http://blog.washingtonpost.com/india2point0/ en Copyright 2006 Fri, 30 Dec 2005 12:38:45 -0500 http://www.movabletype.org/?v=3.2 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss At last, the stories I reported in India have started to run. I hope you saw the one this week on call centers. Be sure to check out the photo gallery and the audio. The latter will give you a sampling of the music experienced at all those nightclubs and parties I mentioned! After hanging out with the call center set for countless hours, my plans for New Year's feel quite tame. Today, the business section ran the story about Fairfax County's office in Bangalore. After returning to the United States, I discovered that the state of Maryland is also about to open one up in two weeks. It seems local governments have realized this globalization thing is here to stay and they need to lure business back to their jurisdictions. We're hoping the story I promised on Pune runs soon. Several Northern Virginia companies exemplify how the level of http://blog.washingtonpost.com/india2point0/2005/12/stories.html http://blog.washingtonpost.com/india2point0/2005/12/stories.html Back Home Fri, 30 Dec 2005 12:38:45 -0500 So this journey ends pretty much the way it started: me in my bedroom surrounded by suitcases. They are calling out to be unpacked, but that's not likely until I finish the four stories I promised I'd write for The Post. Thus this final post is really not a goodbye, as you will likely be hearing from me in the weeks to come, albeit through longer stories, not blogs. There are many elements of Indian life I did not blog about, and perhaps some of that material might supplement those more traditional pieces. If you'll recall, we began this trip with me in a quandary over whether to pack more saris, salwar kameez or Western attire. I packed a little of all three genres, but I return with a fourth: fusion gear. I first noticed women in the Indian workplace wearing something that looked not quite like shirts and not http://blog.washingtonpost.com/india2point0/2005/12/back_home.html http://blog.washingtonpost.com/india2point0/2005/12/back_home.html Back Home Wed, 07 Dec 2005 12:30:00 -0500 Among the things that make India's street landscape so distinctly Indian: Cars dodging herds of cattle, three-wheeled motorized and bicycle rickshaws, and handpainted billboards boasting everything from laundry detergent to Bollywood movies. My week in Guwahati unveiled quite a few signs of change -- literally. There's an overall sleeker look in the city -- more malls, condos and fancy restaurants -- and the once cartoonish billboards along the side of the road have also gone high-tech. Increasingly they are digitally produced, according to sign painter Arun Dey. Nitin, whose photos accompany this entry (click them to see full-size versions), stumbled upon Dey painting this sign for Amul, a food production company, and asked him about his profession. It's a dying one, Dey said. He estimated that 95 percent of new billboards are now designed on a computer. They often cater to regional markets, such as mobile provider Airtel's advertisement here http://blog.washingtonpost.com/india2point0/2005/11/signs.html http://blog.washingtonpost.com/india2point0/2005/11/signs.html In Guwahati Sat, 26 Nov 2005 10:04:00 -0500 http://blog.washingtonpost.com/india2point0/2005/11/reader_response.html http://blog.washingtonpost.com/india2point0/2005/11/reader_response.html Wed, 23 Nov 2005 15:48:58 -0500 http://blog.washingtonpost.com/india2point0/2005/11/delhi_nights.html http://blog.washingtonpost.com/india2point0/2005/11/delhi_nights.html In Delhi Sun, 13 Nov 2005 08:38:49 -0500 http://blog.washingtonpost.com/india2point0/2005/11/building_home.html http://blog.washingtonpost.com/india2point0/2005/11/building_home.html In Delhi Mon, 07 Nov 2005 20:05:00 -0500 http://blog.washingtonpost.com/india2point0/2005/11/more_than_mobil.html http://blog.washingtonpost.com/india2point0/2005/11/more_than_mobil.html In Delhi Mon, 07 Nov 2005 08:32:00 -0500 The roads were uncharacteristically clear and free of traffic. Officers at checkpoints peered into our SUV with flashlights. But people also laughed, danced and played cards tonight in Delhi as Diwali festivities went on, hours after the bombings. As I write this, it is 5 a.m. and I have just gotten back from two parties, which gives you a sense of the kind of affairs these were. Upper-class Delhi-ites throw Diwali parties where flickering candles compete with glittering saris, where drinking and gambling goes on into the wee hours, and dinner gets served around 1 a.m. (if you're lucky). To be sure, the bombings came up in conversation with almost everyone, and several people likened the day's events to the London bombings. A few would-be revelers heeded the government's warning to stay home. But one host remarked to me that she just didn't feel right canceling something commemorating one of http://blog.washingtonpost.com/india2point0/2005/10/life_goes_on.html http://blog.washingtonpost.com/india2point0/2005/10/life_goes_on.html In Delhi Sat, 29 Oct 2005 19:55:00 -0500 The scenes have been eerily familiar: the news consumed with images of people running and crying, my mobile not working, family and friends trying to get through any way they can to check on me. Three bomb blasts shook Delhi today, killing at least 50 people on the eve of the Hindu festival of Diwali. I had planned to do some holiday shopping of my own today, but most markets are shut down and people have been warned to stay home. I was a reporter in New York on Sept. 11, 2001, and people's gut reactions in times like this are really universal. Binny (my husband's cousin) asked his daughter Pranati -- out with friends for a Diwali fair -- to come right home. My uncle, unable to get through on my mobile, called Namrata, Binny's wife, to make sure I was safe. To make matters scarier, fireworks and firecrackers http://blog.washingtonpost.com/india2point0/2005/10/holiday_bombing.html http://blog.washingtonpost.com/india2point0/2005/10/holiday_bombing.html In Delhi Sat, 29 Oct 2005 12:35:00 -0500 http://blog.washingtonpost.com/india2point0/2005/10/bangalore_dream.html http://blog.washingtonpost.com/india2point0/2005/10/bangalore_dream.html In Bangalore Wed, 26 Oct 2005 09:50:00 -0500 http://blog.washingtonpost.com/india2point0/2005/10/its_time_to_par.html http://blog.washingtonpost.com/india2point0/2005/10/its_time_to_par.html In Delhi Mon, 24 Oct 2005 16:55:00 -0500 http://blog.washingtonpost.com/india2point0/2005/10/the_thinker.html http://blog.washingtonpost.com/india2point0/2005/10/the_thinker.html In Pune Fri, 21 Oct 2005 23:45:00 -0500 http://blog.washingtonpost.com/india2point0/2005/10/outsourcing_for.html http://blog.washingtonpost.com/india2point0/2005/10/outsourcing_for.html In Pune Wed, 19 Oct 2005 17:44:00 -0500 <p class="error">JavaScript is required to display this interactive graphic. If it is turned off, please enable JavaScript in your browser preferences.</p> The price of globalization is much higher than I expected. I don't mean the disparity between rich and poor, the loss of culture, the erosion of extended family (all subjects I hope to touch upon in future blog entries). I mean the actual cost of things. I was sick late last week, hence the delay in posting. But once the fever was down, I headed to the mall. Not to keep blabbing and blogging about malls ... but that's really how many Indian twentysomethings (I'm hanging on to that category, albeit barely) pass their time. I spent Saturday afternoon browsing Metro, a mammoth multiplex of glass and neon amid others just like it in Gurgaon, a fast-growing suburb of Delhi. Prices, in]]> http://blog.washingtonpost.com/india2point0/2005/10/middle_class_st.html http://blog.washingtonpost.com/india2point0/2005/10/middle_class_st.html In Pune Mon, 17 Oct 2005 15:43:18 -0500 http://blog.washingtonpost.com/india2point0/2005/10/high_hopes_at_t.html http://blog.washingtonpost.com/india2point0/2005/10/high_hopes_at_t.html In Delhi Wed, 12 Oct 2005 16:05:00 -0500