BRAToSPHERE

Tag: business

  • Flight to Catch

    I just spoke about  Business travel and here I have an episode to narrate of just missing a potential stranded situation.

    After many days, and many a cancellations, I was bound to travel to a southern city earlier this week. The plan was simple. I fly out through a Jettly charter in the evening, spend the night in a hotel and return the next evening after completing my business in the city. A short sweet business trip, like the countless many I have had.

    This trip seemed to have been jinxed right from the word go!

    The trip planning begins about a month back. I was to visit three cities in a span of 10 days, and i book my tickets for some time in mid-November after confirmation to the stakeholders and aligning everyone. For once, I had made all the bookings well in advance.

    I had scheduled an action packed week.

    Alas! Like most of the planning, this was not to be and the trip had to be postponed due to some circumstances. All three trips had to be cancelled. While cancellation I was made to realize by the travel agent that the flight tickets to this south Indian city are not refundable and I could rather reschedule the trip for no penalty. Nice! I would hate wasting the company resources, and once again after aligning the requisite stakeholders I reschedule my trip to the first week of December.

    I again start planning.

    One night before the travel day, I happened to meet a friend who was visiting from the same South Indian city. We had dinner together and caught up with each other’s lives and work. It was a wonderful evening and the background thought all the time was – I am to visit his city the next day. What a coincidence!

    On the day of travel, I pack my bags in the morning ensuring I have all the essentials to cover myself from both the sultry hot south Indian weather and winter wearing for my return to Delhi back, the next night. I was all prepared.

    I had booked a cab for myself a good two and a half hours before the take-off time. The last meeting gets extended and give an internal signal to myself. Half an hour more and I leave, even if the meeting is not done. Two hours before the take-off time is good to reach the airport and complete all the check-in formalities.
    The meeting is done right in time, and I pack my laptop and head off to the airport. Here I get a mail from my colleague announcing that the business in the city has been postponed and I could cancel my ticket. What? Not again! I decide to go on and finish the other part of the business and push for this first meeting to be scheduled the next day. I sure could postpone my trip by a day. I so did not want to postpone this already delayed trip. The traffic on the way to the airport is bad even during this time of the day. Pity people who ply on this road everyday especially during the peak hours, I think to myself.

    The phone rings, and a quick chat later I realize the reason for the postponing of my scheduled meeting. I was now unnerved. Is it really that bad? I call up my colleague and check the situation. She gives no hope! I am still on the way to the airport.

    Now, with potentially all my meetings getting cancelled there is no reason I need to go to Chennai. But would I get a refund on my air tickets and the hotel? I have already web checked in to my flight. But what do I do after getting there? Battling these thoughts in my mind, i am suddenly shaken by the jerk of the car. He has taken the turn to the airport. I have less than 5 minutes to be deciding.

    I call up the hotel and check if I could cancel my booking. I would not want to waste so much money – flight and the hotel! After a brief wait, they confirm that the room would be cancelled without any penalty. Awesome! I ask them to hold on.

    Now it is the flight cancellation. I call up the travel agent incessantly but to no avail. What do I do?

    The cab enters the departure terminal at the airport and halts. The driver looks at me, and in a moment I signal him to go on. He looks at me in a confused manner and I speak, “Wapas office le chaliye” (take me back to office). He is still confused and gives me a puzzled look. He turns to look in the front and drives out of the terminal.

    The travel agent is still not reachable. The decision has been made. I tell the reason to the driver on why we are returning. He now seems convinced. I make calls and announce my return. Still not sure if I have made the right decision. Should I have carried on and pushed my way through the meetings? Maybe. Or maybe not! It probably would not have been worth it. Nevertheless, no point thinking now. The decision has been made.

    I return back to office and walk to my Manager’s cabin – “I returned back from the airport”, I exclaim, telling him my reasons.

    I then head straight to the travel desk.

    “Where are you guys?”

    “Why are you not answering my calls?”

    The guys give me a puzzled look.

    “Can you please off board me and cancel my flight ticket to Chennai?”

    The next day morning I get a news alert on my iphone – “Chennai Airport shut for the day due to rains”.

    Pictures start flowing all day of the inundated city with water logging everywhere. The news alert in the evening – “Chennai airport to remain shut till Sunday”.

    #PrayforChennai

  • Business Travel and its Joys

    It has again been a long gap and I have no reason except for my sheer lethargy and multiple commitments resulting in non-management of my time in the best way possible. Phew! After that long sentence, I hope I can reduce this guilt of being away from long.

    I would personally like to blame this long gap on the frequent travel. Only issue here is that the travels were much frequent in earlier years and the post frequency then was much better than it is now. So, back to square one! No real reason!

    Talking about Business travel, a necessary part of today’s corporate life. When did someone close a deal, or influence a new investment over a phone? Video Conference you say? Well, that is just a glamorous way of seeing different people across the geography and deciding on when to meet next to close it. Please don’t even try suggesting the phone. These have long been abandoned even by the College lovers. They prefer facetime!

    Many people would equate business travel to a rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle, and no blame there. I, after all these years of Business travel, still love these. But well, there are many of my friends who state having a different experience.

    As per these friends of mine, few unpleasant things are as glamorized as frequent business travel. Really? Don’t you like being up in the air?

    Their argument – frequent travel leads to unhealthy lifestyles (e.g., poor diet, lack of exercise, excess drinking), while jet lag causes stress, mood swings, disorientation, sleep problems, and gastrointestinal problems, all of which impair job performance.

    Ranting on, they state the need to be resilient enough to cope with the adverse effects of frequent travel on them and their families. Clearly, these guys sure have a high price to pay for reaching the top frequent flyer status.

    I have been in corporate for more than six years, and one thing that I have realised over all these years is that Business Travel is here to stay. A recent Economist article states the multifold increase in the number of travellers over the years. Yes, this is in spite of the huge strides in Communications technology.

    To survive in the corporate world, and to survive as an individual, one needs to travel. Full Stop.

    There are some things that we can take care of though, to ease the pain (if any) out of these Business Travel.

    1. Plan Early and in detail (If you have someone to plan your itinerary, do ensure that the person knows your preferences in terms of kind of room, kind of airline seat and the airline timings!)
    2. Stay at the Right place (This does not always mean the best place in town. This would mean the place closest to your area of work in the new city and close to the airport too, if possible!)
    3. Talk to new people and try absorbing the new culture. (During my last visit to Lucknow, in spite of having stayed there for a good two years of my life, it felt so refreshing to have a chat with my cab driver on the way to the hotel. It was like him fast reading the newspaper of over three years, in less than thirty minutes!). So, no matter how many times you have been to the city, the local guy there always knows more than you.
    4. Savour the local cuisine – be keen to try out different kinds of food. If you are not the vegetarian types, the world is your playground. Of late, even vegetarians are having a gala time! There is so much to see and eat around us! No?
    5. Read the local Newspaper – This is one thing that I have always been fond of. From my childhood days, during our long summer holidays train to Rajasthan, I made it a point to buy newspapers at different stations and then see what is happening local to that place. Helps put in a perspective.
    6. Walk Around – nothing better! Serves the health bit too
    7. Learn some local phrases – This helps in making an immediate connect with the city as well as the locals. And you learn something new.
    8. Read and Spend time with yourself – Contradicting to my earlier suggestions, but well the long flights and the innumerable hours spent waiting for the delayed flight at the airport terminal is the best time to be spending time with yourself, sipping on a cup of coffee.

    In Short, Live Life. There is so much to see and do around us, and Business travel is a wonderful opportunity. As they say, seek opportunities in difficulties and you would always be a happy person (refrained from saying man, lest the feminists take offence!)

    Overall, Business travel is not as terrible as my friends think. Having the right attitude could actually make it a wonderful thing. Now, I would take your leave, as I have a plane to catch…

  • Article in BusinessWorld Magazine

    Writing has been a passion since long, and I remember writing right since I was in the 1st standard. Yes, I wrote my first ever story when I was in the first standard. I had drawn a picture on my notebook with the new set of crayons. The bedsheet was more coloured than the paper, and obviously mom was furious. I told her what the picture meant, and how the bedsheet played a vital part in the overall scheme of the story. I was saved from a sound thrashing. So, that people, was my first ever story.  Though, Mom tells me that it was just to cover up the bedsheet mess, and we have ever since agreed to disagree on the same.

    And in this pursuit of convincing my mom that I actually enjoy writing, I picked up writing. I started off by writing the examinations, and then graduated to writing diary.( A habit which has stuck from the past 10 years!).

    In this writing career (really?), spanning several years, there have been several times that I have been published. Don’t believe me? I should show you my school section magazines, I was published twice there in three years.

    I also vividly remember the instance when I was baby sitting one of my cousin’s son. This was sometime during my tenth standard. The little brat ( he now follows my blog! Can’t name him), was not allowing me play my new video game in peace, and I had to shut him up. I told him a story. A story with lots of strange creatures called BOO. I could not use devils, as my cousin would not really like me scaring his kid, and harry potter mania had still not caught on. After the story, the kid was so psyched out, and till date is afraid of me, when I utter the B word. My first tryst with influencing people with my stories.

    I had written a couple of times to gokulam, I also wanted to write for tinkle but did not know how to cartoon, and by the time I realized that we just need to send the story I was reading playboy. Gradually, I started writing for rediff, contributed to jam Mag, was involved with the college magazine, and realizing that I just want to write without others approving it, I started blogging.

    I am still waiting for the writing to be made on the brick on the wall.

    Now here, I would want you all to read, not one of my stories, but an article I had written sometime back for Business world. This is about life at IIML, and in B-Schools in general, and my stay there. Hope it helps the aspirants to be better equipped.

    Pfa the scanned copy of the article.(right click and save the image on your computer harddisk, or atleast the temporary cache,  to zoom it. Technically challenged.)

    The article has been published in BUSINESSWORLD – THE ULTIMATE B-SCHOOL GUIDE.

    (Note: alternatively, you can download the article from here)