Happy Mother's Day Mom! And to all the other mother's who happen to read this--hope you all had a great mother's day. Love you and miss you mom! (Below pic was of me and my mom when my folks came out to visit me in Seattle for Mother's Day 3 yrs ago)
This week's blog is going to be a shorty--pretty uneventful week for me in Hyderabad, which was kind of nice for a change...I guess that means that I'm settling in and hopefully most of the crazy bat shit stuff is over. BUT, speaking of bats...
BATS in Hyderabad--
So I have this little ritual that I like to do after work when I get back to the hotel. I come up to my room, change into my bathing suit and head down to the pool for a little swim and a King Fisher beer. There usually isn't anyone else down there, so I have the whole pool to myself and the bartender (Ramesh) that works the pool bar knows me by name know and we chat for a bit and then after my swim I read from my Kindle for a bit before I head back in for dinner.
Well this past Wednesday was no different...except as I was getting out of the pool and walking toward my chair w/ beer in hand, this thing flies out of nowhere and comes within inches of my head. Without thinking, I throw my arms up and I might've let out a little scream followed by "What the F*#% was that??". And then quickly followed by, "oh shit! I dropped my beer Ramesh". By this time there were a couple other staff members out there and all were just staring at me like I was crazy. I don't know if they were in shock by what came out of my mouth, or the fact that I freaked out over a bat...yes, it was a bat, but not just one, there were several that were flying around. I guess it was normal because no one else seemed to be surprised to see them. Anyway, after I help them pick up the broken bottle and Ramesh brings me another one, I go sit on my chair, but I feel like these bats are just swooping in and out and coming really close to hitting me. So I decide it's time to go inside, but I don't just get up and start walking inside, oh no, I start humming and making strange sounds because my limited knowledge of bats reminds me that they're blind and can only sense by their hearing. So, me trying to think all logically, I start humming and making sounds so that they don't come near me and will hopefully keep their distance. It works to keep the bats away, but doesn't help with the staff who are watching me and thinking I've literally lost my mind. The next day at the pool I explain to Ramesh what I was doing and he just laughed at me.
Ping Pong -- their 2nd pasttime after cricket
I've noticed how big cricket is here in India by the fact that instead of softball or football fields on Microsoft's campus, there are cricket fields. In addition, you can find a cricket match on tv at almost any time of the day/night. But what I was surprised about was how gung-ho the Indians at Microsoft are about ping-pong. The picture below is of a ping-pong table that is just below my office -- I walk out of my office and look over the railing to see this ping-pong table. Well, I can tell you that there is rarely a time in the day that there aren't people playing. And when I say playing, I mean they're really playing--sweating, running, having heated arguments, etc. Sometimes I find myself drawn to just watch from my perch about them and laugh at how seriously they're taking this game that I used to play with my siblings and parents in the shed of our house in Rome, NY. And how over the years the use of that ping pong table changed from playing ping pong to beer pong. Part of me wants to teach the Indians about beer pong, but I'm worried they would think using the table for that purpose would be almost sacreligous ;-).
This week's blog is going to be a shorty--pretty uneventful week for me in Hyderabad, which was kind of nice for a change...I guess that means that I'm settling in and hopefully most of the crazy bat shit stuff is over. BUT, speaking of bats...
BATS in Hyderabad--
So I have this little ritual that I like to do after work when I get back to the hotel. I come up to my room, change into my bathing suit and head down to the pool for a little swim and a King Fisher beer. There usually isn't anyone else down there, so I have the whole pool to myself and the bartender (Ramesh) that works the pool bar knows me by name know and we chat for a bit and then after my swim I read from my Kindle for a bit before I head back in for dinner.
Well this past Wednesday was no different...except as I was getting out of the pool and walking toward my chair w/ beer in hand, this thing flies out of nowhere and comes within inches of my head. Without thinking, I throw my arms up and I might've let out a little scream followed by "What the F*#% was that??". And then quickly followed by, "oh shit! I dropped my beer Ramesh". By this time there were a couple other staff members out there and all were just staring at me like I was crazy. I don't know if they were in shock by what came out of my mouth, or the fact that I freaked out over a bat...yes, it was a bat, but not just one, there were several that were flying around. I guess it was normal because no one else seemed to be surprised to see them. Anyway, after I help them pick up the broken bottle and Ramesh brings me another one, I go sit on my chair, but I feel like these bats are just swooping in and out and coming really close to hitting me. So I decide it's time to go inside, but I don't just get up and start walking inside, oh no, I start humming and making strange sounds because my limited knowledge of bats reminds me that they're blind and can only sense by their hearing. So, me trying to think all logically, I start humming and making sounds so that they don't come near me and will hopefully keep their distance. It works to keep the bats away, but doesn't help with the staff who are watching me and thinking I've literally lost my mind. The next day at the pool I explain to Ramesh what I was doing and he just laughed at me.
Ping Pong -- their 2nd pasttime after cricket
I've noticed how big cricket is here in India by the fact that instead of softball or football fields on Microsoft's campus, there are cricket fields. In addition, you can find a cricket match on tv at almost any time of the day/night. But what I was surprised about was how gung-ho the Indians at Microsoft are about ping-pong. The picture below is of a ping-pong table that is just below my office -- I walk out of my office and look over the railing to see this ping-pong table. Well, I can tell you that there is rarely a time in the day that there aren't people playing. And when I say playing, I mean they're really playing--sweating, running, having heated arguments, etc. Sometimes I find myself drawn to just watch from my perch about them and laugh at how seriously they're taking this game that I used to play with my siblings and parents in the shed of our house in Rome, NY. And how over the years the use of that ping pong table changed from playing ping pong to beer pong. Part of me wants to teach the Indians about beer pong, but I'm worried they would think using the table for that purpose would be almost sacreligous ;-).
Sorry folks, no "Deep-ak thoughts this week"...just wishing all the mom's a happy mother's day! Next week I'll be traveling to Bangalore...and you know what's in Bangalore?? Two Taco Bells!!! I'm so excited ;-).
Hi Keith! This was great and the "bat scene" made me laugh hysterically! You've also inspired me to get back to writing my own blog; so thanks! Looking forward to following your adventures.
ReplyDeleteCrysta