For me the week starts at Thursday due to travel in the weekend and the meet and great at Monday. I am waking up round 06:30 every day, still dozing a bit after and I will then freshen up. Round 07:30 breakfast is brought up consisting of an omelet, 2x toast, a bit of butter and jam with some coffee.

Round 08:30 I am being picked up by Ritesh Chowdhary also on his motorcycle. Safdar drives a Sports motorcycle, but Rithesh drives a more “old-school” motorcycle. Comfortable on the back we drive to work.

Security is heavy. On every street corner we see security and so now and then military. On every office building, on every entrance and exit there is security. And if you think one guard would be sufficient think again. All bags will be searched as we enter.

My workday exists mainly of setting up and reading about the project. Furthermore I am adapting and trying everything the team does. Breakfast at the office round 09:00 in the cafeteria (a small meal for them, an apple for me :) ), at 13:00 some lunch (a hot meal, but for me a bit less spicy like egg or chicken buriyani), teatime at 16:00 and sometimes round 18:00 a snack at the smaller cafeteria.

In the evenings I am again brought home via a motorcycle drive on Safdar his bike. Although my apartment is round the corner the team prefers to bring me home so I get their safe and sound and I do not mind for the motorcycle drives are fun :D .

After days with so many impressions I often don’t feel like cooking a hot meal round 21:00 and this is even early over here for diner. Often I just take some sandwiches with for example Nutella! Haha, it is obtainable everywhere and even though I don’t eat it at home, it tastes good now.

Specifics of the week?

  • The people over here try to provide me with all necessities. To get some meat in the house we need to go to specific stores which are not close to Magarpatta city. Amit Patil had especially took his car (red Honda) to work on Tuesday so he could go shopping with me. Eventually also Suhas Doke and Shrinivas Malpani went along to give directions. Impressive to go shopping for some meat and basics with 4 guys.
    Also in the city security is high. Every were you will see metal detectors and all bags will be searched. At entrance and exit the cars also get examined.
  • On Thursday I had a nice batch of chocolates for the team during teatime. This was received very nicely. It appears chocolate is very desired! :P
  • On Thursday I cooked my first meal. I especially woke up early to get to office and return quite early. Nice to have some potatoes, broccoli and pork sausages. Very good!
  • On Thursday I also started exploring the neighborhood. Some sightseeing in Tech City (Magarpatta city), the small market and DC (shops). Also I checked out the first floor of the COSMOS complex. The ground floor is a parking garage with above (1st floor) an artificial garden and buildings (apartments). From the air you would not see any cars, motorcycles, bicycles, etc.
  • On Friday I joint breakfast at work. A bit different, but nice.
  • On Saturday:
    • Going round at Tech City and tried to make some pictures. These were deleted by security, although not all ;)
    • In the afternoon I went to MG Road for some shopping and sightseeing in Pune. At a place called Raymonds I ordered a tailor suite and at the Nike store I bought to polo shirts for the “casual Fridays at the office”.
    • In the evening we went to INOX for a movie. We arrived at an unfortunate time and head back to MG Road for a nice diner.
    • Sundays was dedicated to the weblog and some rest. Today no sun and into the airco!

This is already become quite a long summary and without the actual impressions. Perhaps I will make a separate post of that to keep some overview. In due time I hope to give smaller updates by day instead of these long stories.