JC in India

THIS IS THE ORIGINAL POST JUST RESET AS A BLOG POST NOW I’M WORKING OUT HOW TO USE THE SITE!

3^rd January 2022 – Starting out

“Got any plans for the day?”, said the cashier.

I paused for an instant. The usual response of “not much” came to mind, but my pause was just long enough to make that seem wrong.

“Actually I’m off to India” I replied.

“Oh wow, how long for?” he said.

“Three years”. I could see the astonished impression cross his face. “Bet you weren’t expecting that as an answer!”, I laughed.

So began the journey to London and on to a new contract based out of India.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

My first encounter with India was nearly twenty years earlier. I’d backpacked around the North West of the country for a month, initially with a small group and then myself and a friend had set off on our own to explore other parts.

I remember my first arrival in the country as a sensory surprise to say the least. Like most people I’d heard all the stories, and was vaguely prepared to be in awe of the different way of life here. I still have a vivid memory of the rising early morning mist as we first arrived on the streets of Old Delhi, with a cow walking down the centre of the street, and a general sense of busy frenzy everywhere.

That first trip was an amazing experience, and included the generally expected tourist sights of the Taj Mahal, the desert palaces of Rajasthan, The Golden Temple at Amritsar, the passionate Pakistani border demonstration at Wagah, and a climb into the foothills of the Himalaya’s with visits to Shimla and the Dalai Lama’s retreat in McLeod Ganj.  We travelled footloose and fancy free (to coin the phrase), mostly by overnight train or bus, and would find our accommodation on a budget whenever we arrived somewhere new.

I still have great memories of that trip and it was an amazing way to immerse myself into this amazing country and first find my feet with Indian culture. The natural curiosity but intrinsic warmth of the people is humbling. Despite witnessing some pretty stark caste cultural differences, I’ve personally always experienced such receptiveness to my approach of being friendly and respectful to all regardless of role or status. Kindness goes a long way, and it’s very evident this is valued highly in India.

Since that first trip to India, I have returned on numerous occasions. Although in subsequent trips the backpack has been swapped with the briefcase, and the backpacker hostels replaced with upmarket hotels.

Obviously the country has evolved a lot in the last twenty years, and now is a thriving economy with an advanced infrastructure in some ways, yet still coexisting with the more deprived aspects that are sadly all too familiar in most peoples minds when thinking of the country.

So why am I here now?

My career over recent years has seen me fortunate enough to travel extensively. I’ve worked in Aviation for most of the last twenty years, and in more recent times I’ve had a role that has seen me working for airports, engaging with airlines to grow their networks. Pre pandemic my professional mission in life was to grow passenger numbers at Manchester Airport through encouraging existing airlines to add to their networks from the airport, and to pitch to new prospective airlines. It’s the latter part that took me far and wide, going wherever in the world the target airlines were based, to sell the Manchester story.

Thankfully, I enjoyed the job tremendously and had some good ‘wins’ over the years. The side benefit was the travel, and getting to see many far flung places. Of course there’s the downside too; being away from home a lot, the constant fatigue of jet lag, and the pressure of maintaining a professional pose and keeping on top of everything even when you are basically working overnight with no sleep. A lot of the time the trips involve airports, hotel rooms, airline offices and then back again, with little chance to see anything otherwise. But there are times when you can savour the local experience, and I’m fortunate and humbled to have had such opportunities.

But then, the pandemic.

The aviation industry has of course been particularly hard hit, with flights grounded and passenger numbers decimated due to global travel restrictions. Visiting airlines to encourage new services has gone down in priority as airlines have fought to survive, and need to focus on very short term planning rather than longer term development.

Not only did the dynamics of my role change, but also my personal dynamics, in working from home mostly. From doing 93 flights in 2019 travelling the globe extensively, I found myself basically grounded.

The change of pace, and the impact of the pandemic has caused a lot of people to reflect on where they are in their lives and what the future holds. For me there were actually a lot of positives – I was fortunate in that regard. The lack of travel allowed me to settle down and enjoy my life at home for once without constantly heading away, with all the positives that lifestyle brings.

The road to India though came with an approach by GMR – an Indian based airport operator, with global reach – for a role heading up their airline relations and aviation development. Pretty much what I have been doing these last few years for Manchester, just on a much bigger scale overseeing a number of airports including Delhi itself (which is on a par with Heathrow in terms of size and network).

It took a lot of thought, and wasn’t an easy decision given how much I enjoy my life in the UK and the sacrifices that would need to be made. But after over six years with Manchester Airport, with the last couple of years being pandemic impacted, I decided to take the leap. 

It’s a three year contract, which makes it manageable given I do not want to be away from home forever and look forward to returning. But for now it’s an adventure and a challenge I relish. The role will be a great one in terms of job remit and opportunity, and the company is very well respected internationally so, (assuming I do a good job…) it should be a good career step. The nature of the role will also mean that I will travel a lot, and as Europe is a key focus for the business I expect to be home regularly, and will make the most of that each chance I have. 

Three years in this fascinating country though will be an experience to relish and I look forward to the impact it has on me – whatever that may be.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

8^th January 2022 – Quarantine time

And so here I am in Delhi.

Having walked away from that cashier at the Co-op garage in Knaresborough with a nervous smile, 24 hours later I was holed up in the Roseate hotel in Aerocity, within Delhi airports perimeter. Getting here involved a pre departure PCR test (I did two – one three days out as per requirements, and one the day of departure just to be sure), and another on arrival. The arrival test was the most worrying as a positive result would have meant a trip to a ‘government isolation facility’ for 14 days. Not something I relished the idea of to say the least…

One benefit of flying into the airport I am coming to work for though, is the support they gave. I was met at the aircraft by a host, who took me straight to the Covid testing station, and (no exaggeration) within three minutes of disembarking my PCR test was complete. A nervous wait of forty minutes followed, and to a big sigh of relief a negative result came through and I was whisked away at pace to complete the rest of the arrival formalities. My employment visa was given the appropriate nod by the border force official, and two hours after landing I arrived at the hotel. Much quicker and easier than I was expecting.

Current rules require me to quarantine at the hotel for 7 days, and to do another test on day 8 before I can be ‘released’. I’m just hoping the day 8 test is also negative..!

It’s certainly a different way to start a new job, being holed up in a hotel. However the company has delivered a laptop and after a few log on issues which meant it had to be returned via a driver to the office and then sent back again, is now working and I’m officially up and running.

Well, almost. 

India is now seeing the build up of it’s 3^rdwave of the pandemic with Omicron spreading aggressively. So curfews are now coming into effect preventing the leaving of homes/hotels overnight and at weekends in an attempt to curb the spread. It remains to be seen how this will impact my first few weeks, as the office is only part open now and could close altogether. Still, in this day and age remote working is possible, it’s just more of a challenge when I’ve yet to meet the team in person and get myself up to speed properly.

And speaking of getting up and running, there’s certainly no running at the moment sadly. It will be hard enough to run outside in Delhi anyway, but given the quarantine and curfew’s and the fact the hotel gym is closed due to Covid restrictions, my mileage is taking a significant downturn at the moment. I knew this would initially be the case, which is partly why I was so keen to end 2021 with my ‘marathon a week equivalent mileage’ (1,363.4 miles for the year) challenge successfully completed. Still, I’ve got the running shoes with me and they’ll be making their Indian debut just as soon as circumstances allow.

Additionally I now need to set up my living arrangements etc., with the foreign registration formalities taking priority (mandatory within 14 days of arrival). This is the precursor to being able to get a bank account, which in turn is the precursor to being able to set up pretty much everything else. I’ve lined up a broker to show me some serviced apartments later this coming week once I’m out of quarantine. I just hope that this can happen and no further Covid restrictions prevent this….

Otherwise, I really will get to know this hotel very well indeed!