Erika in India: Mrs. Webb goes to India

Jayson suggested that I keep up with everyone via a blog of my trip, which seemed like a good way to tell the stories of my trip with pictures.

If anyone reading this doesn't know, I took a job with Oracle in November. Oracle in Denver. As in the Tech Center. Yup, not exactly the 3 minute commute I used to have, but overall a great job that I'm really enjoying.

My new boss, Madhuri Kolhatkar, was coincidentally leaving for India for 2 months 10 days after I started. She manages two groups in India, one in Bangalore, and one in Hyderabad. Somewhat in passing, she asked if I would be interested in going to India. Now, I love Indian food, my wedding dress was made of gold brocade my grandfather brought back from India, where he traveled regularly in the 50's-60's, but the notion of going to India wasn't something I had really considered. After all, in the last 26 years, I haven't left North America. I think a 4

hour plane ride is getting way too long. But when someone says "would you like to go to some incredibly exotic place with people who live and work there and by the way, we'll pay for it", I say "when do I leave?" I mean, come on!

So here I am, in Hyderabad India at the Taj Krishna. Here's a few pictures of the Taj Krishna. The Taj hotels are very nice. I even arrived to discover I was staying on the same floor with Salman Khan . Salman Kahn is described as a dedicated bodybuilder, trains every day, and is famous for taking off his shirt in movies and stage shows alike as well as having been voted 7th best-looking man in the World and the best looking man in India by People (magazine), U.S.A. You can more about Salman Kahn "the most sexy man of the universe at his best" at http://salmanonline.net/indextest.php if you are interested. So, there, my first brush with fame, within a few hours of landing here. Ok, I should be clear about something--I didn't actually even see Salman Kahn. When I was checking in, the concierge asked me in a conspiratorial voice if I followed Indian film, then told me a famous Bollywood star was staying on my floor. All I know was that there were a LOT of people milling around the elevator to the 7th floor when I arrived. Salman Kahn could have been the guy who took me to my room for all I knew. So my brush with fame is more like my "stayed on the same hotel floor as someone famous in another country and whom 99% of the people I know would have never heard of." It's a stretch, I know.