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Published: April 11th 2006
5:15 AM - I wake up in my hotel room to the sound of the phone ringing for my wake up call. "Saaar, this is your call for the wake up" a voice drones. I shake my head at how such a seemingly simple sentance can go so wrong. I look around my hotel room and realize that i've already been in Hyderabad for 3 weeks. So much has happened already on this trip and I'm anxious to get my day started.
5:45 AM - 1 shower, 2 bottles of water, and a hasty prayer layer, I'm downstairs getting into the back seat of my company car. My driver Vasant tells me that his son just completed his 6th standard exam and his daughter is now applying for university. Vasant is amazing...a driver for the past ten years, he reminds me every morning the meaning of "duty." In watching Vasant over the past few weeks, I've realized that Vasant doesn't go out of his way for me day in and day out because he is being payed to, but for his own personal satisfaction.
6:00 AM - I peer around the corner wall, ready to face the most dreaded part of my day ...it is time to face Woofy. Woofy is a snarling, 120 pound, heart quaking beast of a dog that stands between me and my harmonium class every morning. I have named this dog Woofy in an attempt to create a friendlier image of this dog in my mind...hoping that one day I will show up for class and he will have magically turned into a fluffy poodle. No such luck today. I calm myself mentally, loosen my limbs and prepare to execute the only strategy I have to face Woofy. I pull out a pack of Parle G biscuits, throw a bicuit high over Woofy's head, and run like mad up to the second floor. Shyam 1, Woofy 0.
6:00 - 7:00 AM - Harmonium class is amazing! Guruji (never really got his first name) is a lover of music and ardent worshipper of Siva. He watches my fingering closely while he teaches me bhajans and techniques to improve the speed and accuracy of my playing. Guruji's eyes get teary when he explains the meaning of a line that he translates to "How can we ever repay a God who must give us the very means to repay Him.."
7:30-9 - EST gym, owned by cricketer Mohammed Azharuddhin. I walk in to an image that seems to capture India in the past decade...Using the lateral pull down machine is an elderly woman in tight spandex pants with a way-too-brief top. Next to her, on the seated bench press machine is a woman cloaked from head to toe in a burka. Welcome to India...Western culture planted squarely on a fading Eastern base. India has skyrocketed economically, creating a "real" middle class, and raising the standards of living to heights that once were just a dream...but at what cost?
I side step the spandex and thank Swami my retinas are still functional.
11 - 9 PM - Ah the wonders of working in a global corporation (sarcasm)! The office is light hearted and filled with people who love to stop by and chat (something unheard of in most of Corporations in the US). At the 5:30 PM, everything changes as the US offices come to life...people scramble to please their off-shore managers, making promises they can't keep and sacrificies that they shouldn't have to make. Globalization has its pro's...these are just a few examples of its cons.
9 - 10 PM - Go out with people at work for a quick bite and a few laughs.
11 PM - Back in the hotel ready for a deep sleep!
K - so that's it! Stay tuned for future issues of the Hyderabady Hero. Here's a quick sneak peak at articles in next month's issue:
May Issue:
- Dealing with a snoring roommate (An ingenous method I have developed to stop Sandeep from snoring when he sleeps over)
- Shyam Vs. Woofy Part II
- Experiences working with the Hyderabad YA group (Grama Seva, amazing bhajans...I'm in heaven!)
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JD
non-member comment
Wow
Hi Shyam - you really are a hero in H-bad! Woofy sounds like Holly.