Weekend Presentation in Pune

I was way nervous all this week because I had my first major presentation to 200+ government officials in Pune, a large city about 3 hrs east of Mumbai. I’ve been working all week on the presentation, trying to instill knowledge I’ve gained in my last 8 years working in the US to Indian police and transportation officials, as well as promote the work my current company is doing over there. I had a pretty good idea of what I wanted to say but I needed to tweak it so that is was more accessible to an Indian audience. Luckily, I had tons of help and advice from my two Indian co-workers. In addition, I was able to give a dry run of the presentation on Friday before I left to many members of the IT company I’m sharing office space with.
I have to admit I wasn’t on my A-game when I made it to Pune on Sat. I had a 415 flight so I had to wake up at 3AM, and I wasn’t asleep till after midnight (story for another day). However, I was happy to be there, Pune is a beautiful town at the base of the Western Ghats, full of hills, greenery, and much cooler and less humid temps. Lots of coffee (first time I found black coffee too) and being somewhere new was enough awake and energized.
I got to the conference, at a big government facility there and I saw that everyone was wearing turbans in a style native to the state I was in, Maharashtra. I was kinda envious that everyone else was getting to wear them until one of the conference organizers approached me and said it would be an honor if I wore one. Putting it on is very complex- it’s one big piece of fabric that is wound in a very particular way, it took probably two minutes for the guy to wrap it, but I was really excited to show some respect for the culture, plus it kept my nervous forehead sweat out of my face.
It was also cool to see how a conference starts over there, first there was a ceremonial lighting of a fire by the top officials and a blessing, and then gifts were given to the presenters to much fanfare, with clapping and pictures after each gift was given. They called me up, and I was a little surprised, and was given flowers and a traditional scarf but I was so nervous I took and tried to get off the stage immediately, they had to get me back on stage so that pictures could be taken of me receiving the gifts. At least I know for next time…
The actual presentation was well received and I got to have many side discussions afterward about road safety with people, I learned a lot and from their perspectives and also think I was able to teach them some things as well. The biggest complaint was how thick my accent was- it’s still new to me that I’m the one with the strange accent!
Afterwards was a blast too, everyone went to a place on the outskirts of town, all 200 or so of us (all men). We were at an outdoor complex on a beautiful night and had an open bar and food, and there was live singing and dancing from a troupe that was traditional to Maharashtra. About 10 women dancers, a bunch of drums and Indian instruments, several singers (the singing is absolutely beautiful) and a team of two comedians dressed up like police doing a bit in between some songs with a midget. It was great to unwind after the stressful day and get some culture too, people told me it’s very rare for a westerner to see this side of their culture, all men from all over the country getting together and relaxing after working hard all day. The conference participants also put the band to work playing their favorite songs while conference participants got on stage and sung the songs while many others danced with each other around them. It was so different and new to me and so much fun! Plus, lots of delicious food and beer! I was way impressed how some of the toughest guys there were the best singers and dancers! I made it back to Chennai safe tonight and am back working tomorrow, but I won’t complain about working this weekend because I had a fantastic time! XOXOXO
Greg