Mr SAHMIND takes a turn........

Hello everyone Mr SAHMIND here.

My week here so far has been taken up with meeting various people at work and getting oriented to the way this subsidiary company does its day to day business. Security here is a lot tighter than back home. I have to carry a written pass to get my laptop in and out of the facility. There are uniformed guards everywhere. Folks are generally cordial though and would you believe that we get tea (chai) breaks provided twice a day. (And this is for everyone, I was out in the factory yesterday at about 2 pm and the servers where out passing around the chai and the workers get to stop and take off their shoes for break....all out in the assembly and machining areas all over the plant.......OSHA would have a screaming fit....)

Its really funny how much I stick out in a crowd over here. Their are a few other westerners on site here, but I have only rarely bumped in to any of them. To say that people stare as I go by does not fully communicate how surprised these folks are to see me.

I have been eating in the company cafeteria all week for lunch. While I am sure the setting is nice by Indian standards the closest desription I have that will get the picture across to Americans is think school cafeteria meets prison cafeteria. All the tableware is steel. Steel plates, steel spoons, steel cups, steel pitchers, steel tables......
The local cuisine is all vegetarian, but don't let that fool you, there is really quite a variety to chose from once you get use to the options. For instance, there are 4 service lines to chose from at lunch time. Bland (non spiced), Low Spice, Hot Spiced, and the Fasting line. The fasting line, of course, is there to accommodate folks during their local religious observances(i.e. Hindu). Yesterday the manager with whom I have been working chose to take food from the fasting line (partially for his observance, but I think partially to suit my curiosity). To be honest I think the Indians are cheating on this. For starters there was more on his plate than mine. The foods acceptable for fasting include boiled potato, fruit, and a little white grain called Subadana (it looks a lot like tapioca). If you know anything about Indian cuisine (real, traditional Indian cuisine) then you understand that dal (beans) and rice are the staple. So that has been constant in every meal, and the variety has come with regards to sides, deserts, and condiments - various pickled and powdered chile relishes, lime slices, sweet buttermilk, sweet corn soup, sliced apple, curried vegetables (so far they have had cauliflower and okra). Speaking of sticking out in a crowd. I am the one guy in the whole place that has to have bottled water ordered up for me daily. Everyone else drinks from pitchers provided at each table. On Wednesday, they really wanted to impress me, so they ordered me a Pepsi. So here is the only white guy in the whole cafeteria with his bottle of water and Pepsi sitting here eating his dal under the glare of 200- 300 Indians...many of whom who looked like they might want some Pepsi to...... When you are finished with lunch you have to set your tray on the return cart (which is fairly normal practice of a cafeteria), but then you go through the wash area. Keep in mind that traditional Indian is eaten by using pieces of flat bread to pick up your rice and dal. So after lunch you should rinse off well, especially if you are rather messy American.....

So far I have been in some meetings with the electronics folks here talking about some the things they need immediate help on. I have also toured almost the whole local facility and we also got to go see the location of one of our contract firms. The Contractors actually have a nicer office space than I do back home. Today we are supposed to go see one of our largest Indian customers. More to come soon.....bye for now