Go Do Some Work!

Hello again! While I've not got a lot of story to tell, I have a couple of doozies after another long work day.

After work this evening, we ventured into more of the heart of Mumbai to a key shopping area such that Sarah and I could check out some of the local wares. After visiting a couple of shoe places, fabric stores, and jewelry shops, Shilpa, Malavika, Gautham, Sarah and I enjoyed an awesome local favorite restaurant, Out of the Blue. Fast forward fondue and several KingFisher and I am now back in my hotel room laughing at two specific experiences...

1. When asked what I'd love to see tonight, I responded, "cows, elephants, and beautiful Indian clothes". Interestingly, the thought of cattle in the heart of the city of Mumbai made the India team chuckle. And here I thought the likelihood of seeing an elephant outside of a zoo had no greater chance than a Sarah Palin in an election! Cows in the middle of the street close enough to touch outside my car window? Check.

2. While shopping, there were more street vendors than I'll likely ever see again. Those with booths and those selling everything from nuts to puppets to handerchiefs to underwear. There were also a handful of beggars who would quietly shadow until I started to walk away... at which point the kids would appear in an attempt to try to win me over... holding even more kids. At one point, a boy started grabbing my shirt and my colleague Malavika quickly appeared to shoo the poor kid away by saying something in Hindi. "What did you say?", I asked. "What I tell all kids who are bothersome," she replied. "Go do some work."

Best. Brand. EVER.

Cheating Death and other Indian adventures

Good evening, Avid Reader. The clock just passed midnight on this fine evening and I write feeling lucky. And dramatic. In a nutshell, I cheated death.

Anywhere else in the world, this might actually be true.
In India, however, I would describe this action as... having cabbed.

After another long day of meetings (and presentations by me to a roomful of wonderfully chatty and engaged Indians), we ventured into a different part of Mumbai to enjoy authentic Indian cuisine. More on the dinner later. Let's focus on the fact that I'm alive to post this note.

Avid Reader, waiting in summer lines at Disneyland don't compare to the mass of traffic here. Crossing 520 @ rush hour? Piece of cake. Oh, and with a side of ice cream. And probably sprinkles, too. Traffic here is filled with huge "cargo busses" filled with people sitting, standing, hanging. Auto-rickshaws with people hanging on/in/from. Distances between cars that one couldn't floss. Horns of 'no worries, I'm right here' beeping here and there as normal as breathing. There's nothing like a lack of signals in rush hour traffic when the cabbie opts to turn through traffic and you're 100% convinced you're about to be t-boned. But like I said, anywhere else in the world and it would feel like cheating death. Here, it feels as natural as blinking and I'm not sure if I've acclimated or if there's something in the air that makes me perfectly NUTSO in the head. I'll claim the former, but will be flinching tomorrow again... or laughing along with Sarah at the fact that I'm not.

That said, I enjoyed an evening tonight with most of the Microsoft Advertising team (and Sales House partners) at an amazing Indian restaurant in the heart of the upscale area of Mumbai. Oddly, you'd see an Escada store on one side of the street with a shack home next door. Zoning might not be a strength of this city, but the food sure is! We enjoyed a number of tandoori dishes, breads and meat-in-sauce that makes my mouth water even now (or is that still the spices?). Oh, and I also enjoyed goat for the first time (braised dark meat above) and via a goat mutton sausage/thing -- you decide. It's always good to get some time over amazing meals and adult beverages with my partners; tonight was no exception. I passed my camera around to ensure I had a photo of everyone to boot; my Indian colleagues did not disappoint.

My energy is being wonderfully sapped by end of day here -- a good thing as I feel I'm giving it my all, being challenged, and presenting with passion. Good feedback so far, though I've asked Sarah for her honest Australia critique as the week ends! Relative to real-time feedback, I sure wish someone would have told me that the Indians "nod" their heads side to side when they agree with something (vs. up & down). It was only today that I felt I had a friendly audience!!

More jet lag recovery to do; tonight should be my final night of wackadoodle sleep and recovery! Another long day ahead tomorrow; I'm sure it will be a sweet one! Good night, Avid Reader!

India -- Days One & Two

Day One (& two) was a rather uneventful one here in Mumbai. I spent the first day with my wonderful Australian colleague Sarah Ward between the Microsoft office and here at the hotel.

Interestingly, when I called the concierge desk to ask how close the office is to the hotel, he told me that it was definitely walkable -- 10-15 minutes. When we went to leave the hotel, we were told, oh no, not walkable, and not in this heat. Granted, it was only in the high 80s yesterday (cool!), but the 15 minute cab ride ended up taking us through serious poverty. Photos from a moving vehicle can't speak to what we got to see. I will tell you that in all of the dust and metal and lack of resource was an odd beauty in the colors of India.

Of course, we're staying at an amazing hotel and work in a beautiful glass tower in the heart of it all. It's a bipolar reality really. Part of our day yesterday was spent with one of Microsoft's global leaders at a meeting... at our hotel. As we waited for the India team to have a small team meeting, Sarah and I wandered the grounds of the hotel to take in the sights. This place is literally an oasis based on what's not 10 meters outside its walled world.

And not to keep calling out its distinction from the world around it, this hotel is stunning. It's FILLED with large art installations and architecture that harkens back to the grandeur of ancient Egypt in an odd way. And it has a dichotomy of style that makes every corner interesting -- from it's azure tile pools to ancient columns with replica paper mache lanterns (I'll try to get a photo).

All that said, nothing exciting to report to date other than the rides to/fro the office/hotel and the sites I've gotten to see daily. This includes cattle roaming next to the office, wood scaffolding -- or better, STICK scaffolding -- on new construction, sponge baths and "kitchens" at the sides of busy roads, and traffic congestion and road rules that belie any sort of common sense.

There are plans tomorrow evening to head into the heart of Mumbai to see the city and to experience the culture. For now it's been non-stop work (why I'm here aferall), but promises of culture to come!

Culture Shock

Greetings from India, Avid Reader! It's 2AM here in Mumbai; I'm now settled in to my hotel room after a day of serious travel. My dear friend Jesse Paulson picked me up at 10AM for what became two 10-hour flights to get me to this place at this time (it's now 12:30PM in Seattle, I believe). I'm exhausted.

And I'm also culture shocked. I figured Mumbai would be hot and crowded and a world completely different from what I know. (WARNING: significant generalization pending...) My expectations couldn't have been more off. Yes, Avid Reader, it's *that* much more different than I expected. Now, granted, I've only seen the arrivals queue at the airport and a 20-min. taxi ride to the hotel, but still. This is going to be a wacky week!

A couple of notes before I crash from being so tired (and the effects of a sleeping pill)...

Here I thought that arriving in Mumbai at midnight would mean a quiet evening at the airport. WRONG-O! There must have been 300-500 people waiting for arriving passengers; there were THRONGS of people holding signs for rides and others just waiting. Horns honking, parking "lots" all over the place -- filled with people sleeping in the road, beggars hoping to score a rupee, bikes, cabs, mayhem. It could have been any time of day -- it just happened to be dark and cool (82 degrees).

We drove through what looked like post-Apocalypic Aurora Avenuex10. What looked like abandoned apartment buildings and metal sheds were actually homes. More "homes" were simply blankets on the either side of the street.

While I completely trusted my cabbie, at one point after driving through what I could consider slums and taking a left hand turn into a scene from 'The Outsiders', I was nearly sure I was about to me taken somewhere dark where mysterious deaths are the norm. Instead, another left not 100 yards down the unlit road and VOILA -- this beacon of a hotel! Whereby we had to stop to have the car inspected by three bomb officials. Whereby I was greeted by a score of hotel staff, including the front desk clerk who walked me through the building, up the stairs, and to my room. Whereby I had to pass through a metal detector just to get in in the first place.

Avid Reader, this is crazy. Something I've never seen before... and I've only seen maybe an hour of it so far. I look forward to more stories to share... which will mean more adventures for me to have and tales to tell!

Koreans in Seattle!

It was a fun week as my Korean team visited Seattle for training this week (and next week for some). With days full of non-stop training, we were able to get a few breaks here and there for entertainment, including dinner Monday night at Seattle's The Pink Door and Happy Hour tonight with the legacy DRIVE folks at Temple Billiards!

Not only did the Koreans learn the ins and outs of the AdNetwork business, but they also got a few tips in the obstensible "quote/unquote" hand gestures as well as the many uses of the descriptor "crazy"... as in "Good morning, you Crazy Koreans" and "now THAT is crazy, as in not good crazy".

It was pretty awesome to see folks from DRIVE New and Old come together for a night on the town with the new Korea team, especially given that this week marked the 5th anniversary of DRIVE serving its first ad in 2003 (we enjoyed a reminiscing string with legacy AQNT leadership this morning in celebration of DRIVE's birthday).

And now I head off to introduce the business and provide additional training to the DRIVE folks in India! Yes, Avid Reader, I am off to Mumbai in under 12 hours and need to get packin'! Take care for now -- look for new posts from my Asian adventures here oh so very soon!

Two Words Heard 'Round the World...