ThoughtWorks: Immersion: Pune: Day 5

Long day yesterday for me. Training finished around 6, then there was an optional session. I didn’t go, because I had my phone conversation with John Spens, the Chicago Market Lead (sales/business development). We chatted about the Calgary thing (still largely unclear – I need to talk with the guy from Calgary), what I might be doing, what I want to do, how I can create value for the company (my concern/desire), and so forth. Quite a good conversation, and I still have no idea what I’ll be doing in the near term, other than going to the Agile conference and Calgary Open Space in early August.

After my phone conversation and the extra session, we were all to go out to dinner. It was pouring rain at that time (about 7ish), so we all kind of milled about for a while. Finally, because of traffic issues (traffic is challenging at the best of times, but in the rain, the bridge we needed to cross was at a standstill), Rixt picked a different restaurant on this side of the river, we milled about for a bit longer, then finally went out to get 4 or 5 rickshaws and head out. The restaurant is a combination of Indian and Italian. Two complete menus. I had Italian – fusilli with Bolgnese sauce. Quite good.

I sat with my Chinese friends Jia Yang (my “buddy”) and Xu Wei. Xu Wei practiced his English on me throughout the dinner – Jia Yang is much better, so sometimes he helped by translating. Fun. Everyone but Gautam was there – he went off to a friend’s wedding.

I got in after 11pm, which felt quite late, and didn’t get to sleep until almost midnight.

Up again at 6:45am, clean up, call Chris to wake him up, and downstairs for breakfast with Gautam at 7:45, had my “usual” masala omelet (flattish omelet with onions and peppers), white toast, cup of tea, and lots of bottled water (“mineral water”). Off we go to walk two and a half blocks to catch what is sometimes called an “auto” or a “rick” or “richskaw” through the horrible smog/pollution/clouds of exhaust to the office.

The sides of the top of the rick are a little too low to actually see out comfortably, so I typically spend most of the ride hunched down a bit so I can see the world outside. Parts of the trip were quite lovely this morning, after the rain last night and this morning, with cool breezes blowing through and carrying away some of the ick (and bringing more, sadly).

Lemme see – I also am having laundry done today (in spite of overpacking just about everything else, I brought only six pairs of crew socks). I’ve only had my room made up every other day, since all I usually do is sit down, read email, sleep, shower, and go.

My voice is slowly coming back, but still pretty husky today. My head is mostly clear, other than a bit of congestion and fatigue. I’m looking forward to a nice long sleep tonight.

Tomorrow we go on a field trip, to Sinha Ghad fort, so I’ll get to take some pictures and justify bringing my camera gear. %^}

Sunday, Rixt is supposed to take a few of us to FabIndia to buy traditional Indian clothing and other stuff (I have presents for everyone, and may get some more, plus maybe a shirt for me). Then maybe wander around a bit, get an early dinner (they typically eat at 8pm or later here), and early to bed.

I’ll be leaving next Friday (which seems just around the corner!) at 5pm, with a drive up to Mumbai and a 2:50am flight (need to be there at least 3 hours before flight, plus make take 4 – 5 hours drive to get there, sigh).

That’s it – we start up again in about 5 minutes.