How I worked in India as a contract web developer


Foreword


Hello, my name is Alexander Zelenin and I am a web developer. In early 2012, I received a job offer (nodejs, frontend and everything related to it) in India. In general, I liked this idea. You can gain experience (including language), and relax in an exotic country.

I try to cover as much as possible, ask for details in the comments. I write dates and times approximately. Unfortunately, the photo archive is located on another computer, which I will only get access to in a couple of weeks. Spread what is. As a result, a not quite technical story came out, but I hope it will be interesting.

After the interview, they sent me a contract for six months and began preparing papers for a visa.

Table of contents


  1. Foreword
  2. Attempt number 1
  3. Rainy summer
  4. Attempt number 2 - success
  5. Way
  6. First impressions
  7. Pause
  8. Food
  9. Cafe / Restaurants
  10. Prices
  11. Hotels
  12. Transport
  13. Bureaucracy
  14. Apartment Search
  15. Hygiene
  16. Tongue
  17. mobile connection
  18. Holidays
  19. Animals
  20. Temples
  21. sights
  22. Miscellaneous
  23. The working process
  24. Removal of money
  25. Conclusion



Attempt number 1


A few weeks later the documents were ready. After filling out a bunch of forms for obtaining a work visa and generating a package of documents (forms, contract, qualification confirmation, diploma, permission from the company to hire employees from other countries, financial statements of the company, etc.), I went to a courier agency and sent everything to To Moscow.

The very next day, the documents were delivered to the embassy, ​​but they were not accepted, since there was still not enough paper. Over the next few days, I supplemented, clarified and corrected all the documents, sending all the same courier agency.

To complicate the task, I only had specialized secondary education, but it saved me that it was specialized. The "links" on the Internet at the embassy do not want to watch.

The task turned out to be much more nontrivial than it seemed. Even though everything necessary was provided, the documents refused to even be accepted.

After a lot of time spent, I refused to go to work in India and recalled the documents.


Rainy summer


I live in Kaliningrad. Our weather is quite variable due to the proximity to the sea. It turned out that for more than half of the summer (about ~ 55 days in a row) it either rained or was very gloomy. Despite a good stream of orders, the picture outside the window gradually drove into depression.

Without hesitating for a long time, I wrote on Skype to the guys from India to ask how they were doing. It turned out that during this time they had already transported several Russian children from different cities and, on the whole, established a scheme for interaction with the embassy.

This time I invited a friend to participate in this venture, he agreed. After passing the interview (and me again) gave the contacts of the agency involved in the preparation of documents.

This time they sent me reimbursement of expenses for the previous time and money to pay for agency services. The transfer took quite a while, due to the peculiarities of the banking system in India (it is easy to import money into the country, but not to export).


Attempt number 2 - success


We contacted the agency, discussed the conditions, sent all the documents. Services cost around 20 thousand rubles for two (or a little less, not the point). Another week was spent on putting everything in order, transferring a diploma and other actions, after which everything was sent to Moscow.

This time the documents were accepted immediately. The embassy website said that work visas are considered for a period of 3 to 5 days, which turned out to be untrue. In general, it took several weeks.

And then, finally, passports came with visas affixed.

For some reason, the photo on the visa was “flattened” vertically - this distortion made me a little like an Indian.


Way


Mid October. Bags collected, documents prepared, tickets Kaliningrad - Moscow - Dubai - Delhi on hand.

They flew to Moscow with Aeroflot, moved to Emirates and went to Dubai. The service, like the plane, was impressive. The salon looked like a starship from fantastic stories. In the back of the seats are built-in computers with a bunch of films and network games (inside the plane).



Upon arrival to Dubai, we went to get our bags, but they never arrived. Let's go find out where they went. We were informed that they will be immersed in our next direction and do not worry. Apparently, this is a frequent practice, but I came across for the first time.

Before the flight to Delhi, it was ~ 18 hours. When waiting for more than 8 hours, Emirates provide a free visa and hotel. Very cool, actually.
In Kaliningrad, the departure temperature was around 5 degrees, so in order to save space in my suitcase, I was wearing a winter jacket. Exit to the street was felt like an entrance to the sauna. +42!

We arrived at the hotel, accommodated, had lunch. The plans were to visit the Burj Khalifa. We changed into lighter clothes and went out. The high tower was in sight and we, thinking that it was she, and that, in principle, not far, went. On foot. We were probably the only ones who walked there. After a couple of kilometers (cooling off in closed bus stops with air conditioning), ofigev getting hot, we decided to take a taxi.

So, that hefty tower was not Burj Khalifa at all, but just a skyscraper. There was another 10 km to the destination.

If you book a ticket in advance, a few days before the visit, then the entrance is several times cheaper, but we were not sure about getting a temporary visa, so we did not take risks and as a result we paid $ 100 per person.



The view is gorgeous. I can’t even believe that 20 years ago there was only a desert.
We walked 3 km to the bay and went to the hotel. From the hotel to the Airport, and now we are flying to the destination - New Delhi.


First impressions


Arrived at 2 o’clock in the morning. They took the suitcases and went outside. Wherever possible, people lie. Many. O_O.
We pass people with signs. Our names or something similar to the name of the company do not. We do a few more circles. I’m calling the meeting person - the number is not available. I call those who bought tickets - they do not pick up the phone. O_O. Arrived!

But, fortunately, after about 30 minutes, some guy runs up to us, asking by name. Found better already!

He reports that we go straight to the hotel and in the morning to work. After 20 minutes, we arrive and accommodate. Everything is dirty, worn, one bed, the shower looks like a monster from a horror movie.

Under the contract, we were supposed to provide a hotel during the search for an apartment. Is that really her? Despite everything, tired, after the road, go to bed. (Unfortunately, I didn’t take photos, being in a light shock.)

At 8 in the morning they pick us up and inform us that they will settle in another hotel (fuh!). We are going to Gurgaon - a city near New Delhi, in which, directly, is the office of the company. What is interesting: almost all Gurgaon services are private - police / security, road works, etc.

We are accommodating in a new hotel. 2 rooms, the view is clean. Already better.



We’ll go straight to the office: the roads seem to be good. In general, without pits and potholes, but everywhere is very dirty, garbage is lying. We get to the office. This is directly opposite the entrance to the company:



The company's territory is very clean, especially in comparison with the previous photo. There is no garbage at all, bushes, grass.



We get acquainted with the team, inspect the office.



We are given IBM Thinkpad laptops (with such a red pipka in the middle of the keyboard, by the way, very convenient) with a pre-installed ubuntu. It’s more familiar and more comfortable for me to develop on Windows (with virtual boxes configured similar to a “battle” server). After a couple of hours, we get laptops on Windows, sim cards, an advance and go to the hotel.

A very busy day. Feels like we’ve been here for at least a week.

We get up early in the morning, have breakfast at the hotel. The same corporate driver comes for us and takes us to a new hotel (in which we stayed before moving to the apartment). We are going to work. The main project of the company is a large online store. The company is also engaged in production, warehousing, delivery and, in general, everything related to the sale of goods.

We fill in various papers, solve bureaucratic issues. We are informed that it will be necessary to promptly receive something like our pension certificate - it takes a lot where, even in hotels.


Pause


I decided that it was, nevertheless, worth writing, not in chronological order, but on topics. I apologize for such a transition.
I considered mainly various difficulties that may arise. There were many positive points that I did not mention in the framework of this article.


Food


Acquaintance with Indian food began with the plane Dubai - New Delhi.

Stewardess: Beef or chicken?
Me: Beef, please.
Stewardess: Sorry, only chicken available.
I: ... OK

Approaches the next row and everything repeats. So, there was only a chicken curry with Indian spices. But very “lite”, not very sharp.

At work, there were 2 options for lunch: vegetarian and non-vegetarian. By the way, on absolutely all products there is a label - is it vegetarian. It looks like a circle in a square. Green is vegetarian, gray is semi-vegetarian, red is not. Semi-vegetarian - this is using eggs, cheese and all sorts of other non-meat products.

Photo of the dining room:



Vegetarian option:



Top left - something like soy in a spicy sauce. Top in the middle - bean gravy. Top right is a salad. Yes, it’s salad. It looks like a mixture of cucumbers and tomatoes with milk or kefir diluted with water. Very good “quenches” burning sensation after spicy food. Bottom left - dessert, sweet rice in a sweet dairy product (condensed milk?). In the middle of the bottom side dish. On the bottom right are flat cakes.

Local eat it with one hand without additional tools. At first I used a spoon, but after a while I got used to it - quite conveniently. With his right hand (yes, one) a piece of tortilla comes off and then they take what you are going to eat. After getting used to it, it turns out to take even fairly liquid sauces with a side dish without spilling. A sort of mini shaver. By the way, in this way it is much tastier than individually.

The houses mainly cooked vegetables (peppers, tomatoes, carrots, mushrooms), simple side dishes (potatoes, rice) and semi-finished meat (something like a “golden cockerel”).

In the mornings, men drove with such carts around the area:



The vegetables were always fresh and fairly cheap, and I never saw so many rice to choose from. In stores, whole racks of rice for every taste. You can buy meat fresher, but in all, even the most elite, meat stores there is such a smell that desire disappears immediately. The semi-finished meat products were tolerable, but very far from ours. In the morning, oatmeal, occasionally cooked pancakes or something else interesting.

For a week, the body was rebuilt for unusual food and was unhappy, but after a while the food went down easily, and the whole body became well.

Fruit disappointed. You can buy much more fresh and tasty from us. There were a few exceptions, such as mangoes and dragon fruit, but it was in the form of exceptions. Bananas, apples, peaches, pineapples and everything else did not look very good and tasted the same.



The tea is cool. He brought home a few pounds. With a quarter teaspoon the strongest cup of tea was obtained. A whole spoon turned out to prevent blinking.

At the hotel I ate chili chicken once. After that, he never took anything with a “chili” in India. It was baked not only with food.


Cafe / Restaurants


The way to choose the right place to eat is quite simple: if many people already eat there, you can join (with the exception, perhaps, of traveling people). There are all sorts of coffee houses with latte / cappuccino and muffins; There are quite European / American networks like Fridays and MacDonald's.

Once in a rather expensive restaurant they ordered more or less European food and as soon as they brought it, a hefty cockroach crawled out onto the column next to the table. We didn’t eat there anymore.

At MacDonald's, everything is vegetarian, surprisingly. At most - add the omelette to the burger. I have never seen a stranger assortment in poppy. Everything is strange and incomprehensible, but quite tasty.

Fridays had the most European food of all, you could even eat an acceptable steak. Once I ordered a national dish there, I don’t remember the name. It looked like a set of different, different fillings plus a side dish. I took the fork and started to eat. A passing local grabbed his head and explained that I was eating wrong, such a very cool dish. It turns out that under one of the plates there were “pancakes” (not knowing it was almost unrealistic to guess their presence), into which it was necessary to wind everything (or using the tear-off method). And yes, it turned out much tastier.

There are many places on the street where you can buy freshly squeezed juice for a penny - that was cool.



We mainly ate national food at work and traveling around the country with our boss. He advised that you can try the unique in a particular region. Mostly the dishes were distinguished by spices. Even the same spices in different parts of the country can have a very different taste. After two years I can only remember paratha - a tortilla with a filling. Usually this is potatoes, herbs or some tricky spices.


Prices


All products have a mandatory label MRP (maximum retail price). The maximum price is controlled by the state and, comparing it with the price in the store, you can understand whether an adequate price is required from you. In some cases, the price was lower, even several times, but basically corresponded to MRP. In remote mountainous areas, the price could significantly exceed MRP due to complex logistics (100 km + serpentine in the mountains).

The system is very convenient, in fact. Many stores do not even have price tags at all - they are guided by the price of the product.

On average, less food was spent per month than in Kaliningrad. I don’t remember exactly, but not more than 12 thousand rubles for two per month.

The Internet cost 1000 rubles, with a limit of 40GB / month (hereinafter referred to as 64 kb / s).

Renting an apartment with 2 rooms, 2 bathrooms, a living room, 2 balconies and a kitchen cost us ~ 15 thousand rubles. A neighbor came to pay for utility bills, they paid how much they would say. But for the entire stay, this did not exceed 3,000 rubles. They bought a gas cylinder only 1 time, costing less than a thousand rubles.

Bed linen generally cost some penny, something like 200 rubles per set of cotton. Silk, cashmere. He's not cheap here. It is a myth. Now, taking into account globalization, everything is everywhere the same. For a good cashmere scarf, you will have to pay about 8 thousand rubles. Souvenirs are usually sold near any attractions. They are inexpensive. A carved elephant made of handmade stone the size of a fist cost 150 rubles.

Tea is cheap and tasty. A kilogram of decent tea will cost 300-400 rubles.


Hotels


The hotels are rather paranoid, they need to fill in a bunch of information about themselves: where, where, for how much, who are they at all, for what purpose and they still ask for a photo.

By the way, the instant photo is the same as ours, but at the output you get not 2-4 photos, but 20-40. They also leave in batches for any reason.

The price of stay varies greatly from city. For example, in Agra we paid 500 rupees (300 rubles) per day in a hotel overlooking the Taj Mahal:



And in the mountains, in the village of Kasauli, the night cost from 3,500 rupees. But the view of the Himalayas was worth it:




Transport


Knock knock - the most common type of "taxi". It is a three-wheeled open car. It costs about 10 rupees per kilometer (6 rubles). Before work, we were about 5 kilometers away. After they learned to bargain, they went for 50 rupees for two, before that, once, they paid 150.



There are normal taxis, but their price is higher. Never went, so I can’t say.

Rent a car in the classic sense will not work. And there are so many driving specifics that it’s not worth it. All rented cars are provided with a driver and in no other way. For a fairly simple car you will have to pay 2-3 thousand rubles a day, plus gasoline fees, the distance traveled and a whole bunch more. Most drivers drive with high beams. All blind to each other, nothing is visible, but like that. At night, truckers can even go without dimensions - if you bump into them, your problems. Gasoline is saved. Skated for decades, they know all the potholes and turns. Here.

Metro. The subway is cool. Very clean, fast and scheduled. The line for buying tokens is always long - it seemed to me very strange - it was enough to buy a card once and drive at a lower price, without queues and problems. Also, the card could be returned back and get its full value. We lived near the last station of the branch, which went right up to Delhi. The road took about an hour.
In the subway, behind the entrance, behind the embankment sits a man with a machine gun. Entrance through a metal detector.

Bus. We only rode a corporate bus. Slow, but free.

A train. We traveled on several railway tours in such comfortable cars:



In general, it was inexpensive, fed along the way, had the opportunity to sleep. Train tours are a great solution to see the country. Tickets must be taken in advance - at least one week in advance - otherwise there are no seats. Of the minuses: there are no windows on the top shelf, so lying down and looking at the landscape will not work. Passenger trains are very long, I have never seen such, 30-40-50 wagons or more.

Many locals opt for scooters / motorbikes. Families of 5 or more people are loaded onto them, along the way in their hands are bags, suitcases, building beams of 5 meters, etc.

Judging by the salons, some can afford Ferrari, I can not even imagine how to transport it to / from the salon:




Bureaucracy


Any employee needs to get an analogue of our pension certificate. This is required for the correct payment of taxes, and the same is asked in almost any hotel. For almost half a year of our stay, we were not able to get these papers. On a special site, all information is filled in, a fee is paid, an application is sent. After some time, they invite you to drive up, look at the documents and say that there is not enough document N from the company. The cycle is repeated an infinite number of times until you get bored. And yes, every time a fee is paid. The last requirement was to provide a document with a residence permit. In Russia, except for a civil passport, if I am not mistaken, not one contains such information. Fortunately, I had scans that I provided. The answer was: the documents have different names (Alexandr Zelenin and Alexander Zelenin). Of course, different, but the language is different.


Apartment Search


After about two weeks of staying in hotels, the process of finding an apartment began. He was the following: people from the company found options, they put us in a company car, and we went to see the options.

We tried a little and to look for ourselves, but the lesson was useless. All prices were not real, but what was real - they did not communicate with foreigners. In general, renting apartments to foreigners is very reluctant: they think that foreigners are all drug addicts.

The chains of realtors were huge. For each apartment, the chain was at least 3 people. And the trip was consistent. Those. first to one realtor, then with him to the next, then to the next, and only then to the apartment.

We were looking for 2BHK, this is 2 bedroom + hall + kitchen. I’ll note a few funny options:
Quite spacious “mirror” apartment with access to the roof (which was also available at the disposal of the type). They asked the owner about the cockroaches. He replied:
- Oh, you need cockroaches? Come here.
He led to the kitchen, pointed to the drain, covered with a grid.
- You can call them and they will come.
O_O. We then laughed at this for a long time.

There was also an option in the basement without light and furniture. The owner promised to organize everything. But that's how - it’s not clear.

In the end, we settled on a rather spacious, but very dusty apartment with two balconies. I must say right away - balconies are useless, do not overpay for them. Always guaranteed there is dusty. Very dusty. Even if you wash everything, the next morning there will be a layer of dust. The owner promised to clean everything by our arrival.

And now, the day of arrival. Filled all the paper at the hotel, paid for the food. Booted, arrived.
Dust! Everything was as it was, and it remains. To go nuts.



Well, to hell with him. I didn’t feel like jerking with the hotel, and it’s already paid. We decided to wash it on our own. Along the way, we were sick of a realtor, and he said that he would send people who would quickly do everything. In fact, a boy of 12 years old came, saying that he is super cool and will quickly make us dusting. To the campaign, this doping meant that it would bring dust, because there was absolutely no benefit from him. Each of his steps had to be controlled. He took a rag, wiped 5 cm of the surface, stood, waited, looked and asked for a tip. After an hour of such torment (at the same time we washed everything ourselves), we kicked him out - of course, without paying anything.

For the first day we managed to clean out only the hall. We stayed in it and slept.



In general, the apartment was able to lead to a more or less human appearance in three days. Half of the bulbs were gone and we demanded that the owner of their basic availability. They called every day and received an answer like: “But I'm already on my way, in 15 minutes I will be!”. Of course, no one was driving. Normally, the light started working somewhere in a week, no less.

There was a lizard in the fridge. Alive. She spoiled him in a campaign, and he smelled simply unrealistic. They dragged him for several days, burned matches, poured solutions. It got better, but after a few months the stink reappeared. If any product was not tightly sealed, it was saturated with this stink and could be discarded.

It took us a month to remove cockroaches and ants. Squirted, crushed, evicted.

The water filter in the kitchen did not change indefinitely, from it came green water. Substitutions did not succeed, they drank bottled water. The last month they scored and drank from the tap, as a result of which my immunity subsided and I was able to restore the previous values ​​only after a year, although my friend had no problems.

All food was stored in airtight boxes or in a refrigerator. Otherwise, there was a chance of re-breeding cockroaches / ants.

There were 2 bathrooms, but in mine, initially, the shower did not work. Within a month, they sent us a master who did even worse (removed everything except the shower hose), but the water went. In general, they have free water, you pay only for electricity. The pump pumps water into the cistern on the roof and from there it is already supplied under pressure. There was a problem with the pump too, it pumped at a speed of 1 liter per hour and ate electricity like crazy. At the same time, it was noisy, like a tractor. A neighbor from the top came to us and helped settle many of these issues by dragging the workers by the breasts and shouting in Hindi.

Despite the fact that this is, in fact, the capital of the country, power outages are constant here. 20 or more times a day for an indefinite period. More or less good apartments are equipped with uninterrupted service. We had 1 outlet, light and fans working from an uninterruptible power supply.
In principle, this was enough. The router worked from the outlet and, periodically, laptops were charged.

The stove was gas, on cylinders. The cylinder had to be bought only 1 time. In general, it is convenient to use.

The door to the balcony was sliding. The gap was a couple of centimeters. Outdoor temperature = home. In January, at +8, it was not very fun, to be honest. The heater worked without stopping. All slots were sealed with tape.

Mosquitoes. That was tin. Dozens of mosquitoes interfered with sleep. After a couple of months, I literally learned to catch them with two fingers. All kinds of fumigators did not really help, because new ones arrived faster than old ones. After gluing all the possible gaps, the situation improved, but not much. Where they came from is a mystery.

A friend in the morning on the window had a live weather indicator in the form of a lizard. If it was - the weather is good, it will be warm. If not, it's cool.



In general, a month later it was already possible to live comfortably.
When choosing an apartment, I advise you to pay attention to the following indicators in this order: neighbors, uninterrupted electricity (check all sockets with the electricity turned off), water storage method (check the tank, check the pump), existing animals (time will be required for eviction), equipment operability, equipment .


Hygiene


They drink water from bottles without leaning their lips against the bottles - they pour from a short distance. I never got the hang of it, I spilled everything on myself.
All toilets are equipped with a bidet function - an additional hose is connected to the toilet, which can be routed where required. In fact, it seemed to me very convenient and practical. The idea is simple, it saves space, and everything is always clean. If anything, the hose was outside, not inside.


Tongue


In different regions of the country, people speak different dialects derived from Sanskrit. This leads to a problem, people do not understand each other. The state decided to make English common to the whole country. In most schools, starting from the third grade, all training takes place in English. Along the way, there is a study of the native language and, possibly, Hindi (if the native is not Hindi).

In general, the majority of the population normally understands and speaks English, especially children. These guys spoke confident English, but one guy occasionally gave out a couple of phrases in Hindi, for which his comrades beat him on the head and said that it wasn’t beautiful to do so.



Most of the signs and advertisements were in English, although there were many in Hindi. I studied a little Hindi, learned to read slowly (without understanding the meaning), for the ability to enter phrases in Google Translate.


mobile connection


At work, we were given 2 sim cards.
I have never seen such an amount of advertising! Several messages per hour, and they arrived as service messages, were immediately displayed on top of everything. There were also regular calls from an unknown number. The robot waited for the sounds in the handset, after which it began to flood its spam into the ears. Also, these numbers used to belong to other employees, and someone called us regularly and started talking in Hindi. The phrases “Don't understand” they did not understand and continued. But in Russian, “man, I don’t understand what you are saying, come on in English” it helped, but not for long.

There is a very cool service called “do not call list”. When registering in this list, you will never receive any advertising on your phone. The program is state, violators are severely punished. The problem is that for registration you need a lot of data, including the "retirement", which was never obtained. As a bonus, they also disabled a number of useful functions, such as bank alerts.

An interesting point here is that the towers do not belong to mobile companies, but to individual, private ones that already rent them. As a result, all operators have absolutely identical communication quality, the cost of maintaining the entire infrastructure is also reduced.

At the time of its operation, MTS was the leader as a provider of mobile Internet.


Holidays


The largest here is Diwali - a celebration of the victory of light over darkness. It lasts 2 days. Everything that can be decorated with spices, rice and other food.



Multi-colored bulbs are hung everywhere.



And in the evening the most fun begins. From about 6 p.m. until how many nights there, the whole city is constantly letting out fireworks. They just all go out and start letting go. From the roof it looks unrealistically cool and massive. 2 consecutive days a city-sized fireworks display lasting 8 hours. Wow

A major holiday is also considered the day of victory over Pakistan. Parades, salutes. Half of the capital is closed, only walking. To get to the parade itself, we did not tar - the guard did not let go, because there was a camera (and also a tablet and phones, aah!). The parade took place around India Gate:



For the new year, we made olivier and mimosa from improvised products and eventually got poisoned.

At work, you can take a weekend for 1 day (and not like ours, a minimum of a week) and as a result turn a holiday lasting 2 days (Tuesday-Wednesday) into 5 days of rest in a row, from Saturday to Wednesday.


Animals


Many different animals walk in the streets: pigs, cows, monkeys, dogs, peacocks, etc. A bunch of all kinds of different parrots, different healthy birds, with a wingspan of a meter. Chipmunks are generally everywhere.




But after this photo I had to quickly run away:



Chipmunks eat with hands. One of them bit his friend - he had to inject rabies injections for prevention.




Temples


There are many temples for every taste.
You can enter the temple only barefoot. Near most temples there is a place where you can take your shoes. Inside, everything is very beautifully designed:




If you stand in line and pray, you get a point on the forehead + delicious nishtyachek. Tourists in the temples are loved and, usually, sprinkled with more or given some large snacks. In principle, you can eat just by walking through the temples.

One of the interesting rites of “desire” is that you need to go around the temple 3 (9, 127, depending on complexity) times (it doesn’t work in all churches), praying. And there are tricks for those who are not able to do this: you can spin around yourself, for example. And even if this is impossible, it’s enough to imagine in your head that you have done all this and everything will be counted.

Everywhere it is written that it is impossible to touch the paintings, but all the locals, passing by, are sure to stroke them.


The complex of temples Chattarpur. By local standards, young, no more than 100 years old.

They also visited the Lotus Temple, which professes the very young religion of “The Bha'i Faith”. In general, by the way, it’s quite interesting, peaceful and very logical. One of the ideas: you are not praying for someone out there, not for God, but only for yourself. Well, in general, encourages objective thinking. There is silence inside the temple, you can pray to any god, because as planned, do not call him, he’s all the same alone. At the same time, he cannot offend, be angry or something else.

An interesting point is that proximity to especially sacred temples greatly increases the quality of roads around and reduces prices. Officials in such areas almost do not steal, and in general people are much friendlier.


sights


These are mainly tombs and forts.

Qutub minar - it seems like the highest tower in India (although it is also written there that it is just below the Taj Mahal) - 72.5 meters. Located in the "archaeological" park. The entrance is unreasonably expensive, especially considering that it is impossible to climb it.



Red fort (in New Delhi) is one of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites. There are several museums on the territory, mainly with weapons. A number of dilapidated buildings are labeled “Unknown Destroyed Structure”.



Almost all guards are armed:



Taj Mahal - entrance costs about 450 rubles. The territory is vast and is also a botanical garden, in which a large number of rare plants are collected. In general, everything is very cool and definitely worth a look.



Red fort (in Agra). By the way, they have almost all forts called Red Fort. Wandering around is always interesting.



Tomb of Humayun. It is advisable to visit earlier than the Taj, otherwise it is not impressive.



Sariska National Park. Apart from us from the Russians, there were only embassy workers. Open jeep safari:




Miscellaneous


On all posters where something bad happens, a white person is always painted:



In the evening in the mountains:



We brought with us as a souvenir 2 kg of delicious gingerbread cookies. On one of the first working days, we brought all this and distributed it to the developers within the team. Everyone was very surprised at what it was. They asked whether it was vegetarian, for most it was very important. We said with full confidence that yes, but after a couple of days we learned that the presence of eggs in a dish immediately makes it non-vegetarian. Sorry.

After about 2 weeks, we began to curse through the word in communication with each other. I don’t know how it happened, but here. Never swore before. At all. And here it is. After a couple of weeks, they decided to get rid of a bad habit and assigned 5 squats for 1 curse right where he cursed. On the bus, on the street, in the office, anywhere. Over the next 2 weeks they stopped cursing at all.


The working process


In principle, we began to work actively only a couple of weeks after arrival. Despite the fact that at least half a day was in the office - too many organizational moments distracted.

It was originally planned that we would help in finalizing the online store, but later decided to give us a separate task in developing a system of interaction between all departments and customers.

For several days I sat in technical support, studied how the process is now arranged. Then also in stock, in delivery and other departments. When the task was more or less assembled, we started development.

Everything worked on nodejs + socketio + MySQL (later replaced by MongoDB) on the backend, and twitter bootstrap + javascriptmvc (canjs, highly modified) on the front end.



The outdated scheme, but a more recent picture, unfortunately, has not been preserved. In addition to mail, there were other external data sources, such as an online store and software in various departments. The cool feature was the modularity of the system. If something stopped working, fell off - did not affect the rest of the system. The only "point of contact" was the controllers. All components were launched in a separate thread and communicated through sockets.

In general, this is a topic for a separate post.

By the end of January, we already had a more or less working system. Colleagues were quite qualified and significantly different from those found on the Internet for $ 1-2 per hour. There were no problems with the interaction; everyone spoke pure English. Well, with a characteristic accent, of course, but it was much easier to understand them than native speakers.

In mid-February, the company we worked for sold a larger one and we had to leave. Since the sponsor of our visa has ceased to exist.


Removal of money


It is simply impossible to take out money from India. You can exchange rupees for dollars only if you previously exchanged dollars for rupees, saved the check, and even then, no more than 25% of the original amount. Also, banks are not ready to give the entire amount immediately at all in any way. The only way is to close all accounts. And yes, closing an account also costs money. The process is not very fast. After closing, you get a paper with a description of how much the bank owes you. After that, you travel all day around the city and get money at the offices.

The funny thing is that money is issued in rupees, and by no means in large denominations. It looked like we robbed a couple of banks. Next, the money was exchanged for dollars from a friend of a friend. I transferred $ 1000 to myself on Payoneer, but the money came only a month later, and then, they asked me to confirm that I did the transfer: a photo of the card on both sides, a passport, etc. After closing the accounts, I immediately broke the card into 4 parts ... It’s good that I didn’t throw it away, and the security service arranged such photos.

In general, there were regular problems with the bank. The account could suddenly be blocked, they could reset the password to another and a bunch of fun moments. To solve any of them required a personal presence in the bank, so leaving with a card would be a terrible option.


Conclusion


I liked everything very much. Combining work and leisure is possible, and even necessary.

Thank you for mastering this text, I hope it was interesting. Ask about anything - I will answer, supplement, tell.

Upd 1, links to albums:
vk.com/album1466715_164078616
vk.com/album1466715_166899123
vk.com/album1466715_167322271
vk.com/album1466715_168736211

album friend: vk.com/album53571851_164231066

Albums a guy who was before us: vk.com/albums1555656

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