Ate breakfast with Lynneth at 7a and caught a car with both her and Nikola to the office. Along the way the driver explained the difference between Hindi and Marathi — both use the same script but have different words. He also spoke about the rapid growth of the area and that in the past fancy cars like Mercedes and Audi were cause for staring but are now passe, that the concrete jungle that Pune has become is changing the local climate. The monsoon season the year prior was extremely dry, leading to a low water supply.
Early morning street scene in Pune
Another view from the route to the office
Bollywood poster on the outside wall of the movie theater near Margapatta City
Beautifully painted truck
Shortly after arriving at work I caught up with Ravindra. Following that was knowledge transfer until lunch around 1p. Ate at the cafe with Anshul, a meal of red beans and rice and some delicious food, including cauliflower, Anshul brought from home. Anshul mentioned that his family had celebrated Lohri the previous night and that today was the day that many would fly kites.
As we finished lunch very quickly Anshul suggested we head to a nearby Starbucks to get some coffee. I got a coffee frappaccino that was every bit as great as those at home. We chatted about movies, including a video of an epic one that I had seen a clip on YouTube. Turns out it was the highest grossing Indian movie in history, Bahubali. What’s interesting is that Bahubali is the product of the southern Indian film industry which is very much in the shadows of Mumbai’s Bollywood. The movie is about two brothers that are vying to rule a kingdom, proving themselves by trying to kill an enemy that is trying to take over the kingdom.
Starbucks Coffee in India
Returning to work we worked until 5:30p then headed back to the hotel solo (Lynneth and Nikola had dinner plans). Filmed the trip back to the hotel but unfortunately the traffic was fairly tame (Indian rush hour is closer to 6p – 7p rather than a bit earlier in the US). As I arrived at the room the Muslim call to prayer was going out. Worked on the blog, worked on work, and turned in around midnight.