Disclaimer The opinions expressed herein are my own personal opinions and do not represent my employer's view in any way.
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I have been in India now for more than one and a halve month. It has brought a lot of change in me and I’m more at peace than ever have been before. It has been a wonderful experience and I still have some time to go. When I arrived it was just for 3 and a half months and I thought that it was more than enough. I never expected that I would have such a good time here and hope I will get more time in India.
The pattern of live that I had here in India has now also changed and I’m sorry for all my loyal readers that I will not have the time to be so active as have been in the first period. I will still write from time to time, but there are currently other things occupying my life that are more important to me.
I was invited to go to the beach this weekend, but unfortunately that was canceled. And since I had made no other plans for this weekend, I didn’t do anything interesting at all. I did a little swimming in the pool, some book reading and a lot of relaxation. This means that I have no special sights to show for this week.
Don’t be discouraged because there are still places for me to visit I the 2 months that are ahead and as a regular reader you will find all the stories here on my blog.
This Saturday I started the day way tooearly after the party of last night. I had too much to drink last night and energy was low. Somehow I was able to visit 4 landmarks again.
Santosh said we should go to a fort that is about 40km from Pune and so we did. On the way we passed a temple and of course I had to take a look. It wasn’t as big as previous ones.
After this we drove on to Purandher fort, the primary target. Whilst driving I already saw a big mountain again and was afraid that we had a long clime ahead. Fortunately the road was not closed and a lot of the climbing was done by car. The road was in a bad sate but the 4 wheel drive had no difficulty driving us near the top. After that it was only 15 minutes of climbing to reach the fort.
Here you see the swirling road we drove on
As with the previous fort we had a magnificent view, the pictures don’t do it justice. The main difference was that there were no big cities visible, mainly agricultural fields. The fort was in a bad shape, covered by a lot of plant life. At the highest point there was a Temple which was still in good shape.
Images of the view
Images of the fort (what’s left of it)
An image of the temple
On the way back we stopped at the biggest temple of the region that we were in. This is the Balagi Temple, not to confuse with the Bellagio (that is something totally different). It was a really well maintained temple and people were standing in line to get in. Unfortunately it is not allowed to take pictures from the inside, so I took some from the outside. It was a strange experience since I’m not a believer in any faith and now was participating in a religious ceremony.
The last thing I visited was Jadahav Gadh fort build in 1710 and restored in 2007 in order to make a Hotel of it. They tried to have the least impact possible on the original structure and I think they did a nice job. We first had lunch because consumption was compulsory, which was a good idea since I had not eaten for 7 hours. After lunch there was a tour guide to show us around the fort that gave us more info than I could ever remember. There was also a museum with again a tour guide and he had even more to tell then the nice lady that showed us around the fort. To be honest it was at some times quite boring. By the time we left the museum it was already 6 o’clock and we still had a 45 minute drive to go. After these last two days I was more than happy that Sunday was already scheduled as a day of rest.
Pictures of the fort (in the museum there were no pictures allowed)
It’s the end of the week again and today is a special day for Wouter, it is his birthday. Some members of his team started the celebration early by going to his apartment and cover his face with pie. It seems that this is a tradition in India. In the office there was also pie at lunch and of course happy birthday was sung.
After work a group of the office including me and the birthday boy went to celebrate in the LeatherLounge. My first thought was a kinky bar, but that was absolutely not the case. The name refers to the seats which are all leather. It was a combination of a lounge with a dance floor. The music was what I would associate more with a disco then a lounge. The lounge closes at 12 o’clock and then we went to the restaurant for some food. It was a exhausting, but a good day. Had a lot of fun.
Today I’m a full month in India. It has gone by pretty fast and I did not expect it to go this easy. I enjoy going to work and I don’t mind the long hours. There is always much to do so I don’t have any time to get bored.
I’m fortunate that Wouter (Dutch colleague of the Netherlands) was here before me. Thanks to him the transition wasn’t very difficult. He showed me the best restaurants and the stores were I can by the things I need. If I had to find it all out by myself, it would have taken more time.
I’m also happy with Santosh (my driver), because he always knows where I want to go while I never know how the places are called. Sometimes we have a small translation problem, but we always seem to manage.
There is not much to write about my day. I did some swimming, some reading, watched some TV and did some shopping. So I leave you some pictures of Pune.
The third temple was also found on Wikipedia. It is actually an entire complex. Build on a mountain slope there was also a very nice view of the city. Don’t much to tell about it except that it was very well maintained and a place that every visitor of Pune should visit when they have the time.
The forth temple was also a temple complex. There were several temples close together. This was build on top of a mountain, but not as high as I had to climb last week. Also there were stairs to walk. That made it quite easy.
This day I started early, but because there was no electricity a little later than planned. It happens quite frequent in Pune that there is no electricity and it doesn’t make the life of an IT minded man any easier.
Around 10 Santosh drove me to one of the forts that are around Pune. There are quite a lot of them to see. It took us an hour to get there, at the base of the mountain of the fort. Santosh had previously drove all the way up to the fort, but that road was closed. The last monsoon rains had destroyed it and it was currently being rebuild. This meant we had to climb the mountain in other to get to the fort. It was only 4 km to walk so I didn’t expect much problems. Boy was I WRONG.
It took us nearly two hours to get from the car to the main entrance of the fort. It might have been 4 km but with an incline of about 60%. It was a real tough job to get there, but the harder the work, the bigger the reward. Climbing this mountain was a lot of fun and I believe we did in a very high speed. We past a lot of people.
Pictures of the mountain slope.
When we were on top there was less of the fort left then I had hoped. Although I was not disappointed at all. The sight from the mountain was really spectacular. I posted some pictures, but it doesn’t do it justice. There are so many details a picture does not show.
Pictures on the site of the fort (Santosh is resting and having something to drink with me)
Pictures of the spectacular view
After walking here for about two hours we started the descent back down again. And as Santosh had problems keeping up when we climbed to mountain, this time I couldn’t keep up with him. The slopes are so slippery and my shoes are clearly not build for that. I slipped out a couple of times and when Santosh hadn’t stopped me, I would have fallen a long way down. In the end we made it down safely in about one hour. A lot quicker than going up and a lot less tiresome. After this adventure Santosh wanted to show me a other temple, but a was beaten. We drove to my apartment where I first ate some lunch (at 17.00 hours my first lunch) and then I took a shower. After that I fell on my bed and fell asleep for 45 minutes.
This Saturday I slowly awakened in a very hot apartment. Put the AC on and had some breakfast at 11. Around 14.00 I drove off with Santosh (my personal chauffeur) to see a temple in the rural area of Pune. This temple was mentioned on Wiki so I wanted to visit it. In the morning (when I was still in bed) it was very crowded. Many people in Pune visit the temple that is made for the god that protects the city. I believe it is called Kasba Peth. It is one of the oldest temples of Pune. It is a very serine place with a big garden surrounding it.
Pictures of the garden
Pictures of the temple
After this we visited the Energy park, that was founded to show the India government and people the importance of reusable energy sources, instead of coal, gas and oil. It was quite interesting and cleared the way for the build of the large hydroponic dam that powers most of Pune. I also found a reference to the Windmill and of course the Netherlands were mentioned.
Pictures of the Energy Park
After this Santosh drove me to some of the prides of Pune – the colleges. I went to the Pune University that has been in existents since the time of the British. It was a impressive sight. Mainly because you see the traffic a vew hundred meters away, but it is totally quit at the main building. There were not many classes on Saturday.
Picture of the Pune University
After this Santosh drove me to the Agricultural University. This was a very impressive university. It situated on a very big piece of land in the edge of the centre of Pune. When entering the estate you have to drive for a few minutes to get to the main building, located at the centre.
Pictures of the Agricultural University of Pune
When the main building is passed we could see a long pasture of grain stretching very far. All around it you see the city buildings. I also found a stable with a Bull that had impressively large horns. After making this picture Santosh drove me home.
Thank god it is Friday, the weekend is here. This week was very tough to get trough. Had a lot of long days. Working more than 10 hours a day was no exception this week.
There were however some highlights on Wednesday. A delegation of the ADP US Office was in Pune to take a look at the different projects that are now going on and how they are progressing. I had an opportunity to meet Craig Spendiff. He is responsible for the off shoring projects of ADP. A very nice man to talk to.
Then I also had a very inspiring presentation of Regina Lee, currently president of the ADP National Account Services US. She has worked for ADP since 1982, that is 27 years now. She has made a very promising career within ADP inc. and told everybody that the ADP family is not something you leave easily. When you do a good job, everybody can make a good career in ADP.
I’m now going to bed and sleep for some 12 hours. Tomorrow I’m going to see some sights of Pune and I need my energy.
Special shrine at the reception for the visit of Regina Lee
The SP Infocity is the compound on which the ADP building resides. It is a big compound and still growing. There is a large open garden and when I want to smoke I need to walk of the compound, a 5 minute walk through the gardens. It is quite refreshing.
Entrance and sign of the compound
First garden after entrance
Central park
Other parts of the garden.
Security is a big issue in India. When I want to enter the compound the care is (was) examined. After I took a picture of the entire security force they like me a lot and we can just drive by without any inspection. I believe I made some friends there.
Security of the compound.
Upon entering the ADP Building my backpack is carefully examined by the G4S personnel that work for ADP. They first ex-ray it and then they check the contents manually. Especially my photo camera is something they don’t like. It is forbidden to take any pictures inside. For that same reason mobile phones are not allowed inside. You get a locker appointed to put it all in. Unfortunately I didn’t get approval to make a picture of the G4S guards.
The ADP Building