Aida Rashid, my colleague who is also a Sales Manager incharged of India Market was scheduled to go for a roadshow to India in August 2006. When she found out that she was pregnant, my former DOSM, Ms Julie Jackson asked me to go instead.Here I am, never been to India was so excited ... don't know what to expect ... all geared up ... The day arrived and I flew off to India.
Finally, arrived into New Delhi at approximately 10pm ... airport was so packed with Indians ... the airport was so horrible, dirty and dusty. Not only that, all the roads in India are also dirty and dusty as well ... Ahyo .... what an ugly sight compared to all the other countries that I have been !
Arrived into Shangri-La New Delhi ... very impressive and service was excellent ! Told by the GSE and GSM not to consume any water from the tap ... otherwise food poisoning. The following morning, two other colleagues from Shangri-La KL, Mr Allan Khoo and Island Shangri-La, Mr Larry Chan joined me. This roadshow is lead by Ms Nancy Lee and Ms Wendy Siah from Regional Sales Office Singapore.
Two days on sales calls and on the final day, we were in the hotel for a table-top presentation and dinner with selected agents and corporates. When we were on the road during sales calls, we witnessed their miserable lifestyle... lots of street beggars both young and old and some of them are without their limbs !!! While your taxi is waiting for the traffic light to turn green, many children and beggars will come to your car to either to sell their novels or motivational books or just to beg for money.
From New Delhi, we all flew together to Mumbai, formerly known as Bombay. Here, also no different than New Delhi, dirty, dusty and lots of street beggars. We stayed in a beach front boutique hotel known as Inter-Continental Mumbai with only 80 rooms. All rooms come with a personalised butler and my female butler's name is Ms Pooja.
Same arrangement as in New Delhi, we were on sales calls for two days and on the third day, we had our table-top session followed by dinner in our hotel. The RSVP for the table-top session and dinner was much better than in New Delhi. The audiences were much more serious and they have shown more interest in our properties.
My experience in both New Delhi and Mumbai have actually changed my perception in our lifestyle ... comparing India and Malaysia, we are far more developed, better infrastructure and better quality in terms of our standard of living !!! Thank God, we are Malaysians !!!!
