Since my son Brook didn't send any photos this time, I found a Google map online. He's on the west side of India near Bombay in Pune which is a city of about 5 million. And according to Google...is an important industrial centre and has a strong presence in diverse verticals such as the automobile sector, the software industry, engineering and electronic goods, business process outsourcing, food processing, and various other middle level and small industries.
More from Brook...I actually left my hotel on foot yesterday for the first time because I ran out of clove cigarettes and I failed to purchase enough when I had the driver stop at a shop on the way back to the hotel previously. I successfully negotiated the purchase of two packs of Gudang Garams for 100 Rupees without having to cross a single street. I enjoy being able to smoke in the dining room. They also do my laundry. The menu is quite cosmopolitan. I got very sick from consuming a laasi, but I failed to ask them if it was made with boiled water, so it's kind of my fault. I think I'll try the steak tonight. The food is inexpensive and tasty. There is a bookstore not far from my hotel according to google maps. It will require crossing one major street and many minor ones. The problem is that I'm out of fiction...I get a fresh newspaper every morning that is written in English, but it's only notionally fictional. Let's face it, non-fiction, is just poorly written fiction.
I wrote and asked how the work was going...he's training Indian workers for outsourcing support for his IT company in Seattle. He replies...I just had a conversation with a tier 4 developer wherein I had to walk him through the most basic troubleshooting steps to find a fault in his network connectivity. I'm sitting here thinking about macro and micro vision. Well, I'm doing that in between rushing around putting out fires, monitoring the graphs and alert emails, providing on the spot training, and regaling my colleagues with amusing support anecdotes from my trove of experience in the industry. Sounds like he's keeping busy.