on Sunday.
Below is some native "scenery".
One of the cannons that protected the site was 18 feet long and whatever metal it was constructed from did not conduct heat so it remained cool to the touch regardless of the 90+ degree heat outside that day.
Boys will be boys. Obviously this was a joke.
We had one adult with us. This is Gargi and her son Swayam(spelling may be incorrect) I called him Trouble....
Many people took horseback rides Neha below has ridden horses for most of her life and lives up to the name on her t-shirt daily.....
The "princess" on board.
This was the last time Satish was laughing because the horse took him out to sea and we have not seen him since.
This is a view outside my cottage.
Morning tea.
On the way in the bus Sundar discovered we had a terrorist on board.
The sunset was as beautiful as those in North Carolina and made me home sick.
I took dozens of pictures but will only upload a few .
The team had cottages that bordered the sea. We spent one full day and returned on Sunday.Below is some native "scenery".
One of the cannons that protected the site was 18 feet long and whatever metal it was constructed from did not conduct heat so it remained cool to the touch regardless of the 90+ degree heat outside that day.
Boys will be boys. Obviously this was a joke.
We had one adult with us. This is Gargi and her son Swayam(spelling may be incorrect) I called him Trouble....
Many people took horseback rides Neha below has ridden horses for most of her life and lives up to the name on her t-shirt daily.....
The "princess" on board.
This was the last time Satish was laughing because the horse took him out to sea and we have not seen him since.
This is a view outside my cottage.
Morning tea.
On the way in the bus Sundar discovered we had a terrorist on board.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
