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).
