Last month Brad travelled to India for work and was there for about eight days. He had an 18 hour flight with one stop in Amsterdam. The purpose of his trip was to meet the team in India and also instruct the team on a new project that he is leading.
He arrived in Mumbai close to midnight and stayed one night before his two hour trip to Pune, India, (where his office is located) the next day. He said that his hotel in Mumbai was the nicest hotel he's ever stayed in. His company hired a driver for him all week. Thank God because the driving over there is absolutely ridiculous. There are no lanes on the roads. It's basically a "whoever gets there first" mentality.
I asked Brad to explain what it was like over there and he said, it's exactly like the movie Slumdog Millionaire.
It took him about three or four days to get used to everything. He said that everyone was really nice and they all went out of their way to make him comfortable. Every time he got up from his chair, someone would put a new bottle of coke on his desk. He brought a huge variety bag of candy from America to share with his coworkers. They all liked the Skittles.
He didn't eat the Indian food though. He said it smelled terrible which turned him off right away. He tried to order pizza from Domino's one night and said that it was really gross. The McDonald's has their own versions (regular & spicy). Most of the locals all order "spicy." Brad ordered the regular and said it tasted different than here in America but was edible. He mostly ate McDonald's while he was there. If you know Brad, he HATES McDonald's...so he must have been hungry! he he.
One day the whole team traveled back to Mumbai for a Cricket match. He said it was really fun, but hard to follow. After the game, they all went out to a local bar. Brad was on edge because of all the rabid dogs running loose on the streets. One of the guys asked Brad if he had any pets. Brad said that we have one cat and then Brad asked him if he had any pets. The guy replied, "Not anymore, I gave my dog to the neighborhood."
All in all he had a really good time on his trip. I feel very fortunate to live in America though. Now seeing how that part of the world lives, I feel like we take a lot of things for granted in our day to day lives. I'm blessed to have a wonderful home, an awesome and healthy family & the freedom to do whatever the heck I want.
Hotel in Mumbai...
Streets of Pune, India
These were stores outside of Brad's hotel.
More stores...
Slums...
Can't tell if this is construction or destruction. Brad said that this was everywhere.
The whole team in India...
His office...
