Bangalore Training Day 1 & 2

As some of you already know, I’m in India right now, in Bangalore to be exact, for a 1-week training. Bangalore is the Silicon Valley of India. You can find almost all the big players in the IT field, from SAP to Intel, and also other Fortune 100 company like GE and so on. It’s a fast paced city with major developing process which can be seen from all construction going around. So, it will be another totally new city when you visit Bangalore in let say, the next 2 years. Personally, I’ve never heard of Bangalore until I was assigned to go for this training, and when I see the Channel News Asia covering the city the day before I flew off, it only showed the luxury side of Bangalore, definitely surreal and not worth comparing.

So, without much data researching (I’m here for training, not sight-seeing), there I was on the plane to Bangalore. Off course, the flight was enjoyable as always been expected from SQ. The remote control on my seat was not working after resets, so the stewardess was so kind to find me another seat in a very full flight for me to move so that I can watch the movies. Upon arrival, at 10pm, I was amazed by the new airport settings. Its interior is so similar to HK international airport, though it’s smaller in size. I could even still smell the paint. Seeing these things, I was actually looking forward to see what’s out there in Bangalore… until… I was outside looking for taxi. All the taxis were taken when I came out and I was caught by this one guy saying that he’s a license taxi driver. He even showed me his license. Since I couldn’t find the taxi brand that I want, I said fine. It’s not fine until I was walking so far on the airport parking lot and there’s a 1 small car waiting there, definitely not a taxi, and the guy showed me the fare listing which was so much more than the supposed rate. I was inside the car and got a bit scared to say no and get out from the car since it’s an unfamiliar area for me. I grew up in Indonesia and not supposed to be scared in this kind of situation, but alas, when you’re actually in the real situation, you forget your roots. So, I decided to stay inside the ‘cab’ (while praying hard and making sure that my cell-phone was working properly). Bangalore at night was not as friendly as the airport states. It’s not only dark (unless there’s other cars passing), with minimum lamp post around, but also give an eerie feeling as you literally cannot see anything except construction ruins and no people walking around (hey, it’s past 10 already). After 30 minutes, 50 minutes, 1 hour, I got nervous, and even more nervous as somebody don’t even reply my sms until morning (that somebody is hopefully reading this and feel sorry for me ;)). My heart almost stopped when the car suddenly pulled over and the driver said he got lost. Luckily I brought the map and he went to ask the hotel nearby. After another couple of turn arounds, finally I saw the 1 logo I know, SAP. Yes folks, this was the first time I was so happy to see the SAP logo. Finally with all the commotion, I got into the hotel in one piece. The hotel service is fantastic, I couldn’t complain more. The hotel staffs knew that you’re not used to the city and they accommodate that to make you feel comfortable. Kudos for those staffs J.

The next adventure came on Day 1 of training. Breakfast was nice except for the ‘mushroom’ accident. I pick out some mushrooms, so I thought, from the Western section of the buffet line. When I eat one, it turns out to be kidney (I dare not ask from which animals) and they didn’t clean it properly, so it smells, and I lost appetite soon after that fateful bite. Our buses were late because they went to the wrong hotel. After our morning adventure (including the joy ride that we had), we finally arrived in the training center. Our India office is so huge that it has its own cafeteria. I will skip all the training part as it’s… training, nothing more can be said. The facilitator arranged a catering for lunch during our stay. It’s nice and I actually tasted some Indian dishes that I’ve never tasted before. After training we had a welcome dinner and we, again, waited for the bus. It seems buses in here don’t like to wait for passenger, they prefer that we wait for them J. Dinner was Chinese Indian cuisine, something new for me, and I actually like them, though some of them were quite spicy for me. As we reached the restaurant, they still smoked the place with mosquitoes spray. So, we ate our appetizer with extra-repellent-infused. During our ride home, we came across Saibaba’s ‘castle.’ According to my colleage, Saibaba is a Hindu preacher. The ‘castle’ is a fusion of Taj Mahal and Buckingham Pallace. It’s so huge and grand with the white paint. I wonder how it looks like during the day time.

Day 2 was another new adventure. Today our bus almost hit another bigger bus. It’s obviously our driver’s fault. Our front rear almost hit the middle side of the other bus. But, our proud driver insisted that he’s right and went over ready to fight with the other driver. After venting his anger, our driver presumed his original task, and we reached the office safe and sound. I liked today’s lunch better than yesterday, although I wish they brought back the potato salad and the cheese-curd salad. They’re simply delicious. During our ride back, we noticed that the route that we took back and forward to the office was always different. The only sign that we knew we’re in the right track is the GE and SAP logo (note that the SAP logo become more and more important?). Our adventure continued to the dinner we had on the hotel’s restaurant. It’s a new restaurant (I guess) serving Chinese-Thai cuisine. Let me elaborate the set menu: It’s Ying (vegetarian menu with most of the menu made from baby corn) and Yang (non-vegetarian). We had the Yang. Yang consists of Pomegranate Chicken soup (you’ll wonder what the wonder fruit is doing in a soup), Pan Fried fish with garlic, Lamb with mushroom, fried rice/Sze Chwan noodle and last but not least, the dessert is the banana toffee with ice cream. To summarize, let’s just say the meal was good (something for a change from Indian food routines and the lamb and noodle was actually good), except for the soup. The soup was sweet, too sweet for my liking, made us had doubts and wonder on what we’re getting into this time.

With the end of day 2, I can conclude the rest of my trip will be another set of different adventures each day. It’s something different and definitely memorable with so many new people I met and went through the series of event together. So, stay tune for the next Bangalore adventure J.