Posting from Delhi, India on Saturday, May 9th. 5:50PM GMT +5:30

This is my 8th day in India, and in a few hours I'll be boarding a flight back home, via a layover in Newark, NJ. The flight to Newark from Delhi alone will be about 17 hours. This has been a business trip and I have been very busy running a training program for 22 Merck Indian Sales Managers. I've mostly been confined to my hotel, running the training all day and socializing all night. I have escaped to walk around the local neighborhood here by the hotel a few times, I've seen a couple of malls here in Delhi (boring, just like ours), and we drove into Old Delhi yesterday afternoon and spent a couple of hours in the markets.

Old Delhi was reminiscent of my experiences in Tijuana as a kid and also of some places we visited in South Africa. I was chased and pestered by the old and young, hawking their wares, mostly junk and knock offs. I didn't buy a thing. I t was crowded, dirty, and noisy just like you'd expect. I'm glad I saw it.

My observations...

POSITIVES

The people. Indians are very friendly, warm folks and it is genuine. They all speak English but some have accents so strong I have difficulty understanding them. You see them dressed in traditional Indian colorful, draping clothing, some are red dotted on their foreheads, some men wear turbans, and many are dressed more like us westerners. Indians sometimes angle their heads from side to side when asked a question which looks like they mean "no" when they really mean "yes." Made for an interesting first couple of days.

The food. I absolutely loved it. Very spicey, very flavorful. They eat a lot of rice with a variety of sauces to the side or on top. The people I worked with all used western silverware to eat their meals, except one guy who ate with his fingers. They enjoyed intruducing me to new dishes, were delighted when I tried everything and were even more delighted when I loved almost everything I tried. Many were surprised at how spicy hot I like my food.

Architecture. Most of the buildings around the hotel are cheaply built out of brick and mortar. I can imagine what this place would look like after a strong earthquake. The few traditional buildings I saw downtown, however, were striking in their majesty and detail. I wish I'd had time to visit the Taj Majal.

NEGATIVES

Hot and dusty. Dust everywhere, suspended in the still air at night almost like fog. I came during the hottest time of year here. It was well over 100 degrees every day.

The power grid. The power goes out at least five times a day.

The smells. Not so much the smells of life which fester in a warm climate, but the sickeningly sweet air fresheners hotels and other public buildings use to try and cover it up. I'd prefer the real thing. I was surprised they don't use incense for that purpose. I was told that many don't like the smoke it produces and it just adds to the pollution of the city.

Drivers. They have lanes marked on the highway, but nobody cares. Drivers honk to communicate with each other, not just when they're angry like we do in the U.S. I was surprised to not see more accidents in the chaos on the streets, with pedestrians, cars, trucks , thousands of motorcycles, bicycles, tiny little open air rickshaw type vehicles, etc.

Poverty. Lots of it here. I was told that there are so many poor people here, the government can't take care of the sick. No money here, means no treatment. When I asked a guy what people do or where they go if they're sick and don't have money, he said "God is good."