Posting Pictures

It has come to my attention, that I'm boring. ;) Just kidding. I know I haven't posted nearly enough pictures of my trip, but I'm going to remedy that RIGHT NOW.


This was the place I stayed while in Bangalore. It was a cute little service apartment about 4 blocks from Dhruva Interactive, the company that I was working with there. The kid who worked/lived there was nice, putting up with me coming home late. That was probably the most interesting aspect of the service apartment was that the help actually lived and worked there. He was around at all hours if you needed something. Service apartments came about actually because hotel prices in Bangalore are astronomical, even by US standards. In many cases people will stay at a hotel during the week and fly somewhere else on the weekends to avoid paying the weekend rates at hotels. I was happy to have this spot though.

One evening I ordered Dominoes Pizza (I know, I'm a sissy American), but I was craving cheese. Anyway, I ended up sharing a couple of slices with the kid. He was really nice and always willing to help out. His English was ok, but he got the important things, "shaver" (razor), "coffee", "laundry", "beer". It worked out well.


This is the main office of Dhruva in Bangalore. They actually own the building next door, as well as another building a block over. It's a cute place. It's got a spot on the roof of the building where they serve lunches. Parking is limited, but most folks ride mopeds or motorcycles into work anyway. Only a couple of people drive in cars regularly. You can see the corner of an auto-rickshaw in this picture. I think they were dropping off lunch actually.


I managed to make it out to the country on one day, offering myself up to the mosquito gods. It actually was just fine. I think I'd managed to consume enough spicy food by that point, that I wasn't totally attractive to mosquitoes, certainly not as much as a McDonald's fed white-boy. This was at a secular ashram outside of town called Fireflies. I was was there to meet with some members of the SILK list, a mailing list started by a guy named Udhay, and also referenced by Chris Kelty's work on Geeks and social imaginaries. I met all sorts of interesting people at this event. It was actually really neat, while we were there, about dusk there were thousands of dragonflies buzzing around, I can only assume they were munching on mosquitoes, but I'd never seen so many in one concentrated area. It was quite beautiful.


So, from ashram to the Bangalore pubs. This is one thing that Bangalore is known for, it's pub scene. There are numerous urban professionals that frequent these pubs. Many play hard rock or heavy metal. This particular one "Le Rock" played Led Zeplin, Metallica, and numerous other "metal" bands, however they did so from DVD rather than from CD or MP3, so one wall contained a large TV showing the video that went with the music. Quite interesting. This is Vinay from Dhruva. No, he's not drinking it all by himself. Keyshav and myself were quite capable as well.

Oddly enough, if Bangalore has a pub scene, Hyderabad has a lounge scene. I'll try to get some pictures.


So, auto-rickshaws, my primary means of transportation in Bangalore. Now that I'm in Hyderabad, I'm fed up with rick's. The ones in Bangalore, as long as you knew the town name, and cross streets, you were fine. You would likely arrive with only minor detours along the way. Hyderabad has been another story completely. Between them not wanting to run the meters and negotiating rates up front and then changing the amount they want on arrival, pretending to not have change, attempting to drive you all over town, driving like speed demons, and my recent favorite was the knocking over of a pedestrian, I've been mostly walking here in Hyderabad. Though the infrastructure here in Hyderabad is far superior to Bangalore's, it is counteracted (at least for me) by an inability to explain to rickshaw drivers where I want to go. Naming a town and streets does little good, and even when I do manage to convince them where to go, I have to actually direct them most of the way, often being dropped off prior to where I had been expecting to be dropped off. Not so fun.


Here is the hotel I'm staying at in Hyderabad. It's quite nice. Tequa has even gotten the royal treatment here. No, I didn't place her there, the cleaning people did. She says it's not time to go yet. She likes the people working here.

(50.0)

Leaving Bangalore Soon

I figured it was high time that I post some photos of my place here in Bangalore, now that I'm going to be leaving here pretty soon. Below is a picture of my bed at Aranha Homes here. I was going to be staying at "The Haven" but instead wound up at "Park Avenue." It has been a very nice place to stay, and compared with the cost of hotels in the area, it is very reasonable. All told it runs for about 1500 INR (~$35.00) per night. It's comfy, and the help is very nice.


You can see that using Skype as my main communication back to home has meant that my laptop winds up next to me on the bed. It's just more comfortable than sitting at the desk talking to people. The bed is pretty stiff (which took some getting used to, but isn't bad), so you could probably jump on the bed (if the frame doesn't break) and the laptop wouldn't fall (until it did, because you broke the frame). Tequa (the dog) game along for the ride. I think you can see some Dhruva business cards, my headset, toothbrush, and iPod hanging out.

If you look on the back wall there are all the switches for things. Pretty much every outlet has an on/off switch, which is pretty impressive. The little night-light actually doubles as mosquito protection. I have no idea how bad it is for me, but these little lights are all over, so if I was going to grow a 3rd eye, I hope it would have happened by now. I have noticed that it kills more than just mosquitoes, it's managed to take out a couple of ants and little bugs that have wandered into my room.

The water heater. This my favorite. No, not because it has horses, but because it's got an on/off switch! I know that ones in the US do too, but because they're so big, if you shut them off it will take a while for the water to get hot again, plus you typically have to go into a closet/basement/garage/etc there the thing is. Not this baby. I've got my own personal on/off switch, and it takes about five minutes for it to rev up. It also means that no one can steal all of my hot water. My guess is about 5 gallons, though it would be liters here...


Related to water, I figured out water flows in Bangalore, which is quite different from the states. Rather than the system being fully pressurized (which it is in the states, and I assume requires all those huge pipes that when they break gush water onto the streets) here they are much lower pressure. Water flows into a storage tank at the base level of the house (it's actually lower in the ground, so it uses gravity to help pull the water in). Then that water is pumped into another storage container on the top of the house. Gravity then does the trick of giving you the tap pressure. Pretty cool.

I discovered this, because apparently the storage container on the roof ran out, so I watch the young man that works at the house trying to figure out what had happened. It was fun watching him troubleshoot it, because it allowed me a chance to observe how the whole system worked.

Back to work with me, I've got three interviews this afternoon! Phew!

(30.0)

Road Cows and Road Dogs - An Ecology of its Own

So, the other morning I woke up to find "Bessy" sitting just outside he door of the place I'm staying. Now, the thing is, it's not all that interesting, it's just the first time I've seen one of these cows just chilling out. I've seen a fair number of cows munching on random garbage and food leftovers.

There are also a lot of random "road dogs" as I call them (and Bessy was a "road cow") because well, they pretty much wander around the roads. I'm curious who they belong to. I mean, I can accept stray dogs mentally, but not really stray cows. I have not seen any stray cats, though I thought I heard a cat in heat behind the building a night or two ago.

The interesting thing about these road animals are their ecology. The garbage collection infrastructure here is not so hot, so you wind up with a lot of garbage just being dumped along the side of the road, or over walls of discarded buildings, or fences that were put there for some reason or another. Garbage gets tossed into/onto these different areas, and it collects. But that's not to say it just sits there. First the road cows seem to get first pick (assuming they're around). What the cows don't eat, the dogs get a crack at. Just the other day I saw a road rat, which I suspect is what gets to eat once the dogs are through.

A day or two ago, on my way towards the office, I encountered the Bangalorian equi sewer rat. However, there largely isn't rain water drainage system, but there are rather large troughs dug out (and often even reinforced with stone, and some are then even covered with stones as well (water can then run through the cracks down below). Well, this rat (who wasn't far from a food vendors regular spot...smart rat) had set up home invalent of a one of these drainage ditches. He was attempting to snag some food as I approached, but got nervous and scurried into his hole. He then poked his head out to watch me pass.

Tomorrow I'm going out on a little trip for a gathering of the SILK mailing list members. It should be a fun trip, and I'll get to see parts of the area surrounding Bangalore that I would not have been able to otherwise. The camera is going to join me. I'm trying to get a little less shy about using it. Sitting around with a notebook/laptop is one thing, the camera is a whole other ball of wax.

(17.5)

Remaining Bits and Pieces Settling Down

I don't have much broader commentary today. More experiential. I've been busy making sure all of the logistical bits and pieces are falling in to place. The two HR managers at RedOctane and Dhruva, have been extremely helpful in making all of this fairly simple for me. All of my internal airfare and lodging is finalized, so I don't have to worry about that any more. I've also managed to find a fair number of folks to chat with in Hyderabad, so that risk has paid off. Even though members of the International Game Developers Association (IGDA) clamored that I must visit Hyderabad, I found very few developers actually willing to sit down and talk with me.

I'm going to be running a slew of interviews in the coming days, which will keep me very busy. I likely wont do much with these until after I get back to the states. Perhaps listen through them again afterwards, but no transcribing. I did realize yesterday just how much Rajesh here at Dhruva knows about the internal layout of the companies around him (I suppose that's part of his job as a CEO). It was pretty impressive. I'm hoping that he can draw a map of that world. We were planning on a meeting this afternoon, but something seemed to come up.

The nice thing is that it sounds like I've got a good cross-section of these companies, and even if I haven't been able to get sit-in time with all of them, I'll at least have an opportunity to chat with a few folks from many of them. I also got a good feel about some of the studios that I was hoping to visit, but didn't pan out, and while I'm sad that I couldn't check out India Games, I've also now got a better idea about what they're up to.

I'm going to move from the console group here to the mobile group to get a feel for what's going on over there.

Today is very nice out. Its the hottest its been since I arrived, though even now at a little after 4:30pm (IST) it has cooled down significantly. The sun is shining (we've had a fair amount of rain and cloudy skies) and I have every intention to take a slew of photos. I know I've been negligent in posting those.

Last night I ate at Friday's. Yes, I know... How very American of me. It was actually quite fun, because I ended up sitting next to a guy full of commentary about video games in India. Plus I just really wanted some mozzarella sticks. I've made it a rule that I cannot go to a place more than once while I'm here, and have stuck to that pretty well. Other than that I've made it out to many different kinds of places and had numerous different kinds of foods. I keep being encouraged to try places that aren't "Indian," but Indian versions of other foods. For example the "American" salad I had at Fridays was quite spicy, and very good. The mozz sticks were another story, you just can't adjust those too much. People keep recommending "East Asian" and "Italian" places, so I'm doing well with my goal. I'm also one go off a recommendation before I just start wandering.

Tomorrow night I'm going to have a couple of beers with guys from here after work, so that should be fun.

(15.0)

I Need an Address

So apparently it is difficult to get a cell phone if you do not have a permanent address where you're trying to get one. So I've discovered. Well, here's to trying. Haven't had any luck yet. I'm trying to get some kind of document from Dhruva that will help me get it, but folks have been busy. I partially just want one so I can tell what time it is without my computer. And also because the automated wake-up call system at the place I'm staying I suspect does not understand IST being GMT + 5:30. That extra thirty minutes seems to throw things off. Yes, I know I could just adjust my wake-up call setting by 30 minutes.

I've got a nice spot at Dhruva. They keep the lights on more than the VV folks, not that it's good or bad, just different. There's a whole lot of modeling and texturing going on. I'm currently hanging out with a rather large art team doing production work for a Xbox 360 game. Next week I'm going to spend some time with the teams doing mobile development, they've got artists, engineers, and a handful of designers working together on those projects.

Going to spend some time walking around a bit tonight. I ate at the place I'm staying last night, so I figure it's time to get out and look around. 100 Feet Road is a main drag, and it's busy. I'm going to try and get into downtown Bangalore this weekend and check out the pub scene which Mr. Kelty has written about. I'm going to try and get together with some of the Silk list boys for that. I hear from several developers here (one who is working on a billiards game) that apparently Hyderabad has some nice pool halls.

I saw my first road cow last night. It wasn't on the main drag, but I hear they wander out there once in a while. These road cows were just on a side street. Road dogs on the other hand are far more prevalent. One this morning was asleep on a pile of sand (being used to work into concrete for building projects) that was 1/2 in the road. Didn't budge as cars drove inches from it. I've also heard a goat, but I haven't seen it, yet. The 100 Foot Road is quite a sight, watching motorcycles, mopeds, motorized rickshaws, cars, trucks, and people all going along. I'm fascinated by the horn language that is employed. Chirps, double-chirps, blasts, it all means something, but I'm not sure what yet. I did try to get into the drivers side of a car, left side to ride white boy!

Dhruva serves lunch each day on the roof of this main building. It's been fun sitting and chatting with folks and munching away on some tasty food.

Today the power has been very iffy, I've seen the lights flicker and the generators kick on several times already today. The generators for some of these buildings are quite impressive. A significant part of several of them are taken up by their mass.

(5.0)

The Chicken-Fried-Turkey Has Landed

Well, I've arrived. Slightly harried by CDG's (That would be Charles de Gaulle International Airport) TSA equivalents. What a thankless job, really. Making people throw away makeup, toothpaste, eye-liner, bottled water, half-full soda bottles, or my empty Nalgene bottle and full and fully sealed bottles of liquor purchased in JFK's duty-free store including receipts for your would be new informants. I now feel much safer. Thank you CDG.

That however was not nearly as entertaining as having one of my abused pieces of luggage being tagged for inspection at Bangalore's custom counter.

"What's this?"
"My keyboard."
"What's this?"
"My mouse."
"What's this?"
"The adapter for the power for my laptop."
"What's this?"
"The adapter for the power for my iPod. I think I have a screwdriver over there. Oh, and a Leatherman." (Trying to helpfully locate whatever it is must have looked dangerous)
"What's this?"
"More cables, that ones for my camera, that's my iPod mic, that cable is for..."
"Get out of here."

But, all of that said, I'm here, I'm settled, and I'm happily sitting at some free horizontal space at Dhruva here in Bangalore. Everyone here has been very cool. I was led around the three different office locations earlier today and introduced to just about everyone. Now I face being completely unable to remember ANYONE's name. But at least most everyone knows who I am, and that I'm not too scary. I wore a nice shirt this morning, just in case. You never know really. Thankfully I wore my "The Scream" shirt by Edvard Munch underneath. This put most of the artists far more at ease. Nothing like a tucked in collared shirt to make a game developer nervous.

I ate lunch with the two art leads on the PC and console side today, as well as the engineering lead on the mobile side. It was fun. It started off with a discussion of my work, but quickly segued into a discussion on games that were CPU tied rather than on time. You know, those old games that when run on new hardware do extremely bizarre things because CPU cycles are no longer at a premium. You remember, that "turbo" button on your 486? Thus far the tummy is 98% at ease. Bottle water plus not going overboard on the hot stuff. I attribute the 2% to jet-lag.

Skype is now officially my favorite company. Without them I'm sure that communication with home would be much more difficult. It works and works well. I can't call the US for free (I guess the deal is just calling the US from within the US, though that wasn't clear on the website), but I can receive as many calls as I like on my Skyp-In number without costing me any more than the activation. And really, at $0.025 per minute, I don't mind making calls out.

I'm going to get a cell phone this evening. That will be fun. Apparently there is some ammusing bureaucracy associated with getting a SIM card for it. It, much like the TSA and it's international brother/sister operations, probably has to do with terror(ism).

(2.5)