The Travails of Travel

Blog 17 of 30

One of the projects I enjoyed doing was a magazine for one of the prominent international banks. This was a time when international banks were entering the country and were encouraging Indians abroad to set up accounts in India and invest their money here. They wanted a magazine to go out to Indians abroad who were customers or potential customers of the bank. While it carried a little bit of banking and financial information the bulk of it was meant to highlight aspects of India and Indian culture that would appeal. This was, by my standards at least, a fairly big budget project and since it had to highlight India, it meant some amount of travel. The travel cost was bundled into my fees.

It was the first time I travelled on work and since every penny came out of my pocket, I had to be careful how I spent it. Much of my stay was with friends and family, taking autos, buses and even walking wherever possible. It was truly a learning lesson for me. The confidence it gave me, the ability to handle fear, to keep myself safe no matter where I was, was absolutely important and built in me a feeling that I could manage anything. Years later when I did projects for clients who sent a car to meet me at the airport with a uniformed driver and placard, I revelled in the luxury of it!

I learned to carry with me a small number of coins in a tiny little cloth purse stuffed at the bottom of a sock. This could pass the security check and could be a trusty weapon at times of need. Thankfully I never had to use it, but whenever I was alone at night or in a deserted area, I would firmly grasp the sock in my hand in case I needed it! Even today there are times that sock travels with me. Now though, I have my cell phone and whenever I get into a strange car, I photograph the license plate and then get on the phone with someone I know and talk for the entire journey. There are many things that are difficult about travel but learning to cope is the key. And then the world opens up for you.

On a lighter note, I remember that I had an interview scheduled with Sunil Gavaskar – the Indian cricket legend. I had admired him since school and was so excited about actually doing an interview with him. I knew the questions I had to ask, the kind of photos I wanted and exactly what I wanted from the article. What I did not know, was Bombay. That large sprawling city baffled me, and I found myself about 45 minutes away at the time of the interview. Reluctantly, I stopped at a PCO and requested a cabin to make a call undisturbed.

The owner obliged by giving me something that I still believe was a cage for some animal and smelled strongly of cat pee. I called Sunil Gavaskar, apologised, and requested permission to do the interview on the phone. He was very gracious about it and offered to send me the photos I needed. At the end, I thanked him again for adjusting to the phone interview.

“It was no problem at all,” he said before saying goodbye.

I put down the receiver, closed my eyes and tried to imagine that I was actually sitting in his office and interviewing my childhood hero. I could not do it. The smell of cat pee was too strong. I opened my eyes sadly. It may not have been a problem for him, but it was definitely a problem for me!

But life I guess is like that. The things you anticipate sometimes don’t live up to expectations. And sometimes when you least expect it, like a bolt from the blue, wonderful things happen.