Although there were many Indian friends
I knew in Singapore, my knowledge about their country was as much as the
interactions and things
I had experienced in Singapore only.
From the Buddhism perspective, my other deep impression was that Shakyamuni was born in India and
he preached Buddhism around the country together with his disciples. Lotus Sutra was
then preached towards
his last 8 years on the eagle peak and I could only
use my imagination in how his disciples were gathered to that place when it occurred.
In March in this year, I was given an development opportunity to conduct IT risk assessment for the Asia Pacific region. I readily accepted it
as it was rare
that opportunity like this would occurred within GSK, particularly within IT. If it was not by recommendation, it may not had had happened at all.
Shortly after I accepted this additional scope of work, I had a chat with the Risk Manager who would be training me.
The plan was for him to
conduct one assessment while I observed and for me to do another
assessment while he observed. Following that, I was expected to drive
the rest of the
future assessments on my own. The countries under my charge would be India, Japan, Singapore and Australia. Interestingly, India would be the first on
the list!
Personally, I was excited about visiting India as it was a country I had yet to visit to see it myself. On the other hand, people around me were not as excited
as me and some even felt sorry for
me. To many people whom I had mentioned about the visit, their
reactions were generally kind and provided me many advices to take good
care of myself.
For example, one common advice was the water, and how people visiting India
usually suffered food
poisoning due to the water. Some even told me to bring my own water and
of course, sufficient medication. There were some who
even warned me on the serious weather conditions in India,
killing thousands of people. Nevertheless, I listened and was grateful
that they cared about my well being when visiting a hard-ship country. I
also took the common advice about the water and
medicine and brought some along with me.
 |
| Mumbai City |
The day finally came when I set off for Mumbai to go to a GSK manufacturing site at Nashik. I was told that
it was at least a 3 hours drive from the Mumbai airport to the site.
The Mumbai international airport was really pleasant and what was even
nicer was the fact that the Risk Manager who flew in from UK 2 hours
earlier, had waited for me at the airport. I greeted him with thanks and proceed to look out for our taxi which had been
pre-arranged. After walking a few rounds, we
still could not find anyone holding
out sign with our names. After a good wait of 10 mins, I decided to
call the taxi agency which was provided by the Site IT manager. It was a
difficult conversation as they did not seem
to understand English. I finally got someone whom could understand my
language and requested the number of the driver who would be fetching
us… Anyway, after a good 20 mins wait, our driver finally arrived and
apologetically welcome us to Mumbai. He highlighted
that the traffic in Mumbai had caused the delay and indeed, when we
started our journey, it was a traffic condition I had never seen in my
life. Cars, motorcycles and pedestrians were all mingled up on
the roads and while there might be traffic lights
around, it really did not serve any purpose as cars and motorcycles
would just ‘squeezed’ their way in the quickest possible manner. Horns were used freely too,
adding on to the chaotic city.
From the first glace, I knew immediately that I would not be comfortable in driving here.
 |
| On the way to hotel |
The 3 hours plus journey to the hotel was pretty
exciting too. When we are out from the crowded Mumbai city, the chaotic
mess was replaced by vast empty lands with dry patches
that had apparently suffered from the ferocious sun. There were also so many cows along the way; some under the trees to avoid the heat while others
struggling
their way to find some food from the empty land. There were also
people appearing occasionally walking along the road, the men were in
pretty comfortable clothes but for women, they were all in their long
Sari under the unbearable temperature of
more than 40
degree C. Even the hills and mountains were brownish in colour, most
were filled with rocks while others were left with few patches of
grass. The journey was not as smooth also,
first the bumpy road with occasion road works and dead animals add on
the excitement. Then, due to the heat, our driver seemed to be rather
tired while driving, and I had to constantly make any noises to keep him
alert.
 |
| Hotel Lobby |
After a good 3.5 hours ride, we
finally reached our hotel safely, I was hungry and tired. The hotel was a complete contrast to the outside world. It was like a country resort
filled with the most greenery I had seen since arrival.
The hotel building was also very well maintained
with multiple faculties.
To enter in the hotel, there were tight security checks
at the gate and the lobby entrance. Most of the hotel staffs understood and spoke good English too. It was
just not reflective to the real world outside,
however from a visitor point of view, I felt nice to
be staying here.
For the next few days, I
just basically commuted between the GSK site and the hotel and worked until
Friday when I was due to fly back to Singapore. GSK Nashik was pretty impressive too, big and clean as required like most manufacturing sites.
 |
| View from Hotel |
 |
| Nice Indian Food! |
This visit left me with a few good thoughts and reflections.
 |
| Wedding event at Hotel |
Firstly, from the scenes and interactions I
gathered during this visit, the gap of poor and rich in India was still
very huge. Slums and poor people
could be seen
everywhere while the rich could hold a few days of wedding
celebration in this 5 stars hotel. I had pondered what would be the ONE thing to do for a better India, maybe eliminating corruption could be first.
Secondly, when relating to how Shakyamuni had preached Buddhism here 2500 year ago and
how China Xuanzang
and other monks had embarked on the journey to collect the sutras from India back to China, I truly felt their mission and
spirit to propagate Buddhism for the
sake for the happiness of the people. The size of this country cannot
be fathomed by my 3-hrs car journey from Mumbai to Nashik, and India was
even bigger in the past before other countries
like Sri-Lanka was formed. How do they travel? How do they communicate
to each other? How do they know when to meet and where? Oh my, all
these questions had left
with no answers but admiration and respect to these heros, these buddhas.
Lastly, I did enjoy my stay in India, it was a
different experience and although I did not get to go out of my hotel
after work, I am grateful to have this chance. Nevertheless, I had the good fortune to enjoy the good food and free time at
the hotel. FYI, I had also diligently used the bottle water available and did not suffer any
form of poisoning. :-)
 |
| With colleagues |
 |
| Mangoes! |
My first impression upon arriving in Philippines after a 3.5 hours flight was very similar to Thailand. Traffic was messy and not as convenience as I had imagined. Roads were generally too narrow to cater for the volume on the road, and thus, jam on the road was a norm. I was fortune to be staying in a rather luxurious hotel in the city heart surrounded with a massive chain of shopping malls, another similarity to Bangkok. While I had no issue walking around the place and since transportation had been arranged for me to/fro the company and distributor, it would not be a problem for work too. But realising the bad traffic in Philippines, I started to ponder on how I could visit our SGI centre which would be some distance away, I was contemplating to hire a car and driver to bring me.
Following day, I visited our office to meet up with some customer service leads. After our morning meetings, I shared with them my plan to visit our SGI centre in Philippines and also explained to them our worldwide SGI movement to promote peace, culture and education. Following that, I showed them the SGI centre address and seek their advice on how I could to travel there. Surprisingly, they kindly offered to fetch me there with the company car and then back to my hotel. As a result, from the help of these “Buddhist gods”, I finally was able to visit our beautiful SGI centre which it was a wonderful experience.
