Excited about coming to Incredible
India I was greeted with warmth, excitement, humility and respect - as I
traveled I unearthed the tarnished India, unrelenting pestering that was beyond
irritating, it felt threatening. There were times I unfelt unsafe as a lone
traveler. The more welcome I received the more weary I became, I had a right
too - their inquisitive approach soon turned to demands of selling to get their
hands upon my white cash.
Read my blog series on my
visit to the Golden Triangle in the Mid-North of India.(this is post 1)
I started my travels as a
corporate executive visiting my then client for a week’s training on
communications and marketing for the in-house marketing team and to develop awareness
on marketing tactics for the customer service, technology teams and development
units. 
I have been working with
Indians since 2007. There’s a big corporate cultural differences between Europe
and India and over time barriers were reduced and communication became more
fluid. My in-house marketing team were global in their outlook but I knew to
expect something different from the 100+ strong team based in Kolkata.
My flight was easy, using
Emirate Airlines – definitely one of the best airline companies I have ever
flown with. Their attitude was endearing, attentive and while it wasn’t
top-notch it definitely beat the European airlines on attitude. The entertainment system is phenomenal,
and transferring at Dubai airport just gives you a huge sense of the impact
that this new Airport Hub has on global travel.
Landing in Kolkata the
company’s driver collected me from the airport and drove me to my hotel where I
would spend the week. As we departed the airport huge swabs of land had been
clearly divided, as large construction was under way. It occurred to me that
India was growing rapidly. (As at this time I also write on China, the
similarities in construction are minimal, it’s all high-rise).
I remarked on this growth
to my Indian colleagues. To me it was positive, it was the future. To them they
saw it as little more than irritation that the country was still very much
behind. This was my first step into India and I was expecting to see a
completely different side, and certainly over 3 weeks it became much more
apparent.
However, a technology
firm of this nature was not entirely behind the times. It operated globally,
IBM was next door, they have air-conditioning, a road network. On exploring
Kolkata further it was possible to see people divided between rich and poor. This
gap is expanding by the day. Poorer people treated as third-rate citizens, even
those with whom they worked. It grew complex when it comes to money, cast,
creed, and education. On one look at someone an Indian can tell you where
someone fits on a social scale and how they should be accepted into a group.
The road to central
Kolkata was long, as we entered the British colonial zone I could start to feel
the sense of my own history. What had we as British done? Was it good? Was it
bad? Had we helped bring the Indians into a global economy or had we hindered
it. The British created the Rail system. Huge construction programmes were
delivered for the buildings that are still standing after over 100 years, but
was this really positive, or had we held the country back?
With a global population
of over 1 billion, the Indians are still struggling to control the growth and
this is obvious with the shantytowns and the split between rich and poor. It
was evident here in Kolkata because I know people here, they tell me their life
and their stories and I see what other people have to live for.
The fact there that is a
huge memorial building for Queen Victoria pretty much demonstrated the power we
had in the country over 100 years ago. Perhaps if we had taken India with us
during that time they wouldn’t have the issues they experience today – but I
guess the West wanted, and still want, cheap products.
For information on Gay
Kolkata – visit my post: http://ryanchaynes.blogspot.de/2013/03/finding-gay-kolkata-india.html
