But of course, India wouldn't be nearly as fun if everything worked out exactly as you expected. Case in point: I head (yet again!) to the Foreigners Registration Office this morning to register on my glorious new visa. By now, I'm feeling rather self-assured and confident that I know the drill -- SO confident, in fact, that on the way I email our incoming Acumen Fellow instructions and advice for registering once she arrives. At the FRO, a sign in giant letters warns that foreigners are ***ONLY*** allowed between the hours of 10:30am and 12:30pm, and I'm there exactly at 10.29am... only to be told that I must return at 2pm to complete my registration. Huh?? And to top it off, they actually mean TOMORROW at 2pm...So much for my premature self-assuredness! :)
By now, I've learned to laugh at this (kindda). After all, you come to be prepared for all sorts of hurdles around registration and visa. What still continues to shock me, though, are things that "don't work" that defy all logic and reality.
Case in point: technology. Clearly a strength of India and Hyderabad, with all its IT and tech companies. In fact, when I was back in NY last week, I was laughing at how 1990s I was without a cell phone and internet... trying to find virtually non-existent internet cafes and making calls on phone booths -- remembering like an old granny how "when I was a little girl, there was a phone booth on EVERY block!" (In fact, I remember practicing case study questions as a college senior such as: How many pay phones are there in New York City? Answer in 2009: 5. And I've made calls on all of them :)
But I digress... In India (as I suppose, everywhere), there are things you expect NOT to work, and there are things you expect to work. Internet and technology is something I expect to work. Mind you, not reliable internet, but logical internet. Some samplings of my recent experiences that defy logic and are "fascinating" on good days and "ARG!!! -- why doesn't anything here WORK?!?!" on bad days:
(1) When my MacBook is plugged in for internet (as opposed to wireless), the ONLY websites that work are Google related... Google works, gmail works, Blogger and Picassa work... but when I click on any other site (e.g. a link found on Google), it says "You are not connected to Internet." This happens regardless of where I plug in! Tyler and I joke that I have a Google-only laptop. Seriously though, that's just WEIRD.
(2) I can't go on certain sites at work (like the FRO site!), and this is NOT due to security -- which I've triple-checked with IT and also called our vendor. Even when I bypass work internet and use a data card, I *still* can't access those sites, while friends in other locations can. The only explanation I was given yesterday is this is due to Airtel, which is like hearing Verizon randomly doesn't let you call ONE number out of millions (OH, and don't even get me started on the phone companies here! ;)
(3) Emails get sent out from my work address and are received by SOME people and not others... even though other emails reach those same people on the same day.
Odd I tell you. My yoga teacher (and very good friend) advises that I stop focusing on what's wrong because I'm bound to find it (as if on cue, at that instant a car begins honking its horn for what feels like an eternity!). She instead reminds me to appreciate and give gratitude for everything good around me. And really, that's what this blog is all about.
But once in a while, you just have to vent! :)
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