After three weeks of working here I should say something about the software development here. What did I learn? Well, I'm pleasantly surprised by the level of knowledge and professionalism here. The image Indians have in the West is of a bunch of robots who follow instructions by the letter and deliver really crappy code. But I found here that the process is very structured and people are very innovative in their thinking and work. The project management and development methodology is very structured. They actually follow the rules here. First document the requirements, detail them as us [View Full Entry]

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Rounding up has started now. It's been a fast 3 weeks and I've done a lot. Living in luxurious hotels is nice and all but gets old really fast. Now I just want to be home with Sanne. One more night, one more day and one night in the airplane and I'll be back with my sweet girlfriend :-). [View Full Entry]

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I decided to only eat vegetarian these three weeks. Why? It's an experiment. And India is a great place to star. Most of the Hindu population is vegetarian so every restaurant has a good selection of meals. And I don't have to cook anyway of course so that makes it extra easy. I don't really have specific ethical problems with eating animals, but I do admire those who have and choose to live with the restriction. It takes discipline to do that. It might be funny though starting to eat meat again when I'm back. I compare it to wearing bracelets [View Full Entry]

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A colleague told me about this: Taj Mahal: The True Story. Apparently there is a theory that the Taj Mahal was not build by the Moghul ruler Shah Jahan at all but was a Hindu temple fetched and modified by the Muslim rulers. The evidence is all over it as the website claims, the building has Hindu decorations and there are secret rooms inside the 'tomb' that visitors are kept in the dark about. I just love conspiracy theories. Even though they're not true most of the time they still give me a strange mystical sensation. Ju [View Full Entry]

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I've been meaning to write some small updates just to give little impressions of India. Will try to do that in the next days, work gets in the way sometimes :-). As I'm writing this now I'm in the Sapient office on the 9th floor. My seat is right next to the window which gives me a great view of the surrounding area. I can see several other large office buildings (Microsoft, ABN Amro, Ericsson, etc) and the road that takes me here every day. At the moment it's completely jammed, mainly with white cars: taxi's. I can hear a lot [View Full Entry]

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Shilpa was feeling sick again this weekend so I decided to visit the Taj Mahal alone. It’s a must-see of course and I know much regret would be wasted if I wouldn’t go. It’s the number 1 of the 7 wonders of the world from what I’ve heard. Dharmender picked me up at the hotel at 6 AM. The drive would be 3.5 hours, turned out to be a bit longer. Along the way I got to see some of India outside Delhi. The road was full with cars, trucks, bikes, donkey wagons, camels carrying huge loads and cows and water [View Full Entry]

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I've added some new stories about things here. Trying to keep up. Also some new photos added to the album. A colleague explained what the red tread around my wrist that I got at the Hindu temple means. It's a protection against evil. I should wear it for 15 days, if it falls off it means it has protected me from something. I keep on seeing people with these things on their wrist now all over the place now. Shilpa and Sameer also explained I should never give money to beggars. Apart from the fact that I'll get chased down the [View Full Entry]

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Today was India's independence day and that means: no work! I met up again with Shilpa and Sameer. They kindly invited me to celebrate independence day with their family in South Delhi. When we walked to the house people were staring at me, I was wearing my hair loose so the bright blond curls must have surprised them :-). I was received very kindly by their family, everyone was very nice and I felt at home. They all spoke so great English, even the young kids. So how do Indians celebrate their independence? They fly kites! We all got on the [View Full Entry]

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On Sunday I planned to go a bit easier then before. I need my rest of course. So I was just going to visit the National Museum which has a large collection of artifacts from the great history of India. And what a huge museum it was. There was an extra fee for bringing your camera (twice the entrance fee) and I decided it was a tourist rip-off so I wouldn’t pay for it. Kind of regretted it later because there were a lot of interesting things to be photographed. I was able to get an audio tour that was very [View Full Entry]

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Friday I called Shilpa. She was not feeling very well and wanted to go to the doctor the next day so the Taj Mahal was not going to happen this weekend. Not really a problem for me, we can still go next week. And there’s plenty of Delhi that I haven’t seen yet (the city has 15 million inhabitants, can’t cover all that in one day). Shilpa suggested some things I should see the next day, I called Dharmender and he agreed to pick me up at 11 o’clock. I spend the rest of the night reading Snow Crash in the [View Full Entry]

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