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Meeting up with a buddy!
Entry 15 of 44 | show all | print this entry |
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In the past I had worked with my buddy Nik for a couple of years at Ernst & Young. Recently he left the US to startup his very own Web 2.0 company in India (good luck bro!). When I arrived in Hyderabad Nik was out of town on business until the evening, so his younger sister Karishma was nice enough to pick me up from the airport and show me around town. First we stopped by the family home where I met Nik's mom and dad and also enjoyed a delicious home cooked lunch. The building they live in was built by Nik's dad and he named it the Karnik Building after his 2 kids. Nik's parents are both really nice, and I can see where Nik got his personality and interest in Indian and US politics from after meeting them. After lunch Karishma and I toured around town and visited the Old Quarter, the City Palace and Golconda Fort. Karishma was a great tour guide, although we spent much of the afternoon debating the US's Middle East policies! While waiting to pick Nik up from his delayed flight, we hit a couple of bars. Hyderabad is fairly well-off from the tech boom, and the bar scene is surprisingly similar to the one in the US. Eventually Nik's flight got in and we caught up over an all you can eat buffet at 2 AM. He's still bragging about his accurate prediction of the US mid-term elections.
The next day Nik and I drove out to his ancestral homeland, a village a couple of hours from Hyderabad. Nik's family has a huge old house in the village that none of them live in any longer. They converted it into a school for the local kids about 10 years ago, and now it's a great success. Impressively, Nik's parents have now started 5 schools (for charity) in the area with plans for more. Nik and I were treated like visiting dignitaries at the school. The headmaster gave me the grand tour and then the assembled school children sang the national anthem. We also walked around the site where they are restoring a Hindu Temple behind the school. Later on we went to their nearby farm. The farm employs about a dozen workers and they all showed up to say hello to boss-man Nik when we arrived. While there we feasted on grilled corn on the cob, guava fruit, and some kind of village liquor that tasted suspiciously like glue. After enjoying our slice of village life, Nik and I headed back to the city.
I didn't stay too long in Hyderabad since I didn't want to slow down Nik's work efforts too much. Seeing Nik in his native India and interacting with his family was a hoot, and I really enjoyed my visit. The beaches of Goa are my next destination! More thumbnails ...
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