Business
Trip
The city of Bangalore was massive. During the last decade or so it
had grown almost too big. The infrastructure hadn't kept up with the
pace of the development. The streets were dirty, the traffic was chaotic
and most buildings in various stages of decay. In the centre there
were modern shopping malls. Old houses barely existed. The traditional
Indian atmosphere was slowly disappearing.
My
senses were overflowed with the noice of traffic and the smell of
the exhausts. I took an autorickshaw. Colourful advertisements filled
the road side and the walls of the buildings.
There was an election campaign going on. Political manifestos had
been glued to the fences and lamp posts.
I
stopped and studied the election posters. All candides spoke in favour
of economic growth. Their vision of Bangalore was increasingly bigger,
modern and international.
The city was in the state of change. Soon the place would be even
more polluted. Trees would be cut down. Parks would make way for parking
lots. Money, business and greed would take over.
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I
walked in the Helsinki city centre thinking about the streets of Bangalore:
beggars, shopkeepers, fruit vendors, women in their colourful saris,
the narrow streets, broken pavements, the sound of the traffic and
horns. Compared to this Helsinki was like a complete opposite: careful
city planning, organized traffic, straight roads, empty pedestrian
walks.
In
the approaching darkness the grey facades looked cold and barren.
The glass and steel constructions were monotonous and characterless.
Trees had cast off their leaves. In the coolness of the October evening,
the quietness of the city felt empty and lifeless.
"Why
am I here?" I thought.
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I
was staring at my computer screen, as my boss knocked on my shoulder.
"Do you have a moment?" he asked.
They
were again charting out the willingness to go on business trips. "In
addition to the offices in China and India, we have recently opened
a new office in Africa," my boss explained. He said the new facilities
existed in a small East-African village near the equator. There were
some one hundred inhabitants in the village. The houses were traditional
and made out of clay. There was no electricity nor working water system.
The reason for establishing the new office there was the cheap labour.
My
initial reaction was to turn down the offer but then I decided to
reconsider. I had never been in Africa. There were large nature parks
and mountain ranges nearby. I'd have the opportunity to go on a safari
and see lions and antilopes. I'd have a chance to expand my horizons
and get to know the African ways of life. In addition, it might be
interesting to train the new workers.
"In
any case this would be a very challenging job," my boss said.
"As before, the new workers would have to be taught the tools
and the processes needed in the projects. But this time the newcomers
would have no previous experience on technical writing. You would
have to start from scratch. The locals do not even speak English."
