Skiing in June

The view from the top 3500 m

June 15 - I finally was able to escape work and family and make a day trip to the mountains for a ski trip.  (A number of earlier trips planned had to be cancelled at the last minute due to either work or weather.)
We left at 2am to drive to the pass and started hiking up the mountain at 5am (elev 2'000m).  5 hours later we made it to the top at 3'500m - Susten horn.  A grueling climb, that left me exhausted.  The ski down was fantastic until we hit the soft snow and here my tired legs were not up to the test.  Fortunately the snow was soft and I didn't hit any rocks when I fell (a number of times).

Chennai - and weather

Thursday May 31 – Chennai

I arrive at the hotel at 1:30 am and quickly go to bed. 

Keeping to the temperature theme, I was warned that Chennai will have the worst climate of the three cities on this trip.  Hot and humid, and I notice it, but let’s see what the day brings.

For the past few days I have been told that our travel plans might get disrupted by city wide strikes in Chennia – in protest of the hike in gas prices (14%).  My colleagues have been busy making alternative plans of where it is best to stay to avoid the disruptions.  They tell me that all public transportation services will be on strike (from 10 am to 6pm – which is convenient of them to make it between working hours.

It turns out all the warnings were false. The weather is very comfortable, and there is in effect no strike.  I heard the government backed down and didn’t raise the price as much as they said they would.

Pune and no AC

Wednesday May 30 – Pune

Another flight,  another hotel.  Pune is cooler than Delhi, a chilly 28°c when we land in the evening and only 34°C during the day.  I am told that it has the nicest weather in India, which is surprising as it is only a 3 hr drive from Mumbai, which is quite hot.  In a tour I was given of the engineering offices of the people I was meeting, I observed a big room with about 50 people working in a modern setting, with flat screen monitors and about 30 overhead fans running at full speed – meaning no Air Conditioning.  I was told this was due to the very mild climate (and not because they are too cheap to pay for the AC).

Lost luggage and Indian efficiency

Tuesday May 29 – New Delhi

Upon waking I passed on my problem of getting the box of drawings to the Indians.    I had thought – no problem – just give the luggage tag to the driver who would be sitting around all day anyway waiting for the meeting to end, and he could go pick them up.  However, it turned out to be quite a challenging task. First, it was too important to be left to a driver, so they gave it to some poor bastard in the office.  For the next 8 hrs I was given constant updates in the efforts to obtain the box.  First I had to sign a letter saying that this person was approved to pick up the box for me.  A short time later they asked to borrow my passport so they could photocopy it.  Then they decided it would be better to take my real passport and a copy to the get the box without telling me.   Still the authorities refused to give up the box .  Then I had to sign the letter again the same way as my full signature in the passport was.  No – not good enough.  They asked for a photo to be attached to the letter.  I refused this request.  Every hour I got an update, with the officials refusing to release the box.  I told them to forget the box, just please bring back my passport.   But the negotiations were continuing and they were not ready to give up yet.  In the end they released the box and it was delivered with the passport just as we needed to leave to head back to the airport.  Typical India.  Most likely someone wanted some cash to release the box and continued to think up new ways to make life difficult.

Unwise decision

Monday May 28 -   Zurich to New Delhi

Here it is, another long weekend and I am working again.  This time, heading back to India for a 4 day trip.  Unfortunately I have flown too much in the month of May and have already seen all of the new movies available.  But this time I have to actually work and use 4 hrs of the flight to prepare for the series of meetings in India, which start in Delhi, followed by Pune and end in Chennai.  Each night a new flight to a different city (what joy, and on Indian Airlines).

Unwisely I decided to check two bags as they were cumbersome to carry, one of them a box with drawings for the meetings.  Inner warning bells went off when I checked them  and I failed to listen to my inner voice when I was told they would need to be handled differently as the box is not suited for the belt conveyors.   So I was not surprised when the box didn’t show up when I landed.  The Delhi luggage system was a complete disaster.  The modern system would not put more bags on the belt unless the existing ones were removed to make space and no one was removing them (not sure why).  So after waiting 20 min’s and no sign of progress (three new bags were deposited on the belt) I wrote off the box of drawings and left.  I was not prepared to wait another hour only to find they had lost the drawings.  It was at this time 12:45 am

The Airline got ahold of me at 1:30 am by phone to tell me that I forgot my bag and asked if I could come back and get it – No, was my reply.  They didn’t like this, but I said I would have it picked up in the morning and went to bed.  By the way, the temperature in Delhi was 35°c at night and the air conditioner in my room was freezing me so badly that I had to sleep with my head at the foot of the bed to avoid an arctic draft and I wore a pullover to keep warm (and ear plugs to keep out the noise).  Unfortunately the AC shut off in the night and I woke bathed in sweat.  Unable to get the AC working again I settled for the overhead fan and stripped of all clothing.  A very sweaty night.