Diary
Dates: 3-11th July
Visa Process: Introduced a new e-visa which was quick and simple. Link.
Visit Purpose: To install Virteasy in one location and travel the country doing demos.
Fun Facts
India was under British rule from 1858 to 1947, a period known as the British Raj, which followed the control of the East India Company.
Capital: New Delhi
Population: 1.5b(!) Country || 250k Capital
Country Statistics
Land area: 3.3m km2
GDP (PPP): 4.1 trillion USD
Per capita (PPP): 3,000 USD
Note: PPP is adjusted GDP to make comparisons easier (difference in cost of living etc)
Diary
3rd July
Leaving for India was always going to be a test for my bipolar. Even more so as I didn’t realise one of my tablet boxes was only half full. Nevertheless I preceeded to the airport in good spirits, read my book and fell asleep. The neck pillow and eye cover I bought are really paying dividends now.
I explained my health concerns to the distributor who kindly acknowledged them and let me take a day to acclimatise myself. That said, we were on a schedule. Every other day was a work day other than Sunday.
It was getting off to a good start and I’m glad we found a quality, premium, distributor who was able to look after all the hotels etc to a very good standard. They even took me for a massage on the Sunday!
| 10 Jul | 11 Jul | Hyderabad 28°C |
| 9 Jul | 9 Jul | Bhubaneswar 31°C |
| 8 Jul | 8 Jul | Mangaluru |
| 6 Jul | 7 Jul | Chennai |
| 5 Jul | 5 Jul | Rajahmundry |
| 4 Jul | 4 Jul | Haryana |
| 3 Jul | 3 Jul | Rohtak |
It was nice getting to (quickly) visit new places, see what the culture was like, try a new dish and see a few surprises. For instance, one place had some Foster Water which was a bit mind boggling.
Apparently you can’t advertise Foster beer in this state but you can advertise… Foster Water 😉
We started and ended in Hyderabad where the supplier’s office is and had the good fortune to be shone to a private member’s club “Secunderabad Club” which had a couple of different outposts and even had hotel-like accomodation which the supplier booked me into.
Even the plates looked posh
As a bit of a whisky fan I was happy to try the local whisky which was called “Amrut” and they had the choices of “Number 1” and “Number 2” and that was it. On their website I see they have an array of whisky, but for me throughout the whole stay it was jusr “number 1 or number 2, sir?”
Although I found that a bit odd, everyone found the fact that I had the whisky straight as being exceptionally odd to the point that people were pointing at my glass as if I was crazy. For them, it was normal to add water. Not a drop mind you but a good old wallop of water the size of atleast the whisky.
Number 1 or number 2, sir?
The whole week was quite exciting, very rapid and I was well looked after. However, when it happenned I’m not sure, but upon returning home I ended up in hospital getting a endoscopy because of how badly my body took to some nasty bug I picked up somewhere. I’ve since been told that this also happens in the other direction. When Indians first come to Europe, they also get violently ill because their bodies aren’t habituated to our germs either.
Given the troubles I wasn’t rushing to come back but a few weeks later I found myself on my way to India once more.
Photo Album
