A nod to a country I've been thinking a lot about lately...

Day 1

Today was day one. I met many people whose name I'm having a hard time finding a reference for in my brain. Chandran, Surya, Kripa, Madhu. I met a Laura; I will remember her name! The office setting seems nice. There are about 100 people in HR in Mumbai and a total of 4000 Citi employees which is 50% of the employees in India- spread out in about 8 locations. Citi is growing very fast here. Not very surprising for a country with 30% EBIT and 7% GDP growth. It is a gift that I am here working in compensation as I will get to see Citi from every business angle as well as learn a lot about the growth and development the company is seeing. This is an emerging market in every sense of the word.

Sia-Jai

The drive to work is about 10 minutes. I took a cab this morning and am curious if I was taken advantage of for the cost. It was 240 rupees or about $4. It was my first real foray from the confines of the hotel complex and many of the sights and sounds reminded me of Bangkok. Corrugated metal everywhere, motorbikes and tuk-tuks ( here called autos) with loud motors sputtering by, dogs roaming, thin moss growing on concrete, air so thick you can swim through it.

Tuk-Tuk rides!

The tuk-tuks have meters!

Traveling Bamboo - notice the guy sitting in the truck

Market on the side of the street

 It made me a little sad to have everything feel, smell, and sound so much like Thailand, but to know it is not Thailand. That being said I am looking forward to learning the innuendoes that make India different from Thailand and growing a place in my heart for India. One of the clear differences is that everyone speaks English here. While I aim to learn s few words in Hindu I won't have the need or drive to learn the language completely. My life will be completely different from living in a Thai village. Here I have an apartment with air conditioning and TV. Heck, I have 2 TVs. I think CNN will be my go to station in the morning and I will certainly keep abreast of the US news better than I did in Thailand. In many ways I expect to keep one foot in the US while I am gone. I will be living quite the western lifestyle and sitting in front of a computer all day- connected to that interweb thing.

Home Sweet Home

810 square feet of personal space is much more than I have had in at least 6 years- since I was living in Asia before and have a 4 story house. The bathroom is probably 3 times the size of the one I have in NY, and the kitchen is surely 4-5times larger than what I am used to. The apartment is relatively sterile, but that is to expected for a hotel furnished apartment. I have done little more than relax and explore the hotel since I arrived. In fact I think I have slept about24 of the last 33 hours. What a glorious treat! The hotel is quite swanky and while I enjoy the ambiance I hope I don't frequent the restaurants often as that will certainly cut into my budget. The highlight of the Grand Hyatt for me is that the gym is approximately 20 steps and one elevator ride away!

A kitchen. Harder to get than you'd imagine!

comfy bed!

the living room

Check out a virtual tour here:
http://delivery.vrxstudios.com/50076/VirtualTours.htm?package=438&id=60409&id_type=9&locale=1&container=1&parentWindow=http://residences.mumbai.grand.hyatt.com/virtual-tour.html