Welcome Client !!!

It was a relaxing time since last few days. Less work and eventually more time to pass. So attending team meeting was also considered as a kill-time activity, though hard to believe! But this time it wasn't the general so-called-updates meeting. There was something new to hear from the lead this time. She announced to us that our client is planning to come to India for a general visit. Now this came as a shock to me, as I had never expected clients coming just for a casual visit. There must be something in his mind, I thought. Maybe a new project or extra work for that matter. Thinking about his purpose would no way matter to anybody, as I was just another employee of my HUGE company. So who cares! Definitely, my lead had started planning all the activities on those two special days of his stay here in India.

Finally the day came when he arrived in India and eventually came to visit our office. Many of us hadn't seen him till then and for that matter none of our clients. A very pleasant personality! An only phrase struck to my mind, the moment I saw him. A 6 feet tall well built handsome guy in his thirties. Certainly, he was very smart, intelligent and a person with great presence of mind. An eternal smile on his face was making him look better, I would say. In his mid thirties though, he had a charm of a guy in his twenties. We all welcomed him and his colleague, who is Indian, with bouquets, had a small talk with them and left for our cubicles. As it was a lunch time and he was supposed to be taking his lunch and meeting with our group manager and other managers, he postponed our pre-planned discussions to next day. It was simply postponing today's death to tomorrow!!! Of course, a face-to-face talk with a client was something new for me. In my entire career, I had never seen my client, leave alone talking with them.

Apart from this we were actually looking forward for the dinner session with him in following evening. We had chosen one of the best ambient restaurant for him. It was buffet dinner, except the starters part. The starters were there on our table, kept on a barbeque for getting roasted. In all this happenings, the expressions on his face were remarkable. They were a mixture of curiosity, happiness and amaze! It was his first visit to India, but he already knew many of the INDIAN things, right from places to visit to typical Indian food. He was amazed to see the process of cooking 'tandoor roti'. He was marveled when he tasted the 'kheer'. And he was the happiest person among us when he tasted "chat" on the chat counter. He couldn’t stop talking about his love for Indian food. He wanted to know each and everything about Indian food in a span of time as short as 2 hours. We all were eager to answer him as well as enjoyed the same. He wanted to know the types of fishes we eat, the spices used for preparation of fish and chicken, the name for lady's finger/Okra, how biryani is prepared and much more! Not just the food recipes but he also wanted to know the proper way to have lunch/dinner in Maharashtra. When told to him that in Maharashtra first rice-daal, then roti-vegetable and in the end rice-daal is the general sequence of having meal, he was extremely exclaimed. He got lost in the calculation of overall calories after that. When asked for dessert, he was actually forbidden of the thought of having anything after that stomach-full meal. We insisted him and finally he agreed. But he didn’t regret it, as he just loved all the sweets including typically Indian ras-malai and kheer. History repeated again, he asked about the recipes of both the items. His curiosity was like that of a 1 year old child's. Though after the dinner "meetha paan" was must, we couldn't find paanwala there, hence dropped the plan of it and returned back to home.

The next day's schedule was an Gavin-all-the-time one. A meeting with him which continued for 2 hours, but which was scheduled for just an hour. A lunch with him and the last day's postponed individual meeting with him too. So this second day was expected to be eventful and so it was too. As per the agenda, he took a meeting with us all and I was simply marveled by his skills and brilliance. His knowledge and way of presenting the same were simply to be praised. He kind of held his audience's minds in his excellent talks. The time passed faster, though he was speaking of upcoming projects, which would be so boring at any other given time. Soon the meeting was over and it was time for lunch.

Now, interestingly the lunch was ordered in our office itself, so as to save time and fit all the scheduled things in well manner. On a special request from our dear guest, his favorite "paneer bhurji" was ordered. The day before he had talked about this well known food item, which we are way too much habitual of. I was shocked to see the glimpse of satisfaction in his eyes, after the 'bhurji' was served in his plate. I thought I also saw a smile filled with pleasure, after he had its first bite of paneer and roti. I must mention here his typical way of pronouncing 'Roti' was a cute one. In the end of the meal, when Gulab Jamun were served to him, he didn’t know what the dish was called as. As soon as he came to its name, he was so happy to eat the gulab jamuns, as if he came to India just for those 2 tempting balls of maava and sugar syrup!

The lunch was followed by the individual meeting sessions with him which went as smooth as a person talking with his/her colleague whom he knows since years. It was simply a pleasure to talk with him. His modesty and generosity were remarkable. One thing I can’t resist myself from sharing to you is his love for his wife and daughter. Till date how much we have seen in films and news, people not just in foreign countries but recently in India too, are known for their divorces, lack of chemistry and many such not-so-good incidents. In such a time, here is a person, who, when away from his family, is thinking about them continuously. Not just his wife and daughter, but he didn't forget to mention his parents and their overall bonding. He knew what 'love' and 'care' means. Here I was seeing a man with respect and decency, with humor and fun, with talent and endowment. He might not be the perfect person in this world, but I felt he was just across the border of perfectness!