Two weeks, Three Countries and Seven Cities

Two week travel in three countries is defintely tiring when its a business travel. A measure of that is felt when sleep comes without any effort and lack of desire to do any physical exercises. Visit to ' Gadget Capital of the World' ' Sex and Spiritual Capital ' and 'Population Capital' gave a chance to see contrasting lifestyles that are slowly fading in this global era.

All in one Wash basin - Remote sensing water, foamed soap dispenser and dryer. A new gadget in the realm of Toto - a ubiquitous name in Japan Toilet Industry. Hotel Toyo at Osaka is now Ramada but it abandoned old refrigerator that housed cans in horizontal position . Would there any technological marvel that has surpassed my observation of previous visit of 5 years ago ? Visit to Yodobashi in Osaka rekindled the memories of previous visits. It used to be TV era , then came Walkman era , DVD and PlayStation era ans now ? It is struggling to keep interest with US gadget iPhone and 3D display on PC. English to Japanese electronic dictionary is hard to come by. I spent a lot of time at Kinokunia at Takashimaya Singapore and Amazon.com. Apart from Seiko 2100, that I have used it over last few years, there was available. Every gadget at Yodobashi was with Japanese Kanji functions. It scares me to put money on this.

Latest issue of India Today talks about choking traffic in metro cities. A time has come when office goer would spend more time in the car than home and office. In two days in New Delhi, I experienced being in traffic but it's entertaining. One can study practically every model of the car with her structural variations and the occupants too. A time may come when people would form business association while dragging their cars in adjacent lane or couple falling in love as they watch each other over a long time.

At hospital in New Delhi, outside the ICU, shoe rack was kept with rubber slippers for the visitors to change to their normal footwear. But people kept their shoes in chaotic manner making the corridor cluttered with shoes and chappals. With visitor trying to find his pair, they got more scattered. A contrasting sight from Japan where they are kept in orderly manner.

Ayuthaya 1600 baht Kantary hotel equipped with living room, kitchen, laundry and Internet. This is value for money. Would India be able to reach this level ?

My critical roving eyes were at work as soon as my flight from Bangkok touched Terminal 3 of New airport of New Delhi. Cubicle that connects the aerobridge to the aircraft is painted in orange and yellow. Is there any art form that I am missing ?. These rectangular coloured boxes that appear like containers make incongruous match with a sprawling airport complex. Large window panes, big corridors with newly laid carpets, motorized walking belts look airport great but dust particles hardened with rain deops on the glass panel look ugly. Immigration, luggage handling area is spacious. The sight of worker manoeuvring motorized cleaning machine is refreshing from the traditional look of men and women wearing blue dress squatting and chit- chatting with dust broom lying on their side. ‘Shoddy workmanship' ' lack of maintenance and Cleanliness' are two glaring aspects that make any modern object in India pale in comparison to the rest in the world , No matter how beautiful and elegant the construction is to begin with. Premier lounge serve great food but benches have chipped in and glued plywood at different places. I pity the brainwave of the person who has kept electrical plug underneath the computer table. My plug would refuse to hang and would fall under the gravity . This section is for those whose laptops are charged or else one can go with a glue tape and stick around the plug while they charge their gadgets. Dubai airport lounge has electric sockets next to every seat and they provide choice of different plug standards. I am sure Delhi airport officials must have visited the best airports around the world. How they missed this important aspect of business traveller. While I was at immigration desk, a man who had already cleared immigration merrily walked out. Luckily Haryana bred immigration officer stopped him ' I don’t have baggage tags ' was his defence. His refusal to let the passenger go out invited rebuke from his immediate immigration officer ' that's not your job, how many people can you stop ? '. Once I was past immigration and on X ray machine, there were more people looking for baggage tags. A baggage tag with blue rubber stampis unique to India, It provides direct job opportunity to at least four people and one manufacturer. But whatever shortcomings New Delhi airport may have, it is designed on a grand scale and portrays the surging aspirations of India to match the best in the world.