Coming into Gurgaon from Delhi's airport, I immediately noticed the stark contrast between the
ultra-modern office buildings alongside squatter neighborhoods. On the highway, I pulled out my camera because this development surprised me and low and behold the photo I took from the highway was actually our office building! Here's a photo at left. Driving down the streets you see Mercedes, cows, scooters with entire families aboard, cycle rickshaws, walkers, and everything in between. Again, it's this kind of controlled chaos going on - Gurgaon is super crazy with construction everywhere, bad traffic, and just lots of people in general.
I'm staying at an apartment with some other co-workers and it's a lot of fun and really comfortable. It's about 10 minutes drive to the office in the morning and usually around 15 minutes on the way home. Luckily, Gurgaon is only 8km from Delhi...you'd think it would be a hop and skip away. Traffic usually won't allow that, but the longest it has taken me to get anywhere in Delhi has been 45 minutes (crossing my fingers it stays that way).
The first day I arrived, I met up with Megan and some of her friends at a market called Dillihat. There were tons of sarees, other textiles, jewelry, and supposedly really good food in the food court which looked like a concrete park. We opted to head to a pretty swanky Indian restaurant called Punjabi By Nature in Visant Vihar (a neighborhood in Delhi). We had a nice Indian feast complete with dhal, naan, spicey mushrooms, tikka masala, and more. This was definitely a nice culinary introduction to the country and made my taste buds super happy.
I spent the rest of the week becoming acclimated to the office and my new team here in Gurgaon. The office is very young (I'd put the average age well below 25), extremely kind, and generally easygoing. Trying to learn everyone's name is the most difficult part of it all. Not only is it difficult to pronounce a name when I see it on paper, I also have to match it to the person's face (pointing out the obvious here). I've been trying all kinds of new Indian food in the office cafe and again just trying to meet a lot of people. Each night after work we come home to a cooked Indian meal which is always great and something I very much look forward to.
It's only been a week, but again I feel very calm and settled in already. I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing, but I suppose that means I can better concentrate on work. I'm also getting really excited about exploring more of Delhi, and India in general. Delhi seems to be a great launching pad to reach many of India's great travel destinations by both rail and air.
I'm staying at an apartment with some other co-workers and it's a lot of fun and really comfortable. It's about 10 minutes drive to the office in the morning and usually around 15 minutes on the way home. Luckily, Gurgaon is only 8km from Delhi...you'd think it would be a hop and skip away. Traffic usually won't allow that, but the longest it has taken me to get anywhere in Delhi has been 45 minutes (crossing my fingers it stays that way).
The first day I arrived, I met up with Megan and some of her friends at a market called Dillihat. There were tons of sarees, other textiles, jewelry, and supposedly really good food in the food court which looked like a concrete park. We opted to head to a pretty swanky Indian restaurant called Punjabi By Nature in Visant Vihar (a neighborhood in Delhi). We had a nice Indian feast complete with dhal, naan, spicey mushrooms, tikka masala, and more. This was definitely a nice culinary introduction to the country and made my taste buds super happy.
I spent the rest of the week becoming acclimated to the office and my new team here in Gurgaon. The office is very young (I'd put the average age well below 25), extremely kind, and generally easygoing. Trying to learn everyone's name is the most difficult part of it all. Not only is it difficult to pronounce a name when I see it on paper, I also have to match it to the person's face (pointing out the obvious here). I've been trying all kinds of new Indian food in the office cafe and again just trying to meet a lot of people. Each night after work we come home to a cooked Indian meal which is always great and something I very much look forward to.
It's only been a week, but again I feel very calm and settled in already. I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing, but I suppose that means I can better concentrate on work. I'm also getting really excited about exploring more of Delhi, and India in general. Delhi seems to be a great launching pad to reach many of India's great travel destinations by both rail and air.
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