When it rains, it pours

Especially during monsoon season in India. Up until a week or so ago, temperatures here in New Delhi were well over 110 degrees F. Now that the rains have come, today's temperature is around 85 F or so, but humidity is 100%. That's what several inches of rain will do to a city.

Breakfast. The most important meal of the day. There is an eatery called "The Cafe" (original, no?) in the hotel that has great ambience. There is a two-story waterfall and a lot of marble. They have a great little American-style breakfast for 225 rupees (about $5.25). Service was pretty quick too. In fact, it took less time to be seated, order, get my food and eat it, than it did to get my check.

At 10:30 I met our man in New Delhi for the first series of meetings. They went very well and I believe I navigated the political waters well enough that everyone was happy. All the people I met were extremely pleasant.

A quick trip back to the hotel to meet some vendors. The hotel lobby is very conducive to business meetings and there is even a hostess to provide refreshments (at a cost). Generally, the vendor meetings seemed to go well. There is one ISP that I have been dealing with (lets use a fictional name for them of ICM) by e-mail for a few months who sent a local sales engineer to meet with me. I so preferred the engineer as he seemed more service oriented and sincere.

The two vendors did follow-up on their commitments to get me pricing at the end of the day. I was surprised, and a little miffed as well, that ICM was now giving me a substantially lower price. Why did I have to fly 8000 miles to get a lower price? The other company offered a very fair price.

I'll have to mull these over and consider the ramifications of each.