India - Day 1

Having arrived in India at 4:30 am, I only went into work for a few hours in the afternoon today.

I got a driver from the hotel to take me to the office. Everyone is super friendly here, and always interested in hearing all about your day. Work is very nearby - probably less than 2 miles from the hotel. After the long ride from the airport, I am used to the crazy driving. We quickly arrived at the main gate of the technology park, which was very heavily secured - men dressed in camouflage and holding machine guns were standing out front. There were probably 15 other security guards with billy clubs that looked like they had been used a lot.

They are very picky about having a badge to get in, which I did not have. Someone from Paprikaas was supposed to meet me at the gate with a badge, but I had arrived a few minutes early. The guard demanded I get out of the car and stand in line to get a badge, which I did. By the time I got up to the window the guy from Paprikaas was there with the badge. We both got back in my car and the driver took us to the building. Before the car was allowed in, they were doing something with a very strange/scary looking device with an antenna sticking out of it. I think it was some sort of explosives detection. I was told that security has been increased since the attacks on the hotels in Mumbai last December.

I got the grand tour of Paprikaas and met a bunch of people today. They are located in a HUGE technology park with lots of giant buildings, and even a mall with lots of restaurants. Paprikaas has 3 floors of the building they are in - 9, 10, and 11. I am on the 10th floor with the majority of production, IT and more production is on the 9th floor, and the 11th floor is a team of 75 people dedicated to Dreamworks. They have a dailies viewing room, ping pong room, acting room with mirrors all around and a video camera to record reference, HUGE training room equipped with dual projectors and an audio system, and a couple different cafeteria type rooms with tables and chairs to eat at. The production space is all fancy, colored cubicles. It's a very nice environment, not unlike studios in the US.

After my brief visit, the office assistant took me down to the mall so I could get something to eat - I was starving!! They have a ton of Indian restaurants, as well as Subway, Pizza Hut (which is extremely popular), KFC (also quite popular), and Baskin Robbins. I had Subway today.

The drive back to the hotel was fun, I now really enjoy riding in a car here. It's fun to watch all that is going on around you - Women sweeping loose dirt off of the dirt below (and I mean literally - piles of dirt), piles of garbage on the sides of the road growing as people throw more stuff on them, and children digging ditches with very primitive tools.

Back at my hotel, they go around the whole car with a mirror to look underneath for explosives, and they carefully inspect the inside and the trunk. After we go through the gate I must go through a metal detector and let them search my bag before I am allowed in.

I am exhausted, and very thirsty. I call room service to get me a bottle of water. It took 30 minutes to get the stupid water and when it arrived, a lady called me and said a man is waiting outside your door, please open it. I opened it to see a smiling indian man holding a nice basket lined with a cloth napkin, and a bottle of Aquafina laying neatly inside. It was all I could do not to laugh.

I am finishing up on my computer, checking my email, and getting ready to go to bed when the phone rings again. It is the same lady, and she says "There is a man outside your door with a bottle of wine, please let him in". I ran to the door and let him in - he ran into the room and left a bottle of wine in a basket on my table and quickly left. I had no idea what was going on or why they were giving me wine - I had not ordered it. It got the best of me and I decided to call room service to ask where it came from - the guy said he would find out. He called me back a couple minutes later and said "For you, the wine is complimentary". I still don't know where it came from or who paid for it.

What a long day, it will feel good to get some sleep.

12 days to go...