Ian Makes Like a Chicken and The Indian Head Waggle

Well, it’s my last day in the office today, and my flight leaves Hyderabad at 2am local time Friday morning. It takes about 23 hours total to get back to Chicago (via Frankfurt), getting me home around 1pm (CST ) on Friday.

It’s weird that I’ve been here for nearly two weeks – the time has really flown by. I’ve actually also really enjoyed blogging, even if it’s only served as fodder for friends and family to mock me!

There are certainly a lot of things I was hoping to write about, but I’ve just run out of time. A few quick things though:

Motorcycles are the primary mode of transportation for most people here – I would have to say conservatively that motorcycles and scooters outnumber cars by about 8:1. Having said that, I’ve identified five basic combinations of people that can usually be found riding on these motorcycles:

1. One person (usually with helmet)
2. Two guys (usually no helmets)
3. Man driving, woman sitting on back side saddle (man with helmet, woman with no helmet
4. Family of three (Sitting on the bike in the following order: Child, Man, Child, Woman
5. Family of four (Sitting on the bike in the following order: Child, Child, Woman holding child)

The Head Waggle (or Bobble) seems to be another thing completely unique to India. It’s basically a head shake that has multiple meanings. The waggle is achieved by moving your head from side-to-side slightly by moving your ears, but not your chin all while keeping your shoulders still. Some people’s waggle is more pronounced than others, making them look more like a booble-head doll. The waggle is usually given in response to a question, and can mean yes, no, I understand or just OK. Problem is, as a westerner you have no idea which one of those meanings they are using the waggle to convey. The best part is when one of our US professionals who have been here for a few months starts to do it!

Crossing the Street had to be one of the most exciting/scary things I’ve done in a awhile – it should really be an extreme sport on ESPN X Games or something like that. As I mentioned before, there are almost no lights, no street signs, and no one pays attentions to the lanes or anything like that. And there are certainly no crosswalks or anything like that. You basically just walk into traffic and make your way across like something out of the video game Frogger. Too the Indians defense, they won’t hit you, but as an American it’s still completely crazy. I crossed a street a few times on Sunday when we were out shopping, and a couple times I thought I was just going to be found in the middle of the road sobbing five months later.

I’ll do an India trip wrap up later, but for now it’s back to work!

Getting Jiggy, Indian Style

Last night there was a whole Indian-themed dinner outside at the Novotel Hotel, the other upscale hotel in Hyderabad besides the Taj Krishna (where I'm staying). The event was for all the US directors and partners who are for a two day meeting. It was a night filled with local music, artisans, food, etc. I got a turban tied on my head, a bindi on my forehead and a sweet scarf -- let's just say that I was doing Justin Timberlake's work in India!

The best part though was that our people here put in sort of a talent show -- one guy sang a Bollywood song and another played guitar and sang with a friend, but the best part was the dancing. Some of the our Indian people did some dance numbers that were great and then some of the US people (who are here for 2-3 months at a time as part of a rotation program) did some dances that their Indian co-workers taught them. Then at the end the Indian and US co-workers all got on stage together and did a dance -- it was really great and was a great way to be further exposed to Indian culture. It also reminded me that for all our differences, we have a lot more similarities and given the chance can become fast friends. It is a small world after all.

Of course there were also all sorts of great Indian eats, most of which I will never remember the names of. There was the usuals like chicken tikka, naan, paneer and biriyani, plus quite a few other great things like Shikampur Kebab (which is made of mutton).

Monday night was interesting also -- there was a super bowl party for the US executives with a tape of the game on, and chicken hot dogs, wings, and buffalo burgers with (of course) yak cheese being served.

Two more days before I had back -- it's been a great trip but I'm looking forward to coming home to Chicago (even though it's -43 degrees there).

Ouga Chaka, Ouga Chaka, Ouga Chaka

I know this has nothing to do with my trip to India, but every now and then it's important to have a sort of blog sorbet -- a little something to cleanse the palette before moving back into the regularly scheduled subject matter.

With that, compliments of my sister Sasha, please enjoy a bit of the Hoff (David Hasselhoff) performing the classic song "Hooked on a Feeling."

p.s. Coming up in the next blog entry...Ian crosses the road in India for the first time and the Indian head waggle!

Chittaswarup Urlacher and Manishankar Grossman

So the number one question that I've received during my trip to India is, "Will you be able to watch the Bears take on the Colts in the Super Bowl?" The answer is Yes! I'm actually sitting in my hotel room right now watching the game on ESPN India, where they are taking a break from their around the clock coverage of cricket and field hockey, to show the game.

To answer your next question, no I'm not seeing the commercials that people are seeing in the US. I'm watching an international feed and the last break included a commercial for some fancy Indian tea and another for a sitcom called Full Toss (yes, a cricket sitcom -- not sure if there's a Mr. Furley-type character) neither of which I'm guessing is not being included in the US coverage.

Also, since there are a lot of US Deloitte people visting Hyderabad this week, we are hosting a Super Bowl party at one of the local hotels where they will be showing a tape of the game. I'm guessing they will be serving Currywurst and Nachos with Yak Cheese.

H-Town, Top of the Food Chain Dawg!

Just a few random Hyderbad videos and links for you to check out.

The first is a rap song called Hyderabad Biryani by some dude named The Angrez, Hyderabad's answer to Eminem. It does sound a little like his song is sampling Zamfir though (and no, we don't use it as a recruiting video). Fyi, Hyderabad is well known for its biriyani, which is a rice dish made from a mixture of spices, rice, meat/vegetables and yogurt.

Next is s a video showing the new Hyderabad airport that is being built -- I think it's supposed to be ready in two years or so. Needless to say the current airport (which probably hasn't changed much, nor been cleaned, since the advent of the talkies) looks NOTHING like this -- nor is there Kenny G music playing in the background.

There's more footage of typical Hyderabad traffic here and here and this video will give you a feel for what the typical street looks like.

Finally, here's some info about George W's visit to Hyderabad a few years agao. Not sure if he asked any of the local Indians he met about where he could meet Sitting Bull, Tonto or Pocahontas.

In a grand mania

Thanks to my sister Sasha for this one -- here are some anagrams that she thought were appropriate for my visit to India:

Ian Solomon Hyderabad India = I am a shoddier and a loony-bin

Ian Solomon in Hyderabad India = Holiday and debonair insomnia

Make fun of your siblings using this Anagram Generator.

p.s. In a grand mania = Indian Anagram

Hooray for Bollywood and Thriller, Hindi Style

There are quite a few video channels on TV here in India. There's an Indian MTV, a channel called Zoom and then quite a few channels that show either Bollywood movies or just Indian music videos. The dancing is amazing and the videos and movies are absolutely addictive.

Last time I was here in India, my favorite song was Aya India -- my love for the song might have been aided by the fact that it seemed to be on TV about 49 times a day, but it stuck with me even after my return to the US.

This time however I have a new favorite called Rock and Roll (yes, they do the "swim" at one point) from the film Kabhie Alvida Naa Kehna which translates to Never Say Goodbye. The video stars Amitabh Bachchan (the guy with the grey goatee) who is considered the greatest actor in Indian history, appearing in 165 films in his career. For comparison, Michael Caine, who is almost 10 years older and never turns down a role, has been in just 130 films.

I also learned the reason why Michael Jackson seems to have disappeared from the US scene -- it's because he's making a comback here in India under the name Chiru. It is disappointing that he is just recycling old material though, but his Indian remake of his Thriller video might be one of the greatest things ever filmed.

Indian Standard Time: GMT +5:30ish

All of India is on one time zone, which is called Indian Standard Time. It's pretty amazing, considering the size of the country (1.27 million square miles; about one-third the size of the U.S. and while it takes up only 2.4% of the world's land area, 15% of the world's population lives here). In fact, right now here's what time it is in India right now.

But the big joke is that Indian Standard Time is actually a joke about when people show up for scheduled events. Any time from 15-90 minutes late for something seems to actually be the standard. And the strangest part -- no one seems to care. One person told me that the biggest difference between Mumbai (fka Bombay) and Hyderabad is that in Mumbai, when you have an appointment with someone you know they'll show up at some point during the day, but in Hyderabad there's no guarantee they'll show up at all!

The other odd time thing is the hours that some of the Indians work. For people who are employed by western companies, many of them work a 2-11pm shift (or later shift), in order to have overlap with the US offices to make it easier for people to work together. That's pretty much the shift we work when we are over here as well.

When Deloitte first opened an operation in Hyderabad, they were actually office sharing with a software company. The employees of the software company would work until 6pm, then the Deloitte employee would take over that person's desk and computer and work from 6pm to 4am or so. Yikes!

Different Continent, Same Conference Room

In the past 12 months I’ve done presentations in five countries on three different continents. What have I learned from all that? Every conference room across the world is exactly the same. It’s odd how no matter what country I’m in, I always end up at the front of some big room in an office, with a long rectangular table and a projector, going through a PowerPoint presentation.

The ones here in Hyderabad are a little different, if only for one reason. While most of them have Indian names -- Marathra, Shakra, etc. -- there is one floor where every conference room is named after a famous US movie -- Beauty and the Beast, Beautiful Mind, Cinderella, etc. I'm pushing for the Spinal Tap room -- maybe the air conditioning in there could go up to 11 and they would never fold the meat on the sandwiches served during lunch meetings.

One thing I've definitely learned in all of my travels and meetings with people from across the world is that most of what Thomas Friedman has to say about the flattening of the earth is probably right. I remember the first time I got a call from overseas back in the mid-80s. A friend of mine was in the UK on a soccer tour for 10 days and he called me to let me know how much fun he was having. He would say something, there would be a few second delay, then I would respond, followed by a few second delay before he would say something. Now I’m collaborating with people from the other side of the world on a daily basis, working together and usually laughing at the same jokes.

I know I’m not exactly plowing fresh ground here – anytime you travel it’s easy to be wowed. I know that I have a tendency to just focus on the challenges of my job, the work that needs to get done and the next conference call I have. But I also try to remember every day how lucky I've been to have global positions working with people from across the world, learning new cultures and traveling on someone else's dime. I try to remind myself to focus on the people you're working with, not the room your in.

Big Rupees, No Whammies

The money in India is called the rupee and is currently going for something like twelveteenzillionty rupees to the dollar. I changed $100 USD last night when I got to the hotel and was handed 5000 rupees (actually 1 USD = 44.2000 INR). I don't care what it's worth, 5000 of anything in your hot little hands is awesome! Luckily no one knew if there was a casino nearby.


In India you basically tip for every kind of service, especially at the hotel -- someone brings your bags to the room and you give him 100...someone picks up your clothes to be pressed and you tip 100...someone tells you that you're having a great hair day -- well, you get the idea. Nothing makes you feel like a big player like when you're tossing around the 100s! To paraphrase P. Puffy Melty Slurpee Diddy, "It's all about the Ghandis baby."

Speaking of Big Bucks, No Whammies, did you know that the game show Press Your Luck had to change its rules because a contestant named Paul Michael Larson memorized the patterns used on the board and won $110k? Of course, that guy turned out to be a nutjob and later died while on the run from the SEC. Bad times.

Hyderabad, Deloitte and Horns

Hyderabad is the capital city of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh and is where the Deloitte office is based, which is why I'm here. The primary lingo here is Telegu, although everyone at the airport, hotel, restuarants, etc. seems to speak English (certainly not the case for the majority of the population). Hyderabad is actually a pretty big city -- India's 5th largest metropolis and the 41st largest metropolitan area in the world. You can read about the history of Hyderabad here.

The first thing you notice (besides the unique smell here) when you get to Hyderabad is the constant traffic and horn honking. It's very similar to the noise you hear on a casino floor that comes from the "ching, ching, ching" of the slot machines, except it's car horns. It's just short beeps (they use it as sort of a "hey I'm here" when they are driving) and is absolutely non-stop 24/7/ The traffic "laws" are actually more suggestions than anything, so I guess it's necessary to avoid getting run over!

Right of way does seem to be by vehicle size and this video gives you a feel for the free-for-all on the road (but doesn't do justice to the amount of cars, cabs, motorized rickshaws, scooters and motorcycles on the road).

Just a quick few words on Hyderabad and why I'm here. As you probably know, I work for Deloitte Tax and we opened an office here about five years ago. The Tax group in India is now over 1000 people, making it the largest office within the US practice. My part in this is to work with the professionals in the US to push some of their work to the professionals in India, which allows the US people to do more value-added work that can only be done in the US.

More about this later on -- it really is incredible operation that benefits the US and Indian professionals and has resulted in huge growth for both groups.

Stop, Shilpa Time!

It's my first night in Hyderabad (more on that in the morning) and of course I'm having some problem sleeping. Woke up after about 4 hours of sleep and started flipping channels and every Indian station had "Breaking News" flashing on the scroll at the bottom of the screen. Took me a few minutes before I found an English-speaking channel flashing this to realize that the big news was that Bollywood Diva Shilpa Shetty had won the UK show Big Brother (edging out Jermaine Jackson!).

Evidently this year's UK Big Brother was especially controversial, with all sorts of racism charges.

And my favorite part...after cheers from the fans following her win, there was this exchange with the host when she emerged from the Big Bro house:

Q: What was it like waiting in there on your own?

A: I was in shock. I was in shock. Chicken curry rules (to the crowd)!

Cobra Kai Rules!

You might want to check out my new favorite video for the song, "Sweep the Leg, Johnny" by No More Kings.

It's about Johnny from the Karate Kid (he was the bad guy) and features original actors from the movie (including the guy who played Johnny).

I hope No More Kings next does a song called, "It's My Way or the Highway" about the life of Dalton as the ass-kicking bouncer at the Double Deuce in the movie Roadhouse.



And as you go through life, just remember what Dalton said, "I want you to be nice until it's time to not be nice."

Falscher Hase and Cures for a Sore Back

I read that there are 1500+ kinds of German sausages, and after just a little more than a day wondering around Frankfurt, I would have to agree. I had a weisswurst today while walking through and outdoor market and it really hit the spot. I also tried the Falscher Hase (a sort of German meat loaf), but managed to stay away from the giant pig knuckles that almost every deli seemed to be selling.

I don't think that 1500 number even includes something called Wurstsalat, which is exactly that -- sausage and cheese chopped up and tossed with mayo. It's even available pre-made at the store for those of you who might be too busy to chop their own wursts. Yummm.

My mom had back surgery a few years ago so when I saw a sign for "Back Store" I went right in thinking that maybe they would have some sort of secret German solution for my mom's back pain. Turns out "Back Store" is actually a chain of German bakeries. I'm hoping the chocolate croissant and I bought helps her, but of course I knew that wouldn't really work. So I ate it instead.

And so it begins...

In the words of David Cross, "Read my blog!"

Well, here goes nothing. I'm certainly 10+ years too old to be blogging, but away we go.

I'm sitting in a hotel room in Offenbach, Germany where it's nearly midnight and am setting up this blog. The plan is to upload pictures, postings and general musings over the next three weeks during my trip to Germany, India and France.

Germany (three days) and France (three days) are both "for fun" and are sandwiching my two week work trip to Hyderabad, India. Most of the blogging will undoubtedly occur there.

I hate to start this off with an apology, but since I'm setting this up in Germany, Google has directed me to their Deutsch site and I'm trying to set this up by following instructions in German. Unfortunately, my German is limited to things like "danke" and "bitte" -- and of course something that Josh (sister's fiancee) taught me that translates to, "DON'T SHOOT!"

The trip from Chicago to Frankfurt was completely uneventful, mostly due to the really comfortable Lufthansa business class PrivateBed (thanks Deloitte!), although I thought the champagne served just before take off could have been a tad bit colder. I know, it's tough being me!

Good times...