Arrival!

After a 34 journey with very little sleep, I arrived in Ahmedabad.  It didn’t take long for my problems to begin.  I knew my US mobile phone would not work in India, but I did think I’d at least be able to turn on my phone and look through my contact numbers.  I was wrong.  Of course, my driver was not there to meet me at the airport.  Who to call?  And where to find their number?  I had no idea!  Thank goodness I dug up a printed email from my HR guy at work, and found his number.  Then I just needed to find a pay phone.  Ha ha, no such thing here.  But I put on my best sad face and asked a stranger to borrow her phone.  This is the first of many times that a helpful stranger will come to my aid here, I’m sure.  Eventually I got to the company guest house.

Views from Guest House

At the guest house, I started to call the agents that were recommended to find a flat.  Surprise, none of them speak English!  Thank goodness, the Piramal Admin guy is going to come with me househunting and translate this weekend.

Task 1:  Purchase new mobile phone.  This was actually an easy one.  There are communication stores every block around here.  So I just started walking around.  I didn’t see any for about 15 min, so I went up to an old professional-looking guy eating street food, and asked where I could find phones.  He said there were close stores, but the best selection and best prices was at a big store a mile or two away.  He also works in pharma, so we had a good talk about the industry.  So I had a rootbeer with him, then he gave me a ride to the store (recurring theme – helpful people).  Side note – only after drinking the rootbeer did I realize it was a fountain soda.  So I just drank a cup of Indian tapwater!  Oops, uh oh!  But no worries, no gastrointestinal issues resulted.  Phone purchased.  I still need a SIM card for it to work.  This is typically difficult for foreigners without a permanent address (SIM cards are tracked for national security), so my work is assisting with this.  I will feel much better when I have a phone.  It is very easy to get lost here.

So far I have been able to get onto the internet using public connections.  If this had not been the case, I’d probably be huddled in the corner crying right now.  I would not have been able to take care of anything.  The connection is spotty though.  I hope it holds up, there is much to do.  I was smart to bring plug adapters and converters for my computer and other electronics, one less thing to have to search for here.

Riding in an auto

The weather is beautiful, and this city is amazing to me.  The traffic cracks me up.  They don’t drive fast, but they do not pay attention to lanes, and intersections are just a free-for-all.  Company bus and auto rickshaws will be the only modes of transport that I use.

On to Task 2:  Househunting.  Wish me luck.