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I got back from the Benny Benassi techno concert at Sinergy this morning a little after 2:30am expecting to see an email in my inbox. It was worrying me slightly that I had not heard back from IBM on what my summer project in India would be or even confirming whether or not I would be working in Bangalore or somewhere else in India. They had mentioned a few weeks earlier that there had been some recent changes and that there was a possibility that I would be placed elsewhere.

Not seeing the email, I decided to get in contact with them and figure out what was going on. It turns out that there was a sudden change of plans in projects because someone had an emergency surgery. As well, they were placing me in Pune, India.

This was slightly unfortunate because I really had hopes of working in Bangalore and had already began planning my summer expecting to be working in Bangalore. In reality, I had no idea where Pune even was. Even more in reality at the time, which happened to be 4am, was the realization that I had a very expensive flight leaving in a week that was not destined for Pune.

I did some research and then I called up Expedia and tried to change the flight. I’m flying Air India and they use paper ticket. In order to change the flight I would need new tickets. There wasn’t enough time to do this through Expedia – but I could try to wing it at the ticket counter for a $200 US fee. I decided the cheapest and safest option was to purchase a refundable ticket from Bangalore to Pune which bridged the gap in my travel plans. It’s a little backwards because I land in Mumbai – which is very close to Pune – and then travel hours to Bangalore, only to fly back to Pune.

Hopefully, I’ll get to the ticket counter, get a quick switch to travel from Mumbai to Pune instead of Bangalore, and return the new tickets.

I’m a little disappointed that I won’t be in Bangalore because, hey, it’s Bangalore – the Silicon Valley of India, the “hot spot” of technology. However, I spoke with an Indian friend and he says I actually have lucked out in some ways. Pune is supposed to be beautiful and is called the “Oxford of the East” because of its many colleges and universities. There is “plenty of nightlife, culture, as well as technology.” That’s just my type of mix. Who am I kidding? I’m happy that I’m going to any place in India!