If youve never been to India you really should go. Everyone that goes anywhere should go through India. The amazing people, culture and food are experiences every traveler should experience. However, India and shows in India are not for the faint of heart. Youll definitely appreciate you next stop a little more.
Roger Walker walked around the Pragati Maiden the first day and it was a little daunting. With a week to go until the show open there were workers scrambling everywhere painting this or welding that. Thats not unusual, as we all know, what struck me was that they were still welding forms for hanging signs three days into the show. We were both first timers to India and immediately recognized we were going to have to learn some new tricks. But with Rogers forty years of experience and my ten we looked forward to the challenge.
Thanks to the great work of our partners at R.E. Rogers it turned out to less of a challenge than we were anticipating. I cant say enough about they on-site service and general hospitality they provided. Ravi and Roj were excellent hosts and always made sure we had what we needed. Whether it was something on-site or a car to the Taj Mahal, they were happy to provide to all the agents on-site. Surjeet and Manoj, working the office for R.E. Rogers, usually new the answer to our questions before we asked. And, in typical TWI fashion, even all of our late freight made the show without the exhibitor feeling any of the pressure.
We had a great crew in our main hall, Mike, Sharon and Danielle, from Kallman Worldwide, along with the rest of the exhibitors were very happy with everything at the show. Well, they would have liked the AC on. We were lucky our hall had a good cross breeze. Someone passed out in another hall that didnt have the ventilation we had. Thats a show in India. Now I know.
As Roger and I walked away on the last day I commented that I felt like I knew what it was like to do shows in the 80s now. Roger replied that I knew what it was like to do shows in the 70s. But hey, its India, not for the faint of heart. And if you love travel and experiences youll only get one place, India is a must hit spot.
Written by: Terry Dowling
