Duration: 28th August 2011 - 2nd September 2011
It has long been told that everyone should visit India at least once in a lifetime. Unexpectedly, my first business trip this year in August 2011 was to visit India. Other than experiencing my first on-site training for the project, it was as well a trip for me to experience life.
The Flight
The day started very early on the morning of 28th August 2011 as my flight to Chennai was at 8.45am thus needed to wake up at 5am+ having to drag my feet out of my room. The Jet Airways this time was rather with a small plane as it took only 4 hours journey to arrive at Chennai. Upon arrival at the KLIA around 7.00am, I was shocked to witness the crowded traffic and people at the airport due to the public holidays we have for that week. The police started giving summons to unattended vehicles parked at the side-ways. During the checking-in process at the terminal, I was being alienated as 99.9% of the passengers were Indians. Even during my initial check-in at the counter, the airport officer tries to recheck with me several times if I am really going to India or am I queuing at the wrong terminal since I am the only Chinese in the queue. =.=
Arrival at the Madras Airport was with a surprising scene to have a whole crowd of local citizens standing at both the side-ways of the exit. The airport was rather small and empty compared to the other airports since it was partially shuts due to renovation works. It was also a surprise that even checking out from the airport, all baggage needed to be scanned once more.
The Hotel
The prearranged pick-up service attendant by the hotel was already waiting at the exit with a placard once I stepped out of the terminal. Upon arriving at the hotel, I was well served by the staffs. The security level of the country was unexpectedly high where every visitor or guest needs to scan each bag before entering the hotel. (Good security or bad safety? Hmmp…)
The Rain Tree hotel in Chennai costing approximately RM420 (with a 20.15% tax charges) a night was wonderful having the best services and environment in town. Even during my meal in the hotel’s restaurant, the chief chef will approach each of the table personally asking for feedback and improvement. There is a hotel staff that performs magic tricks to kids and youngsters during the meal to keep up the ambiance. You will absolutely enjoy the shower in the hotel as it was excellence. The shampoo and shower gel features the natural and local aromatic scent. Having fireworks scene at the window while lying on the comfortable chair was indeed a wonderful experience since they are celebrating some festive locally on the first night.
They have a wonderful open-air bar at the rooftop with a pool and panoramic view of the city. Looking at the night view of Chennai with music and some beers in hand was indeed fantastic!
The Sightseeing
Luckily it was only a 2.5 hours time different without any jet lags whereby I am able to take a tour around the city upon my arrival on Sunday. With the kind offer from a local colleague, the afternoon was spent visiting 2 of the famous historical places near Chennai- the Mahabalipuram and the Santhome Cathedral Basilica. The magnificent Indian temples situated 60km away from Chennai dates back to the Tamil Pallava dynasty in the 7th-9th century. The structures here, mostly carved straight out of granite, are among the oldest existing examples of Dravidian (South Indian) architecture. The Krishna's Butterball is a giant natural rock perched on a hillside, seemingly in defiance of all laws of physics. As for the Santhome Cathedral Basilica, it was built in the 16th century by Portuguese explorers, and rebuilt again with the status of a cathedral by the British in 1893. The British version still stands today. It was designed in Neo-Gothic style, favored by British architects in the late 19th century.
While we are walking to the car preparing to depart from the town of Kancheepuram district, there was this little Indian girl around the age of 9 trying very hard to push the sales of handmade necklace to me. She followed me all the way until the car and standing close to the door preventing me from closing it. The old man who is selling the postcards and crafts was even more aggressive asking for Malaysian Ringgit which has a higher value compared to the Indian Rupees.
The Lifestyle
You could absolutely get to feel India and the lifestyle which you would have probably seen in most of the documentaries and movies. There were indeed various surprises you could find in this country:
- Being able to drive in India will enable you to be able to drive elsewhere in the world! They are having almost no rules on the road as long as you are able to squeeze your way out. You can cut queues and overtake whenever and wherever possible.
- They fully utilize the honk on the road to the max and sounds it at all times. It causes stress where at the junction; everyone will force the move for every second.
- No one actually pays reference to the traffic lights, traffic lines and courtesy.
- As there was a driver hired by the company who is responsible to drive us around daily, I was indeed shocked that he would wait from 9.00am – 6.00pm at the car park doing nothing and going no where! I feel so bad that he would wait blindly like this but couldn’t ask him to go elsewhere. Every morning, he will arrive early at the hotel even before the time.
Despite all the horrible situations on the road, you can still find the best customer service in India where the people in a restaurant or the service industry will indeed serve you like a royalty. The humble lifestyle they are having is astonishing where one really gets to sympathizes the poor living and to cherish the lifestyle we have. Life is being tough for them having to work on various laborious tasks and suffering under the bad traffic, polluted air and horrible surroundings. Even when we are sitting in a comfortable private car, we can still breathe the terrible air outside the vehicles.
Realizing this difficult aspect of life, my colleague and I decided to tipped our driver 500Rupee each on our final day for his very good service.
The Company
29th August 2011 was the first day I paid a visit to the India Shared Service Center to start the long day and long week having meetings and giving trainings to the Indian team. The discussions, arguments, brain cracking moments finding for solution, having to talk for more than 6 hours a day on different and spontaneous topics is indeed pressurizing.
The security level of the company is surprisingly tight compared to our offices in Malaysia. Arriving at the gate of the building, a few guards will required company identification card from the visitors and to obtain the driver’s information, at the entrance of the car park, there is a scanning system requiring each employees to scan their access card before getting into the elevator. Upon arriving at the front door of the office, there is a security guard standing at the side of the door screening the visitors, and after entering that door, there is another door requiring finger print before you can actually enter into the office. They have a good tracking process on vehicles where we can always check with the guards if our driver arrives. Even when I am getting to the car park from the office, the security guard will specially escort me as the foreign visitors until I safely get into the car. Inside the office, there was a person to take care and serve all the daily needed food and beverages. Their polite cultures have them to knock at the door to obtain approval before getting in even if they wish to collect the empty coffee cups. At the factory site, there was a specific dinning room called “Executive Dining” which caters for 10 seats especially for foreign visitors. The taste of their local sweet deserts was rather bizarre which does not suits my taste at all.
The Food
The buffet breakfast in the hotel features most of the Indian specialties. Even the pizza was localized with olive, bacon, salted veggie and cheese. Having to taste the local KFC as my lunch is not a bad choice; however having KFC for 4 consecutive days in the office will therefore keeps me away from it for at least the next few months! The chilly sauce they have is rather similar to the liquid sambal instead of the common sauce we have. Luckily I get to taste something different for my last lunch in Chennai at the factory side.
We went for a Teppanyaki dinner at the restaurant downtown. The chef who cooks infront of us was fantastic having the skills and tricks while fetching us the delicious meal. I should have ordered the wasabi + cucumber juice though it sounds crazy. There was a full table of dessert choices after the meal.
Days passes-by rapidly and fast enough to reach the end of my trip. The returning flight at 11.45pm was not a good choice but having no other options due to limited flight availability; my expected arrival was at 6.05am backed in KLIA. Thank God that this is another smooth trip I have.
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