One of the amazing aspects of travelling is the development of appreciation for the subtler nuances of culture, and given the size and diversity of our nation, there are many lessons to be learned in this fine art.
A chronic problem faced by me during the stint in the East was related to the concept of time. Even Einstein would have found it hard to explain time "dilation" in the manner that it takes place there.
Scene 04 - Durgapur- In front of the Communist Party office - Jalkhabar Gali
0900 hours (the time previously agreed to for meeting with SO)
Your's truly dressed to the nines in Louis P, leather shoes and what not.
After a half hour wait - SO turns up, and quite obviously recognises me (since I am the only overdressed guy around) and says- "Oh you are from Delhi - This is Bengal - Delhi time does not work here ! "
Quite an introduction, if I may say so !
Then is the time for my favourite game of 277563 questions -
"Where have you done MBA from? What do your parents do? Why FMCG ? Why not IT ? Everybody goes to IT...you are strange, coming to this line..."
...this when they don't know that I am a trained (or so I would like to think so) engineer !
Once I break that news, it becomes worse ! "Engineer ! Then MBA ? Now doing sales ?? From UP ? In Bengal ? Omygawd !!!"
And then we get on with the "training" viz "walking a mile in the other guy's shoes" by accompanying him to a market located at some distance from the city and doing the "mandatory" 60 calls.
Sandwhiched between a stack of cartons and the salesman cum driver(see the photo in the previous post), this was the world of FMCG saying "Hello" to this freshly minted Marketing Major MBA !
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