Good morning Jeff,
Hope everything is going well on your side, as per your request, I am sending you information regarding LC in India.

Work Related:

Once you reach Sirharikota High Altitude Rang (SHAR) of the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), each person is issued a label to be attached to laptops of launch campaign participants for ISRO’s security, tracking and accountability reasons.  Stickers are checked carefully upon entry or exit from the launch campaign facilities.

The first few days, the SC was housed in the Spacecraft processing facility, SP1. Video monitoring is used to monitor the status of the SC; the video was reviewed daily.  ISRO was micro-managing all activities. All personnel are under watch constantly with surprise visits without knocking on the doors where participants were working. Some ISRO questions were friendly, but others made this monitor uncomfortable.  Skybox directed them to a website once its cognizant personnel were queried.

Skybox was supposed to share the control room with the Canadians, but for some unexplained reason, the Canadians decided to set up their GSE in the high bay next to their SC. Therefore, Skybox occupied the whole control room, but ISRO did not give them the key to the control room until two days later.
The bottom line was that ISRO was acting as real "control freaks."  Internet access was provided in SP1

Once the SC was transferred to SP2 Dual Launch Adaptor, DLA, integration area, to be integrated onto the adapter, I was working in the High bay with no office space and we were sharing the room with ISRO personnel.  Once the SC was moved to SP3 (mobile launch tower), ISRO integrated the SC onto the launch vehicle adaptor (LVA). No one was allowed to observe the activity or visit SP3 until after the fairing encapsulated all the SC. GSE was set up to check the status of the SC and battery charging. ISRO showed up late continually, delaying the start of those daily activities.  Cellphone access was erratic throughout the launch campaign.  I am used to AT&T (and its spotty service), but reception was very bad and intermittent.

Accommodations:

ISRO’s Hotel was called “Guest House”, similar to a "Motel 6."  Each room has two mini twin beds, hard as a rock.  Everyone has their own room. AC is good, overhead fans keep cool air moving.  Rooms have mini fridge and phone and TV’s (all Indian channels).   There are portable closets for hanging stuff up and a small desk.  Fairly Spartan overall, but not too bad.  Internet in the hotel is pretty good.  The shower rooms are the combo shower/toilet rooms you see a lot in Asia.  Fan should be left on constantly to remove moisture from the shower, and help keep bugs and snakes from entering through the fan opening.

Most of Skybox personnel refused to leave their keys with hotel personnel, as required, when they went to work, because the cleaning personnel will turn air conditioning systems off to save electricity, therefore rendering the rooms into virtual infernos.  Most launch campaign participants went to wash their dirty laundry at Chennai and even spend days there when no launch campaign activities were scheduled.

Bring your own medicine and get vaccine shots (especially for Hepatitis B) and carry your own food. I felt comfortable when eating the food that I brought with me to India because I found the available food terrible, or sub-standard.  Most of us endured a very discomforting stay there, and daily complaints were plentiful.

The following consisted our daily ration of food: toasted bread, scrambled eggs, French fries with two small cups of coffee for breakfast; small bowl of rice, few pieces of curry chicken and water (no sodas) for lunch; curry chicken or curry fish for dinner. One of the German BIROS personnel was sent to the hospital; root cause was not identified, but we suspected stomach issues due to the terrible food. His condition was serious because he was on IV drip.  Some Canadian M3M team members also reported similar incidents, but used antibiotics to prevent possible trips to the hospital.

As July approaches, temperatures will increase with humidity. Mosquitoes and other random flying insects are out in force, rendering a difficult environment even more so.  I experienced a few bites which caused a few skin bumps that lasted no more than a day. I did not observe anybody drinking alcohol, but few U.S. citizens brought some booze with them, and enjoyed them in the privacy of their hotel rooms.

There was a mini convenience store located 100 meters from the Guest House (Hotel) selling drinks and snacks - some of them with passed expiration dates. I was told that a big rat jumped from one of the store's shelves when a snack was pulled to be sold to one of the launch campaign participants.
Frogs came in droves at night. One night I had five frogs occupying my hotel room with me - yes, they were my roommates and friendly.  I caught three and released them, and the other found refuge under my closet, and out of my reach. I was, at first, uncomfortable with their presence, but as time progressed, I became used to them.

When in Chennai for a few days, the Tuc Tuc is the best form of transportation even in heavy traffic with a very cheap price.

Let me know if you need anything else, The information above is only my personal view.

Enjoy upcoming LC trip, I am sure my roommates waiting for you…!! Be nice to them.

v/r
Phu