The Last Few Days

So apparently, I am not very good at being diligent about this whole blogging thing. Thus far, there has been very little time to do so. In the day we get up in time for work and work until 6:30 or 7:00. With the horrible traffic in New Delhi (and believe me...its REALLY BAD), I usually don't get home until about 7:45 or 8:00. Some of the others who live closer or can take the metro get home much earlier than I do. Such is the life of working in a law firm. Once I get home, I am completely exhausted (even at work I am completely exhausted). I am not sure if its the jet lag that is killing me or if I am legitimately tired. I hope its the jet lag because other wise I will never see any of Delhi because I will be too tired all of the time.

So I'll just give some highlights and some observations I've had over the last few days to broadly catch everyone up.

The temperatures are hot, but not as bad as I expected. Luckily, the humidity is very low. The 100 degree temperatures feel like the low 90s that you get in Georgia or Florida...so I can handle it. Besides, we have air conditioning in my room and at my work place so I have spent very little time outside so far.

I am still a bit jetlagged. On Sunday, I woke up voluntarily at 6:15am. I just basically messed around for a little while.

On Sunday, we got up early to meet one of the new donors for the program at Professor Krishnan's hotel. The hotel was excellent - a 5 star resort (I wouldn't expect anything else from Professor Krishnan). In order to get there, I took my first ever auto rickshaw ride which was quite the experience. For those of you who don't know, a rickshaw is basically a three wheeled device powered by a motor and a driver drives it on the road. It's kind of like being on a motorcycle with 3 wheels. The rickshaw does have a roof over it to shield you from the sun and bad weather (not that it's rained since we've been here). The one big disadvantage to the rickshaw is that since it is open (ie: no doors or windows or any of that). Thus, it can be very hot. I cant really take it to work because I would be drenched in dust and sweat by the time I got there (the land here is pretty dusty). It almost seems like we're living in a quasi-desert. The breakfast was beautiful. It was an all you can eat buffet with a breakfast station, fresh pastries, cheeses, yogurt, and salmon. I definitely enjoyed it thoroughly.The new donor for our program was also a really interesting guy who is doing interesting research in India. I was really glad I had the opportunity to hear him speak about it and meet him.

After breakfast, we took a cab over to a Market area called GK-5. The girls wanted to get some clothes and I just wanted to get out of the guest house and see a little bit of Delhi. I quickly realized that clothes shopping with the girls was not the best way I could have done that. The traditional indian clothes were interesting, but I lost interest in watching the girls try on their clothes. They met with Vibhu, an Indian lawyer who met us for dinner the previous night and she was helping them. Actually, Vibhu is a really nice person and I wish I had talked to her more.

After the seemingly endless clothes shopping, we went to a middle eastern restaurant called Shalom. Apparently, Shalom serves Lebanese food and not just Israeli food. Weird. Anyways, I definitely got a picture in front of the sign and that will be posted soon. I didn't really eat because I was still full from breakfast, but I drank soda and smoked hookah. The hookah was decent but of course not as good as Turkey.

After lunch we went to another cafe and had some dessert. It was a fun day to unwind before the first day of work. We came home and had dinner at the guest house and then went to bed relatively early.

The first day of work was uneventful. I met with the senior partner and then with all of the associates. Then I basically went to my desk and sat there with nothing to do. No one gave me any tasks or assignments. It was weird. I was waiting for Venkatesh, the attorney I had been in contact with, to come to the office. He didn't end up coming until 11:15 or so. I wish I could roll into work at 11:15 every day. Anyways, thats besides the point.

He calls me into his office and we talk for a bit. He is a really nice guy and very very intelligent. He actually worked at Cravath before coming back to India. So we talked for a bit and he told me about a research project he was thinking he might have for me and then said he would talk to me about it in a little while. So I went back to my desk and I waited and waited some more. Then, it was time for lunch. It was an associate's last day so they took us in an office car to the Crowne Plaza Hotel. It was a 5 star all you can eat buffet. They had sushi, lamb curry, this awesome kind of chicken on drum sticks, and several other foods. Additionally, they had a dessert table that was to die for! I had chocolate cake AND chocolate mousse. Yum! The lunch was a nice opportunity for me to start talking a bit with some of the associates and one of the partners I sat next to. Everyone was friendly, but not overly so. I felt like I kind of had to start conversation to get them to talk to me, which was not quite what I expected. Seeing a foreigner is not really that exciting for a lot of these people because many of them have studied in the US and/or travelled abroad.

After the 2 hour lunch, I returned to work and sat more until 6:00pm. Then I was given a small research assignment to do by one of the lawyers, which I worked on until it was time to go. I was a bit disappointed overall and before I left I told Venkatesh that I was there to work and wanted to have more to do. He said they were trying to give me a little time to get settled. Although I appreciated it, sitting in front of a computer with nothing to do for 6 hours is not exactly that fun or relaxing. He probably thought I needed to chill out.

That night, we met professor Krishnan for dinner at the guest house. I didn't end up eating because I was so full from lunch. I think the heat has also decreased my appetite a bit. We recounted our first day and generally hung out. Vibhu was there too. Then I came back to the room and went to bed (I was completely exhausted and probably could have slept as soon as I came home at 8pm).

Work on Tuesday was a bit more interesting. I got a couple of research assignments and one bigger assignment (that I still have no clue what to do from Venkatesh). At least I had something to do! I also started talking with the interns, which were all pretty nice. They all attend Indian law schools and are in either their 4th or 5th years.

After work we met professor K for drinks and dinner and Ayush, one of the interns, offered to drive me there so I didn't have to take a car. It was really nice of him to do it (he is awesome). Dinner was great! I had a seafood platter complete with lobster, mussles, and scallops.

So now I have settled in and the daily routine is just to work and go home.

I would say one of the things I have most surprising is how much service help there is. At home we have someone to cook for us, we have someone who comes in and makes our bed and cleans, and we have someone who will do our laundry for us. At work, there are people who come around and serve us water at our desks. When we eat in the conference room, they take out plates for us and put our food on the plate for us and then they wash our dishes when we're finished. Even when I got up to get a coke, the guy poured it for me. It's crazy! I almost feel like its like the south before 1861. I was talking about it with the interns and they were telling me that the concept of "running errands" here is completely nonexistent.

The other interesting thing is how really nice buildings and areas are juxtaposed next to really not nice areas. I thought where I worked would be this really nice industrial complex (Amarchand, the largest firm in India is right around the corner). Instead, the neighborhood is really run down. There are smatterings of nice buildings but otherwise, its quite a sobering experience. Yesterday, a religious group set up a stand in front of my office and was offering free food to everyone who wanted it. I asked if it was safe to eat, and they said definitely not...so that was the end of that.

Tonight, Ayush promised to take me to a place where I can get street food that is actually safe to eat. He also offered to show me around Delhi this weekend! So hopefully the next time I post I'll have much more to say about the city itself (unfortunately, I haven't had the chance to see that much yet).

I am writing this post at 6:45am. I woke up at 4:45 and couldn't go back to sleep. Yesterday I slept all the way until 7:15 and the other day I woke up at 4:15am. The adjustment has been slow and hopefully I will get over this horrible jet lag soon! I've never taken this long to get over it before (but then I've also never been this far away).