Commuting

Living in Pune is much like a big city in the U.S. Driving distances are measured in minutes. It takes 30 minutes to get from the hotel to our Technology Center, and 60 minutes to get from the hotel to our Factory. Most workers at the Technology Center will take a company bus service to get to the office by 9AM where the bus will pick them up at main roads in the city. Lunch is usually around 1:00-2:00, and work hours are usually 9AM til 6:30PM. Because there are a lot of business meetings that are conducted at later hours (deduct 30 minutes from midwest central time and it is that time AHEAD in India) there is a bus service offered at 6:30, 7:30 and 9:00PM. If people miss the bus, they may take an autorickshaw home. Most rides to/from work are anywhere from 30-90 minutes in distance - so leaving early, coming home late and still needing to eat supper. Supper hours (the earliest) begin at restaurants at 7:00PM although most people would be home for dinner by 8:00-9:00PM. People at the Technology Center usually work a 5 day work week. It is not uncommon to work on a Saturday or a Sunday if you are conducting interviews for recruiting. I am working out of the Technology Center building. When I traveled to Pune in October of 2005, the building was still being constructed. The new building was being built inside of a walled complex called Magarpatta City - and it had also been called Cybercity because of all the technology companies moving into the complex. It was inagurated on December 19, 2005 and has 5 floors - ground (main) and 3 stories of offices with the top holding training rooms and the cafeteria. There are cubicles and many all glassed in offices throughout the building.