Working

Early start (We planned to leave the hotel at 9.15 so I planned to have breakfast at 8.30, so I set my alarm clock for a bit before then: it was rather psychologically damaging to have to program my mobile alarm (still on British Summer Time) to go off at 3.40am).

Freshly cooked pancakes for breakfast - definitely my new favourite. Will have them again soon!

Then our car turned up (mild confusion, he had the wrong room number so we sat waiting for him for ages, not knowing that he was outside already) and we went off to the office. It was about a 35 minute drive, quite heavy traffic for some bits. But it's interesting to look out of the windows and look at the local people and buildings. There was one part we went through that was terribly smart, compared to most parts we'd been through. It all looked remarkably tidy and finished, unlike the rest of Mumbai, it seems.

The office we are working in is quite new: it is shiny and clean and has signs of construction around it. The building seems to be quite high-spec. The security was quite tight: every door (all the internal ones, except those to the loos, thank goodness) has double-sided swipe buttons (i.e. you need a pass to get both in and out) so I spent a lot of the day grabbing people nearby and making them open the door for me. I should be issued with a swipe pass tomorrow. I met lots of people and made sure I had a notebook to write down their names and what they do (luckily their passes have their first names in large letters so as long as it's hanging the right way round I don't have to do to much in the way of interrogation about spelling).

The training rooms are temporary, like the ones in the other Indian office I visited, but these seem to be much more sturdily constructed. Before, the walls were made of thin polystyrene sheets that you could punch your fist through: here, they are frosted glass or really sturdy pre-fab panels (with doors) - there's no problem with sound insulation. When the training is over the rooms will be broken down and become the "shop floor" where the trainees do the real work. Quite impressive.

I encountered the trainers who had come to the UK previously in March: it was really nice to meet them again and see what's been happening with the work that I trained them for: it's always rewarding to see people putting theory into practice - and when you do "train the trainer" you realise that you get a whole load of Training Grandchildren. Nice!

The day passed quickly: we had a review of the day with the few trainers who were training our material that day, and picked up any issues (not many). I hope it stays as smooth, but probably when there are many more groups running it will become a little more chaotic.

We drove back to the hotel as night fell (around 7.30pm here - very distressing. I miss my long summer evenings... it's as if it's February/March all over again! - apart from the temperature of course). Then I decided to be antisocial and retire to my room for room service and a quiet evening with my laptop. It was very nice room service! Although muggins did manage to lock myself out of my room whilst putting the tray down outside. Doh! Luckily I was fully dressed apart from my shoes, so I just went down and got a new key.

No photos today - security at the office so it wasn't worth taking one in.