Where the %#$&* is Scott?

Thanks to assistance from my good friend Enrique who is world-savvy, here's a link that I specified a bit more.



Once you click the link,



1. Click the Hybrid tab in the upper right corner - you'll get the Google World actual photo of where I am.

2. Zoom in closer. The closest you can go is the second to last notch.

3. Just to the left of the green dot at the intersection BEFORE the road that borders the park - that is where I am staying. (The end of the T-intersection.)

4. You can see the trails I've been talking about in the park to the left.



http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&q=Road+No.+14,+Banjara+Hills,+Hyderabad-34,+Andhra+Pradesh,+India+map&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wl


-IndiaScott

Little cocks and captionlings

I have finally adjusted to the time difference. And I have somewhat of a routine that I'm enjoying. It's Wednesday afternoon here, 12:28 p.m. In Los Angeles it's 11:58 p.m. I think Hyderabad alone attributes to the extra half hour or lack thereof. It's pouring rain outside after being sunny and bright just 10 minutes ago.

Two nights ago I woke up at four in the morning; my body thought it was 3:30 in the afternoon. I watched Tiger win the PGA Tour Championship by 8 strokes. Ho-hum. I went back to sleep.


I woke up at seven - on my own - this would never happen in LA with me - and walked to the park nearby, a two-minute walk - the KBR(Kasu Brahmananda Reddy) National Park. The park is fascinating; a rich, cultivated forest with wide dirt rock-lined paths. It's fascinating moreso because it's juxtaposed with the hustle and bustle-honks of the Hyderabad; signs line the park within that read, "Observe the sweet silence of the nature around you," and "Man belongs to Nature. Nature does not belong to Man." One of my favorites, "While in the park... The only thing you should shoot is photographs. The only thing you should kill is time." It's the jungle admidst the concrete jungle. I did not coin this last phrase. (multi-reference from Wikipedia, 2007.)

The most common sighting within the park is the peacock. My first day in the park(I ran again there this morning), I went off the beaten path into the forestry and came across a large female peacock. Upon seeing me, she rose up onto a rock slate to gander my way, and I quickly saw that she had some little followers. Little baby peacocks - seven of them. She responded to my presence by turning away and trotting down the rock, and the little baby cocks followed - hopping up onto the rock in a line, and jumping down the rock away, disappearing into the brush. This brought a big smile to my face - they were following mommy.

Peaceful now, I was ready for my first day of work. I have two pupils so far - Balakrishna and Guru. They are 25ish young men. Guru calls me Guru. He is right. I am the man. However, this is all a bunch of bullshit unless I get them to learn captioning and grammar. As well as listening and hearing accurately what is said.

Guru typed, "I GOT BACK IN FISH POND AND KNOW LEFT ROCK." When I checked his work I asked him if that made sense. I had him read it to me out loud. This was a very contentious moment. If he thinks what he just typed makes sense - that means there is NO HOPE. Whatever I do for the next 6 weeks is pointless. Because he is an English-related idiot.

But he answered right. He laughed, "No, Mr. Guru Scott, it does not make sense at all." Ahh. Thank God. Thank Buddha. I had him relisten. Again and again. Then he came up with, "I GOT BACK FROM THE FISH POND AND HAD LEFT MY ROCK." Damn. Pretty close. Okay, he didn't know the word "rod." I can live with that. I can teach this man. "It's 'rod,' Guru. You fish with a rod. The kid left his fishing rod."

"Oh, thank you. Yes." Both of them have the same attitude and understanding of what sounds right, albeit after the fact. So, an uphill battle. But this is only Day 2. Tomorrow I get two more new employees to teach. They are both young women. Excited at the prospect, Guru laughed and said he'll take over the training from here. "Keep it in your pants, Guru," I said.

"What do you mean, Scott?" he asked.

"I'm the guru, Guru. That's your lesson for today."

I'm here. Where's the toilet paper?

First I must edify the previous post. Although it was a lengthy journey, I discovered that I had a 10-hour layover in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Nicely, ThinkSmart put me up in a local hotel - The Empress - that also supplied me with two meal tickets during my stay.

Upon my arrival to The Empress, I fashioned their lunch buffet, and found myself picking at vegetable curry while I watched Australian rugby. Australia beat the Wallabies, 34-20. I left the hotel hungry and wandered the area, rundown and shabby. I have yet the ability to import photos on this trip(please bear with me), but I would've captured a wonderful old KFC-Sheeba's Refigeration maintenance truck that was in front of, obviously, a KFC. Sheeba was fixing the sign. There was no chicken in sight. Or whatever it actually is.

Two Indian lads I met during my unfulfilling buffet lunch recommended the 4-hour tour of Kuala Lumpur, and when I returned from my walk, a tour was leaving. One seat left. I took it. Everyone in the van was Indian, including the driver(a self-proclaimed third generation Malaysian-Indian), so for the 45-minute trip to Kuala Lump, I kept my trap shut.

I went on the tour trip because my lunch lads had told me about the big tower in the city, some 500 meters high(over a quarter mile). On the drive to the big tower, I saw a sign for Infrastructure University as well as a huge billboard for my state-of-the-art Samsung futuristic cell phone that I had left at home, broken. I miss it dearly. But infrastructure - Kuala Lumpur is in need of that - a beautiful city of green and fine artchitecture that is exploding with growth, yet interlaced with poverty and run-down facades. The tower taught me this. For every fine looking anglular temple, there is a nearby shoddy cement building with old dirty blankets and peering eyes looking out. But a degree from Infrastructure University will solve that!

So I arrived here in Hyderabad. Oh, and another thing I learned from my lunch mates: how to pronounce the city name - I thought very important to learn BEFORE you arrive in Hyderabad. I had been telling everyone I was travevling to Hyder-a-bad. But fortunately I was corrected - it's Hyde-ra-bad. It sounds way better. And less offensive. Well, not offensive at all.

Upon exiting the plane from Kuala Lumpur, I was met by three Indian gents, one of them I would be spending a lot of time with - my guide, My Man Friday - Baskhar. (I didn't name him My Man Friday, okay - Vishnu, the CEO of ThinkSmart, told me that over the phone, this morning. "He's your man, whatever you need, he's your Man Friday.") And effective, because now I can abuse him with no regrets whatsoever.

Now I have to leave the office(the only place with internet for me - albeit, a very nice office with a very nice chair htey gave me), so I will only mention one more thing for now.

They honk a lot. I think they do because they don't have a word in Hindi for it. But driving from the airport at 1:00 a.m., the driver guy - learning 4 Hindi names in 5 minutes is tough to remember - the driver guy kept honking about every 5 seconds. Honk. Honk, honk! However, it's really never out of anger like in Los Angeles, but more... to let people know that you are coming, and you may hit them if they do not move immediately. Nice. It has something to do with the fact that Hyderabad is a city of about 1 million people and very few traffic lights, street signs, or well-maintained roads. So it's really out of courtesy. Honk, honk! I am here! I am here! I am here! >> That was in reference to the horns - and me.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot. The title of the post. Right now, I am typing in the ThinkSmart office, and I have been holding in a Number 2 for an hour. Take a guess why. I went into the bathroom earlier and found no toilet paper - but worse, there was no place where the toilet paper should be. I immediately came back to the office and asked Baskhar where the toilet paper was, and he laughed, "There is no toilet paper, Scott. Welcome to India."

-Scott

Launch: Los Angeles

Welcome to India Scott blog dot on my forehead dot com. The premise is this: A company is paying me to go to India to teach. More specifically, Hyderabad, India. Don't worry, I got all my necessary immunizations this afternoon. My arms hurt. 4 shots.

But let's not simplify and generalize, that's not what this blog is about. This blog is about the fact that I, as you know me, Scott, is being paid by a company - ThinkSmart - to go to India to teach their employees the fine art of closed captioning. Closed captioning in it's best form provides all the specific words and sound effects within a TV program or film, all the while communicating that information with perfect grammar and spelling and readibility. I must get these Indians to the gold standard - my standard.

That's it for now - I have to finish packing to get ready for my 30-hour flight. ThinkSmart has gone first class and booked me in a plush economy seat on Malaysia Airlines that leaves at 1:30 in the morning from LAX. From here I fly 14 hours to Taipei, Taiwan, before my connection to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia - 5 hours - and then I go directly to Hyderabad, India - just another 4 hours. Should be a great, fun flight. Including layovers, I'll arrive 2 days later than when I left Los Angeles.

This will be a life-changing experience for me - I'm not sure I'm ready for the impact the Hyderabadian culture will have on me. I'm sure I will assimilate and blend in seamlessly. I'll try and keep you posted with impressions and experiences as I go along.

-Scott

and TAIPEI, TAIWAN