Victor Feinman

I have lost connection to the outer world. I have reneged on my promise to keep you informed and up to date. As September comes to an eventual close, I look back on the last couple of weeks and reflect on what I have done. The problem, I haven’t done a lot. I started a book, Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankle, but have neglected it too and have not finished it. It is a short book which I read half of in one night, but just can not seem to finish it. I have passed the ASP .NET module as expected. Due to being a little sick, I missed one day and an half. They both happened to fall on the ADO.NET module which was a 2 day module. Needless to say, I did not take the test and have to take it on Thursday, two days from now.

Today I took my hands on part of the .NET stream comprehensive exam. The compre, as we call it, is a two day test. The first day we have a hands on test where we have to develop an application in 3.5 hours FROM SCRATCH. I have to build the databases, insert the records, create stored procedures and triggers, then have to develop the front end which in this case consisted of 3 functional forms and 3 ancillary forms. I blew through the database bit, but when it came to my domain (.Net), I ran into some weird problems. I was forced to redo an hours worth of work when I realized I wasn’t crazy and the errors I was getting were not normal. When I created the new project, all my previous errors went away, but it set me back a lot. On top of that, I had to use the restroom, which was another time consuming event. All said and done, I completed about 95% of the requirements, but the last form is not functional. There is code behind it, but it just doesn’t work. It was driving me crazy all day. I was really banking on doing really well on the hands on so I would have slack on the perception exam tomorrow.

The perception exam is the “written” part of our comprehensive exam. It includes one to six questions on each module we learned. That includes modules not in our stream: RDBMS (oracle), QS (quality systems), and PF (programming fundamentals – C). I am not prepared for the exam at all. There was just too much information to cover. Each module was like a cram course in each respective certification exam. Imagine taking a written final in college that included information from your freshman seminar class and you were expected to study all the material given to you. It is insane and I hope I pass the first time, because I know I won’t be happy to have to take it again.

Wish me luck!

Ok, wow, I just got out of class early! Something that hasn’t happened in a long while. Well this gives me the time I need to write in my journal about last weekend. I didn’t know taking pictures and writing about my travels would be so time consuming. But one day I will look back at all my pictures and my journal and remember that I once had the freedom and ability to travel to India for six months.

This past weekend I went to Hampi, India. Hampi is known for its historical significance. It is pretty far from Mysore about 11 hours travel time. We decided to leave on Friday night at 5 o’clock from campus to the city train station. From there we took a train to Bangalore and then a train from Bangalore to Hospet - the closest train stop to hampi – and finally finished our travels with an auto rickshaw to Hampi. The train ride from Mysore to Bangalore was quick. We were sitting next to a group of Indians who work with us, so naturally we spoke with them for a while. Before we knew it we were in Bangalore looking for a place to eat to kill the one hour and a half between our next leg of the trip – an 8 hour, over night, train ride. We had bought sleeper class tickets. Thank goodness we did because the next lower class was wooden benches sitting upright next to strangers for 8 hours through the night.

The sleeper class was pretty cool, there were 8 people per cabin, each cabin had three beds inside and two across from it. These were not the most comfortable beds, but they were good enough for me to sleep on. I woke up at 6am to the train hustlers running up and down the isle screaming coffee, coffee, coffee, chai, chai, chai. They were saying it so fast the words all blended into each other. It is a mystery how anyone could actually understand what they were saying. And the fact that they were screaming it, as if people weren’t expecting to hear them after the one hundredth time they screamed it out. I can’t believe that even when 90% of the train was still sleeping, these buffoons would insist on waking everyone up. Seriously, if I was awoken by one of these guys, I wouldn’t by coffee from them (which is nestle instant coffee anyway). Not to mention the fact that we weren’t sure if these guys were beggars with an idea or if they were employees of the train. BIG DIFFERENCE. If they were beggars, you can expect to digest some kind of parasite, but that’s not to say you couldn’t if they were train employees anyway.

We arrived in Hospet in good time – about 8am – and we were ready to go to Hampi. This is where I knew I was going to have a difficult time. Since the first foot off of the train we were asked by many auto drivers for a ride. It is amazing, they see white faces and the race begins – may the fastest auto driver on foot win. The reason is simple; white faces equal 3-5 times the usual price. Victor was prepared, however, he read it in a major publication, published only two years prior that the fare should be around 80 rs.. I am willing to give a small premium to compensate for inflation so lets say 100 rs (that is per auto). I think that is fare. Well, one other person on the trip must have read wrong, because when the auto driver said he would only charge us 300rs to take us there, he immediately – I mean EMMEDIATELY – said we’ll take it. I was shocked and appalled! My blood was really cooking. The moron said he read somewhere that autos charge 300 per person to take them to Hampi. There were 5 of us, and would have totaled 1500 so a mere 600rs (for two autos) was a bargain. Oh my god did this put a divider between the two of us. Even if we were saving 900rs you NEVER agree to the first price quoted by an auto driver. Boy did this get me going. I could already see this weekend taking a turn for the worse.

Before we got into the auto, I told the group that I read about a good recommendation to stay at Rama Guesthouse and agreed to go there first, then to look around if we didn’t like it. So of to Rama Guesthouse we went. For some reason or other, our driver took longer to get there then the other auto. When my auto arrived the same person who took the “deal”, said there are no rooms available at the Rama Guesthouse and we got two rooms here. The other place was across the street. They had already seen the rooms and wanted to take them. The problem was, this place only had doubles and we needed on double and one triple. So I insisted they go over to the Rama Guesthouse to see if there one room was a triple. We waited outside for them to take a look at the room. When they returned he said, they have one double and one triple available and it looks better. It makes me wonder if he even asked about the rooms at Rama Guesthouse. God this kid already was pissing me off, which is a pretty incredible thing to do considering how much I try to like people and make myself likeable.

We placed our stuff in our rooms and the same auto drivers waited for us to finish and take us around Hampi. We had agreed on letting these guys take us around the city for a little bit more then the 300 we were going to pay them.

Now the places we went to were too many to recall how I felt at each place. Hampi is full of ancient ruins, temples (both active and not active), and natural wonders. I will do my best to identify which location I took which photos at. Please look at my photos on flickr to see the places I went to. http://www.flickr.com/photos/victor_feinman

I decided to be very passive on this trip and just follow the lead. Without any challenge I agreed to everything. Thankfully there was only one night in Hampi.

The trip back was horrible. First, the bus was late. I know, we took the train there, but the others wanted to take the bus back for some god damn stupid reason. So it was an half an hour late. We all piled on and I quickly found my spot and tried to get comfortable. The problem was, I couldn’t get comfortable! The whole darn trip back, all 8 hours of it, I was awake. I could not fall asleep. Boy was I miserable the next day. When we arrived in Bangalore, the others wanted to stay and spend the day there.

I couldn’t take it anymore. By this time I was drained of all my cash, because of a kid who paid top dollar for bottom shelf service; tired due to a restless night on a bus; had laundry to do back on campus; had a test the next day; needed to finish some assignments; and fed up with the ring leader. For these reasons, I went off on my own for the journey back to Mysore. It was only a 3 hour train ride, then 20 minute auto ride and I was back. I did it my way. I bought a general seating ticket on a passenger train (23rs). I got on the sleeper class car and laid down. As soon as my head hit the padded medal bed, I fell right asleep. Of course I woke up at every stop to make sure I didn’t miss mine. Then once I reached Mysore, I walked up to the prepaid rickshaw stand and got a 75rs fare back to campus. It cost me less money to get back to Mysore from Bangalore (about 150 km) then it did to get me from Hospet to Hampi (only 15km). Given that data, I’d say I paid about 15 times more then I should have to get to Hampi. Urgg that makes me mad. Stupid stupid kid.

Don’t get me wrong, I had a great time in Hampi. I saw a lot of beautiful and historical things. I believe Hampi is super relaxing! The atmosphere there is really relaxed. We went walking around the bazaar and found ourselves at a guesthouse called tourist paradise. Nestled in a back corner of the bazaar is this lake front resort. Each “room” was it’s own little hut. In the common area were hammocks which I found much pleasure in by swinging in one of them.

On top of Hemakuta Hill, I fell asleep on the rocks. It wasn’t as bad as it sounds. The rock had a slight slope upwards and with the breeze blowing by and the river running in the distance. If I closed my eyes I was back on the shores of Ventnor, New Jersey with my family. This type of illusion or fantacy has been very few and far between so I wanted to stay there.

I went to Ooty this weekend. It is a “hill station” about 150 km south of Mysore. About 28 people in all went this weekend. We were all split up into our respective cars – 7 in each car, and it seemed as if every car had a different agenda. I was smart and went along with 6 other people who understood and spoke Hindi which definitely had it’s advantages. They were: Aayush Jain, Samir Shah, Faisal Masood, Anish Mehta, Rohan Bhatt, and Sid (not sure of his last name). Our list of things to do was as followed: Go to Ooty, See a Waterfall, Trek a little bit, and Take a train to Coonoor.

Go to Ooty – This one we could not not do. The trip to Ooty was about 4.5 hrs and the roads were in terrible condition. Our driver found out that the “shortcut” was open so we took it. The shortcut road was a one lane road which winded around hairpin turns and at times bordered the edge of a cliff. When another car can in the opposite direction we would have to pull off of the road and let the car pass before continuing. I wish I had taken pictures of this road to show you how bad it was. But, before we knew it, tired and malnourished, we arrived safely at Ooty.

The first thing we did in Ooty was find a hotel. We had not made a reservation, and based on all of our past experiences in India we knew securing a hotel in Ooty wouldn’t be a problem. Hotel Kehms was the first hotel we stopped in to look at. They had a lot of vacancies which I didn’t like. When the clerk showed us the rooms (just to see) he had said he was showing us a standard. We really liked it. It had enough room to sleep four (two on a bed, two on a cot – which later we found out was just a thin mattress laid on the floor). Then he wanted to show us another room just across the hall, he said it was a standard. It was then we realized he showed us the premium room first, then the standard room. I didn’t like the place too much and decided along with a few others to go out on a hunt for a hotel. The very next hotel we went to, Hotel Silver Oak, only had a cottage available. We decided to take a look at it anyway. As soon as we walked in, we knew that was where we wanted to stay. It was more like a two bedroom apartment then an hotel room. It was 2500 INR plus 150 per cot (times three) plus tax and two decks of cards (~50 INR) – or 3375 INR total for seven people. That is about $85.

Now that we had a room to stay in for the night, we wanted eat, then go sight seeing. Our driver took us to some cool places: Doddabetta (the highest point in South India) and Kalhatty falls. The waterfall wasn’t anything like Shivanasamudra Falls, but was cool in it’s own way. I think what made it nice was the fact that you had to hike along a trail for ten minutes before you could see them. Then, if prepared, you could swim in a natural pool at the bottom of the falls and climb into some naturally embedded seats which water flows over. It reminded me a lot of the Duns River Falls in Jamaica.

Doddabetta had some good views, unfortunately a camera cannot capture the beauty that I saw on top of that mountain. It was strange to see horses at this altitude but there they were saddled up and ready to ride. I took this opportunity to rind a horse for the first time. For only 40 INR (roughly $1), I couldn’t resist. I hopped up on my horse and started up a hill. There was a guy walking alongside the horse until it got past a certain point, then he would let go of the horse and smack his ass with a stick. This I DID NOT find funny. The horse naturally started to gallop. Now, never had ridding a horse before and it starting to gallop is a freaking scary first experience. I listened closely to what he had told us in order to control the horse and pulled the rope back to stop it. Sitting there, I though it a good opportunity to get video footage of me on top of this horse. I got my camera out, kicked the side of the horse and before you know it the darn thing started to gallop again. With one hand holding an expensive camcorder and the other holding a rope, the only thing which will save my life, I pulled the rope and the horse obeyed. I didn’t have much time to put my camera away but I got it in my case and put both hands on the rope again. Not too long after securing my camera in it’s bag, the bouncing from the horse caused the Velcro to tear and down goes video camera. Not cool I stop the horse turn it around and the guy is there to pick up the pieces (battery, battery cover, SD card holder, etc). This time I zipper the bag up so the same mistake won’t happen again. All this happened while going up hill. The horse was trained well and knew where to turn around and did so obediently. It then proceeded to gallop down the hill, I thought it fun until I sensed the first hint of me falling to one side. I almost soiled my pants, but I made it back alive to the other guys which were waiting for their turn. Some other guys went. They were taking a long time so the person offered to let me go again (he said for free) on the account of my camera dropping. I collected all the guts I could and accepted. After the same experience (minus my camera dropping, which I left with the others this time) I got back, and to my surprise was demanded to pay an additional 40 INR. I thought this a really dirty trick and reluctantly paid an additional 10 INR.

After Doddobetta, we were supposed to go to the botanical gardens, but while there another group said they just came from the gardens and said it wasn’t worth the trip. Instead we went to this tiny amusement park which was situated alongside a river. We went in to ride a pedal boat, but realized there was no real reason to do it, so instead we rode the bumper cars, played air hockey, rode a mechanical bull, and ate some corn on the cob.

In between Doddobetta and the amusement park, we made a quick stop off at a tea factor called “the tea factory.” It was pretty neat to see the tea gardens (farms), then to see the processes it goes through to become bagged into what we know as tea bags. I learned new ways to make tea and what it can be used for. The factory was embedded into the mountain side and had some really nice view of the city below.

It was about that time to get some dinner. We really didn’t feel like going anywhere so we just walked downstairs to the restaurant in our hotel. Since we had the cottage, all the other groups decided to meet up at our place for dinner and drinks after. Nothing goes as planned though and the service at the restaurant was the worst I have ever seen, and because of it everyone was fed up and just wanted to go home which they did and left our hotel room with small bottles of half filled rum and vodka.

The morning after, we were all really excited to be going to Coonoor. We checked out and settled our bill at the hotel, hopped on our bikes and took off for Coonoor. That’s right, you read it correctly, we drove motorcycles there! I was so eager to do this. I have read other peoples blogs about them renting bikes, taking off and having a great time. I don’t have that much experience riding a motorcycle, but I rented one anyway and became quite good at it very quickly. Two in our group didn’t like the idea and stuck with our original plan to take the train. The train was supposed to have good views of the country side. I was so glad that we didn’t ride the train though.

On the way to Coonoor, I noticed a great picturesque mountain side, so I pulled over, stopped my bike and snapped away. The pictures I took really do not do any justice to the magnificent beauty observed and experienced.

We beat the train to Coonoor and waited for the other two to arrive. Once they arrived we followed our driver to dolphin’s nose – a mountain peak. Along the way we made a stop at a tea garden. Garden and plantation can be used interchangeably. All of the tea gardens looked so beautiful in their neatly kept lines and bright green leaves. Trees naturally break up the otherwise boring repetitive pattern creating literally breathtaking scenery.

Dolphin’s nose – the last stop on our journey to Ooty and Coonoor – was a disappointment. I mean, by the time we got there, we saw so many mountains cutting the baby blue sky that dolphin’s nose seemed just like the rest. After a few photo ops here we packed up and started on our long 4-6 hour ride home. Of course we had to stop in Ooty to return the bikes. God that was fun!

This weekend was pretty cool. Going into it, I had no idea what to expect. I thought it was going to be yet another uneventful weekend. It turned out to be rather pleasant. On Friday night, I went out to a place called Planet X. It is a restaurant/bar/night club/pool hall/go cart racing/arcade place. It is pretty cool. I went with 7 others; the fun stated when we tried to get a rickshaw to Planet X.

These guys are relentless and sneaky. I mean, they see Americans coming from the campus and they think we are loaded or something because they are charging American taxi rates. It is ridiculous. They are fulfilling a one liner Gunter and I put on someone who we employed once: shifty indy. If it were natives riding, not from campus, it would have been at least one third the price. I feel ripped off. If we had our act together, we could have had a 5 person taxi (taxi’s are a lot faster, safer, and more comfortable) for 100 INR more.
On the way home it seemed as if our driver went nuts. Another auto passed us and screamed out to our driver. Oh no… Not actual words but more like a demented laugh. Whhhoooooo ahhhhhhahahahhahha. Our driver sped up to responded with the same laugh and a weird configuration of fingers. The other driver matched our speed and in turn laughed back. This continued for a while. Jason, the other passenger, and I also participated in this wired laughing spell. The other driver came up with some kind of pipe coming out of his mouth. I swear they both were on crack.

Thankfully we both made it back in one piece. On the way back to our rooms we herd a ruckus going on between two buildings. The curiosity won the best of us and found ourselves in the middle of Birthday celebrations. It was awesome. There were a big crowd of people cakes, soda bottles, and water everywhere. As their tradition went, a crowd of people would surround a person and sing happy birthday in a very broken English. After the song is finished they would each take turns in grabbing a piece of cake with their hands and shoving into the mouth of the honoree. Whatever didn’t make into the mouth would be smeared all over the face and head of the person. After cake is all over this person some nice friends wash him off with a bottle of soda over his head. Once drenched with soda, they push him over and pick him up. One person at each limb and proceed to kick the ass of the birthday boy. I must admit it is pretty hilarious. After that the mandated traditions are over and anything goes. I saw one guy get held up and then bull rushed by someone else (that is running with head down into the chest of someone).

Jason and I were innocent by standards until one of the birthday boys held out the cake for Jason and I. I was very confused because there were no slices. He told us to use our hands. I thought he was being very generous, thanked him, and ate the hand carved piece. He turned away. Jason and I were confused. We thought about it for a second and figured he probably meant for us to feed him. So we asked one of his partygoers if that was what we were supposed to do, he confirmed our doubts and offered us another piece to fulfill the tradition. I was first to take another handful and shove it into this strangers mouth then smear the rest on his check. I felt bad because I had no idea who this kid was. As we finished smearing him, he said thank you. It kind of reminded me of Animal house, “Thank you sir, may I have another.” Later I found out that by eating the cake ourselves was of highest respect for that person. And so, I felt even worse as a respect Indian giver.

The next day was full of sightseeing.

Kesava Temple was the first temple we went to see. It had beautiful landscaping along the walkway to the entrance of the temple. This one was definitely one of the more popular temples in India because there were a lot of people there visiting as well. I was not able to bring in my video camera but was allowed to bring in my digital still camera.

The second temple we went to see, I can’t recall it’s name, but it was a total of 5 temples on one compound. However, because of a great flood, it was covered by sand and had to be dug out. The sand dunes were massive and difficult to climb on. There were a lot of people here too.

After seeing the last temple we were curious to see Cauvery, the river that caused the great flood which covered the temples with sand. We were unfortunantely unable to drive up to the river because – since it is monsoon season – it was flooded and covered the road to the embankment. At this point, there were a lot of people visiting, swimming and playing around. We decided to take a little boat ride. These, of course, were not your typical boats. They were like little pods made of (I think) whicker lined with potato sacks and finally painted over with what looked to be tar. The little boat ride took us 5 minutes and cost 10 rupees each.

This river also happens to be one of the two rivers which intersect each other at a massive waterfall. This waterfall is called Shivanasamudra Falls. This was amazing to see: two huge rivers coming together at one point where they both fall from cliffs. The mist created a really cool rainbow. This is definitely one of the benefits of doing training in India!

Here is a link to the Shivanasamudra Falls, but this video does no justice to it during monsoon season. http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3499694646366891075

Ok, so I haven’t written in a while, but not a lot has happened in that time. I mean a lot has happened, but stuff you really don’t care to hear about.

This weekend proved itself to be bad. I must have caught a bug or drank some tainted water or something cause I was not feeling good at all Saturday night. Saturday night I had a feavor, cold spells, stomach ache and sore all over. I took two Tylenol, drank a lot of water and went to bed. Sunday morning everything was gone except for the stomach ache. It stayed with me all day Sunday and half way through Monday.

With my stomach feeling the way it was, I was not about to eat at the food courts. This was my chance to go to the grocery store and pick up some food. I got a lot of good stuff: bread, peanut butter, jelly, nutella, bananas, apples, raisins and more. As soon as I started walking home it started to rain. This is not uncommon and I was prepared. I took out my umbrella and started walking on my way back when I found a volley ball hit astray and rolled conveniently to my feet. Naturally I trapped the ball, pulled my foot back and just as I was about to bring my foot down to strike the ball, my left foot lost traction on the slippery wet walkway and I went up in the air as if I just slipped on a piece of ice. Groceries and all went flying… me too. I landed on my left side, smashing my elbow on the stone ground. The US trainees watching, waiting for the volleyball, all laughed. To my surprise a very nice Indian who witnessed this whole fiasco rand to my rescue with a caring, genuine, “are you ok?” He helped me up, then proceeded to pick up my bag. As I was assessing my damage and picking up my umbrella, the nice guy started to walk off with my recently purchased groceries. I politely said, “sir… my bag please.” I was responded with an embarrassing smile and, “I’m sorry.” He then told me to sit down for a while. I was still a little shaken up so I complied. My elbow is still bruised, looks a little swollen, and hurts to lean on, but at least my stomach is feeling better 

Classes aren’t too difficult. From 9am to 12ish we are sitting in class listening to a lecture, going over about 80 or more slides. From 12:30-2 we have lunch, then we come back and do assignments until we are done. I haven’t left class earlier then 6 o’clock yet. We usually have 10 assignments. These assignments are not difficult but take a while to complete.

Today was pretty cool, in that during lunch we had a live videoconference with Senator John Ensign (R-Nevada), who was for one reason or another visiting the Bangalore campus. So whilst he was in town, he gave a small address followed by a short Q&A session. Guess who had the first question for Mr. Senator? Yup you guessed it, yours truly. My question was “What is the US Government doing to prepare the citizens, in terms of acceptance and mentality, for the equalization of economic power from countries such as India and China?” He gave a smooth talking typical-of-a-senator answer, which was so much fluff, I don’t even remember.

Looking back on it, that was really cool. Lol I am already luck enough to get an expensed paid + salary trip to India AND I get to talk to a US Senator. Who would have knew.