Novotel

I had dinner with Brian and a co-worker from the Hyderabad office, Naresh, with whom I've gone out a few times now. We were being very indecisive about where to go, but ended up at Novotel, the 5-star hotel that I was originally taken to, at the recommendation of another co-worker. Novotel is situated right next to the HICC (Hyderabad International Convention Center), which is hosting the Internet Governance Conference. The conference is being put on to determine how to take the next steps in developing the Internet. For example, how do we get it to people who don't have it. There are hundreds of people from all of the world meeting to figure this out.

On the drive up, there was a lot of security, presumably due to the events in Mumbai. There's security on the drive into Amazon, but it wasn't at the level we found entering Novotel. Both places search the cars as they drive up as well as your bags as you enter the building, but Novotel's was significantly more thorough. Additionally, there were guards walking around with rifles. It was a bit surreal.

Naresh, Brian and I went inside to eat at this Mexican restaurant in the hotel. The restaurant was this outdoor, tropical-looking poolside paradise with palm trees and all. The food was alright (I reluctantly agreed to get guacamole despite knowing that avocados don't grow anywhere near India). After being in Hyderabad, a busy, noisy, dirty city, for two weeks, it was very weird eating at this restaurant. The scene was very tranquil, though you could still hear cars honking and fireworks from a wedding in the distance.

At the end of the meal, our server brought us a survey to provide feedback of our experience. Brian started asking the questions aloud as he filled it out. As comment cards are a total joke in the States, we were laughing about a few of the questions. In response to one question about the service, Brian ended up writing that it was merely satisfactory because they had taken my plate away and didn't bring me a new one promptly. Though most of the card had "excellent" filled in, the server very anxiously asked us why we had filled the card in so poorly when he returned. Brian started changing some answers; I offered to take the card with me and not turn it in.

After we walked away, Naresh explained to us a bit about these servers. Many of them come from small villages and are working to provide for their families back there. They're treated very poorly by their managers, a vestige of the caste system. The concern about our comment was interpreted by Naresh as genuine fear by the server. He's really working for his livlihood. I wanted to go back, but Naresh told me not to worry about it; that this guy wasn't going to lose his job over it or anything.

Though I'm much happier in my hotel than I would have been at Novotel, tonight was a surprisingly deep experience. It's funny how people are connected and how they rely on each other. You've got this group of people from around the world coming together, trying to bring the Internet to those less fortunate. At the same time, you've got these less fortunate people at the hotel itself waiting on the every need of the guests -- including those here for the conference -- completely dependent on their satisfaction. Presumably, these are the same types of people trying to be helped by the conference. You've also got these local, armed guards protecting the conference-goers so that they can do their job (or at least standing around so that they can feel safe doing their job).

At dinner, Brian, Naresh and I got into this conversation about spirituality. Brian talked a lot about his idea that everything in this world is just an entity made up of smaller pieces. You've got molecules that work together to form your brain; the brain, and your other organs work together to make a person; people work together to make a society; etc... Everything has some purpose, some contribution to the system. Togther, the entity moves forward. Tonight kinda makes me wonder where to.