Day 1 (Wed)
We arrived early in the wee hours of the morning, majority of the crew had reached before me and was sitting around. I collected my passport, filled in my India embarkation form and waited patiently for the Immigration Counter to open.
About 7, a bus brought us to the aircraft and it was already filled with most of our components. We had to squeeze past our baggage and equipment which were loaded to the rear of the aircraft as we boarded and our seats were pulled down straps and harnesses. There were basically 4 rows, with 2 facing each other. It was not comfortable at all. There was no entertainment aboard, extremely noisy; we were basically wearing ear plugs and ear defenders throughout the fight.
As luck might have it, I also had to choose one of the most uncomfortable seats aboard the plane. Firstly, there wasn’t any leg space as there was a tow bar just in front of my seat, so my legs had to prop above it. Next, I was facing the window so there was always a lot of glare coming in. Well, I don’t think there will be much opportunity for me to sit aboard the C130 again so some consolation there. At least I have tried the worst.
First day was pretty relaxed and after settling some work issues and being briefed on the administrative procedures, we went to our room. The room is quite good actually, it’s like a small apartment with 2 rooms, a shared toilet, a balcony for hanging our clothes and a mini kitchenette with a fridge.
Our meals are fully catered and the food here is really not bad. The interesting thing was that they decided to cook Chinese food to welcome us, with only one Indian dish. It turned out we enjoyed the Indian dishes more. One of the comments; “I did not fly 1700 miles to come here and eat half assed Chinese food.” Haha…
After dinner, we moved around to explore the place and went to “Orchard Road” or at least that’s how the Singaporeans affectionately call it. There’s nothing much there except for a couple of shops, selling some groceries and food. There’s a famous chicken/egg roll stall, like my favourite wrap, tortilla etc. I did not try it though as I was rather full, shall, or should I say must try it within the next couple of weeks. We bought some soft drinks there to bring back to the room.
Day 2 (Thu)
Nothing much happened today. Briefings and meetings primarily to coordinate for the weeks ahead. There was a lot of moving around and clarification to be made to ensure things will be able to proceed subsequently.
I left earlier to purchase my India pre-paid simcard, Airtel 8016617048 before heading out to meet my ICs for dinner. As this is my first detachment, it’s somewhat like a tradition to treat the guys for dinner so I obliged. Why go against tradition? Heh… We had dinner at DJ restaurant, an outdoor place that serves nothing else but chicken. The naans were great though. The whole meal cost us 2740 rupees, which is about $85 dollars. Considering that there were 13 of us there, its really a small price to pay, but in India, this is expensive! There had been a number of horror stories from this particular restaurant and while we had made it a point to check the price before ordering, the final bill still fluctuated as they increased the price for all sorts of reasons (Gravy! Garnishing! Not like we really understood what was going on.
Day 3 (Fri)
Today was a super duper long day. I woke up at 5am as I needed to be in by 6am. From there onwards, it was just a long busy day till 7pm. But all in all, things went well, a good day in consideration. It was the first day of operations in a new environment and there were many things to learn. By the time we got back to our room, I was so tired that I slept almost immediately. Think this will continue to be the trend for the weeks to come.
Day 4 (Sat)
First Saturday in India, but there’s not much to do. It would have been good if I go out to do some visiting but there were a number of restrictions. I spend majority of the time watching shows, Battlestar Galactica and One Piece. It was a good opportunity to catch up with most of the episodes so that’s a good thing. Anyway, also did some training by going for a jog so continuing my promise to maintain a healthy lifestyle over here. The diet here however is really not helping. It’s going to be a challenge to avoid putting on weight this couple of weeks though. Our meals are super rich! Its curry daily and while they do not use coconut milk, it is all still rather sinful. It doesn’t help that the cook is pretty good too, making it all the more harder to avoid the food.
Day 5 (Sun)
We visited the gym in the morning, straight after breakfast. I am still pretty much the same morning person over here. I got up around 6am here, but it’s not too bad considering that I slept like 10pm last night? Anyway, today breakfast was more unique with 2 Indian dishes but we had no idea what they were. It was similar to oatmeal with raisins, however there was an aftertaste of Indian spices which made it rather unique. The other dish was some fried dough which wasn’t too bad. The gym was quite well equipped and I had a good workout. It has been some time since I last visited the gym and I expect to be aching quite a fair bit tomorrow. The router hung this morning and I was not able to connect. It was already painfully unstable the last few days and I really couldn’t bear with it much further. When sending out a sms, I saw an advert for unlimited GPRS for a dollar a day and decided to give it a try. However, it turned out to be so very slow, that I gave up too. Oh well.
I continued with my Battlestar and One Piece marathon before napping awhile in the afternoon. Our hosts organized a get together session in the evening and while I do not like socializing, it was not too bad and at least got to know them better.
Day 6 (Mon)
Today was a very positive day at work as things went by rather smoothly. It was a chop chop breakfast followed by walking into the work area. There was a pre-practiced maintenance response that triggered and it went by smoothly.
In the same day, I visited both the canteens near our work centre. The first was in the morning for a quick drink. In the late afternoon, we went to the canteen in the MT Flight and JS treated us there. It seems that the Indians are a big fan of Teh Halia and its relatively cheap too! However, the prices seem to have increased compared to a week ago. We must really look somewhat like a carrot-head to them.
Day 7 (Tue)
It was another good day. I am very thankful that it has been smooth sailing thus far and managed to end work earlier too. It is still tiring to wake up at 5am daily though and I am getting rather drained. However, if work continues to proceed smoothly, I can’t really ask for more.
Upon returning to my room, to my horror, I had tried using their laundry service but my coverall top piece is nowhere to be seen. I do hope I get it back by tomorrow!
Anyway, the laundry service is condemned. I tried testing it with a pair of socks but I got back a mismatched pair. Likely both weren’t mine to begin with! Sigh…
Day 8 (Wed)
Halfway through the week! I went back to my room in the morning to speak to the laundry guy. He just kept saying Ok and Ok but I’m not sure if he understood what I was saying. Oh well, shall trust him and keep my fingers crossed, hope to see my coveralls back soon!
Another useful learning day at work today as we integrated cross functional deployment.
Day 9 (Thu)
Last work day of the week. Things are holding up well, but there are a couple of logistical issues to handle.
We had a long break in the morning due to weather, and went for a tea break at the MIG canteen. I finally tried the thosai and it turned out pretty good. Its cheap too, less than a dollar for a full breakfast. I guess I can afford to skip breakfast and have it there if required. It’s been slightly over a week eating the catered food and well, I still find it pretty tasty and not boring yet so that’s a good sign.
Day 10 (Fri)
It’s meant to be India’s Children Day today! There was instead a lineup of activities though, a lunch get together session followed by a friendly internal soccer game. The lunch session turned out rather messy as the place was meant to house no more than 40 pax but there were almost 130 of us. Hence, we had to rotate and that kind of negated the whole intent of cohesion and mingling.
After lunch, while waiting for soccer, I ended up playing poker with the ALG folks and that at least kept me occupied for a good two hours. I participated in the soccer game as well but just running for a couple of minutes was sufficient to tire me out and it was my first and last game. Dinner was at Orchard Road, a simple dinner of fried noodles and Chicken Roll. Pillay treated the CNE guys and invited me along.
Day 11 (Sat)
I woke up early so I went to the gym in the morning followed by breakfast, it was a good routine. Subsequently, I just nua in my room and did not do much. I stumbled upon some Google interview questions while surfing and it felt more like an IQ test than anything else.
We had a quick discussion on the return ferry over lunch. More planning required. Later part of the day, one of the guys broke his wrist while playing soccer. It was a freak accident but really placed a dampener on the rest of us.
Day 12 (Sun)
It’s been just another lazy Sunday. I lazed around till 8 before heading out for breakfast, going against my original plan of heading to the gym as well. I had a mild stomach-ache and a little of my usual problem. Hence, I wasn’t really in the mood to do anything else (not like I had anything planned). This is a really boring place.
I managed to catch up to the latest episode of Gossip Girl, and it was still as surprising as ever. Other than that, caught a couple of shows on TV, they do have an extensive range of channels. While surfing, this particular anime caught my eye, Armed Librarians, tried downloading but wasn’t able to get a stable connection. Well, will probably watch it when I am back home.
The Indian Air Force had invited us to join in their Cultural Night and also requested us to put up a couple of items. I was not involved but our side put up an English song and a couple of Chinese songs, including a dance performance. It was hilarious but all in good spirit. The host also put up numerous performances which showcased their diverse cultures.
We went back and played DOTA. I won both games, but it was really lucky as I was in a lane versus a newbie, hence I had the luxury to farm and quickly build up my heroes.
Day 13 (Mon)
Today was another day with bad weather. This affected a number of ground maintenance plans and we had to quickly scramble to rectify them.
Day 14 (Tue)
It turned out to be an unbelievably long day. I had started the day earlier than normal, waking up at 0430 hrs due to the previous day wet weather condition resulting in us reporting earlier. I ended up working till 2100 hrs at night as we saw through the rectification. It’s always an interesting challenge to balance engineering requirements versus operations.
Day 15 (Wed)
Nothing unusual.
Day 16 (Thu)
There was a commotion on base and it was pretty chaotic. Second last day of flying! Looking forward.
Day 17 (Fri)
It was a challenging day at work. Learned quite a bit on the electrical systems. Learned quite a bit from my boss.
Day 18 (Sat)
The logistics team went in to work today.
Day 19 (Sun)
It’s been 19 days here and counting. We were supposed to return on the coming Tuesday but our stay in India have been extended by one more day. I am keeping my fingers crossed for the rest of the days ahead and hoping that the remainder goes as planned.
I miss home. These 3 weeks have gone by quickly and while it has been fun (somewhat) and a good learning experience, the yearning for home and the comforts it provide has steadily increased. I have and will always be a very homely person. While the stay here is somewhat like a confinement, I am generally ok with just staying in over the weekends and entertaining myself with shows or just the internet, so it’s not about being bored. It’s more about being lonely.
Day 20 (Mon)
We had spent the weekend working. There was a miscommunication and we had to wait for spare arrival. It has been extremely tiring these last few days of the detachment.
Day 21 (Tues)
When it rains, it pours. In one of those weird incidents, our spare got delayed.
The plan then was to wait till Wed morning for the spares to arrive early in the morning.
Day 22 (Wed)
We eagerly waited for spare arrival, and quickly carried out the replacement. But more excitement was due to come, and it was an exciting end to the experience.
The afternoon passed by without any surprises as we continued to pack up the remaining bits and pieces. With all completed, we were able to go back early.We played dota through the night till around 2 am as we anticipated the long ferry flight back to Singapore.
Day 24 (Thu)
Today marks the end of my Indian story. As I prepare to leave this place, the feeling is that of happiness. I can’t wait to go home. When the topic of India was broached earlier, some described it as a place of scenery, of lush greenery and magnificent sights, others described it as the city slums, of polluted air and dirt-stained buildings and a city of overpopulation coupled with proverty.
Yet, the India that I have seen in the last 3 weeks have been confined to the base only. While that may be so, I at least have an insight into their pscyhe and the interesting quriks that they may have. The Indians are intelligent, and the amount of people conversant in English is surprising. The grass cutters and general menial workers are able to hold their own end in English, which was something unexpected. Yet, the overall way that things are done or planned, is very unefficient. Our environment breeds behaviour in some ways.