A business trip to India between culture and personal reflections

An Unexpected Journey

Last summer when I was ready for my holiday with my family, suddenly my company told me that. I had to go to India on a business trip. I have been with Ericsson since 1998, and I work for Nokia department where we repair our customer’s broken electronic cards and where we also find out why they fail. Sometimes some cards have a particular problem and for this reason I have to go to in the main plant where these cards are installed, usually our cards are sold in different cities in the world. Initially I was a little nervous for these news because I had already booked a holiday with my family, and so on 15th August I left for India.

The Initial Impact with Jaipur

The city where I stayed was Jaipur the capital of the Rajasthan in northern India. When I arrived the impact was terrible because I was very tired for the trip which lasted around twenty hours because the connection was too long.

I have never seen so much poverty and also because the weather was bad, in August there are Monsoons so the weather changes suddenly from sunny to rainy.

What are the Cultural and Culinary Experiences?

On the first day in the factory I had a wonderful welcome from my colleagues, someone I knew only by email while for others it was the first time. I spent a lot of time with them not only at work but also in the evening, in fact I remember a night they took me to a luxury restaurant where I could try particular food and delicious cakes. I thought it was strange, because outside the people had nothing to eat while we ate expensive food. In Jaipur also known as the pink city, there are a lot of monuments and other attractions, I Have been India for a month and so I visited different places as: the city palace, the wind palace and amber fort, also I tried a safari experience on the elephants, I also visited a temple where people came to pray.

Religion and Marriage Traditions

Another important characteristic of India is the religion, in India a lot of people believe in Hindu. I think this religion influences people too much, for example who believes in this religion can eat only lamb and chicken meat, so for this reason many people become vegetarians. Another factor that influences people is marriage because couples can’t decide who to marry as their parents decide for them, in fact I remember one of my colleagues asked me if in Italy we have the same situation. Of course I explained him that in our country people decide who to marry.

Reflections and Future Plans

I think I will go back together with my family, I‘ill wait that my children grow up, to let them know a new culture and new experiences for example a ride on an elephant for the children but also to taste the typical Indian food which is without meat so it could be good for my wife because she is vegetarian, as for myself I prefer a diet with meat and fish to a vegetarian one