Uganda Bloopres ...ooops ... Bloopers
So there was this time when we went to Uganda (via Oracle) to implement a product called Self-Service. Day 1 – we are in the requirements gathering session and are introducing ourselves. I said I am Sameer and I could see people blinking around trying to get that name. Then Sundesh, my co-implementor, said he was Sundesh and there was yet another round of blinks. So I wrote down our names on a flip chart, but that did not help either. Finally, I had to shorten up the names. I said, “Sundesh is Sandy and Sameer is Sam”. Nods of approval – everyone is happy. Day 2 – we get ready to demo the product. But when we started Self-Service, a message popped up – “You do not have the license for this product”. The demo session was due to start in half an hour and we went into a frenzy trying to sort out this issue. So off went a call to Nelly Cheung, the relationship manager from Oracle. Nelly called Sundesh to understand the issue; then called the client co-ordinator to explain that Sundesh found a solution to the problem and that there was nothing to worry about. The next thing we know, the client co-ordinator comes to Sundesh and tells him that there is nothing to worry about because Nelly had just called to say that Sundesh will take care of the problem. This time, we were the ones left blinking!
Entebbe airport in Uganda is on the edge of Lake Victoria, one of the largest fresh water lakes in the world and the source of the mighty river Nile. The clam waters present a beautiful sight while the craft hovers above the lake. And during descent, the shores of the lake rush to welcome the visitors. When we stepped out of the airport, Peter - the driver that the client had sent - rushed to welcome us. While he was leading us to the car, Sundesh and I were speculating about the make of car. We saw him going towards a BMW and I told Sandy – “Whoa boy! Thats a nice set of wheels”. But Peter passed the BMW. Then he approached a really old, beaten down car and Sundesh was like – “What have you got to say now?” Thankfully, he passed that car too. Finally, we got into a Pajero – whew! Since then, the only place I speculate at is the stock market.
There was a Chinese restaurant opposite to the apartment we were staying at. This proximity made it our most regular hang out place for dinner. Here, we met a waiter called Robert, who is the most passionate waiter I have even known. Robert knew the restaurant menu inside out. So if we would order “Mapo Beancurd”, he would say – “Oh, that’s number 83”. Or “Vegetarian Drumsticks” which was “number 156”. There was only this one time when he could not recall the number of the item on the menu – that was when we ordered something that did not exist on the menu.
Uganda has a unique means of public transport – the “Boda-Boda” or just “Boda” in short. This is a two-wheeler motorcycle (or sometimes even a bicycle) found in even the remotest nook of the country. I enquired with one driver as to why Boda-Bodas were called so, and he told me an equally unique story. He said that long long ago, but no so long ago, people used two-wheelers to cross the border between Kenya and Uganda. On seeing a two-wheeler, a pedestrian would shout out – “Border?” And that name stuck. Sometimes, when I shouted out for a “Boda”, I wondered how much the guy would charge to give me a ride from Kampala to the border – a distance of around 300 kilometers.
I found Uganda to be very friendly country. The warmth is genuine; it’s not like the local folks put up a façade of friendship for us (unlike in Egypt, where folks seemed friendly only on the surface, but I found them to be inherently very aggressive and rough). But like all countries, Uganda too has its idiosynchracies. For example, if you ask for water, the server will ask you whether you want cold water or warm water. You are surprised and say that you want just regular water – not cold, nor warm. Now the waiter is surprised and asks you what you mean by regular water! Well, as it stands, in Uganda”warm” water IS your “regular”, room temparature water. Also, if you ask for tea, you get served black tea by default. There was this time when Sundesh asked for tea. The conversation went something like this:
Sundesh – “Can I have some tea?”
Server – “Sure”
Sundesh – “I do not want black tea”
Server – “Black Tea?”
Sundesh – “No, white tea” (White tea … huh?!!)
Server – “So you want milk without tea? (Now what is that!!)
Sundesh – “No, I want tea with milk”
We were all laughing so hard, while the server seemed totally clueless about the joke.
Entebbe airport in Uganda is on the edge of Lake Victoria, one of the largest fresh water lakes in the world and the source of the mighty river Nile. The clam waters present a beautiful sight while the craft hovers above the lake. And during descent, the shores of the lake rush to welcome the visitors. When we stepped out of the airport, Peter - the driver that the client had sent - rushed to welcome us. While he was leading us to the car, Sundesh and I were speculating about the make of car. We saw him going towards a BMW and I told Sandy – “Whoa boy! Thats a nice set of wheels”. But Peter passed the BMW. Then he approached a really old, beaten down car and Sundesh was like – “What have you got to say now?” Thankfully, he passed that car too. Finally, we got into a Pajero – whew! Since then, the only place I speculate at is the stock market.
There was a Chinese restaurant opposite to the apartment we were staying at. This proximity made it our most regular hang out place for dinner. Here, we met a waiter called Robert, who is the most passionate waiter I have even known. Robert knew the restaurant menu inside out. So if we would order “Mapo Beancurd”, he would say – “Oh, that’s number 83”. Or “Vegetarian Drumsticks” which was “number 156”. There was only this one time when he could not recall the number of the item on the menu – that was when we ordered something that did not exist on the menu.
Uganda has a unique means of public transport – the “Boda-Boda” or just “Boda” in short. This is a two-wheeler motorcycle (or sometimes even a bicycle) found in even the remotest nook of the country. I enquired with one driver as to why Boda-Bodas were called so, and he told me an equally unique story. He said that long long ago, but no so long ago, people used two-wheelers to cross the border between Kenya and Uganda. On seeing a two-wheeler, a pedestrian would shout out – “Border?” And that name stuck. Sometimes, when I shouted out for a “Boda”, I wondered how much the guy would charge to give me a ride from Kampala to the border – a distance of around 300 kilometers.
I found Uganda to be very friendly country. The warmth is genuine; it’s not like the local folks put up a façade of friendship for us (unlike in Egypt, where folks seemed friendly only on the surface, but I found them to be inherently very aggressive and rough). But like all countries, Uganda too has its idiosynchracies. For example, if you ask for water, the server will ask you whether you want cold water or warm water. You are surprised and say that you want just regular water – not cold, nor warm. Now the waiter is surprised and asks you what you mean by regular water! Well, as it stands, in Uganda”warm” water IS your “regular”, room temparature water. Also, if you ask for tea, you get served black tea by default. There was this time when Sundesh asked for tea. The conversation went something like this:
Sundesh – “Can I have some tea?”
Server – “Sure”
Sundesh – “I do not want black tea”
Server – “Black Tea?”
Sundesh – “No, white tea” (White tea … huh?!!)
Server – “So you want milk without tea? (Now what is that!!)
Sundesh – “No, I want tea with milk”
We were all laughing so hard, while the server seemed totally clueless about the joke.
posted by Sameer Jain at 11:00 PM
1 Comments:
Nice Job!
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