Hullabaloo in Bengaluru

The skyline of bustling Bangalore

It's been a month since I came back from Bangalore, and I still feel like, Ah... it feels so good to be back home.

Don't get me wrong. I will always remember and treasure this first working trip, one whole month in the Silicon Valley of India. Thoroughly challenging yet adrenaline-pumping, pressure-packed with a good dose of fun and warm moments... it just makes me feel so alive, every moment there, to be jumping off the bed every morning and keeping up a grin to face the day ahead.

And boy, that grin sure wasn't easy.

But it was necessary. In this foreign land, venturing each morning to the new research center we had built and were now setting up the IT for... every day I felt I had to show that energy, that positive attitude to others. I was from Singapore, I was given this huge opportunity, and I had to do good here. Didn't help that I was the only Chinese-looking in like miles around either!

I thought wearing this would let me blend in better...

I needed this energy, anyway. I had my fair share of 'challenges', first I had diarrhoea for a week adapting to the food and water over there. Next one of my team members left and I had to jump in to fill the gap. Then I got exclusively named by a manager (whom I helped and impressed) to handle the IT needs of an entire block of users, with them swarming me at every turn to resolve their issues. A hundred researchers knew me by name by the first day. Not necessarily a good thing.

The occasional coconut with my colleagues kept me going.

Well, it wasn't all work and no play. I loved getting to know all these new friends and colleagues, having great conversations and learning about their work, their culture, their lives.

One of my favs, Vis, even invited me back to his place for a great family dinner and chillout session! We browsed his wedding photos, had great snacks and traditional Tamil food, and had his son dance to 'Oppa Gangnam style' hehe.

It reminded me so much of couchsurfing... this feeling of immersing myself in a different culture, getting so close to the heart of it all.

And in India, the family truly is the heart of everything.

Vis' really cute son and his family!

Still, I definitely wished I could take some days off to travel and experience more of this exotic, beautiful country. The project timeline was so excruciatingly tight that one month since then, I still hadn't been able to clear the off-in-lieu we earned working weekends and on CNY. Yes, I missed out on half the angbaos this year!

We'll see. I am still having a blast of a time doing what I do, and look forward to more fun stuff coming up next rotation too. Till my next hullabaloo in Bengaluru... phir milenge, India!