Summer in Chandigarh

Food

2009-08-02T21:13:00.008+05:30

Let's have a look on local food, better to say on what I eat here.
I usually eat out, that's for sure. Partly because it is more convenient, partly because I don't have time as well as equipment to cook myself, partly because of considerable lack of all kind of ingredients that would a European university student need to cook (e.g. oven-ready food), and last but not least because it is the best way to get in closer touch with local cuisine.

Assorted sauces in the south Indian restaurant.

Breakfast
As I've already mentioned in the previous post, breakfast is usually very simple - either toast bread with cheese spread or nothing.
Snack
I don't remember I would have any here:)
Lunch
Lunch never lets me down - either having simple vegetarian Indian dish, or going out for non-veg buffet, it has always been an enjoyable time with my co-workers, or other trainees.
Snack
Well, now I realized I really don't have snacks in India - I guess mostly because of limited availability of snack-like eatables (see the previous post writing about drawbacks of not having a bike or car).
Dinner
Half & half - it is either highlight or disappointment of the day - we often go to nice restaurants on various occasions, but when I have to prepare dinner on my own, it is nothing worth talking about (see the ingredients-and-equipment-availability issue)

"Cheese-tomato" sandwich.
With carrot. Without tomatoes. Fake!:)

One more challenge is technical availability of food - if you want to buy a good breakfast (and are not having a bike or car and enough time to drive to the closest bakery), you have a problem, because all reasonable eating places open at around 11am (9am is my office time). Before that time, you can only buy widely available street food, which is not an option you would be willing to consider. Similarly at night, you get literally nothing after midnight (however the locals will tell you it is not truth - they are right, you can drive for 30 minutes (by bike or car that I don't have) to one of 3 places that are open.

Anyway, these are some of my favorite dishes:)

Assortment of Indian meals and salads on 1 plate.
Butter naan on the second plate & filtered water and soft drinks.

Chicken masala ordered at my office - still in plastic bags.

Indian lunch dish of my colleague + chapati.
(all Indians are preparing their lunches at home
and bringing to work in jars or plastic bowls)

Chicken butter masala with vegetable biryani (rice).

Chinese: Rosy's paneer (cheese) noodles & my chicken noodles.

Footlong at Gopal'z, king of all meals.
On the picture: tomato footlong
Also in the menu: onion capsicum, cheese, mushroom, paneer and pineapple (the best one), chilli paneer, capsicum

South Indian: Plain dosa.

South Indian: Vegetable uttapam.

Indian brownie & strawberry shake.

Delicious mango-vanilla ice-cream at Baskin-Robbins.

Continental: Chicken penne with soft cheese sauce and parmesan.
(at Lazy dog restaurant in Manali)

Thai: Chicken penne with hot lemon grass sauce and bread.

Czech corner
Co se tyce jidla, tak je to zdanlive takova sinusoida - jednou dole, jednou nahore. I kdyz ve skutecnosti je to spise porad nahore i dole zaroven - jidlo si tu uzivam (je vetsinou dobre, chutne a levne, a v ostatnich pripadech alespon jine a zajimave z kulturniho hlediska), nicmene jak jsem jiz psal drive, nektery sortiment tu chybi - nejsou mineralky, uzeniny, maso obecne (krome kureciho a skopoveho, v casto velmi specifickych povrchovych upravach), syry, salaty, ovocne jogurty, kafe, cokoladove rolky, jablecne danise, oblozene bagety. A veskery zbytek je 1. kombinovany s "masalou" (viz nize) a 2. lze poridit jen omezeny cas v prubehu dne. Pak je to tezke:)

V nemocnici, v prubehu otravneho stadia, viz bod 4 nize.

Necha se rici, ze od zacatku pobytu jsem prosel nasledujicimi stadii stravovacich zvyklosti:

> 1. obdobi pocatecni neduvery (prvni 4 dny)
Klasicky jsem si daval dvojity pozor na to co jsem jedl, pozival jsem tablety na neutralizaci zaludecnich stav, pil vodku na neutralizaci indickych stav, a snazil se vyvarovat vsech nehygienicky vypadajicich stav. Toto obdobi bylo ukonceno pomerne razantnim zpusobem, kdyz jsem byl donucen vypit cca 300 ml limetkove limonady po jednom kriketovem zapasu (klasicky ritual... tezko se odmita - hlavne kdyz to pije 15 ostatnich lidi), ktera stala pouze 5 rupii (cca 2 CZK), nicmene podle toho take nalezite vypadal stanek a predevsim mixer, ve kterem byla pripravena.

> 2. tradicni obdobi (cca 1 tyden)
To jsem mival na obed skoro kazdy den nejakou masalu (ve volnem prekladu = smes, typicky smes koreni; v kontextu hlavniho chodu se vetsinou vaze na takovou ridsi korenenou omacku, se kterou se ji bud capati (placka pipravovana na ohni) anebo nan (o neco lepsi placka, pripravovana v troube, volitelne s maslem nebo syrem))

> 3. doba zmatena (cca dalsi tyden)
Pomalu jsem procital a zacinal zjistovat, ze vsechny typy masaly jsou de facto stejne - vice ci mene palive (spise vice) hnedocervene ridke "omacky" ve kterych je bud trochu kureciho masa (spise kosti, nekdy alespon s kuzi) a pomer cena/vykon se zacinal ubirat spatnym smerem...

> 4. otravne stadium (prvni tyden v cervnu)
... tak jsem zacal experimentovat s ne-indckymi kuchynemi. Kontinentalni evropska kuchyne neni dostupna (prestoze je ambiciozne uvedena ve vetsine mistnich menu), thajska na kterou jsem si brousil zuby take ne, a proto jsem vyzkousel alespon cinskou ala stary dobry Cinan na Veletrzni. Ale po experimentu s kureci ryzi jsem ulehl na nemocnicni luzko s otravou jidlem.

> 5. etapa nudli a "foot-longu" (skoro cely cerven a cervenec)
Nad inkriminovanym cinskym fast-food retezcem jsem definitivne zanevrel, ale nad cinskou kuchyni obecne nikoliv. Syrove a kureci nudle jsem s takrka zeleznou pravidelnosti obden prokladal evropskym fastfoodem typu KFC nebo Subway. Na indickou kuchyni doslo prevazne pri vecerich. Minimalne 2x za tyden jsem vsak navstevoval oblibeny retezec Gopal'z za ucelem konzumace vybornych oblozenych baget "foot long" (viz obrazky).

> 6. jihoindicka faze (posledni tyden v cervenci)
Nudlim a foot longum odzvonilo, a nastal cas na utapam, parantha a dosa - placky na 1000 zpusobu. K snidani si take zacinam objednavat omelety s chlebem.

> 7. recese a deziluze (zacatek srpna, posledni tyden praxe)
Tlak vznikajici priblizujici se dobou odjezdu ve me probouzi snahu o vyuziti casu na maximum, a to i v kontextu s jidlem. Vracim se tedy k foot-longum, tavenym syrovym pomazankam, jihoindicke kuchyni, fast-foodum, a verim ze do konce praxe dojde jeste alespon jednou na ty nudle...

Po celou dobu jsem zustal verny pivu Kingfisher, mango dzusu, osvezujicimu napoji "fresh lime soda" a rajcatum ke kazde snidani!

Birthday

2009-07-29T00:48:00.005+05:30

It was already the second time I was celebrating my birthday in India - and the day was pretty special again. Similarly to unforgettable train journey from Varanasi to Gaya on my last birthday, I will be probably remembering the most crowded bus ride I've ever taken that I had a chance to experience this year. Apart from transportation, the day was pretty special in terms of celebration, too.

Group picture with some of my colleagues.

I was given a cake - but unlike what I've been used to, everyone was supposed to grab a portion and either smash it all to my face, or smash part and eat the rest. The smashing is just inevitable:)

The cake...

... and the smashing part! ;-)

As a matter of coincidence, there was a big company lunch held on this day, on the occasion of successful completing of other quarter of the business year. They served a non-veg buffet in one of nice restaurants in the city centre. I was also allowed to have a beer (most of people do not drink, the rest is not expected to drink during working hours, and actually everyone was invited for the lunch by the management, therefore ordering an extra beer would not appropriate - but I managed to get an exception and enjoyed a chilled Kingfisher.

The left wing of our table:me, Nisha (my coworker in multimedia department), Rosy (intern), Meeta (we used to share a cabin/office in May and June)

In the evening we went for the dinner, I had my favorite dish at that place (paneer footlong) and Rosy gave me another cake - brownie with candle... nice surprise!:)Before the dinner I also managed to get a power nap, to eliminate the sleeping deficit I was suffering from during previous weeks. So at the end, it was pretty efficient day as well!Thanks to all who got involved and celebrated with me!:)

Chandigarh - City beautiful

2009-07-21T00:47:00.005+05:30

Chandigarh, officially referred to as the City beautiful, is situated less than 300 km (5 hours by car, 35 minutes by plane) to the north from Delhi. When it comes to administrative division, it gets fairly complicated - Chandigarh is an union territory, which means it does not belong to any state (is governed by federal government), but at the same time it is technically the capital city of 2 other Indian states: Punjab and Haryana. A good thing is that it apparently works.

The Open hand, symbol of Chandigarh.

Map of Punjab (state) & India, including Chandigarh.

The city is said to be the cleanest, best-planned and wealthiest city in India. Let's have a look.

1. cleanest
The city is undoubtedly the cleanest Indian city I've seen so far - unlike in other cities, they use dust bins and waste containers, which helps a lot:) However, it still doesn't look like a typical European city - the "problem" is in an inconsistent landscape. In Europe there are shops, office buildings, apartment blocks, detached houses, malls, squares etc. In Chandigarh it is the same (I mean it is a proper city, not just a big village, as you could say about some other Indian cities), but whereas in Europe these structures are usually surrounded by paved areas or gardens, here you can also find uncultivated fields, cow yards, slums, meadows etc. Yep, it is India.

Main square, sector 17 market.

Uncultivated fields randomly appear between houses.

As far as a pollution is concerned, it is kind of OK. On the one hand, the city is definitely more polluted than for example Prague, but on the other hand, it is within acceptable limits - you can notice it only when driving in a rickshaw (especially when waiting at the traffic lights), or crossing a street.

The city is clean, but waiting at the traffic lights in a rickshaw makes you realize that could be cleaner, and "more green".

2. best-planned
The city was entirely designed by a French architect in 1950s. Although it doesn't look French, it also doesn't look typically Indian. What makes the biggest difference is the sector structure. The city is divided in many (ca. 60) sectors, which are organized in a way of structured rectangular grid. Every sector has its outer market (at the sector-dividing road), inner market, school and some other standard facilities. There are couple of major roads going through the entire city, connecting all important sectors. One of them (connecting Panchkula with the center of Chandigarh) is called Madhya Marg, a significant landmark, my favorite one (I'm spending ca. 40 minutes in rickshaw on it every day).

Map of Chandigarh. Check out the interactive version.

Sector 17 - there is the main city market, as well as my office.

All the houses have their specific house number, unique in respective sector. To make it easy to locate specific house, sectors are usually divided into 4 segments (A,B,C,D), and on the other hand, clustered in sector areas (e.g. northern sectors etc.)
The system of streets is also interesting - there are usually round-abouts at the intersection of sector dividing roads, from which you can enter the sector and continue your ride on inner roads that go along with dividing streets. At first it seemed to be just a complication preventing you from entering sector in convenient locations, but the intention has probably been to reduce the traffic within sectors and rather keep it on wide dividing streets. And it works.

BTW, the official website seems to be well-planned, too... which cannot be said about the website of Transport department.

This is how all orientation signs look like - sectors all around.

3. wealthiest
There is supposed to be the highest average monthly income of citizens in the whole India. It sounds good, however, I'm not sure how this can be measured, as there is obviously too many people without regular income - both, slum people and poor class in general making their living on daily basis, as well as the elite class with literally unlimited funds. In either case, there is really a lot of people from middle class, and they do have money. Therefore, you can find many European-style facilities in the city, e.g. cinemas, malls, shops of world-known brands, fast-food chains, bakeries.

You can come across people from the middle and upper classes very easily (not only) in the city centre.

At the beginning of my internship, I was told I could find everything in Chandigarh. Despite the previous paragraph, it is definitely not true. I'm not speaking about beef and pork, which is not available in the whole country, but you cannot get even a proper cheese or proper baguette (except for Subway), or find a reasonable choice of pasta or fruit yogurts. And I'm particularly missing all of these. To be precise, it is probably available somewhere in Chandigarh, but it is only 1 or 2 shops in the whole city that are not reachable without car or bike - unless located close to your home or office (which is usually not the case).

The only fridge in the whole Chandigarh where you can find European-style baguettes (no beef, no pork, of course).
Unfortunately it is too far for me to go there.

Rock garden & Sukhna lake
... both located in the outskirts of Chandigarh, are the major attraction for local people as well as the tourists. Rock garden is a leisure site/park with many sculptures and other different pieces of artwork made from garbage. Sukhna lake is situated just next to the Rock garden, and is a common weekend pastime destination. Both places definitely have their specific atmosphere.

Me and Rosy (2nd intern in my company) in the Rock garden.

Rock garden - sculptures made from garbage.

Some Indian guys posing.

Another Indian dude posing.

Me posing (trying to catch up with the Indians).

Young Indians having fun.

Indians at the Sukhna lake.

Treadling seems to be popular even among Indians.

Trip to Shimla

2009-07-16T23:33:00.004+05:30

On Sunday 28th June we went to Shimla, former Indian "summer capital" (the British were governing the country from here during the hot season only). Shimla has a reputation for being a cool place, both the temperatures are really cool (below 30°C, and not so humid, which is significantly milder climate compared to Chandigarh and neighbouring cities), and that's why the city is just "cool".
The official website is not very appealing, so you may want to check another one for more information on this region (or just go to travel wiki). Big attraction is a traditional train that is going from/to here, but it is always impossible to get in without a reservation - so we went by bus both ways (2x 4hours). Despite bumpy and maybe a little bit dangerous journey, we had nice relaxing time in Shimla! Now, let's see some pictures.

Annika, Lia, me and Colins in the cab. Going to a coach terminal.

In the bus.

Street people on the rails.
This is where the traditional train is going.

In Shimla. British influence is fairly obvious.

Yeah, right... this really is not typically Indian building.

Lunch.

The Ridge. Notice the catholic church.

People enjoying the cool climate.

Shimla, the "Queen of hills".

Indian handicrafts.

In the bus, on our way back. It was a tough ride.

Our bus had a big wheel.

Indian cinema

2009-07-08T20:38:00.013+05:30

I would have never imagined how much of my attention could a cinema in a shopping mall attract. But everytime I go there, I'm either really amused, pissed off, or am just not getting the point. Therefore I just have to share my observations:)

1) The first thing you notice is that the whole mall (although it is actually a pretty small one - just 2 floors, ca. 10 shops, food court, gaming corner, washroom, and multi-screen cinema) is secured like a military base. Three to six security guys at the entrance, metal detecting frame, tables to clear backpacks, handbags, bags, jackets etc. Pretty much nothing cannot be taken inside - helmets, food and cameras are probably the most annoying black listed item. Once they confiscated small bag of chips... why?!? They even were not able to explain the potential security threat or financial loss caused by 70g of chips, but confiscated it anyway.
2) Although there are 3 doors available at the entry, only 1 is opened at a time (security check; see the previous point), which generates considerable queue. New experience... I have never stood a line to a shopping mall so far:)
3) One more thing - you cannot exit the mall by entrance doors. You need to use an emergency exit at the back side of the mall. So you rather do not set a meeting point with your friends inside the mall, because once you get in, its pretty tedious to get out. And cinema cash desks are outside. :)
4) A funny one - despite all the fuss at the entrance, there is usually no one guarding the exit door! We often consider to enter by the exit, rather than stand the line at the entrance and having our chips confiscated, and cameras taken into depository.
5) After our cameras were not allowed in for couple of times, some girls started to smuggle cameras in their bras. It works:) However, after one such successful action, we just noticed there is a cheerful Indian family taking pictures with McDonald's clown, less than 10 metres from the entrance security ...never mind.
6) Getting into the cinema is also tough - if the mall is a military base, the cinema is the headquarters. There is a small metal gate at the entrance - the one, that is always wide open in ordinary cinemas. This one is closed all the time. Only when you are entering the cinema, a porter opens it. But just a little bit (not to let the crowd through!) - you need to kind of crawl. And the others queue, again.
7) Not to be forgotten that the porter checks your tickets. And they check them once more before you enter the hall. Sometimes even in the meantime. This is especially welcome when you are late...
8) Also, because you cannot enter the cinema without tickets, you even cannot check the timetable (you need to go 2 floors downstairs and leave the mall via an emergency exit to check it at the cash desks outside the mall), nor buy those typically expensive "cinema drinks". Not very smart, is it?:)
9) They have 3 price classes: silver, gold, and business. "Business tickets"?
10) Getting around the cinema is a little bit complicated by metal fence barriers that sometimes block entrance even to the hall in which your movie is playing. Well, as soon as you remember that we are actually in a military base, it makes much more sense.
11) European cinema: advertisements, movie trailers, cinema intro, movie
12) Indian cinema: cinema intro, movie, intermission, cinema promo, advertisements, movie trailers, 2nd part of the movie
13) Local people ignore final credits, as it was not part of the movie (many people in Europe suffer from this as well, but definitely not that much) - as soon as the first credits line appear, everyone stands up and leaves. This is particularly awkward/entertaining when the movie continues during the credits. They stand in the aisle, not knowing if they should sit back, or leave:)
14) The intermission, which completely disturbs the flow of the movie, and the "credits thing" make me feel that viewers expectations from the movie are to watch changing colorful images only. At least it is not easy to find another consistent explanation.
15) Despite all "security precautions", they let 4-year girls watch movies that have been rated as restricted, or almost NC-17. You should have seen her face (hiding behind the head rest) when they were shooting Terminator's flesh off...
16) And a positive thing:) - you can "book your popcorn online"!

Disclaimer: I'm not trying to assess what is smart and what is not. This is just how it works.

I don't have any cinema related pictures (see the camera-confiscation points above), so let me include picture from one of bye-bye dinners.

Czech corner
Prestoze jsem puvodne zamyslel chodit do kina alespon jendou tydne na bollywoodske trhaky, prvni 4 tydny jsem se tam nedostal ani jednou, pak jsem jakz takz nasadil tempo 1x tydne do kina (celkem 3x), nicmene pouze anglicke snimky. Posledni tyden nebyl cas (viz minuly post). Tento vikend, pravdepodobne v patek, by to konecne melo klapnout - v planu je New York (Youtube trailer). Mel by to byt trochu netradicni snimek (bez tradicnich bollywoodskych tancu a happyendu, tak jsem zvedav.

Half way through the internship

2009-07-05T11:22:00.013+05:30

Almost a week ago, on Monday June 29th, my 7th week (out of 12) in India began. Since then I have a feeling the pace of my life here doubled. And it actually kind of did. As I've already outlined in the previous post about my job, since July 1st onwords I've been giving classes on video editing, as a part of a movie making course for students of bachelor degree of Media and entertainment program ran by ITFT College (see the job post for further details on my employer). And I'm spending a lot of time on preparation - even outside working hours.
If there is time, I'd maybe write few lines about the course, not only because it completely over exceeded my expectations in terms of attitude of students and college management, but also because I have a chance to learn something I probably wouldn't have a chance to do back home. Just in short: the course will last throughout the whole July and comprises of video-editing class (by me), graphics & animation class (by Rosy, the 2nd intern), and camera handling class (by faculty guest).
This also explains why I didn't post anything during last week. First of all there were some evening activities/events almost every day, secondly I had to carry on my class preparation afterwards (for ca. 2-3 hours), which made me struggle with sleep deficit and overall apathy towards blogging:) Now I'm hopefully back to the old habits and will try to keep posting for at least 3 more weeks.

Me with a KFC Zinger sandwich.
Zinger menu proved to be the best choice - it comprises not only of a chicken sandwich, but also a reasonably big piece of fried chicken.

Daily routine
Some of you were asking how my day here looks like. Now, after almost 7 weeks, when it seems no big changes are on the horizon, I feel ready enough to answer this question.

- 7:45-8:00 - wake up
- then - bathroom stuff (as there is usually 1-11 more people in the flat (depending on who is traveling, who already left to work, who just moved in/out, and who is just staying over), the bathroom experience is fairly limited from time to time)
- around 8:15 - breakfast, usually toast bread with cheese spread and tomato (nothing else reasonable is usually available; in either case I need to make sure I bought everything before 9pm the previous day as all shops are closed after that time)
- before 8:30 - set off to work
- after 5-10 min - get on a rickshaw that takes me (and Rosy) to the Housing board (5-minute ride), big junction in between Panchkula and Chandigarh
- another 0 to 15 min - waiting at Housing board for another rickshaw or bus or whatever else that would take us to Chandigarh, sector 17, where the office is (15-minute ride)
- another 1 to 10 min - walking to the office, depending where we were dropped (sometimes it is necessary to take 1 more rickshaw to reach the office, however, such situation is rather exceptional)
- 8:45-9:55 - reaching the office (exact time depends on unpredictable elements of Indian transportation system; some of them have been described above)
- 5 more min - getting my water, just chilling at the AC (or trying to turn it on)
- then - working
- at around 13:00 (sometimes at 16:00) ordering a lunch at the reception desk, or leaving the office if eating out
- following 30-90 min - having lunch
- between 5:30 and 7:30 - leaving the office
- evening...

Evenings are pretty flexible, and of course cannot be generalized. However, we often go for a common dinner with other trainees, which usually takes up to 2 hours. From time to time, we go for a coffee, ice cream, or dinner with some colleagues from work, sometimes we go to theatre or cinema, sometimes we hit a club, or travel to (relatively) nearby places.

Rosy from Mexico, 2nd trainee in my company, in the morning bus.

What I enjoy
I enjoy the whole thing, being here, talking to people, observing cultural differences and trying to understand the country (so far I bel ieve I'm on the right track), and last but not least, I truly enjoy my job, having fun with my colleagues, and chilling with other trainees.
I hope there would be time to write a post about Indian culture, people and all these things related to a daily practice. There are things I really enjoy, but there are also things I don't like at all, or just cannot get grasp of.

Me in my bedroom/living room.

What I lack
I definitely miss a desk. That's it. I can't efficiently work just on the bed, without a proper chair and table. Of course I have these facilities at work, but I don't have time to get to my personal stuff there. Right now, I'm preparing for the September eastern European trip, am about to start looking for a flat in Prague, deal with my job engagements back home, and am trying to prepare for writing my diploma thesis this autumn. None of these is a big deal - it just takes triple time in these conditions.
And some more things, but not the substantial - maybe I'll share them later on.

Oh, I forgot to mention that after 6 weeks in the living room (see the previous post for more details), I eventually had a chance to move to a double room.
We can say that now I have the best bed in the whole flat: 1. it is the only double room (all 3 other double rooms were converted to 3- or 5-bed rooms); 2. it doesn't adjoins with bathroom nor balcony (as all the other rooms do), so no one transits through; 3. the metal door of the "safe" provides ultimate privacy:)
PS: I share a room with Collins from China (notice the feet).

Czech corner
Jak se nechalo tak trochu ocekavat, dostal jsem se do tradicni faze, kdy prestoze je jeste daleko do konce pobytu, je jasne, ze nestihnu dokoncit vse co jsem planoval. Jeste cca 10 dni zpet to tak nevypadalo, ale pote co jsem se zacal vice pripravovat na zminovany video kurz, a zejmena pote co tento kurz zacal, jsem s casem skutecne na stiru a mam pocit, ze jsem se stal "full-time trainee" - tedy mam dost casu venovat se praci a dalsim trainee aktivatam, ktere k praxi patri, nicmene to je tak vse. (Nutno podotknout, ze 90% vsech ostatnich trainees jsou "full-time trainees" a presto stihaji tydenni cestovni vylety a mnoho dalsiho ...ale kvalitu praxi nyni nechme pod poklickou.)
Rozhodne nechci ukrajovat z atmosfery internshipu, nicmene zaroven vim, ze pro ostatni veci zminene v anglicke casti tohoto postu take musim najit cas. Takze si udelam nejaky plan:)

Night market

2009-06-27T23:25:00.006+05:30

There is a night market in Panchkula organized every Tuesday from approximately 5 to 10 pm. It is very close to the trainee flat, just a 5-minute walk, therefore most of trainees go there regularly. The market is held on a slam-like area between other houses - it is usually empty during the entire week (I pass by every day on my way to work, and there are usually just couple of Indians and few cows chilling on the ground), so you wouldn't really guess that the whole area gets overcrowded with stalls and hundreds of people on Tuesday afternoon.

Night market area at 8:30 am.

Night market area at 7:30 pm.

Night market area at 9 pm.

The choice is wide. And prices more or less fixed. You can buy generally any kind of fruits, vegetables, rice, spices, and even shirts and some street food. I've been there 4 times so far and have always discovered a new kind or variety of fruit. However, I'm still rather conservative and usually stick to my routine shopping: 1kg of tomatoes (10-20 INR, ca. 5 CZK), 1 kg of cucumbers (10 INR), and 0,5kg of lichi, or plums, or peaches (50 INR), or combination of all. It is enough for an upcoming week.

Local fruits.

Different segments of the market: rice & cucumbers.
Arrangement of stalls is fairly illogical - the neighbouring stalls usually offer the same goods (for the same prices), which doesn't boost competitive atmosphere much.

Even though it may not seem to be special in any way, I really like the market for its atmosphere and order (let's call it structure) that prevails at the place.

Samosa, a favorite Indian snack/dinner, often available as a streetfood.

Czech corner
Jedina vada na krase je, ze tu nikdo nemluvi anglicky - nejenze nemluvi, ale ani netusi, ani nijak adekvatne nereaguje (= zeptam se anglicky, prodavac odpovi v hindi a zcela seriozne ceka na moji reakci). Takze vzdy musim vychytat, kdy je u stanku nekdo alespon ze stredni tridy, aby mi anglicky rekl cenu (ja zatim umim jen "10 rupii", coz je fraze kterou pouzivam nekolikrat denne pri preprave). Cena je zpravidla u kazdeho stanku za fixni pro kazdou komoditu a nesetkal jsem se s zadnymi pokusy cenu navysovat, nebo uctovat dvojim metrem.
Jsou tu jinak dostupne i pro Indii relativne exoticke druhy ovoce jako jablka, svestky, merunky ci tresne - za adekvatne vyssi ceny a primerene dotcenou vizualni stranku (tresne jsou zpravidla bilo-ruzove, merunky zluto-zelene apod.).

Drinks & Beer

2009-06-24T22:40:00.006+05:30

Taking the outside air temperatures (27°C at 8am, up to 50°C during the day, 35°C at 11pm) into consideration, it is obvious that drinking, buying drinks, going to refrigerator etc. are very common daily activities. As most of you probably know (unlike one of the recently arrived trainees), tap water in India is not drinkable on any condition. Therefore every trainee needs to buy bottled water on their own. It's hard to estimate my daily water supply, but it definitely is more than 4 litres per day, approx. 2,5l of bottled water + 1l of juice at the trainee house, 1l of filtered water at work (one is not so thirsty in the air conditioned office) and something for lunch. So generally even more than 4 l. BTW although safety of unsealed bottled water is believed to be in question, you can hardly find seals on the bottles any longer.

2-day shopping for 1 person.

Beer
Of course, the main reason for writing this post was to have a look on local beer menu. The leading brand is undoubtedly Kingfisher. The company is actually running quite a versatile business - they brew beer and operate domestic Indian flights ("Kingfisher, India' only five star airline"; website).
There are 2 main types of Kingfisher: Premium and Strong. Premium is something like Czech 10° beer, Strong is comparable to 12° beer, containing almost 6% of alcohol. Both are good, Strong is really delicious! Also, I checked their website and found Kingfisher Bohemia... probably a Czech recipe:)
Good news is that in Punjab they have the cheapest beer (and alcohol in general) in whole India. 0,6l of local beer cost ca. 1 USD here. You would pay 2USD in Prague. And around 8USD in Amsterdam:) Seriously.

Kingfisher. In a high-end bar in the centre of Chandigarh.
BTW the owner of Kingfisher is referred to as the King of good times.

Another good local brand is Thunderbolt. However, Kingfisher is King(fisher) and that's it. One more to mention: Haywards. Something like Gambrinus in taste.
They also have a wide range of international beers available: Dutch Heineken and Mexiacan Corona are probably the most spread ones. Honestly, Corona with soya sauce is not my cup of tea.
I haven't found any Budweiser or Pilsner yet.

Liquor shops
You cannot buy beer or any other alcohol in normal shops - you need to find a "beer, wine, liquor" shop/stall, which has a licence to sell it. Besides, restaurants and hotels need the licence, too. So sometimes it happens that you go to a restaurant, or even 4-star hotel, to enjoy a chilling pint of beer, just to find out they do not offer it at all. This weekend we went to a billiard sport club (what a place to drink a beer, right?), but they only had lassi (yogurt based kind of fruit shake, a little sour by default) and soda. Cultural difference. Apart from the licence thing, you also cannot drink alcohol in public, which is a common practice in many Europeans countries anyway.

Inside the freezer in the trainee house.

Fresh lime soda
Although it is basically just an ordinary lemonade, I got obsessed with it. They do it sweet, salty, or mixed. Sweet is the best. 250ml glass costs from 5INR (2CZK!!) on the street to 20INR in nice fast food joints, to 80INR in clubs or posh restaurants. In either case, it is a reasonable choice!

Me and Georg having fresh lime soda (among others).

Hard stuff
The taste of local youngsters is different from the Czech appetite. Whereas it is more about fruit flavoured vodka, herbs drinks (vivat Fernet:)), wine, and mixed drinks in the Czech Republic, these guys seem to prefer rum and whiskey. When they do not feel like getting down fast, they mix with Coke, or go for Breezer.

Trust me, this guy has had enough.

Czech corner
Ani si to clovek neuvedomi, ale cele se to tu dost toci okolo piti - neprijemnost je, zejmena kdyz vecer dojde a neni kde koupit nove. Tak jenom par vet k tematu:
Celkove musim rict, ze co se tyce piti, tak mi tu nic nechybi. Snad jen mineralky, ktere tu nejsou k mani... ale pivo je skutecne vytecne a osvezujici, takze mineralky se mohou prominout.
Prestoze to v prepoctu patrne bude "v norme", a prestoze jsem jeste nedelal detailni analyzu, je nepochybne, ze v pomeru k prijmum naklady na piti oproti CR vyrazne stouply. Zejmena v obdobi zaludecnich potizi a horecek byly ovocne dzusy jedinou zachranou - a zrovna ty jsou na mistni pomery spise drazsi, resp. srovnatelne s evropskymi cenami.

My job, my company

2009-06-22T01:50:00.006+05:30

I'm on an internship, therefore the job, the company, and the colleagues play very important role. After being actively involved in facilitating AIESEC exchange for many years, my expectations towards the internship were rather general, ie. it's always better to be positively surprised, than other way round, right?:) However, already during the matching procedures, I started to feel the internship is going to have a higher ambition - to provide a unique chance to learn and contribute at the same time, while gaining insight into an Indian way of doing business.

The main corporate office. I work here.

Company
I work for the ITFT Education Group. ITFT stands for Institute for Technology and Future management Trends, and as you can read at the website, its educational division (ITFT India) if affiliated with (not only) Punjab university and provides courses in higher education focused on future employment of students. I don't have to stress out the population of India (1.1 billion people) and the overall competitiveness of local job market, to make it clear that students are interested in these courses.
Besides, there are many other divisions, e.g. Centre for Media & Entertainment Studies, Centre for Integrated Rural Development, Centre for Integrated Security Services, International Punjabi Chamber for Service Industry and couple of others. Even I'm just slowly revealing the complete organizational and division structure of the ITFT Group:)
Because of the strong educational focus and its general profile, ITFT is publicly known as ITFT College.

The front office.
Obviously, purple & pink are the corporate colours.

Office & campus
ITFT has a corporate office in the very centre of Chandigarh. There are 2 floors in one building, and 1 more floor in another one. The main office, where I work, resembles an open-space office, as you can see from one end to the opposite one, but in fact there are 5 separate cabins/offices, a meeting room, COO's office, and a small kitchen - everything divided by glass walls.
In another floor there are spacious modern classrooms (conveniently located in the very centre of Chandigarh for the purposes of short term courses), faculty members' offices, CEO's office, and other organization departments.
Also, ITFT has its own campus, where most of classes take place. It's situated in Greater Mohali district (Mohali is the 3rd city close to Chandigarh and Panchkula), approximately 10 km far from Chandigarh. At the moment, the campus comprises of 3 modern buildings, but the parcel is much bigger and many more buildings and other facilities (e.g. sport grounds or gardens) are to be constructed in a near future.

My desk. Notice the little Ganesha I mentioned before.

People
Although the team is relatively small (ca. 50 people, out of which approximately half is working in the campus ), it is pretty diverse - you can meet old gentlemen from the advisory board, art teachers,hardware specialists, as well as young ladies from the front-office on a corridor very easily. On the other hand, it still it preserves a pleasant family atmosphere.
The relations between people are little bit different from work collectives I know from home, sometimes more formal (e.g. greeting everyone in the morning, huge respect towards the management), sometimes less formal (e.g. sharing meals during the lunchtime, or the way we tend to joke:)), sometimes just different (e.g. there are people who serve me water, order and serve lunches etc.)
Especially the lunchtime provides a great space for social interaction and at the moment I can say I managed to find many good friends within the team, and I share good relations with everyone else.

Performance of arts students in the basement.

Performance
In my opinion, the company is doing very well. The main focus could be summarized as 1. providing high quality courses and 2. attracting the right target group to enroll for these courses. I have no doubts about the first one, as the faculty are highly capable and intelligent people, as well as the classrooms are well equipped to enable an efficient and profound learning experience.
As for the second point, it's mostly a marketing issue. And I have to admit I'm fairly impressed by the pace the company is interacting with the public - TV spots, radio commercials, newspaper ads, and general performances, and partner events held regularly in Chandigarh. Every day there are new leaflets, brochures and banners coming to the office from print to be distributed among people. New and new young students come to the office every single day, I even can say a each half-an-hour, to get more information on the courses, or to go for a screening interview straight away.

It's flexible. Sometimes I'm alone in the cabin, sometimes not.

Job description
During the first half of the internship I've been working in the IT department, together with my boss (head of IT). My task was to analyze the portfolio of all 13 company's websites and suggest improvements. During the first 2-3 weeks I completely redesigned one of them, and since then I revise and edit the remaining sites with a goal to visually unify them and make it obvious they all belong to the ITFT group venture. Not that easy as it may seem:)
From 1st July onwards I'm going to move to the multimedia department, and give classes on video editing and camera handling. The company decided to go for a Mac platform, that's why they already ordered a Mac computer and software (Final Cut Studio) - it will arrive to the office this week!
Also, I should be involved in designing the first company newsletter, so let's see how it all goes.

Czech corner
S tou vykonnosti to neni uplne jednoznacne, a je jiste zajimave to sledovat, zejmena v evropskem kontextu. Skutecne mam z toho co se tu okolo deje velmi dobry pocit, velkou merou za to muze sef, ktery je velmi otevreny a zkuseny clovek (mj. zil v mnoha zemich v zahranici), coz mu pomaha skloubit indickou moralku a kulturni specifika s konkurenceschopnosti na mezinarodni urovni. Problem je, ze cas od casu maji veci tendenci sklouzavat k "indickemu pristupu", tedy ze se hledi spise na to co se dela, nez proc a tedy jak se to neco dela. Detailum, ktere jak vime mohou mj. firmu vyrazne odlisit od konkurence, neni prikladana valna pozornost. Navic to, ze to tak vidi spravni rada jeste neznamena, ze to tak vidi i koncovi pracovnici (napr. navrhnout a zavest novy antivir bylo relativne snadne, nicmene presvedcit lidi, aby nalezene viry mazali je casto ukol nadlidsky:) a podobne to je i v jinych pripadech).
Stestim je, ze i konkurence je (zatim) indicka, a tedy vyse uvedene handicapy se jakoby nepocitaji/stiraji. Ale kdo vi. Ja nastesti vim, ze alespon sef "vi". Tak budu drzet palce!

Street animals

2009-06-17T22:56:00.004+05:30

Chandigarh has a reputation for being the cleanest Indian city, so one could expect there would be no wild animals on the streets... Luckily it's not that boring!:)

Cows
Right after my arrival to Chandigarh I noticed something was wrong - there were no cows in the streets. What was more, I was explained there are none in Chandigarh. What an Indian experience would it be without cows, he? But they were right - although I keep looking for a cow every single day, I haven't spotted any so far.
However, as soon as you cross Chandigarh-Panchkula city boundary, it is a different story! :)

Cow staring into space. Maybe a cow-gardener.

Cow feeding itself & chilling cow.

Sucking cow & cow being sucked.

Cows having a feast.

Cow observing its shit.

Dogs
Street dogs are everywhere, and especially in front of our house gate in Panchkula. They look everything from normal dogs to poor crippled/perishing animals. It's not fun sometimes. However, local people don't care - street dogs have truly low social status.
On the other hand, the concept of pet dogs is relatively common, too. It was just a couple of days ago I saw two German shepherds, which was the biggest pet dog I've seen in India so far. Again, especially around our house in Panchkula, which is situated in a nice residential area, you can often see people, who are walking their pet dogs & feeding the street dogs. And cows. They all obviously love a toast bread.

Pet dog & street dog.

Cats
I have not seen, nor heard of any cat in India:)

Horses / donkeys
I hardly can distinguish between these two in local conditions, but you can commonly see them pulling a trailer on the streets, as it is pretty legitimate means of transportation here.

Horses / donkeys.

Camels
Yep, there are some camels, too. However, I've only seen 2 so far.

Cockroaches
There definitely are cockroaches in Chandigarh, but I was lucky enough not to face an alive one yet.

Czech corner
Kravicky se tu skutecne maji jako prasatka v zite. Dlouho jsem nevedel, k cemu jsou ty hlinene misy ci osatky pred vraty mnoha domu, nez jsem jednoho rana procitl: muz stredniho veku jede na motorce do prace, kdyz v tom zastavi, z igelitky vytahne toastovy chleb a naplni jim celou osatku. V tom se na rohu objevi krava. Asi ma hlad, tak aby nemusela az k osatce, popojede pan az ke krave, vytahne druhy toastovy chleba, a rozhodi ho na asfalt. Dba, aby se dostalo zejmena na telatka, ktera se na snidani dostavila se zpozdenim umernym delce jejich nohou.
Vecer je pak mozne videt, jak zbyly chleb v osatkach "dojizdeji" poulicni psi, aby byly ostaky pripravene opet na rano. Dokonala symbioza.

Kravicka se rano nasnida, a poulicni pes to vecer dojede.
Funguje to jako dobre namazany stroj.

Trainee flat

2009-06-13T23:48:00.002+05:30

Some of you asked me to write more about people featuring my pictures from the previous post, so it seems it is the right time to present the trainee community in Chandigarh.

Basic facts
On Friday May 22nd, 2009 in the evening I moved to a trainee house "180, Sector 17, Panchkula" (I had my home stay up to then). As you can easily notice, I'm not staying in Chandigarh, but in Panchkula, which is a neighbouring town closely adjacent to Chandigarh. If Cerny most in Prague had 900 000 inhabitants and was a town on its own, we could call it Panchkula - in terms of accessability and geographical position to the centre of Chandigarh/Prague. Just check the map...

There are mostly very nice houses/mansions in the neighbourhood, which makes the area a nice play to stay. However, it doesn't mean there would be no noise and cows on the streets, but at least we don't have problems with water supply.

House #180, sector 17, Panchkula. 8 trainees live in the first floor.

View from the balcony. Lobby.

General description
The flat has 3 double bedrooms, 1 living room & lobby, 2 bathrooms & (European-style) WC and kitchen. There is 1 refrigerator, 1 messy sofa, 8 metal-frame beds, furnished kitchen and a fan in every room. That's it. Oh, we also have a wifi router, originally a broken one - it took us over 1 week to fix it. Eureka! So the flat is pretty empty, and airy. Which doesn't mean the same as "cool" - when there is 45°C outside, it can easily be around 30-35°C inside. But that is OK, who would expect something different in a trainee house in India in the middle of June, right?:)

Me in the living room.

People
I started with people but still didn't get to the point... so who is in the house? I share a room, a living room:), with Collins from China, then there is Anika and Georg from Germany, Katy from Colombia, and Gisele, Megan and Fred from the United States. There is actually many more trainees in Chandigarh (and almost hundred more is expected in summer - these AIESEC guys really mean it seriously with becoming the best local committee worldwide... but let's talk about AIESEC later) and because our flat is pretty empty and airy, they often gather here for whatever occasion. Therefore we sometimes welcome Lia and May from Malaysia, Sachiko and Taka from Japan, Magda and Justina from Poland, Gisele from Brazil, Rafael from Colombia, Davi from Singapore, Al from Indonesia and two more American and Canadian girls who arrived recently. Last but not least, there is Rosy from Mexico, who arrived ca. 5 days ago, and who is my co-worker - in another words she is the second intern in my company! And we expect the third mate - a girl from Russia to join us in July.

Playing jungle speed, without a stake.

Sounds familiar?
Attentive reader must have noticed the situation is pretty similar to Prague, at least regarding the number of trainees and flats, and high ambition in AIESEC exchange. Just add to it, that Chandigarh has the same population as Prague, and AIESEC in Chandigarh has approximately the same number and profile of members as AIESEC Prague. It's really hard to avoid any kind of comparisons:) To be continued...

Around the house.

Czech corner
Zatimco nekteri trainees vypravi zdesene pribehy jake to bylo strasne, kdyz jeste tyden pred priletem nevedeli, kde budou bydlet, zvladal jsem celou situaci o poznani klidneji (zejmena kdyz jsem jeste 2 pred odletem nemel letenku). Zamerne jsem se na ubytovani ani poradne nevyptaval, protoze jsem vedel, ze i kdybych bydlel nekde v "guesthousu", nechalo by se to. O to vetsi bylo me prekvapeni, kdyz jsem zjistil, ze budu prvnich par dni (oficialne 1, ve finale temer 5) zustavat s Indickou rodinou a pak jsem se prestehoval do vilove ctvrti rekneme Chandigarhskeho predmesti.

Soukromi po indicku
Rikal jsem si, ze takhle by to bylo cele prilis jednoduche, takze abych opet trochu posunul hranice komfortni zony, usidlil jsem se v obyvaku (v dobe nastehovani to byla jedina moznost, nicmene po cca 2 dnech jsem se mohl prestehovat). Ma to svoje. Vyhody (nic mi neunikne; docela dobre klima; kazdy den jiny program) i mouchy (nic se neschova; hluk; az 20 lidi) ...ale zajimava zkusenost za kazde situace, kazdopadne zde chci zustat, alespon prozatim.

Velky bratr
Pravde cela tato konstalace mi od sameho pocatku pripomina Big Brother:) Jen tu nejsou kamery. Kdyz jsem doma (temer vyhradne pouze po 20:00) tak jsem vzdy v obyvaku a lze sledovat jak lide vari, bavi se spolu, chodi do koupelny, zase se o necem bavi, pracuji na pocitaci, pak se zase bavi s nekym jinym, relaxuji na balkone, kde se taky s nekym bavi... no sranda:)

The Sims
Vzhledem k tomu, ze kazde rano prijde uklizecka (ktera me kazde rano vzbudi, a ktera mi nastesti jeste neukradla ani jeden ze 2 mobilu a ani jeden ze 2 pocitacu, ktere mam volne pristupne okolo sve postele), nasledne zacina boj o koupelnu a lide postupne odchazeji do prace... nemohla me minout ani paralela se hrou Sims.

Nevim, zda se toto necha rici o kazdem trainee byte kdekoliv jinde, nicmene v tady to tak je, a prozatim je to zabava:)

Day in the hills

2009-06-06T00:01:00.006+05:30

The plan for last Sunday was to visit Shimla, supposedly a very nice British-style city, that used to be a "summer capital" of India in past times. But it all got a little bit complicated, as some of us went to a party day before, and not all of us were actually ready to set off the next morning.
So at the end we were different people going to a different place. We went to Morni Hills situated somewhat at the frindge of the Himalayas (see the Wiki article for more details), and the trip was definitely worth it.

Enjoying VIP care - waiting in the enquiry office.
Notice the stylish "bench":)

In the bus. Me, Lia, May, Davi, Georg.

In the village. Waiting 2 hours for a jeep driver to come.

In the jeep. May, Lia, Georg, me, Megan.

Countryside. On our way to Tikkar Taal.

At Tikkar Taal chill-out resort.

Indians posing in front of the adventurous park.

Me in the jeep.

Dinner in Pizza hut.

Home stay - 5 days with the Indian family

2009-06-03T01:52:00.004+05:30

As in a life of a man there are certain periods, even trainee in Chandigarh goes through different phases. The first one is called home stay and is provided to most of arriving trainees for first few days (generally 1 to 3, but as I got to know later, even 3-week home stays are not exceptions). The purpose is simple and nice - to make trainees experience how is the life of Indian family.

Me and Rahul on the bike. Emotional flashback to Fatal trip:)
BTW we both wear helmets, because it is forbidden to drive without them in Chandigarh. You can be fined for driving in more than 2 people, too...

I was staying with Rahul's family. Rahul has been a member of the local branch of AIESEC since autumn 2008. He is about to finish his bachelor in engineering soon. And is a cool guy:), who has played important role in my traineeship. According to the Indian customs, the whole family was living together in the house: Rahul, his brother Rohit, parents and grandparents. Parents spoke basic English, grandparents spoke only Hindi - so the same as in my family. Probably I was too excited about the home stay that I forgot to organize a family photo shooting session, so I don't have any common picture at the moment.

Rahul, me and Rohit in a fine bar/club (with DJ!).
First picture taken on timer here;-) Third try.

The overall atmosphere was excellent, I really felt like at home. I used to have Indian dishes for breakfasts and dinners (all strictly vegetarian), Rahul or his dad gave me a lift to work every day. I got also in touch with cricket rules, went out for beer couple of times, and was assisted when acquiring fundamental orientation skills within the city.

Local AIESECers playing cricket.

The house was cosy and neat, walls painted with light shades of bright colors, equipped with 2 European-style toilets, a fridge and an Internet connection - pretty much everything a university student might need for living. Of course, a TV cannot be omitted - where else would a cricket be watched! The living room and bedrooms were also equipped with coolers - a truly noisy (in Europe they would definitely fine you for violating silent hours:)) and large appliances supplementing ceiling fans to ensure a maximum sleeping experience.

Another remarkable cultural observation was that the staircase leading to the first floor wasn't actually roofed, however, it was "inside" the house. The only concern I had (besides winter temperatures approaching 0° C) was a security question. But it is not supposed to be an issue here. Respect for unspoilt society.

Me at a religious performance.

It wasn't communicated very clearly at the beginning, so for first couple of days I wasn't actually sure to what extent am I "the extra guy", or how much am I actually welcome even the 5th day of my stay. As I got explained, a guest to Indian family is to be treated as God, therefore it eventually wasn't a reason for concern. When I was moving out, I was given a small Ganesha! Lucky me:)

Czech corner
Nemam to zatim moc v oku, vzdy zacnu psat nejak pozde (napriklad dnes jsme se spolubydlicim z Ciny resili otazku enviromentalni politiky, coz nam dalo docela zabrat, jak se ostatne nechalo tusit) a pak uz nemam silu na ceske okenko. Snad jen doplnim anglicky prispevek komentarem, ze pobyt v rodine jsem si skutecne uzil, navzdory limitovane mobilite ktera byla dana moji zavislosti na nekterem z dostupnych dopravnich prostredku (auto/motorka), protoze sam jsem jeste nikam netrefil. Rodina byla udajne ze stredni tridy, coz bylo vlastne pomerne dobre patrne - meli uplne vse, co bylo potreba pro pohodovy zivot (vcetne sluzky:)), ale napr. kapesne pro kluky bylo drzene v relativne omezenych relacich, coz mi prislo z vychovneho hlediska sympaticke.
Mam tu jeste jednu prihodu s tavenym syrem a rybou, ale tu uz ted nedavam...

May summary

2009-05-30T21:53:00.007+05:30

Today I returned from work a little bit later (correct, working week lasts from Monday to Saturday), as I decided to discover some nice bakeries close (meaning up to 3 km) to my office. I received recommendations for 2, but eventually have time to check only one of them. It was definitely worth it. I tried a slice of onion pizza and bought a blueberry danish as a dinner dessert! BTW last summer, we haven't found them in whole Rajasthan, nor in Uttar Pradesh, but obviously they are available in Chandigarh:)

Enough to pastries... me and few other trainees are about to leave to some club/disco in a while, so I just want to post something really short and concise - so what about a summary of what happened so far? Here we go...

Campus of Panjab University (web)

Week 1
- Sun 17th - leaving from Prague
- Mon 18th - arrival to Chandigarh, having a beer*, being put up at Rahul's place as part of my home stay* (living with AIESECer's family for first few days), seeing my first cricket match*, going for the second beer
- Tue 19th: sleep in, lunch with Aman (my boss), Sahil (TN manager) and Deepit (OCP), not feeling well in the afternoon, taking rest, going through some old pics and being nostalgic, listening to music
- Wed 20th: first day at work*, cricket, back to Rahul's place, tired, sleeping till the morning
- Thu 21st: at work, at cricket, at Rahul's place, going to a fine club for some beer
- Fri 22nd: at work, moving to a trainee flat*, setting of for a trainee-party
- Sat 23nd: at work, general meeting of all the staff, hanging around the city centre*, going back to the trainee flat, going for a common dinner*, having some shi-sha
- Sun 24th: sleep in, deciding not to join the others for a trip and just chilling at the flat, in the evening attending coctail dinner organized by the company, staying at Rahul's place again

A round-about close to the trainee flat

Week 2
- Mon 25th to Sat 30th - at work, the exploring city centre during lunch breaks, finding different transportation options of getting from work to trainee flat (ca. 1 hour), trying to work but usually ending up doing something else, e.g.:
- Mon 25th: going for another common dinner to our favorite place* (kind of bigger Indian fastfood)
- Tue 26th: shopping at local market*, writing comeptition summary
- Wed 27th: starting this blog
- Thu 28th: playing games in the small shopping mall nearby the flat
- Fri 29th: kind of party at the flat, me finally working:)
- Sat 30th: searching for bakeries, going to a club
- Sun 31st: it's actually tomorrow, we are setting off to Shimla*, former Indian capital

* I can never promise anything when it comes to blogging:), but the plan is to dedicate a post to the starred topics. Let's see...

Inconvenience regretted.

2009-05-29T00:51:00.011+05:30

"Inconvenience regretted" is very popular phrase to be seen on road signs of any kind, most typically accompanying diversions and construction site warnings. However, when I saw it in Delhi for the first time, I didn't expect it to be "the phrase of the day".

In brief, they lost my luggage. Better to say it got stuck in London, where I was boarding my second connecting flight. The third flight was a local one from Delhi to Chandigarh. There is not much to say about it, just that it got quite complicated, which made me interact with Indian people right from the very beginning. If you want to know more, go ahead. Otherwise just check some pictures below.

The story
The check-in officer in Prague asked me if I would like to have my suitcase delivered directly to the last destination. I agreed. However, when I wanted to check-in on domestic Delhi airport, it turned out that I need to get my luggage security cleared separately, so I was told to go back to the international airport (ca. 30 min) to collect it. Well-trained from last-time in India, I hadn't left nothing on chance and was actually waiting at the baggage claim before leaving the international airport to make sure my suitcase was not there = was successfully transferred into my connecting plane. Well... ?!

When I managed to persuade the airport staff I was not kidding (which was the tough part, as they were not getting the point of why the hell had I left the international airport without luggage), then they started to investigate. Soon they found out the luggage had never reached Delhi. During the 3-hour process I spoke to approximately 15 officers, had to get back to the international airport anyway to do the paperwork, and managed to eventually check-in 40 minutes before take off. Nice.

They are mostly those little cultural differences that did the whole experience a really interesting one, but these would be hardly shareable without profound (mostly Indian) context, so I skip it. Anyway, I have to admit I was surprised, as they more or less smoothly managed the whole operation with ease, calm and satisfactory results. The luggage was delivered to my place in Chandigarh after 2 days.

The lesson is...
The lesson is to always fly with well-established airlines, who are more likely to have an office on major airports, and never fly on weekends when these offices are closed. Luckily none applied for me, otherwise it would have been a real headache, I suppose.

Now, there are just few pictures from the day...

In Prague
(on the left: descending to the metro station Dejvicka on the way to airport, on the right: the most probable cause of the "inconvenience" - there were some troubles with another plane arriving to Prague, therefore emergency cars gathered in front of our gate and made the flight 25 mins delayed, which didn't provide enough time for luggage transfer in London)

Czech lands

Circling above London. Literally - see the left picture.

Delhi airport.

Arrived in Chandigarh! :)

Namaste!

2009-05-27T01:37:00.004+05:30

Last Monday, May 18th, 2009 at 13:50 local time (GMT +5:30) I successfully landed in Chandigarh, India. Yep, it has already been 8 long days I'm here...

Just landed in Delhi, 8 days ago.

Not much time at the moment (finishing a report for Google Online Marketing Challenge* to be submitted in couple of hours), so just 3 important things** to start up with:
1. The incredible is here, I'm in "Incredible India" again... well... different time, different place, different people, different goals, different expectations... simply "different, different, but same", this is how the famous saying goes, right?;-)
2. Thanks to everyone who got in touch with me during last couple of days. And my apologies for not replying accordingly.
3. Greetings to my parents, everything is alright. I watch out for cars!

In Chandigarh.

Cheers!
M.

* These should be the right keywords to help my blog gain some good click-through-rate at the beginning:)
** No worries, it will be structured!

Czech corner
Zdravim, po uspesnem zkusebnim provozu na kanadskem blogu mohu s radosti konstatovat, ze se budu snazit zachovat ceske okenko i nyni. Opet verim poskytne vhodny prostor pro pikanterie nejruznejsiho druhu. M.