Japan : Through the eyes of a maverick - Part one

I was told that I had to go to Japan, a month back. Glad I obviously was, but I wasn’t particularly keen on visiting a land which no one told me was interesting or exciting. The perception of the country that I had in my mind was that of a tiny and developed island with automatic (electric and electronic) everything. I visualised button eyed miniscule white geeks whose noses were on the brink of extinction. I was told that all they do is tinker with the keyboard for the whole day, with soldering nano-electronics under a microscope as their favourite pastime. The people who enlightened me about Japan as a country also revealed that producing those super fast machines needed a degree of clinical commitment, and while riding/driving them might be an interesting affair, the people responsible for producing them are extremely dull and boring.

Perceptions, however, are much different from the truths of this world, and I was soon to discover a parallel reality. All the apprehensions were to be melted into nothingness and I was soon to witness the most wonderful and the most remarkable human beings alive on planet earth. I realized that the idea of having a completely mechanised world with a human face is not a farce. I discovered that machines don’t essentially kill sentiments and electronics don’t have anything to do with the dignity of labour. It was an incredible universe out there, surreal, unrealistic and just too rosy to be true. It did exist though, and I found that a world which we Indians would so love to be a part of, maybe after some centuries, does exist in today’s date.

Here then, I have for you a phased description and visualization of whatever I got to see, live and experience. I’ll keep posting about the extraordinary things that I came across, and how it helped me grow astonishingly - both as an individual and as a professional in a mere span of six days. Hope you like and enjoy it…

A COUNTRY INTRODUCING ITSELF – THE PARADOX

Bangkok International Airport, Air-India’s flight lands onto the strip, the five over-enthusuastic Punjabi youngsters stand up and start taking down their luggage from the overhead luggage compartments, even as Captain Ranvir keeps requesting the passengers to not to do so. They are somewhat tired. It’s been an exhausting journey for them. They have drained themselves out of the last Joule of energy left in their bodies in making sure that every single person in the plane has pathetic stories to tell to his people about Indians once he reaches his own land. Lessons in indecency have been imparted to everyone aboard. Snide remarks in the loudest voice possible have been passed onto everyone who apparently didn’t understand Hindi and Punjabi. While the tiny Jap who sat beside them had to bear it all in his face, the two German girls who were sitting behind were lucky, as it was not so easy for the hunks to stand up, turn behind and bring some more shame to their country. They made sure that their journey was as adventurous as it ever could be, by doing (or at least trying to do) everything that was prohibited in the safety manual. They reclined their seats at take-off, used digital cameras and mobile phones at critical junctures, shouted aloud and argued with the air hostesses at the drop of a hat. Everyone else, however, maintained a dignified silence, while our Punjabi Mundas kept rocking the floor, stamping the seal of their machogiri over everyone else in the flight. An illiterate, derisive laugh for one of the lady officials at the Bangkok airport, and their job was done. They had clicked and distributed the dirtiest picture of their country across the world. They made sure that we Indians have even more problems in attaining Visas for any country and they are treated with even more disrespect the world over henceforth.

Bangkok International Airport : It's Thailand slightly disguised

The air-hostesses too, on their part were not to be left behind. From throwing the food (plates) onto the retractable table rather than serving it, to sneering upon the innocuous Indian guy who unknowingly stuck his leg out of his seat while being asleep. They even called him an idiot! These women acted like how the wife of a minister in the Central Cabinet would if told to serve passengers in an airline. Apparently, what they were doing was too demeaning for their high stature. Wonder why they chose this profession if they had such swollen egos. There was a clear hint of pretentiousness in that doctored smile. It appeared as if it was a veneer to shroud the contempt within, there wasn’t the slightest hint of friendliness or intent to assist. The passenger, on his end, doesn’t feel happy or content for being served, he instead feels guilty for corrupting the dignity of the noble ladies.

The facilities at the Bangkok International Airport are pretty much in line with the best in the world. Made me feel bad though, as we are a bigger economy and the government could definitely do better

I was so ashamed by the time I got off the plane that I can shamelessly admit now that I was. You could see the disappointment and anger in the eyes of the fellow passengers, especially foreigners, and you just have to admit that they’re properly justified in looking down upon us, since what has just happened is plain pitiful, simply pathetic.

From Bangkok, I had to change flight. JAL (Japan Airlines) flight 710 (I guess) was supposed to be the next plane for the rest of the journey. The transition in treatment and the level of professionalism was apparent from the very moment I presented my boarding pass to the personnel at the boarding gate. Genial smiles, thoroughly genuine, on the faces of people who actually, authentically want to assist you, make you feel comfortable from the very first moment.

A Boeing 747

A trijet plane with one of the jets on the tail at the Bangkok Inetrnational Airport

It was a technological shock that I withstood the moment I stepped into the plane, no, even before that actually. It was a Boeing 747 – and I hadn’t seen a moving piece of machinery so gargantuan in my entire life. Other planes like the one that carried me from Mumbai to Thailand lay scattered in the field around it like toys. Inside, it was expansive, tastefully lit, and equipped with features in the economy class which are absent in the business class of India’s national air-carrier. You could choose to watch a movie on the LCD screen from a list of around 300 choices, listen to a wide variety of songs, watch how the world looks like from the plane through an on board camera located outside, track your journey with detailed mapping, play games, use the remote as a phone, call the hostess, buy jewellery and do scores of other things. The plane that took me to Thailand, in contrast, just headphones to listen to music, the only glitch being, there wasn’t any music to listen to. These headphones were some sidey make with the cheap quality of materials easily perceptible – the ones on JAL flight, however, were SONY. Bewildering enough for a newbie like me.

You feel snugly cossetted and properly served in most international airliners. The picture is that of the economy class of JAL. IA and AI flights simply dont match up.

The route tracker : Outside temperature, altitude, distance, time, maps....you just have to ask for some info, and you have it at hand.

There was a dignified silence in the plane; except for the occasional, careful whispers, I couldn’t hear a word. There weren’t any naively amplified laughs or inconsiderately high decibel conversations. The air-hostesses kept visiting every ten minutes, repeatedly asking for how they could assist me. Even when they know very little or no English, the communication barrage never translates into the slightest hint of frown on their face. They’ll refuse to buzz off till the time they’ve made sure that you are happy and content. They’re young, pretty and polite - unlike the middle-aged, emotion-proof and almost deaf hostesses on Indian planes who more often than not appear to be sleepwalking. With the Japs, you could see that there is an intention to serve, an inherent urge to prove that the money that’s being paid to them is worth every Yen of it, unlike the Rupee that gets mercilessly wasted. You have an assortment of wines, beers, soft drinks, crackers, snacks and meals to choose from and the crew will insist you have it, to drive away any inhibitions that you might have breeding in your head.

While I prayed for the plane to land down as early as possible for the time I was in the AI carrier, I wanted the journey to last forever while being aboard the JAL aircraft. Honestly, had I been from a neutral country, I would have loathed India like a scary nightmare and would have vowed never to try set foot again in the country. I am so sorry and ashamed to say that, but that’s exactly the way I felt.

Airports are the face of a country – to a foreign traveller who’s on the airport only for transit, airports represents the whole of the nation; and this fact becomes so very palpable when you travel abroad. All the impressions about a country that a transit foreigner takes home have their roots connected with the airport in some way or the other. From the way the officials and the people behave with you to the cleanliness and the facilities, every single thing paints a picture of how good or bad you are as a nation. Going by that yardstick, the state of the Indian Airports is pathetic. The official at the customs told me to not to declare any possessions since it meant more trouble and work for him. He even sneered at me when I took a little long in filling the form. The security officers almost snatched the bag from my hand to check what was inside while the immigration officials seemed utterly uninterested and uneducated by the way they talked.

The road under the bridge that connects the airport with Hotel Amari Apartment. Tourists are insulated from the harsher realities.

A railway station under the same bridge.

Bangkok as a country-on the streets that is, might be as backward or as pathetic as India, but tourism is a big industry, and these guys have made sure that their airports at least are in line with the best in the world. The facilities are A-class and all the officers talk with you in a thoroughly professional and polite manner. On the streets it might be as nightmarish as our own country, but then, transit passengers are bound to take home a very good impression. Till the time I got out of the airport (which happened on my way back), even I had an immaculate impression about Thailand. Obviously, the airport was Thailand for me.

And this, my friends is Thailand on streets - looks much like India eh?

Talking of two-wheelers, Thailand is primarily a scooter and step-through market. These things look puny, but are packed with technology. For valved engines (which are yet to be seen in India) coupled with ultra-slim tyres mean that these puny-looking things go like a stink in a straight line!!!

Tokyo is leagues apart - an exponent of foolproof systemization. A miracle realized by man. More on it, however, in the next post…