I woke up nice and early on Sunday. I enjoyed catching up with my friends at home by checking Facebook, and pondered the view from outside my hotel room window. Pune seemed a little more dingy in the early morning light. When I went downstairs to the lobby there were clown cut-outs and balloons at the entrance to the restaurant. I thought someone rented the restaurant for a child’s birthday party, but it turns out that the hotel has an event every Sunday to attract family’s to their brunch buffet. They have entertainment for the children. Seems like a smart marketing move, however I was sure to have breakfast before the festivities began on the following Sunday.

I left the hotel with my coworker, her mom and sister for a day in the city. They had rented a driver from outside the hotel in hopes to save money, however the car was too small, the driver was too smelly, and he got us lost several times. After an argument with the cab company, we let the driver go, and had a driver from the hotel come pick us up. He took us to the shopping district of Pune, the shopping Mall on MG road. There are lots of places in Pune from the exterior are dirty and decrepit, as we walked into the  mall, the inside was shockingly new and modern. I went to a store called West End, and purchased a few outfits. Outside the store was a Pizza Hut. The Pizza was very similar to US pizza except it was served with an extra portion of peppers and ketchup. Outside the mall were very poor looking women and children looking for hand-outs.

I had a very hard time with giving children on the street money because of watching the movie Slum Dog Millionaire. They would tug at my sleeve and put their hands to their mouths to gesture they wanted food. I made sure that later I stopped to buy some candy, as I know that if they had candy they would probably eat it. If I gave them money, they might give it to someone who may be exploiting them.

The view from outside the mall was definitely a stark contrast of modern and poverty. The streets were very dirty and unkept, but the buildings were lined with brightly-colored billboards advertising luxury goods.

After we left the mall, we went to some strip-mall looking buildings. We were lead down 3 flights of stairs to a store called Pix Boutique. We were made to take our shoes off before entering the store. Inside was an array of modern fixtures and shelves filled with brightly colored traditional Indian dresses. A gentleman had us take a seat, and he pulled out dresses that he thought would fit us. My coworker and I tried on several. I ended up buying a dark red/brownish 3 piece traditional indian outfit. It had leggings, a dress, and a sash. We also went to a shop called the Bombay store where I found several gifts for friends and family.

After our shopping we went to search for a beauty salon (pronounced Saloon to the locals). We finally found one that was open at around 7PM. There I got a pedi/mani, and the girls got their brows threaded. I had never seen this process before. As the evening approached traffic picked up. Pune’s lack of public infrastructure has left it a city with poor roads and bad traffic.

Sunday night I had a pretty serious case of Jet Lag. Although I was dead tired from all of the running around we did all day, I could not fall asleep. I felt as though my body was vibrating as I laid in bed. I used breathing techniques and meditation to relax and I eventually fell asleep around 3 am.

We arrived in Pune at approximately 5 am. I guess this was a good time to get there, because the airport was practically empty, the only people outside were the drivers ready to pick people up, and there was no traffic. The airport was a lot more modern than what I was expecting. It was still dark when we arrived, and we quickly got to our hotel. Due to the 9.5 hour difference from the US, we weren’t really ready to go to sleep. I was very impressed with my hotel room. The Courtyard Marriott in Hinjewadi was top of the line accommodations. I quickly prepared to unpack my bags, there were a few things that I had to get adjusted to.

First of all, when you arrive at the hotel in the car, a security officer goes around the perimeter of the underside of the car with a mirror to look for bombs. They also circle the car with a dog, sniffing for bombs I assume, and they open each door. As they open your door they always say “good day” with a smile. I suppose this is supposed to make you feel better about being searched. When you approach the hotel, they take your bags to be passed through an x-ray machine, and you have to walk through a metal detector to get through the front door. As you get through, a woman wearing a pretty teal and blue sari welcomes you with a smile as she passes a metal detector over your body. After a few days this behavior became to be quite normal, and I would just greet her with my arms open assuming the position for scan.

When you enter the hotel room, there is a slot next to the door where you put your room key. This activates the electricity in the suite. This benefits the hotel guest because they always know where their key is, and it benefits the hotel because after a few moments it deactivates the lights in the room. It does not turn off the power outlets, so your computer and razor can still be charging after you leave. Another thing I had to get adjusted to was brushing my teeth with bottled water. Most of the electrical outlets in the room have built-in adapters that work for US plugs, however it doesn’t convert the AMPS, so there were still certain electrical items that could not be plugged in.

From hotel room window, there was an interesting view. A large power line tower was immediately to the left, straight out was a hotel that was under construction.  To the right I have a view of the Security gate, the road, and across the road is a very modern looking HP gas station. Behind the gas station I can see green fields, the city line, and behind that are some mountains. The sides of the streets are littered with exorbitant billboards advertising modern luxuries.

After I unpacked I went downstairs to an amazing breakfast buffet. The Marriott really out did itself in food quality and service. Most of the service personnel go out of their way to remember your name, and who your colleagues are. They are also very well versed in the art of small talk, which helps a traveler eating alone feel more at home. The breakfast buffet included Indian specialties, cereals, western breakfast items, british breakfast items, a full array of baked goods, fresh fruits, and fruit juices. They would also make eggs, waffles, and eggs benedict to order. They also offered masala chai upon request.

After lunch I retired back to my room, and took a 2.3 hour nap. My coworker was spending time with her mom and sister, so I decided to go out for a little shopping. I requested a driver and asked him to take me to shop. He took me to a little shop on Bund Garden Road. There I looked at semi precious stones set in silver and gold. The prices were in USD, and I managed to haggle the price down 20%. I was very proud of myself as until recently I was not very good at negotiating prices.

During that period my coworker’s family came and she got reacquainted with them.  We spent some time at the hotel, and I tried a few drinks I had never heard of before. One was called a Paantini, which I didn’t really care for. It was vodka, maritni rosso, gulkand (sweet preserve of rose petals) and coconut chunks. The other drink I had was a Pina Spice, and it was Pineapple Juice, Vodka, Lime and Cardamom seeds. I really enjoyed that one a lot. Unfortunately it took me 2 or 3 days to see how much tax they charge on alcohol at the hotel room.

Last month I had the opportunity to go to India for work to visit a development office in Pune. I immediately started to make arrangements to go to India. I would be traveling with a coworker who has family in India, so that eased some of the nervous feelings I may have had about going to india for the first time. I knew I had some preconceived notions as to about what India was like, but I wouldn’t fully know it until I experience it for myself.

I have practiced Yoga on and off for over 10 years, and I have 3 friends who are yoga instructors, so there were definitely aspects of Indian culture that I was fascinated with. I understand the concepts of OM (in fact I got an OM tattoo in 2002). However I am not familiar with the complex religion known as Hinduism, I knew that I would be exposed to Hindu parts of Indian culture. A coworker of mine gave me the book of Self-Enfoldment by Swami Chinmayananda to read while I was in India. It was a very good book, and it explained a lot of Spiritual concepts that are rooted in Hinduism and some concepts from the great thinkers from the beginning of documentation and before. I really enjoyed a the way it explained reality and gave clear instruction on pursuing Self Realization. I recommend this reading if you are at all interested in expanding your Spirituality. One of the things I definitely wanted to do to expand my field of experience while in India was attend to a yoga class, or a meditation class.

My journey to India was to start with 2 days of travel, 2 weeks in India, and then 2 days of travel back. My coworker and I left from Miami and we had a 9 hour layover in Frankfurt. We made it a point to leave the airport, and take the train to downtown Frankfurt to see what the city had to offer. Neither one of us spoke German fluently, but there were several people who spoke enough English to help us on our way. I did a little research before I left the states to see if there was anything in Frankfurt that held interest to me, and the one thing on my list of things to do was to visit the Johann Wolfgang Goethe house. Goethe is most famous for his story Faust, which is considered one of Germany’s most important pieces of literature. Fortunately when we arrived downtown, we were about 2 blocks away from the Goethe house, and for 5 Euros we were able to get in. For more information about the Goethe Haus click here. Before the Goethe house we stopped for some authentic German food and a beer, then we were back on our way to the airport for our flight to India.