From Bagpipes to Raw Beef to Fallen Concrete

It all started on June 2, 2007 when I graduated. The bagpipes were playing, the students were marching and the sweat was pouring. I was happy to be done and on to a new adventure, but I had no idea what I was in store for. On the morning of June 8, 2007 I embarked a plane en route to India by way of New York and Paris. I bypassed long international travel lines at the airport thanks to the company I work for and my business class ticket (not a bad way to travel). On the way to New York I sat next to a man on his way to Dublin. He, along with his three comrades work for NASA and I now understand why those launches cost so much. Traveling business class is not cheap. In New York I sat for four hours waiting for my delayed flight to leave. By the time I got to Paris my flight going to Bangalore had already left. They got me on a flight the next morning so I had to stay the night in Paris. I ate at a restaurant in the airport where a man sitting next to me was eating a patty of raw beef with a raw egg on top. I was deeply concerned for his health, but he didn’t seem to mind. The airline put me up in the Millennium Hotel which was not that millennial. I wandered around enjoying the Parisian houses and not enjoying the Italian men. Two such men approached me with a poor little rabbit who had been attacked by a cat. Somehow they wanted me to help and I wanted to explain to them the risk of rabies. Sunday morning I went back to the airport, got on the plane, drank some champaign (I thought it was apple juice), reclined my seat into a bed (because the seats do that in business class) and slept for most of the 10 hour flight. Because I was a day late getting into Bangalore, my driver was not at the airport when I got there. I didn’t have the address of my apartment and the cab drivers didn’t seem to know what I was talking about. With the help of an Indian I met in New York who had made the same journey I made, we figured out where my apartment was and got in the cab. It was a short ride from the airport, but an interesting one. I didn’t know what to expect from Bangalore, but it’s certainly not like Paris, New York or Salt Lake. The streets are filled with fallen concrete buildings and heaps of ruble line the sidewalks. It will be interesting to go into “Silicon Valley” tomorrow where the office is to see the difference there.