Wednesday, August 6, 2008
The tour of our Pad
Here is a brief tour of our apartment. We start in the living room then go to Jeff's office and end in the bedroom/ zak's office.
Beach front in Chennai
We decided to visit Chennai's beach because our friend highly recommended it to us. I think we took a wrong turn or something... On our way to the beach we walked by 19 goats, 28 chickens, 13 dogs, and they were all just walking around and eating any garbage they could find. After walking down a narrow animal lined street we reached the water!!!! Just to find fishing boats and dead fish everywhere. We shot these videos from the spot we first stepped foot on Chennai's beach. We noticed about 500 yards to the left a bunch of Asian and western tourists enjoying nice clean sand. So we walked over to the tourist section to buy some ice cream and we ate it together in a park across from the beach.
Jeff's office
To be a productive as possible my office (Jeff) is in a completely separate room than Zak's office. We can communicate via G Chat, skype, and yelling. Here is a brief tour of my office for the past week.
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
day recap
its been so great getting the emails and comments from all of you. its great to know you are all reading - its fun to share our experiences.
I have traveled a lot, but never quite like this. Gone is both the urge and obligation to 'take advantage of every moment' that is incumbent on such big trips; the feeling that I have to go out and explore, to experience new things, and to see all that I possibly can at every waking moment. Instead, I've replaced that sentiment with the focus and determination to work on my project with the zeal normally reserved for exploration.
Today was indicative of such a determination, it found both Jeff and I working from the apartment all day long. It was one productive day. I spent around 4 hours working with my coder to squash a new bug we discovered while Jeff spent even more time on a few projects of his own. We shared dinner and drinks at the one trendy spot in town, called Zara, a fancy tapas bar which was packed. Jeff had a cocktail called a 'harvard', with cinnamon infused rum. Pretty tasty.
We could not have found a better place to get our work done than Chennai. There are literally no distractions to our work: no friends around, nothing on TV, no idea where to go, how to communicate for the most part, no big tourist attractions, etc. Perhaps most importantly, there are no girls here to divert our attention. Because of the culture here in Chennai, women are rarely out alone - and never out to a bar. In fact, drinking is frowned upon here, so bars close at 12 on the weekends. It is incredible how much work you can get done when going out and chasing girls is not part of the itinerary. So, we basically picked the boringest town but we couldn't have picked a better place to really crank through our work.
We will be leaving here in the next few days to go to Bangalore, which is known as the Silicon Valley of India, where I am sure there will be some more distractions, but thats where we need to go next, so we just have to hunker down.
There is, however, one tourist spot I will try to make an effort to see, and that is the St. Thomas Cathedral. I took a very interesting class last semester called the Making of Christianity and we spent a good amount of time focusing on St. Thomas and his contribution to the rise of Christianity. For those of you who don't know, he was one of the 12 gospels. His writings were lost for almost 2,000 years until an entire codex in Coptic was found in a cave in Egypt in 1945. The writings were met with great fanfare from academics, but with great disdain from the Catholic church. Unlike the canonical gospels, Mathew, Mark, Luke, and John; Thomas' writing did not speak of stories of Jesus, but claimed to have literal sayings haven been spoken by the living Jesus of Nazereth. It also made no reference to sayings of Jesus after his crucifixiton, something which both shook and troubled the Church. To scholars, it was very interesting to possibly have the literal words spoken by Jesus to provide some first hand account of the actual, living man. The word of God has long been sought after, especially because the first line of Exodus proclaims "In the beginning, there was the word, and the word was God." Did Thomas' writings hold the key to deciphering thousands of years of mystery and debate?
Either way, when this document was discovered it sent shockwaves through the academic and religious world. To make a long story short, this guy, Thomas, wandered all the way from Egypt eastwards to India bringing the Gospel with him and preaching to anyone who would listen. It was here, in Chennai India, of all places, where he eventually settled in the first century AD and was then executed (martyred to some). His remains have been here ever since, and a cathedral was built in the 1500's to house them. I look forward to going to explore this place, given how much time I had spent studying him in class. Very serendipitous of me to stumble into Chennai I guess.
Ill let you know how it turns out. I also owe you a recount of the meeting with my coder, which I began to detail in an earlier post. stay tuned. off to bed now...
I have traveled a lot, but never quite like this. Gone is both the urge and obligation to 'take advantage of every moment' that is incumbent on such big trips; the feeling that I have to go out and explore, to experience new things, and to see all that I possibly can at every waking moment. Instead, I've replaced that sentiment with the focus and determination to work on my project with the zeal normally reserved for exploration.
Today was indicative of such a determination, it found both Jeff and I working from the apartment all day long. It was one productive day. I spent around 4 hours working with my coder to squash a new bug we discovered while Jeff spent even more time on a few projects of his own. We shared dinner and drinks at the one trendy spot in town, called Zara, a fancy tapas bar which was packed. Jeff had a cocktail called a 'harvard', with cinnamon infused rum. Pretty tasty.
We could not have found a better place to get our work done than Chennai. There are literally no distractions to our work: no friends around, nothing on TV, no idea where to go, how to communicate for the most part, no big tourist attractions, etc. Perhaps most importantly, there are no girls here to divert our attention. Because of the culture here in Chennai, women are rarely out alone - and never out to a bar. In fact, drinking is frowned upon here, so bars close at 12 on the weekends. It is incredible how much work you can get done when going out and chasing girls is not part of the itinerary. So, we basically picked the boringest town but we couldn't have picked a better place to really crank through our work.
We will be leaving here in the next few days to go to Bangalore, which is known as the Silicon Valley of India, where I am sure there will be some more distractions, but thats where we need to go next, so we just have to hunker down.
There is, however, one tourist spot I will try to make an effort to see, and that is the St. Thomas Cathedral. I took a very interesting class last semester called the Making of Christianity and we spent a good amount of time focusing on St. Thomas and his contribution to the rise of Christianity. For those of you who don't know, he was one of the 12 gospels. His writings were lost for almost 2,000 years until an entire codex in Coptic was found in a cave in Egypt in 1945. The writings were met with great fanfare from academics, but with great disdain from the Catholic church. Unlike the canonical gospels, Mathew, Mark, Luke, and John; Thomas' writing did not speak of stories of Jesus, but claimed to have literal sayings haven been spoken by the living Jesus of Nazereth. It also made no reference to sayings of Jesus after his crucifixiton, something which both shook and troubled the Church. To scholars, it was very interesting to possibly have the literal words spoken by Jesus to provide some first hand account of the actual, living man. The word of God has long been sought after, especially because the first line of Exodus proclaims "In the beginning, there was the word, and the word was God." Did Thomas' writings hold the key to deciphering thousands of years of mystery and debate?
Either way, when this document was discovered it sent shockwaves through the academic and religious world. To make a long story short, this guy, Thomas, wandered all the way from Egypt eastwards to India bringing the Gospel with him and preaching to anyone who would listen. It was here, in Chennai India, of all places, where he eventually settled in the first century AD and was then executed (martyred to some). His remains have been here ever since, and a cathedral was built in the 1500's to house them. I look forward to going to explore this place, given how much time I had spent studying him in class. Very serendipitous of me to stumble into Chennai I guess.
Ill let you know how it turns out. I also owe you a recount of the meeting with my coder, which I began to detail in an earlier post. stay tuned. off to bed now...
Pictures
(from top left to bottom right) A YMCA in Bombay on the beach- Zak in the middle of a street after visiting a Hindi Temple - The GateWay to India, it was built a long time ago- This is one of Mumbai's top beaches. Notice everyone fully dressed during monsoon season @ the beach...
Monday, August 4, 2008
The Indian Headshake
"Do you know how to get here?" I asked the rickshaw driver as I handed him the business card of the hotel before we committed to riding in his vehicle
He gently took the card from me and thoroughly read it. He looked back at me. He peered into my eyes, making strong eye contact, while his head tilted on his shoulders; his eyes floated up in his head and His lips turned up in a cryptic smile. He shook his head at me which seemed to indicate he unfortunately did not know the location, but the coy smile communicated that we were being no bother to him.
Taking his head shake as a sign I would have to find another rickshaw, I thanked him and began to turn away.
"80 Rupees!" he said to me, before I had even made one step away.
I looked at Jeff. Why would we go with this guy if he had no idea where we going?
_______
"Can I have some coffee, please?" Jeff asked our waiter. The same response demonstrated by our rickshaw driver was made by the waiter, a slight shake of the head, with an enigmatic smile.
A little upset, Jeff said thank you, and we got back to our conversation. Just moments later, our waiter brought the coffee.
After a few instances of getting a similar response to our various quieries, we quickly discovered that unlike in the states, where a head shake is a sign of disapproval or disagreement, here in India, it is the opposite.
So, it takes us just a few moments each time to process any answer. People will answer us with the words 'No Problem', but shake their head while saying it. It is really confusing.
-Zak
He gently took the card from me and thoroughly read it. He looked back at me. He peered into my eyes, making strong eye contact, while his head tilted on his shoulders; his eyes floated up in his head and His lips turned up in a cryptic smile. He shook his head at me which seemed to indicate he unfortunately did not know the location, but the coy smile communicated that we were being no bother to him.
Taking his head shake as a sign I would have to find another rickshaw, I thanked him and began to turn away.
"80 Rupees!" he said to me, before I had even made one step away.
I looked at Jeff. Why would we go with this guy if he had no idea where we going?
_______
"Can I have some coffee, please?" Jeff asked our waiter. The same response demonstrated by our rickshaw driver was made by the waiter, a slight shake of the head, with an enigmatic smile.
A little upset, Jeff said thank you, and we got back to our conversation. Just moments later, our waiter brought the coffee.
After a few instances of getting a similar response to our various quieries, we quickly discovered that unlike in the states, where a head shake is a sign of disapproval or disagreement, here in India, it is the opposite.
So, it takes us just a few moments each time to process any answer. People will answer us with the words 'No Problem', but shake their head while saying it. It is really confusing.
-Zak
Sunday, August 3, 2008
Dusty Roads Lead to Gold
As our autorickshaw driver expertly navigated its way through the congested and filthy streets, I peered out towards the constantly changing backdrop which quickly sped by. The smell was pungent, the air stung with humidity, the sound of horns blasting and pedestrians on their way engulfed us, and the hum of the motor underneath our seat made it impossible to forget exactly where we were or to forget exactly how far we had come.
What had started out as a whim project in my dorm room in Cambridge last October had led me here. For the past few months I had spent countless hours online and exchanged thousands of emails with her, she was the lead engineer on this project, after all. But up to this point she had existed only as a name on a screen, as an email in my inbox. I had never even spoken on the phone with her, and now as our autorickshaw bumbled down the road, on the way to to her house, I felt a mixture of emotions; I was both nervous, excited, and anxious.
I thought about how different the scene passing me by was from my work station back in Cambridge. Oxen pulled carts, women carried jugs on their heads, and vendors on their streets hawked their goods. Just ten days ago, I had never even heard of Chennai, but, for some reason, I now found myself zooming through these obscure yet crowded streets, taking shortcuts through one-way allies, lined with straw and tin huts, off to meet my coder, all in the name of opportunity.
I thought it interesting how my pursuit of success, my quest for achievement, had brought me all the way from Cambridge - home to MIT and Harvard - arguably the seat of knowledge and perhaps also of academic and professional opportunity - to here, down a dusty road, and into the unknown.
-Zak
What had started out as a whim project in my dorm room in Cambridge last October had led me here. For the past few months I had spent countless hours online and exchanged thousands of emails with her, she was the lead engineer on this project, after all. But up to this point she had existed only as a name on a screen, as an email in my inbox. I had never even spoken on the phone with her, and now as our autorickshaw bumbled down the road, on the way to to her house, I felt a mixture of emotions; I was both nervous, excited, and anxious.
I thought about how different the scene passing me by was from my work station back in Cambridge. Oxen pulled carts, women carried jugs on their heads, and vendors on their streets hawked their goods. Just ten days ago, I had never even heard of Chennai, but, for some reason, I now found myself zooming through these obscure yet crowded streets, taking shortcuts through one-way allies, lined with straw and tin huts, off to meet my coder, all in the name of opportunity.
I thought it interesting how my pursuit of success, my quest for achievement, had brought me all the way from Cambridge - home to MIT and Harvard - arguably the seat of knowledge and perhaps also of academic and professional opportunity - to here, down a dusty road, and into the unknown.
-Zak
Saturday, August 2, 2008
Rise and Shine
I just woke up - 6AM here, to get some work done before my meeting today with one of my coders. We are, it seems, getting very close to reaching the end of one of the projects - which I started last October, but every time I think we are done, we discover a new bug. persistence is the name of the game, if this were easy, everyone would be doing it.
Jeff and I have an in person meeting at 3PM and I have a lot of work to prepare for that. I wish I could have cooler updates, like Jeffs, but I promised myself I had to focus on my work before I get a chance to really delve into those type of experiences. Hopefully, I will be done soon and have the opportunity to visit a little. However, my experience, thus far, is unique, because I am getting a less traditional perspective of India - working directly with the very people who are buoying this burgeoning economy.
More updates soon.
Zak
Jeff and I have an in person meeting at 3PM and I have a lot of work to prepare for that. I wish I could have cooler updates, like Jeffs, but I promised myself I had to focus on my work before I get a chance to really delve into those type of experiences. Hopefully, I will be done soon and have the opportunity to visit a little. However, my experience, thus far, is unique, because I am getting a less traditional perspective of India - working directly with the very people who are buoying this burgeoning economy.
More updates soon.
Zak
Jeff's Day @ the orphanage
So, last night we ran into my friend from Panama, Lila. She has been in Chennai for the past 2 months working for a couple non-profit organizations and helping kids who have HIV . Lila invited me to go to the orphanage with her in the morning and I most certainly accepted her generous invite. This orphanage had 19 children in it and I forget the exact numbers, but I think 10 of them were HIV + and 5 had full blown AIDS. She wrote down her address on a bar napkin and told me to meet her @ 9 am. I woke up very excited and I met Lila outside of the church she is staying at (Church of South India CSI). We each got a café and a bottle of water total came to 20 rupees (- about 50 cents and it was a litre of water- good deal) . We then took an autorickshaw for 50 minutes thru some of the worst living conditions I had ever seen. We almost got into 9 accidents on the way there... The stench was bloody awful, a mixture of urine, human/dog/ox feces, throw-up, burning tires, massive amounts of car pollution, body odor, and a hint of jasmine... (this smell is a familiar smell when we are not in the best parts of the cities here) . I was pretty nervous about the experience because I am not that good with kids (especially large groups of kids that I have never met). We arrived around 10:30 am and then I spent the next 3 hours playing with all the kids, watching them dance, and celebrating one of their birthdays. All the children were in very good spirits and were amazing to be around. At times I was entertaining groups of 5-10 children (hard to believe, me entertaining children...) by taking pictures of them while they were posing and showing them the fotos. They thoroughly enjoyed looking @ their pictures . It was a very humbling experience because they are dealing with horrible situation much better than I thought possible. It is heartbreaking to see children who (ages 5-9) are born with HIV, at no fault of their own (most of them were born to Indian sex working mothers or to other HIV + parents who abandoned them). In Indian the people with HIV are completely shunned by the society and most doctors and people won't touch or get near them. It makes normal challenges and hardships that I face utterly miniscule. I took many pictures and videos of the children (I posted all of the pics from the orphanage on Fbook, if you are my friend). If you guys want to see the videos that I have taken please check out my youtube account (search jjw04f ).
All in all today was breathtaking to say the least. I am extremely thankful for the opportunity that Lila gave me. We have upgraded our blogging skills (we added pictures + video to our past posts). Now I am off to bed...
Jeff
workin in India
today was a day well spent but I am exhausted. I worked out of the apartment all day while Jeff went off to visit an orphanage.
we ate dinner on the other side of town, taking an autorickshaw (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auto_rickshaw) both ways - which is a three wheeled open air tax which runs on a moped motor.
India, to me, seems very familiar for some reason, I am already used to the hustle and bustle, the noise and the traffic.
tomorrow I have some in person meetings so im off to bed early. Ill let jeff tell you about his day at the orphanage, which I am sure was more impressionable than my day in the office.
-Zak
we ate dinner on the other side of town, taking an autorickshaw (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auto_rickshaw) both ways - which is a three wheeled open air tax which runs on a moped motor.
India, to me, seems very familiar for some reason, I am already used to the hustle and bustle, the noise and the traffic.
tomorrow I have some in person meetings so im off to bed early. Ill let jeff tell you about his day at the orphanage, which I am sure was more impressionable than my day in the office.
-Zak
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