Indian Reflections

I’m writing this from 37,000 feet somewhere over southern China on an Ethiopian Airlines flight to Beijing.  Until a few minutes ago I was fast asleep trying to catch up on an early start when I was rudely awoken, and boy was that an unexpected way to wake up!  There I was dreaming sweet dreams when something startled me and I open my eyes to find an air hostess’ bosom only centimetres from my face.  I’m sure there must be a more elegant way to shut the window blind, asking the person sitting next to it perhaps? 

I’m half way through a flight that takes me into the next phase of my journeys: China.  It’s strange to think that I’ve been away from home for almost 4 weeks now.  Time seems to have flown past in India, perhaps too fast in some respects, but it’s definitely been an experience I won’t forget.  Work has been crazy busy with 12 hour days the norm whilst I prepared for my forthcoming challenge.  I’ve been given a lot of freedom whilst working the India office which in some respects was quite scary, but it’s nice to know my managers have faith in me.  Or perhaps it is poor judgement, but whatever reason they had for sending me here the next 5 weeks are going to be a leap into un-chartered waters.  I have 7 Chinese developers and an Indian QA that I have to lead to satisfy a long list of requirements.

I have enjoyed my time in India. I have learnt so much at work as well as outside in the scary streets of a developing country.  It’s definitely been an eye opening experience that has given me more clarity about the sort of work I want to do and the simple things to be appreciated in live.  It’s amazing how many things we, or at least I, took for granted back home in the UK.  Simple things like safe drinking water, a constant electricity supply and solid walls around my home.  British kids are taught about the wider world in school but seeing some of it with my own eyes adds a realism that can’t be grasped in school.  And to think India is actually one of the more developed countries in the world.  I’m glad I was lucky enough to be born in the western world and can return to the luxuries that come with living in London.  Perhaps if we sent ASBO laden teenager to a developing country for a week they might learn a thing of two.  A sort of “I’m a brat – get me out of here!” reality show.  Worth a thought at least …

But then perhaps I haven’t overly enjoyed living in India because I was born in England.  I have been trying to think of the virtues that India can claim over my home, and haven’t managed to come up with a very big list yet.  The only two that easily came to mind were some amazing sites and some kick ass animals.  Of course these things probably won’t be anywhere near the top of the list for an Indian born here.  I guess in that respect my trip here was perhaps a partial failure as I haven’t really experienced the true Indian way of live, or the vitality that many longer-term visitors talk about.  But hey, I did get to ride an elephant so in my mind the trip has been a total success

This entry was posted on 22/03/2007 at 10:07 am and is filed under Day to day. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.