I was in India for 10 days to attend IEEE R10 Student Congress 2008 at Chennai and IEEE R10 meet at Ahmadabad, Gujarat. Blog is written in points like a summary because 10 days in India were wonderful. Neither I can forget that experience nor can I write that down here because it will take additional 10 days since every moment of that time was fantastic.
26th Jan – 31st Feb (Karachi -> Mumbai -> Chennai)
- Mishandling by PIA authorities at Karachi Airport. They removed my ticket “Mumbai->Chennai” instead of “Karachi->Mumbai” besides my saying “Madam, I think you are tearing wrong ticket, can you please re-check”. She had some proof of being the right, so I ignored.
- Rickshaws of Bombay are wider than ours.
- Indian Airline’s staff was very supportive. They called P.I.A to resolve the issue and didn’t let me say few words to them since I was very happy with the performance of P.I.A
- I liked the south Indian food on first day but later on I started feeling like I am in China since In china “language and food were the only issues for me” same goes for Chennai.
- Enjoyed a lot at Ice-breaking activity in lawn where every one introduced in a group activity and I could remember more than 30 students in first meet, few people started calling me KOOL guy. Probably they were mistaken
- First day was wonderful, activities were good and 95% of the participants knew me with name.
- Many were willing to have a snap with representatives of a peaceful country (Pakistan), People were curious to know more about Pakistan and specially my life in Pakistan being from the minority.
- My announcement of being IEEE Regional Student Representative (RSR) by R10 Student Activities Chair (SAC) surprised almost 70% of the participants.
- Interaction with students from different countries was cheering me up, Chinese were yet again the attraction point for me
- Congress third day was horrible for Pakistanis. We Pakistani get the Indian visa city wise and we have to report at POLICE station within 24 hours of arrival. Fortunately, 3 Karachites were exempted but 4 from Lahore had to report and they faced lot of issues on it.
- Interview with IEEE.TV went very good and interviewer feedback was good about Pakistan after getting some information about it. While I was at interview organizing committee was searching me as I was to be at stage for some good that I did with my team in July 2007 (Pakistan Student Congress 2007)
- Chit Chat with Bhavika, Ravendar, Namita, Shoaib lasted for 6 hours
Out of 6, 3 hours were utilized in Khichae of Ravendar on a step he took that morning
- Hari was also a good friend. He accompanied us for whole day to visit Chennai. Beach was same as ours but we had to walk around 10 minutes before reaching there, buffet was cheaper than ours and shopping there was costing more than it should
1st Feb – 4th Feb (Chennai->Ahmadabad->Mumbai->Karachi)
- Visiting Ahmadabad was fun, Historical places were good, Gandhi Nagar was a nice place and well maintained but Kirshna Mandir was exceptionally good
- Shopping with few friends from Madras and Australia was a nice experience. Shopping Mall was very good like we have in Karachi. But I was amazed to see that kind of shopping mall in a city like Ahmadabad.
- First time in my life, I was attending a professional meeting which was for 2 days. Environment was very good. Accommodation was more than satisfactory. I was enjoying the weather and was feeling like flying
- In Bombay, I stayed at friend’s relatives. Their hospitality was outstanding. They were caring same as my family does
. I didn’t feel for a minute that I am not in Ghotki. Hats off to them. Every member of the family was tremendously good and caring.
- Even after 10 days one P.I.A guy remember me for being the victim of their outstanding service so he didn’t bother to say anything to me for 25 KGS over weighted baggage than allowed (because I was carrying 30KGs of a friend
)
In short, memorable trip, No office calls, No office tension, only fun. Special Thanks to Dr. Ashwin Sahoo (Organizing Committee) who cared a lot for all of Pakistani delegates and gave them special privileges after POLICE teased 4 Pakistani delegates for whole day. A few pictures of my visit are available at http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/opbatra2kn/AVisitToIndia