Weekend trip.

#ibmcsc India 14

We're back from an exhausting but fun trip with the entire team to Pondicherry. It was a bit chaotic but overall the experience is great. As it came with my profession, my mind was often raced with thoughts and ideas about how to optimize the process better : BPM (business process management) and BPO (business process optimization) in daily routines!


I haven't blogged regularly because my sleep patterns suddenly changed for the worst!!! Tossing and turning during the night did not produce necessary rest. For example, I would be up at 3am -- then couldn't get back to sleep. In a way it's good if I want to work, since the network responds better. I'll try to see if I can find the reset switch in my body.

So with my last blog stopped on Wednesday, let me recall and summarize the last few days' activities. Few team members and I have been doing Yoga in the morning. For a first time that I'm in a Yoga class where there are more men than women. Fantastic. The guys in the team are such good sport. Make me laugh all the time.

As noted previously, Dillminder, Bas and I would be picked up to go to the Kalakshetra campus. Despite going there for a few times now, I still haven't figured out what route it was since everyday is a unique path. The traffic in the morning is relatively less than the returning trip in early evening. As we approach the campus, it's quite scenic, going through streets lined with shady trees. We had a few interviews with the different groups: the office of College of Fine Arts, the Research and Documentation, one of the high schools, the Research library. We had lunch on campus: really good vegetarian meal. I was also fascinated with the sari: Indian women in sari is such a beautiful sight, so graceful!

On Friday, we went to the IBM Tower office, that is not too far from the apartment; though we have to cross the busy TTK road: without Dillminder, I don't know if I could cross the street by myself. The office is bustling with people. Hard to get a meeting room though. Friday night dinner was excellent at the Copper Chimney. The 1-hour wait was worthy.

On Saturday morning, 2 cars took us to Pondicherry -- a town with some remnants of French past, about 130km from Chennai. Near Pondicherry is Auroville. The main "attraction" is Matrimandir. A unique place; though we did not have a chance to get inside. After a rather long checkin process at the Ginger hotel (here's when I can't help but really want to make this process more efficient to improve the customer satisfaction rate for the Ginger hotel...), Susanna, Jana and I spent a lot of time bonding. We were taken to Rue de la Marine to experience the French colonial past of Pondicherry. The street names still remain very French: Rue de.. , Quai de.... We were taken by surprise a downpour as we walked along the beach. After being scattered, and, finally re-united after a good hour later, the team had our first foreign meal at Le Club, that is completely non-Indian. We had some red Indian wines -- which can only be sold in Pondicherry! The night ended with us, the IBM India 14 women, sharing life stories.

I was up again at 2am on Sunday morning; naturally, my Sunday was not so great with me feeling tired and a bit motion-sick. We did visit Mahapalipuram (I'm amazed at how Jana can pronounce it). You can see the slideshow for more details... The drive back was full of hair-raising moments. I was too tired to go out anymore, and so after taking a shower, I went to sleep. So here I am trying to catch up with blogging.

More photos can be seen on my Picasa public web album...