Introducing the Ciber India office and Lawson team...

I suppose it's time I introduce all of you to Ciber's office in Bangalore and our Infor/Lawson team.  Afterall, that's why I made the trek halfway around the world. :)  

Main entrance to our office area on the 6th floor.

  

Here is the team.  Left to right...Satish, Jey, Vikram, me, Seshadhri, Pooja, and Madhu.  Satish, Jey, and Seshadhri were the 3 participating in the training.  Vikram and Pooja came to visit.  Madhu is the Director.  Very fun and friendly bunch! 

The office has a nice cafeteria.  Here are some lunch time pics.

 

More to come in a future post.  It was not all work and no fun with the team. :)  Here is a sneak peak...This was at a "milestone" point in the training class.  Plus it was Friday!  Time to celebrate a bit!!!

Free day...Phew!

Bangalore was not all work and no fun.  Oh....I should say a HUGE "thank you" to Pooja Menon!  She works for Ciber in India and she coordinates the logistical details for employees and clients visiting Bangalore.  She spent her entire Saturday with me during my "free day".

We visited a Hindu temple called the ISKCON Temple.
http://www.iskconbangalore.org/temple-information

Out of respect, no shoes or cameras are allowed in the temple, but I did get some pictures from outside.

There is one additional memory I will take from this very old and traditional temple.  Usually I will try most anything once, but there is one experience I hoped to avoid during my trip to India.  HINT: Keep in mind that this temple was about an hour drive away from my hotel.  And we visited pretty early on Saturday morning after breakfast where I drank my usual coffee and juice.  Any ideas?

You might have guessed it.  Before going inside the temple, I decided I should go to the Ladies room.  As I walked in, I realized these were NOT western-style toilets.  Squatty potty!  Trust me when I say that I seriously considered trying to wait, but it was clear to me I would not make it back to the hotel.  It could have been a worse experience, but I'm glad it's only something I experienced once on my trip.

We arrived back at the hotel before noon.  The hotel had invited a special chef in for the weekend.  The TV show "MasterChef: Austrailia" is popular in India.  2011 winner...Kate Bracks was giving some free cooking demonstrations.  So Pooja and I attended one of them and enjoyed some free samples.  YUM!
http://www.masterchef.com.au/2011-finale-behind-the-scenes.htm

The day didn't end there.  I still had a lot of souvenirs to buy.  Pooja Kowledurga (from our Infor/Lawson team) made quite a lengthy journey to join Pooja Menon and I for the afternoon.  I did not get pictures of all the places we stopped, but here I am outside of Phoenix MarketCity...easily the biggest mall I visited in Bangalore.  Because of the selection of stores and restaurants and proximity to the office, I went to this mall several times.

In addition, we also went to some handi-craft stores this day.  Also we went to the more upscale (UB City) area so I could buy a couple souvenirs at the Bangalore Harley Davidson.  I could not afford much at the fancy mall, but we enjoyed a very nice Italian dinner!  There are pictures along the top of their web page.  Or you can watch a 2.5 minute video tour.
http://www.ubcitybangalore.in/walkthrough.html

The temple visit, cooking demonstration, 5 hours shopping, and relaxing dinner all made for a full day.  BUT Pooja and I made one more shopping stop after dinner at an area called Commercial Street.  With most of my souvenirs purchased and future plans made to buy the remaining few, we finally called it a day.  I got back to the hotel shortly after 9pm.  Very fun but exhausting FREE DAY! :)

Upcoming posts...

More to come...topics include:

Traffic / transportation in Bangalore
Ciber office and our team there
Return flight - Bangalore airport

I did not go hungry!

You might think all I had was Indian food while I was in Bangalore.  That could not be further from the truth. Thanks to the international buffet at the hotel, I even had (well prepared) beef a couple of times. :)  There were quite a lot of chicken dishes.  Some lamb and pork too.  I always asked if a dish was spicy, if it was not already marked.  Flavor I like.  Spice...not so much!

There was a shopping mall connected to the hotel.  So I made a bit of a game of trying out the fast food restaurants we have in the US to compare those in India.  You can look at some of their menus.  When you see "burger", think something like a Tyson chicken patty that is deep fried.

Vegetarian is very main stream in India.  So you often see "veg" and "non-veg" choices on the menu.  Or at places like Subway, there are separate counters so the "non-veg" veggies have no chance of contaminating the "veg" veggies.

McDonalds
http://www.mcdonaldsindia.com/menu.html

Subway
http://www.subway.co.in/page_menu_index.html

Quiznos
http://www.quiznosindia.com/menu.php

Pizza Hut
http://pizzahut.co.in/pizzas_mia_menu.php?city_id=25

KFC (this was my first meal outside the hotel)
http://www.kfc.co.in/menuwow.php

I also ate in a California Pizza Kitchen and in Chili's while there.  I ate Chinese food once too.  Make no mistake though, I had Indian food too. :) In fact, one night the Director over the Infor/Lawson group invited me over to his house to meet his wife and son.  His wife cooked a traditional Indian meal.  The veggies were poured over rice.  And the bread is used to help eat it all with your hands.  Although for some things a spoon can be used, such as for the dessert (rice pudding type of thing).

The hotel had a fabulous restaurant which served a buffet at every meal.  Usually I ate breakfast there and sometimes dinner.  Dinner also had a separate menu, if you preferred.  Here are some pics of the seating areas and the buffets.

Breakfast Buffet pics

Fresh fruits and juices...probably my favorite part of breakfast! 

Made to order omlette and pancake/waffle stations

Indian breakfast food

My hotel in Bangalore

I definitely did not sacrifice anything in my hotel choice.  The Bengaluru Marriott opened about 6 weeks before I arrived.  It's considered a 5-star hotel by India standards.  I would agree.  Thankfully it did not cost that much though. :)  Before tax, it was about $150/night.  "Bengaluru" is a local way to also say "Bangalore".  Here is the hotel website.
http://www.bangaloremarriott.com

And some pictures of my room.  There was even a treat to welcome me.

Something I've never seen in the US.  They had a modern, efficient way of controlling A/C, setting the "do not disturb", and notifying housekeeping if you needed your room cleaned.  Besides setting the thermostat, the key had to be in the slot inside the room for the A/C to stay on for more than 5 minutes.  Saves energy when you are not in the room.

Normal view outside door; Button on right is a doorbell.  No need to knock.

Outside door lights when "do not disturb" turned on 

Housekeeping service light

Housekeeping was excellent too.  Most days I found a surprise towel animal there to greet me.  After a long day, I looked forward to them.  My favorite was the alligator eating the fish. LOL!  

I realize I did not get many hotel lobby pictures, but it was VERY nice.  This one was from the outdoor eating area one evening.  It was a very pretty water and fire feature.  

And a couple of outdoor views of the hotel and entrance

More to come regarding food at the hotel restaurant....