Noida

Alright people, I think it's just about time we change our impression to this country. Well atleast from what I often see in the movies or read in the books, there were always something that goes wrong in their trip. Even from the comments I gathered in my FB account, there were a lot of opinions from other people who have clearly no idea what it's like to be here. At the very least, what I am going to say applies very much to this place where I am currently at and I am just stating the things that I observed.

First of all, our company's factory is located here in Noida. I just googled it a while ago and I was surprised that it's an acronym for New Okhla Industrial Development Authority. About an hour drive away from New Delhi, as the name suggests, yes this place is a major hub for multinational firms because of its Special Economic Zone. Simply put for me, this is something similar to our industrial parks found in Cavite (where I am certainly no stranger at) or Laguna.
About the issue of safety. The other night I was chatting with my brother and he asked me to take pictures around using the DSLR. Told him I cannot because it's unsafe to bring it on the streets and all, then he replied "Meron pa bang mas lalala pa sa Pilipinas?" Well, he's right. Not to demean our country but my point is, there's really no safe place in this world. I'm sure everybody knows that this country belongs to the third world just like where I hail from and it's true that everybody must take extra precautions when traveling here. But doesn't it apply to all other countries in the world when you travel?? Nothing, I just don't know why I had to be really scared and all. My advice for travellers here is to arrange transport from wherever you're staying at from the airport.

About the issue of cleanliness. When I arrived here Sunday night, I skipped shower because I was scared of the water. Even when I brushed my teeth, I had to make sure no ounce or a single droplet goes through my esophagus. Monday morning, I even tweeted (lols!) that I was extremely careful shutting my mouth during shower coz I remembered that scene of Charlotte in Sex and the City movie. Turns out, I was again exaggerating. Being a paranoid even. Tsk, tsk. When the company handed out their general advice form for foreign visitors, I learned things like brands for safe mineral waters. I don't know coz again I gathered from someone before not to trust even mineral waters from the airport. Aarghh!! When I heard that, I thought its either I'm gonna get dehyrated here what with the freaking hot weather or just have a very bad case of diarrhea (I prepared medicines for this you know). Again, it's not true. Also, the hotel we're staying at is really really nice. I really recommend this for those with companies located here in this place also. Check their website here.

About the people. As what you've learned, this is an economic zone. My Indian colleague Shashank explained to me that aside from industrial firms, call centers are booming here also. You know what this means, people here are civilized and educated. So of course, it's expected they also take hygiene seriously and they have refined characters. Really, what's with those mocking advice in FB to bring masks and everything?? Even at the airport, there's no such thing offensive to my olfactory nerves or something. Trust me, I've been to other countries that deserve such advice. I also found most of the people here to be very polite. Again this is opposed from the stories I gathered when I talked to someone from the embassy where people here just quarrel everywhere. Uuuugh! Not true, atleast for Noida or for someone like me who's just here for 4 days???

About the food. I think I'm gonna make a separate post about this, you know I sooo love Indian food. According to the form handed out to us, rule of thumb is to generally avoid any milk here. Monday morning we were having a buffet breakfast when I asked for some milk in my coffee, then our boss had to remind us of that. I thought I lucked out that time but I've tried other food here with milk from the hotel and from some other restaurants, as of now my tummy is not anywhere near being funky. LOL!

About the weather. Current temperature here rises to about 47 degrees Celsius I believe. But it's such a weird thing, we were going about with the training last Tuesday afternoon when we were disturbed by sounds similar to stones dropping onto the roof. When we looked out the window, oh why there was a hail of ice. Haha! Again, it was another one of those odd yet a very welcome and refreshing change. Besides, it was my first to witness such a thing. ;)

Hmm if there's one positive comment in my FB which I found is again not true for Noida, is that it's a great place for photography. Haha! Most of the attractions I think are in the capital which we don't have time to explore for now given our flight later in the evening, so don't expect any nice pictures. LOL! But just to give you a look and feel of the place, I video recorded something that I observed here every morning. It's about how most of the Indians walk to work everyday. So healthy isn't it? If I could do that, I won't need to exercise in the evening. LOLs!

Seriously though, MNCs here should provide for transportation for their employees. Something like company bus or something similar to the Phils. Just saying.

Uhmm, please pardon my voice at the end of the video. Geese, what's up with that? Sounds like I just woke up or something.

Highways, rickshaws, natives, slums... Not that scenic at all eh?? :P

I just realized how awesome video recording is. Maybe I should concentrate on my future blog about that, coz after all I once dreamed of becoming a VJ you know. Hahaha!!!

I wrote this just to atleast correct the wrong notion of other people about India or perhaps to stop generalizing their impression on the country. Nothing I just felt like it's so unfair for them to be given such negative comments. :(

I hope I could squeeze in one more post for this week while in Bangkok. :)