Sa-wat Dee Bangkok

The much spoken about, much feared and much hated fachchadom (first year) at IIM A is finally over. Oh yeah, its definitely a moment to celebrate. No more surprise-quizzes-at-1430 hrs, no WAC-runs-at-1625 hrs, no 0845-classes and no more hearing "Muggo-fachcho-muggo" shouts. Though there wasn't enough time for champagne n stuff, but a birthday at home after almost 6 years did compensate for it. Happy birthday to me :)

Next up on the agenda, the summer internship. Way back in November and months leading to that were spent in the yearly ritual called the summer placements. Sitting through company ppts, preparing resumes, praying for Day-zero slots, multiple rounds of interviews - I finally ended up with an internship offer at ING Asia Pacific. I got what I was looking for - Day-zero finance company with foreign location. Can't complain. Subsequently I came to know that I will be working with ING Life Thailand in Bangkok. Like father like son, insurance beckoned me. So I spent the better part of my birthday and Ugadi shopping and packing for my trip to Bangkok.

I landed in Bangkok 5 am in the morning, and there was the ING driver waiting holding a placard that read - "Vamsee Krishna - IIM Ahmedabad". I always used to wonder when someone would do that for me. They had a nice service apartment waiting for me. Saurabh had already arrived the day before, and he was put up in the adjacent apartment. I dumped my bag, changed and off I was for my first day in the corporate world outside India. Lots more on that later.

This being the first time I crossed any of the seven seas, I did expect to see a lot of different things. Had it been the US or UK, things would have been different since the sitcoms and Hollywood movies give one an idea of what to expect. But Bangkok was unchartered territory, we being the first interns ever from IIM A here. Its been almost one week, and some things I have observed about this place.

1. People here are shockingly polite. Am yet to see a heated conversation anywhere in the office or the road. One is always welcomed with smiles everywhere.

2. Traffic is excruciatingly devoid of horns. Drivers have a lot of patience, and I doubt if any of the Toyotas (they are the only cars one would see here) here even have a horn built in.

3. They consider themselves a traditional society, and it shows in the way they interact. People have immense respect for other. They greet each other with the traditional Wai, which is exactly like our Namaste, even in the corporate world. And everyone transaction has to end with a “thank you”. They are also very religious, with beautiful temples in front of almost each and every building.

4. Ironically though, the Thai dress very modern. Specially the female. “Aggressive” is the word one used to describe their dressing sense. They do it pretty smartly though. No wonder fashion brands and cosmetic industry are flourishing here.

5. Thai people eat out A LOT. You find food stalls absolutely everywhere…shopping malls have food sections (that’s plural) on every floor, plus a wholly dedicated floor only for food; the side-walks are full of food vendors selling all sorts of things imaginable. Believe me, within 5 min walking radius of my office, there are more than 150 places where you can eat. And I am not exaggerating.

6. Strikingly though, Thai people are very fit. The average weight of a Thai would be a good 15 kgs less than that of an Indian, if not more. I wonder how.

7. A surprising low number of people are well conversant with English. Communication can be a major struggle, sometimes even inside office. Poor Saurabh has already resorted to dumb charades. It took him a good bit of 20 min to explain the receptionist that the bathtub-plug in his room was missing.

8. Bangkok is a beautiful city, and extremely clean. Case in point, I polished my shoes the first day to office, and till date I haven’t even had to brush it again.

The next two months are going to be really interesting. Meanwhile, am just glad that won the third test match against South Africa. Dada rocks :D