Day 1 in Delhi

Well, what an exciting 24+ hours it's been! Flight from Heathrow was good, I had a nice 'neighbour' - an Irish man who goes to Delhi a lot on business so gave me lots of top tips. Seats were good - the 'World Traveller Plus' gives you an extra 7" apparantly, which makes a huge difference :-) The Stugeron worked and I didn't feel queasy at all. Didn't get to see the Himalayas because it was dark. Food was OK-ish, nothing to write home about. We got there at about 1.30 local time. Got my bag quickly then had to wait ages for Danny's to come through. He and Donna were desperate for a fag so lit up as soon as they got outside. Saw loads of Bajaj scooters in the airport car park and one of them had 3 on board as we drove past on our way to the Grand. Our driver drove us very nicely, although went through loads of red lights, but that's normal apparantly (compulsory even!). Lots of scrawny dogs running around; apparantly they make the most of the lack of traffic to run free. Took forever to check into the hotel, but eventually got to bed about 3.30am, which felt like 10pm so not mega tired.

Alarm went off at 8am and feel slightly tired but not too bad. Nice view of the gardens from the window. Cleaned my teeth and then remembered I was meant to use bottled water - DOH! Down to breakfast of Rice Krispies and rolls, nothing dodgy. Danny is like a zombie and couldn't get hold of our driver so had to ring Aashish who saved the day and ordered us a taxi. Donna only got an hour's sleep, poor thing, but I feel normal probably because I wake up at 4am at home!

Then came the exciting bit - the drive into work. It has to be experienced to be believed. The driver used his horn indiscriminately, for no reason mainly. All cars are fairly dented, and a scooter we went past had half the front brake lever missing. Traffic lights don't mean much, they're just a chance to squeeze through a tiny gap to jostle for pole position. Scooters and motorbikes go on the pavement (or what would normally be a pavement) to get to the front of the queue. We nearly had a couple of accidents, which our driver clearly thought were other peoples' faults, even though he nearly went into the back of them! Driving through the local roads was an eye-opener. Cows roaming the streets. A guy in a tin bath having a good soapy wash. Two guys smoking a huge pipe-thing.

And finally we got to the Sapient offices, in the business district. They're a modern building, attached to others which are home to the likes of Microsoft, IBM etc. Up to the 8th floor and there's a great, if smoggy, view across the city and beyond. Lots of building work going on, preparing for the Commonwealth Games in 2010. Vikram introduced me to the (large!) team and then I told them about myself and then they did the same. He's given up his corner desk for me and it's got an amazing view - kind of like Ashley had in the Brighton office except that I can't see the sea... or the Palace Pier...

Spent all day reviewing stuff - screens, specs etc. Gaurav showed me where the food mall is - serving things from Subway, MacDonalds plus other Indian food. Even has a pick 'n' mix but I resisted. I had a chicken burger and chips, to be on the safe side. The day has gone by so quickly because I've been mega busy. It's 715pm already and I'm going to get a taxi home as soon as I've posted this. I've tried to add the photos but keep getting an error so they are here http://www.flickr.com/photos/hickmanali/sets/72157594395901644/

Got to go now - looking forward to some food, then gym, then BBC News 24, then bed!