Two Yankees in the AA club lounge.
To my surprise, I found myself in the American Airlines club at the Delhi airport. somehow a call from someone I know got me incredible, unexpectedly good service from American Airlines. This girl, Lakhwinder, too really good care of me. She got me checked in 5 minutes and gave me a pass to the business club. The regular economy check in line was really long. I was happy I got someone to make that call.
I thought it would end there but it did not. Lakhwinder, filled out my embarkation card and got me through the emigration line in a jiffy and then took me to the club :). She said that she would come by at 11:45 to get me. I told her that I will be ok by myself from then on but she did not agree (thankfully, as I later found out.)
I met two guys at the club lounge. They were really friendly and had a blast during there first business trip to India. They went to Trichy and bangalore and spent a day in India. They had the following questions for me:
1. Why is there a bucket and hose in all indian toilets? How do indian people clean themselves after a shit :)
2. What is it mean when folks nod their heads side to side in response to a question.
3. Whats up with the aggressive beggars?
It was fun to speak with them over a beer. They seem genuinely interested in India and seemed to be awed by what they saw in this visit. They were amazed that their liaison for a $10M sale of equipment to BHEL was able to get BHEL to tell them the quotes submitted by their competitors. This is confidential information, which is not suppossed to be shared with anyone. Anyhow, they were amazed that business was done this way in India.
We exchanged business cards and then went our separate ways.
Lakhwinder came to get me. She got me through security in 1 minute (broke the line again) and then through the gate straight to the airport. It was really cool. I was the 3rd person in the plane. :) This has never happened to me before.
Toby, the hin-jew:
I sat next to a really intereting 53 year old woman on the flight from Delhi to Chicago on the 29th of October. She said she really likes India and considers herself a Hinjew :). She was a Iyengar yoga instructor and had been in India for the last 6 weeks.
We spoke at length about India's contradictions. How we claim to be fair and treat our servants at way less than par. How, our politicians never let India realize its potential. We also spoke about her wanting to kill her neighbor (living next to the apartment she rented in Pune). This neighbor had 6 dogs and the dogs kept waking her up in the morning. She eventually slept with her ears plugged.
We also spoke about how Indian women dont take care of themselves after certain age and are all generally overweight by the time they are 35. She said she could not understand how indian women, wearing sarees are able to go to the indian style bathrooms. :) Inspite of everything, she loved india and has over the last 10 years been here 5 times. I found out that she a has her own studio in Santa Barbara and that she was divorced. She was really fit for her age. I think she is as old as my mom but remarkably fit.
The flight was really noisy. There was this irritating mom, who could not discipline her kids at all. The kids kept shouting. The boy would not sit down. Even during landing, the kid did not wear a seatbelt and her mom was ok with it. All the air hostesses were completely infuriated. In fact, one of the air hostesses from the business class came back and asked her to discipline her kids properly.
Also, I ran in to Eena and Sudhi in the plane. They were also heading back home to redwood city.
To my surprise, I found myself in the American Airlines club at the Delhi airport. somehow a call from someone I know got me incredible, unexpectedly good service from American Airlines. This girl, Lakhwinder, too really good care of me. She got me checked in 5 minutes and gave me a pass to the business club. The regular economy check in line was really long. I was happy I got someone to make that call.
I thought it would end there but it did not. Lakhwinder, filled out my embarkation card and got me through the emigration line in a jiffy and then took me to the club :). She said that she would come by at 11:45 to get me. I told her that I will be ok by myself from then on but she did not agree (thankfully, as I later found out.)
I met two guys at the club lounge. They were really friendly and had a blast during there first business trip to India. They went to Trichy and bangalore and spent a day in India. They had the following questions for me:
1. Why is there a bucket and hose in all indian toilets? How do indian people clean themselves after a shit :)
2. What is it mean when folks nod their heads side to side in response to a question.
3. Whats up with the aggressive beggars?
It was fun to speak with them over a beer. They seem genuinely interested in India and seemed to be awed by what they saw in this visit. They were amazed that their liaison for a $10M sale of equipment to BHEL was able to get BHEL to tell them the quotes submitted by their competitors. This is confidential information, which is not suppossed to be shared with anyone. Anyhow, they were amazed that business was done this way in India.
We exchanged business cards and then went our separate ways.
Lakhwinder came to get me. She got me through security in 1 minute (broke the line again) and then through the gate straight to the airport. It was really cool. I was the 3rd person in the plane. :) This has never happened to me before.
Toby, the hin-jew:
I sat next to a really intereting 53 year old woman on the flight from Delhi to Chicago on the 29th of October. She said she really likes India and considers herself a Hinjew :). She was a Iyengar yoga instructor and had been in India for the last 6 weeks.
We spoke at length about India's contradictions. How we claim to be fair and treat our servants at way less than par. How, our politicians never let India realize its potential. We also spoke about her wanting to kill her neighbor (living next to the apartment she rented in Pune). This neighbor had 6 dogs and the dogs kept waking her up in the morning. She eventually slept with her ears plugged.
We also spoke about how Indian women dont take care of themselves after certain age and are all generally overweight by the time they are 35. She said she could not understand how indian women, wearing sarees are able to go to the indian style bathrooms. :) Inspite of everything, she loved india and has over the last 10 years been here 5 times. I found out that she a has her own studio in Santa Barbara and that she was divorced. She was really fit for her age. I think she is as old as my mom but remarkably fit.
The flight was really noisy. There was this irritating mom, who could not discipline her kids at all. The kids kept shouting. The boy would not sit down. Even during landing, the kid did not wear a seatbelt and her mom was ok with it. All the air hostesses were completely infuriated. In fact, one of the air hostesses from the business class came back and asked her to discipline her kids properly.
Also, I ran in to Eena and Sudhi in the plane. They were also heading back home to redwood city.
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