Incredible India

Today, I am still recovering from my India trip. The tag line for India Tourist Promotion is Incredible India. I must say it is a good tagline. Incredible queues at the security check points(Kolkata). Boarding pass checked Incredible number of times - 6 times from getting into the holding point to the aircraft. Incredible wait for a cab in Bangalore - one hour 15 mins. Incredible answer - 15 mins to any questions. Incredibly Good Chinese food in Mumbai - yes it is REALLY good!

How far are we from your office - two mins. We arrived about 10 mins later - Indian Rubber Time rules. I must say the fresh lime soda tastes just as good as my first trip to India 24 years ago. Yep! Been there, done that.

There are many changes too. Campa Cola no longer exist. Warren Buffett's favorite drink kills it. Besides, Ambassador and Maruti, Honda, Hyundai, Toyota and other major brands. I am lucky not to get "Bombay Belly" or food poisoning. Our hosts in 3 different cities all come on time. Major surprise and change in my previous experience. Two worked for multinationals and one is the business owner. The FDI has changed the behaviours of the Indians employees.

The roads has improved too and highways is wide. Drivers behaviours has not changed and honking is the way to get others to get out of their way.

Some things has changed and some don't. As my colleague, Tony in Canada said to me once about the company we worked in. The more it changed, the more it stays the same.

I reflect on China's development. My first trip to China was about 16 or 17 years ago. There were not many roads but the roads are in better condition yet similar to India today. Traffic jams was non-existent. Everyone travel by bicycles. Only taxis and military vehicles were on the road. Cars were used cars imported from other countries and rare. On the road, there were many men wearing military uniforms. I asked my colleague, Pascalis why the military is everywhere but they are not carrying arms. He explains that uniforms and laundry are free, so the people are wearing off work. Today, China has massive traffic jams and bicycles are not allowed in many parts of the city. There are good mass rapid system in all the major cities.

China is years ahead of India in economic development.