First Impressions from India
After about 25 hours of travel with 8 hours of lay-over in London, I arrived yesterday early morning around 5:15am in Hyderabad, India.
Unlike on most of the flights to the US, the airline didn’t show us a welcome movie of what to expect once on the ground, so one of my fellow sabbatical participants (who was on the same flight from London) and I, first went straight to the immigration counter, just to be sent back to the counter for those arriving with new e-visas.
It was then that I realized that I had only printed the approval notice and not my actual e-visa form itself. Fortunately this was not a big issue and shortly after, we were able to pick up our luggage and were met by one of our hosts as well as the driver. I was glad to see that the immigration process was not as rigid and regulated as what I am used to from North America.
Our hotel turned out to be much nicer, than what I had expected and also heard from other Global Sabbatical participants. Soon after we arrived at the hotel, I enjoyed breakfast with several colleagues and we agreed to go walking and exploring near the hotel.
A frequent tooting of horns surrounded us and the constant flow of cars, motor cycles and rickshaws with only a few official crosswalks made it challenging to cross any road. Even when there are traffic lights, it is not guaranteed that cars will follow the signals or slow down for a crosswalk. Shortly after we crossed our first street, we came across the sign to “Always expect the unexpected”, which I will consider my motto and guideline for the next couple of weeks:
I recalled seeing this motto once before on another “adventure”, my first consulting assignment in Houston and it reminded me about a key reason leading to my application for the global social sabbatical program: Challenging myself and going outside my “comfort zone”. It has been my experience that I learn and appreciate those times the most, when I “dare” to challenge the status quo and push my boundaries.
I want to share 2 more interesting observations from our walk:
- Hand-made scaffolding at construction sites
It reminded me that available resources can be limited or simply different, that it is important to think “outside the box” and not be constrained by considering resources and methods I am familiar with, as there are many ways to address a need.
2. Wild peacocks
Our walk took us to a park and we ended up seeing some beautiful, but also shy and free ranging wild peacocks in the park. I believe the last time I saw a peacock in Europe or the US was in a zoo or fenced in area.
The peacocks reminded me of the beautiful colorful clothing I had seen everywhere around me as soon as I had arrived and also that you can find and should look for beauty in the most unexpected places.
As we had walked for quite a while and started to get tired, we decided to go for another experience and take our first rickshaw ride back towards the hotel.
Our day ended with a lovely meal, in which we got to experience various Indian dishes and spices.
When was the last time you
- stepped outside your comfort zone,
- leveraged unusual resources or methods to find a solution for a need,
- looked for and found beauty in an unexpected place?
