Destination Australia

So we are almost in Melbourne now, in fact I am writing on my flight from Sydney to Melbourne. It was an interesting journey, left Mumbai yesterday at 8.30pm(IST) and will be arriving in Melbourne at 7pm(Australian time).

This was the first time I flew Quantas – had heard a lot about them, and it was my longest flight actually- 12.30 hours from Mumbai to Sydney. Well to put it in one sentence- I was pleasantly surprised by both. From the flight attendants to the ground staff- Quantas has a clear service motive and one that I haven’t seen in the last 1.5 years flying BA, Lufthansa, Jet, US Air, American and United airlines. The only other airline that matches the friendly staff is Virgin. To add to that – we had the Airbus 330 from Mumbai to Sydney and the Boeing 767 from Sydney to Melbourne- both aircrafts had really comfortable seats – ones where you were not trespassing into your neighbours personal space…. And hence the long flight was not tiring at all

So another first for me is that I am traveling alone with a friend for the first time, that too for a total of 15 days- now unlike my Western friends – we Indians who have never lived out of India before- are not used to a lot of international travel with friends abroad and that too just 2 of us. It mostly is a bigger group or an organized tour or family trip or something… I did travel with Sunil bhaiya to South Africa in 2003 again to watch some cricket – the world cup games between India and Pakistan, and India and England- but that was a completely different experience. He is like my elder brother and I look upto him for so many things. I was also slightly immature then J ya ya I know some of you will be smiling at this comment… but will let it pass. And it was my first trip out after we went to Bhutan in 1996, which was with family. Talking of Bhutan though- beautiful place – I am talking to Sonam to see if we can do something after Wharton- maybe a small group or trip or something… So coming back to my friend- he is one of the nicest people you will ever meet. We are together since undergrad- but became closer after we finished college- one of those things. And guess what – we both are sports fanatics…

So on the Mumbai Sydney flight- we started off with some amazing food – pretty decent Indian veggie… then a bag of snack… some movie to go with it- saw a bit of a silly English movie and then a bit of a silly hindi movie J… fell off to seep for a few hours and got up at 6.30 am India time or 12 pm aussie time. First thing that came to my mind was what would be the score of the game- the first day belonged to India- good bowling- and we were one session through the second day… so in order to find out the score I asked one of the stewarts. Now one thing- Australians are pretty confinent –and the guy said well “how does it matter India would be losing anyways”. Hmm… I know Australia is the best team in the world… and we respect that… and also know that our record down under hasn’t been great… but we almost won the last time and shattered a bit of the Aussie confidence… I retorted to the guy saying something mild. He then came back and said India all out for 7, and that was really over the top – and I had to take that on now – and I said “mate looks like you have had a long flight and you need some sleep”… J well it worked – he realized that he was off… and I liked getting one across humorously…

This wasn’t the first time I had done something like this. Infact I did something similar in one of our first year EIS (for non Whartonites – it’s a session where companies come and introduce to us their company and jobs etc at the beginning of the recruiting season). So it was one of the world’s largest and best banks, will not name anyone here obviously. They are known to be slightly over confident. I was meeting representatives and one of them took me to the recruiting captains. Now this guy, who I respect quite a bit and is a good acquaintance now, said to me in his second sentence “ do you know that to get into motorotogoto bank you need to be the top 2 or 3 in your batch and if you look around there are 500 people, do you think you can be amongst those top few?”… hmm my first EIS session and I was not ready for this… had 2 ways to react, mildly and softly by saying nothing and just smiling and acknowledging their supremacy… or the way I did finally – I immideately answered – “Well you know what- if I look around I don’t really see anyone…(come on I was just being honest).. So I think I am one of the top few anyways… “ Hmm tongue in cheek? Or was it the end of my career hopes with this bank? All I will tell you is that – that guy holds me in very high regard now and that I had the option of joining this bank for the full time but turned them down for my offer with my current bank.. . Well I love my bank and will write someother time about them. So going back – generally I am calm and composed but if it comes to something like the situation in the flight today… I make sure I will take care of it in the most appropriate way… and taking risk with words… well guts and risks are the quality of a good trader or so was I told… J

Well another country and another tryst with an immigration officer… this time at the Sydney airport… we were asked to meet a senior guy after they checked our passports and visa etc at the counter… the guy quizzed us as to why were there… how long… where would we stay… etc… now this was a little disconcerting… as there are enough stories of people being sent back from different countries… I was sure that this was not happening… but the mind is something unique… it thinks too many things…

So I showed him our cricket tickets and the boarding pass to our connecting flight to Melbourne… he took all of that and asked us to wait and disappeared… now my friend was a little nervous… ok listen to this- 2 of us… I, an Indian passport holder studying in America… and my friend, an American passport holder (Indian guy) living in India… could have been some confusion for sure… I was busy remembering my Negotiation skills taught by Professor Diamond, all tools… etc… J …but finally we didn’t need them… he just came back and said – “enjoy the cricket”… and started making small talk… it was a sea change in his attitude and talk… and I asked him – “any problems officer?”… he said… “no its just a random check”… do I have a reason not to believe ? I don’t know….

So anyways, its time to disembark… we have reached our destination… more in a day or 2…