First impressions of China..

Yesterday I traveled by all forms of transportation that could possibly be, except the ship. Went till Hong Kong in flight, then from there in bus till, china Border, then a small taxi till one central place, then metro train to finally reach my hotel. 

If you are traveling in China, one thing you shold keep in mind, here people dont know English. It is so different as soon as you cross border, in HongKong where most poeple speak English and in China no one does. Even almost all the boards are in Chinese. Thankfully we had the hotel name written in Chinese, and we were showing that around to people to ask the way. 

Ofcourse everyone told me this other thing that in China even for non vegetarian people food is a problem, and trust me it is. Here yesterday we were trying to glance though the McDonalds menu, and the only thing that seemed veg there was this item which was marked Cheese Burger. Because every where it was, ham burger, fish fillet burger, chicken burger, but this was the only one which which seemed vegetarian. But then it was beef, I just realized that when anything is not written it means it has meat... so the only thing was remaining was potato fries and corn.

But then we found this great thing in China, you get amazing fruits. Water melon, guavas and strawberries. You get loads of them and quite cheap and they are much better than what we get in India.

So far it has been fun... kind of adventure. Plan to go to some street market here today, lets see how it goes.

Plan to post some pictures soon.

Ad for Kick boxing..

Saw this "kinky" Ad for kick boxing.

Interview with Taxi Driver..

Heavy traffic to airport and I thought why not get to know the taxi driver better. So the coversation that we had. 

(Intially I thought I will note it down while he speaks, but then I have seen that people get scared as soon as I get out my diary, so now I have just come to aiport and typing this in before I forget. )

Where are you from?

Not from Bangalore Sir, you know Udipi, yes I am from village close to that.

How did you get in to this taxi business?

Earlier I was in ICICI prudential as agent, then since this new airport have taken the taxi. Something you have to do na to get money.

How much do you earn?

About 10 thousand sir, and I end up spending about 3-4 thousand.

Is there no employment in your village, why you coming to Bangalore?

No Sir, all good facilities in village, just come to see, see the big city 

What your future plans, do you want to continue taxi?

we have chicken farm in village, and "supari" farm, it runs good, so I go back to village after two years.

Are you married?

No Sir, 

Will you get married here in Bangalore?

Marriage elders sir, city girl, chicken farm does not adjust, girl from my community.

Are all the facilities good in your village, school, medical and so on?

Facilities all good sir, good school, earlier no teachers now lot of teachers.

Do you have water problem in your place?

No water problem sir, lot of water, near the sea , so lot of water in borewell.

Do you have any ambition in life?

Yes sir, I want to go in to politics, My father also in gram panchayat, I was leader in college. So I want to go ahead in there, but not now, after marriage after two three years.

Do you use pesticides in your farm?

(He did not understand pesticides)

Do you use some "dawa" for the "kidas" in the farm?

DDT sir, yes sir, DDT everyone use. If we dont use DDT then lot of "kidas"

Do you stay alone in Bangalore?

No sir, with four people from my village.

Are all of them taxi drivers?

No some in restaurant, some private company, like that.

Do lot of poeple come out of village and dont go back there?

No sir, after marriage, difficult to live in bangalore, minimum expense 8 thousand, not possible sir, good job stay in Bangalore, Most go back village for marriage and stay there only.

There is a pause and then he himself starts saying,

"Three of my classmates in Army sir, two in Kashmir, one in Gujarat. Army means lot of value sir, some problem is there, but lot of value."

How did they go in army?

Got seleted from colege sir, they will come to take.

You did not get selected?

I also, but parents did not allow, only son sir, so difficulty. I wanted to go then, but then I came to Bangalore

Do you learn English at school?

Yes sir, for five years, can read and understand little bit. But in village no Hindi only for three years. that is bad, because hindi you need sir, specially if you go to north India, very few in village know hindi.

By the time I am done with this many questions, airport has come. And then he asks me, 

Where are you from?

"Baroda", I say, (I thought he would not know where baroda is)

"Irfan Pathan, Yusuf Pathan, sir... that place.." 

"Yes" I say

"Cricket lot of interst sir, Dhoni very lucky captain" he says...

 

And then we depart, 

Cricket truly unites India I think.. :)

Will they tell your story?

"

Great marketers of the future will not be measured by how well they tell stories to their audience, but rather by how well their audience tells stories about them

"

I got this line from this blog, and isnt it so true?

Forget about marketing, similar concept also applies to real life. It is never about how many people you know or how many friends you make, but always about how many friends who can vouch and talk ernestly about you and how many of them can stand for you. Most times I feel that "Good Will" is the greatest force that you can possess. 

Related Posts: 

Envelope Story

Taking the first step

Lessons of 2008

This post should have come earlier, but in many ways my new year has started in Feb and I am still in process of wishing people happy new year. 

These are some of the things which I learnt or I should say realized in last year... not like rocket science or anything but still felt like penning them down.

Take Decisions: Lot of times in last year I spent time delaying making decisions, worrying and wondering what if I make the in correct decisions, how it is going to affect and all, but then when you in the constant state of going hence and forth and  it drains so much of your energy. So I realized it is always good to take decisions, instead of dilly-dallying it, you may take a wrong decisions but it is ok. At least you would be clear in your mind and would be able to concentrate on other things. 

Giving 100%: It is such a simple thing right, but most times I have realized is that I dont do it. Most times in job or otherwise I just sit almost like waiting for something to happen, and then would start working. But then these days now I just keep telling myself give 100% or just get out and take a break and do something else.  Even though I dont believe that there is anything like 100% because every time I give in my best effort I always realize that I could have done better, and also I keep realizing that I could do more, and am beginning to believe that we have infinite energy to make and do things if we ever want to do it.

Don’t think : "Thinking" not in the terms of thinking of solution to problems, but thinking as in terms of "what if". I spend so much time doing it, that it is not funny. Someone sent me in the email the other day, "Jo pata nahi hai, uske bare me sochne ka koi matlab nahi hai, aur jo pata hai, uske baare me sochne ka koi faida nahi hai."(What you dont know there is no point in thinking about it and what you know, there is no advantage in thinking about it).  And it is so true, I guess you have to constantly tell yourself to be in present and not keep dwelling in either past or future. 

Of course it is not that all these things are new to me, I have probably known them ever since, but then it is still just that I don’t apply these that much and now that am going to put little more effort in putting all these in place. :)

Traveling Endlessly

This year for me has kind of started with a bang, I dont think there was ever a time when I had traveled so much.  Since start of this year, I have traveled to 10 different cities, I remember that I was in Banglaore on 31st night spending new year at platform (were a part of the Tata Jagriti yatra then) and even after coming from the yatra, had been for one marketing trip and then for a friends wedding at coimbatore.

The entire month was filled up with waking early in mornings, waking up late at nights, traveled by flight, train and bus,  an average of only about 5 hours of sleep everyday, almost running all the time, not having time to eat, hence eating at odd times and odd places, not having time to check, reply to emails. 

When you look back at the month, so many memories/images come back, the month passed by in a jiffy, but it kind of memories make you feel as if it was worth a lifetime. Now that feb looks little free, I plan to blog in detail. Already some of the more serious blogs are in pipeline and would be posted soon.