First Impressions

From an airplane after dark, Delhi seems to sprawl out, with lots of dark sections that could be parks, or water, or maybe rolling blackouts. We circled several times before landing. Inside, the first thing I noticed about the airport was the marble floor. There's a lot of marble here. But let's face it, the airport was like any other airport. It took me a long time to clear customs, get my bags & change some money. When I walked into the lounge, there was my driver, decked out in a white Crowne Plaza uniform with lots of gold braid, holding a big sign with my name: Ninar Hinchee. Close enough. He took charge of my bags and lead the way outside -- at last, breathing New Delhi air. Which is quite hot (106 last night), moist, and smells a bit like charcoal. Not unpleasantly.

It didn't take long for us to arrive at the Crowne Plaza. Even though this was a hotel employee driving a hotel car, we still had to open the hood & let someone look around in the cab. That's how tight security is at Western hotels since the terrorism in Mumbai. They also searched my bags & had me walk through a scanner. All in the nicest, smilingest, way of course.

My room is exactly what I expected -- very nice but a little odd. The tub, shower & toilet are all separated by glass walls, and the wall between the bathroom & the bedroom is glass. This means you can watch TV from the tub, but it's still strange. If one wants more privacy, there's a little remote you can use to shut the blinds. There's another remote just to open & close the wall-to-ceiling drapes. They use one of those key-card systems, which I detest because my timing is not very good. You need the card for more than your room key: it also activates the elevator AND the master power switch for the room. I could have ordered pillows from the pillow-menu (selections included millet-stuffed, feathers, I don't know what else), but I am pretty happy with the ones I have.

I have a little electric pot for boiling water and a French press to make my coffee. They deliver the Hindustan Times to the door in the morning. I had breakfast in the hotel "Cafe G" this morning. What a huge selection of things I wasn't sure about! I did have 2 glasses of fresh-squeezed mango juice and also a dish called idli, which is a couple of soft rice dumplings in a hearty, spicy stew. It was actually very tasty, but odd for breakfast.

After breakfast, my driver took me to the Gurgaon office. Despite all sorts of pre-arrangements, there was no one to meet me at reception so the guards sent me all over the place for awhile - Building C Level 4, no Building B Level 12, no 14 -- until finally one of my team-mates came and rescued me. The buildings are very much like the UHG office in Hartford -- slow elevators, cubes, etc. I enjoyed observing the wide variety of women's clothing styles - sarees, salwar kameez, kurtis with pants. I think I was appropriately dressed in tunic top & slacks.

It was really great to finally meet the people on my team that I have worked with for the past several months. Sharad is the leader of the group, and he has gone out of his way to check in on me, make sure I'm okay, give me advice, lend me a phone. It's great. Priya, the only woman there today, is so little, so pretty, and quiet. She was wearing the most beautiful pink & gold shalwar kameez, many sparkly bangles, a diamond bindi on her forehead. (The picture here is from the next day, casual-dress Friday.)

We had our first meeting, very informal, and everyone enjoyed the chocolate I brought (thank goodness it didn't melt in my carry on). After the meeting we went to a Punjab restaurant that was decorated to seem like we were eating under the stars. There were fake monkeys, too. The food was tasty -- my coworkers ordered for me in Hindi, so I don't really know what I had. They asked the waiter for not-so-hot dishes. They were still plenty spicy. I had some paneer (kind of like cheese), and several different dishes that involved chicken in "gravy" (that's what they call sauce). There was also a "milk sweet" -- kind of like pudding cake? - for dessert. I ate just a few bites of each thing, but by the end of the meal I was feeling stuffed & sleepy!

I was planning to go clothes shopping tonight, but I'm too tired (or overstimulated) so came back to the hotel. Discovered that my power adapter does not fit any of the plugs in my room, and I needed to charge the loaner cell phone and my laptop. Called the concierge, sure they can send up an adapter. In fact, they sent 2 -- One doesn't fit the plugs and the other is only good for the cell phone charger. Ah well, if my computer runs out of power I'll recharge it at the office again tomorrow.