Dalama Adventures Tale of two corporate types ditching their jobs and traveling the world for 14 months... check out all photos, blogs & interesting tid bits at http://www.dalama.net

It's a strange sense of calm and security I feel, sitting here at the Bangalore office I helped to set up in 2004 with my past employer. Today and tomorrow we've dedicated to completing and filing our taxes, finalizing and uploading web content, paying bills and catching up on emails. A company office environment, we're hoping, is one place we're able to count on a continuous source of power - well, long enough for us to upload. Although there were power outages, any business operating scientific research has a back up power supply so days, weeks and months worth of experiments and product don't go to waste. Commuting to the office in Bangalore has not changed. Actually, it may be a bit worse now with so many more companies having moved into the Whitefield area "the Silicon Valley" of India. While some roads have been paved, and some bridges built, we've learned that they were not done to address the IT business commuting needs, but rather to allow a key politician/prominent political figure, to get a direct line road that avoids the traffic, to his vacation home. Towering above bumper to bumper rickshaws, cars, motorbikes and trucks trying to get in and out of Whitefield, stretches a shiny new bridge with absolutely no cars on it. This is what lack of planning and corruption get you - an hour plus commute for maybe 6-10K driving distance. There's talk of a new subway system to be funded and built over the years to come. Then there's also talk about the new economy car to be introduced by Tata Motors - just $2,000 US dollars - that's just what's needed - more cars to flood already congested highways. highways, mind you, are 2 or 4 lane roads... well, there's really no such thing as lances here, as cars and trucks come and go as they please on either side - both the right and wrong directions. The roads are riddled with potholes, and the random cow that saunters slowly, commands it's own sacred and protected lane/space. Once in the office, you have all the luxuries and amenities you could need. A man dedicated to preparing and serving tea and coffee awaits his call to action - akin to our office in China where there was a dedicated "tea lady", however, here, there's not so much segregation in gender with who does which job. There's a security force at the entrance of the building, with several individual having their own special role- one to check you in, one to give you a property pass, one to escort you through the door, and one to hand you the toilet key. There are renovations going on throughout the building, and a multitude of workers line the floors, all fulfilling their own specific job - one sweeps, one wipes, one washes windows, one sands wood, one moves furniture. The peculiar break down of task and assignment, and rigidity of roles ensures that India's bursting labor intensive population have jobs, and a way to earn money. It's a fascinating way to fuel the economy, and survival of the masses. Today is a success; we file our taxes electronically and receive immediate acknowledgment from the government that they've been accepted. Our web content is finally written up and new pages populated and staged for uploading. We reward our hard days work over a bottle of red Indian Wine with my good friend Uday, at one of the many new "boutique" business hotels that have sprung up amongst the towering and imposing office buildings in Whitefield. Its fresh, clean and new inside. We're the only ones there, and a staff of 3 ready and swarming to wait on us. A group of fresh meat (white western business men) check in. A flashback for me to the chaotic life of corporate business flybys and round the world meetings... a tinge of anxiety moved through me... welcome back to the constant on the road corporate life. The wine, appetizers, and company of our friend at the bar was a nice chance to catch up on business in India, and politics and state of the union at home... but its time to move back into the real world and we piled into Uday's car, his driver waiting for us at the entrance of the hotel. Many people here have drivers. i, for one, would not trust my abilities to drive in Indian cities. It's as mush art as it is science, with a lot of luck from Ganesh hood ornaments adorning most dashboards to see you safely through the road maze of Bangalore. Back home at Sambit's house, Shravani has fixed us a sweet cup of tea and biscuits. The daily primer to her fabulous home cooked Indian meals she prepares each day from scratch. Only the freshest ingredients are used, and nothing pre-packaged. She learned from a long line of family that good, healthy meals for the family are prepared by hand and with a ton of love. Aloo-ka, paratha, bhatura with mutton mince and curry/gravy, paneer, chicken with South Indian curry, and the list goes on of the mouthwatering meals we were honored to be a part of sharing with the Acharya's.