2nd AC Networking - A 3D concept

One of the better gifts of our colonial past would be a great ,vast , monlithic govt department ,also the world's largest employer of people in terms of sheer number is the INDIAN RAILWAYS.The last metric though would be a measure of its supreme inefficency and the legacy of railway ministers most of whom were from bihar.(yeah even before LP Yaday)

Not so long ago before the aviation sector was buzzing and when the skies were not so open ,most middle class would travel by second ac. It proved so popular that govt introduced a 3rd Ac too.Now that must have been one smart railway minister.Anyways u also did a lot of train journeys if u were a student (which i was not so long ago) and if u are in a sales and marketing job which lots of upcountry travel (which i am in now).

One of the best things about train journeys is the amazing assortment of people u come across.Maybe i am biased or plain lucky but here is a representative sample of people i have come across in my train journeys.

Anand Moses . ex I banking ex Goldman Sachs.....
Met him from Vizag to Bhubaneshwar

i remember him because he talked about the need for vision and mission for India. frankly i had enough global vision and mission statemnets in my strat mgmt and mktg classes so i asked him about Usa's vision and mission.Prompt came the reply - Protecting Democracy Globally.

Very Valid point i had to acknowledge.

Naveed Ahmed. MBA XLRI..Pucca Indian Yuppie.
Met him enroute new delhi to tatanagar

I remember him most becoz the very next year i joined xlri and met him in a alumni dinner and talked about this wonderful train journey.

Mr Mexican pilot.
Met him enroute Puri to Kharagpur.
He kept comparing Puri to Acuapulco. I never knew Orissa was so good.

Mr 23 year old Foot ball loving Tibetian Monk.
met him enroute delhi to jammu tawi.
I kept talking about how he resisted temptations. Like all monks he maintained a stoic silence.

Somehow u always break ice much more easily with people on trains. Perhaps its the Distance of the journeys which adds so many more Dimensions to the psuedo intellectual Discussions between people. Airlines have yet not been able to do that.Indian Railways has always triggered the drawing room activist modes of my co passengers.

The Return of the Native

An interesting three bit tale unfolds over here involving a grandson, father and grandfather.

A long time ago , my great grandfather left his village in Dhenkanal, Orissa. The districts claim to fame is that every house is related to a politician.After all it has produced more Cm's then all other districts of Orissa put to gether.

My grand father went to Scotland to study. A zoologist i think his 15 minutes of fame was having a tissue named after him. Only to come back to Orissa.

My father for the first twenty years of his life built his corporate life in all places ( Delhi, Mumbai, Lagos....)only to now end up touring orissa extensively.15 days in a month is bad.

I thus naturally never stayed here. And like all other children born post industrial revolution studied to make myself useful to some pretty useless corporations of the world.Only to come and begin peddling th FMCG (read petty products) in....Orissa of course.

Well thankfully atleast i speak the language. It helps. i especially love surprising marwari shopkeepers with my supreme delhi wala hindi and then talking to Oriya shopkeepers with Fluent Oriya.

But then i am only here for training. Only time shall say how Orissa unfolds in my life.