We have been so consumed with seeing all this city has to offer (thanks to our diligent welcoming committee of Buildium India) that I haven’t had much of a chance to write after being in Hyderabad for five days now.

Here are brief highlights from our first day.

We arrived in Hyderabad International Airport around 5:00am local time. We were relieved of being on a plane that seemed to have more crying babies on it than adults, and we got through customs fairly smoothly. People seemed to be fairly low-stress here for a customs checkpoint, but it was hard to tell how much of a factor it was that it was before the crack of dawn.

Our host, Anil met us in this receiving line, and his driver took us to our hotel.

We are staying in the Westin Hyderabad “Mindspace”, which is extravagant and looks a bit like an ostentatiously large modern art museum.

It is impossible to capture the dining area in one photo, but here’s something. More on that later.

View of Hyderabad from the top of the hotel.

The drive was somewhat long. I realized that Hyderabad is 650 square kilometers, and with traffic, it is reasonable to be traveling for 1.5 hours by car and be within the city the entire time. When we arrived, Ian, Coryndon, and Brandon chose food over sleep. I chose sleep over food and had a nap for about two hours and rushed down to the dining area before breakfast ended.

Anil and Sekhar came to meet us at the hotel after lunch and walk us to the office. It’s a five-minute walk, which makes things quite easy. Most of the team here commutes by taxi for over an hour. It’s not far distance-wise, but traffic is extremely congested, especially during rush hour.

Anil and Sekhar were dressed up for Pongal Festival, and several team members had taken the day off.

Much of the signage is in English, which is sometimes predominant depending on the situation. Telugu is the official language of the state (also Urdu, a language with a history that is intertwined with Hindi is commonly used among the Muslim population), and Standard Hindi (the official language of the country) is used in some places as well. Buildium India is inside the Hitech Pearl building.

It’s located in the tech center of Hyderabad, HITEC City.

We were each greeted with a traditional silk shirt, a red smudge on the brow and a garland placed around our necks.

Also, we were celebrating Jaya Chandra’s birthday. Part of the tradition for birthdays here is to get a cake and smear it onto the face of the honoree.

The next day, they also did this for Brandon, though they went much easier on him.

I discovered this sweet bread called bobbatlu, which was delicious.

Also, later that evening, we ate a bunch of curry and drank Kingfisher beer with Anil. At the end of the meal, we were given small bowls of hot water and lemon. I started to sip from the bowl, then the waiters promptly told me that it is intended for washing one’s hands.

Many more learning experiences are to come.