Around the World in 2 weeks

Okay, so a bunch has happened since Brazil. I flew to SF, then back to Shanghai. While I was there, I unpacked, did my laundry, and then repacked. Okay, maybe a little more than that, but that's what it felt like! I did manage to go to a fashion show with some friends. Ah, Shanghai.

But, then I flew to India last Sunday (for work!) to do field research for the emerging markets project I'm leading. It's been such an amazing experience. I haven't been to India before but what nicer way to learn about a country than by doing tons of interviews with people across all social economic classes about all sorts of things? We flew to Delhi and spent four days there before flying to Indore on Thursday. Can I just say... traffic?! It took us hours to get anywhere with the cows, trash, pedestrians, etc. everywhere. New construction looked like old construction.

Some highlights: In Delhi Eddie and I had all of 2 hours to do some sightseeing and went to Hamayan's tomb. We'll try to hit the Taj on our return trip. Tried on a Sarri, it was great just having the man show us all the various types and colors, I'm getting a matching blouse made as well.

Some other interesting tidbits: lack of infrastructure (the weekly trash man was corrupt and charged people to pick up the trash), little public female presence (I walked around at night and saw 98% men), clean air (Everywhere is better than China), cow dung patty sellers (people burn these).

Oh, and I know I'm a product designer because I would rather see a car than the temples my fellow colleagues wanted to see. The Tata Nano just hit the showrooms in Indore and as I saw a full page ad today, I had to go check it out. The dealership said that in the last two days 20,000 people have come to look at it. I stuck out like a sore thumb in the huge crowd, and the employees wanted me to sit in it and jump the line. I was pretty impressed- there was A/C, power windows, seat belts, spare tire in the front (where the engine usually is).

Talking with a few people there, one said that there have been so many ads about it that he believes it must be good. There were mostly younger families there, but some older couples were considering buying them for their grown children. One man said that it doesn't go up steep roads so was concerned about getting to Temple. Pretty cool. If not for the deficiency in hill climbing I think it'd make a great addition to SF!! (the SmartCar is like 8 times the price!)