New Jersey with a Breeze

Today our routine started. It was the first day on the job. So, the first time commuting to the job site, first interaction with our counterparts and all that. It was hard not to make comparisons between this trip and the previous one. And Chennai fared poorly in the comparison.

In previous posts, I described Bangalore as 1970's New York meets dusty cowtown. If you follow this metaphore, Chennai is more like a New Jersey. Bangalore has a buzz, a sense that things are going places and will be alright. You could walk to shopping and fine dining easily. Chennai doesn't give you that vibe. It has a little more menace, a little more desperation. A major landmark on the commute is the gigantic landfill. And it doesn't help that our hotel is out by the airport, so nothing is close by.

Now in fairness, we really have only driven around four or five hours in the city, so it's hard to tell. I have hopes that I can find fun and adventure in sunny Chennai, but perhaps it's more the base of opperations than a source of adventure.

To complete the comparison, the vendor this time is very different as well. In the previous engagement we were in a smallish office building worling with a staff of a dozen or so. This time the complex is sprawling and labyrnthyine. There are two security checkpoints to get to the bathroom. Even the staff got lost leading us to the lunchroom. When we arrived it took six or eight security guys to get us checked in, log our laptops and check us for thumb drives and such.

Good news though is that the staff are very bright and we know and like many of them. Good news also that the weather has been milder than expected. It's still a steamy sauna, but it's been tempered by a cool breeze here and there. So, New Jersey with a breeze. That's not so bad.