Thursday 15 September 2011

There is a corner of some Rajasthani field...

There are probably not many boys from Manchester who can say they have a thicket of trees in Rajasthan, but as of today I am one of them:


Take note, not just a tree but a whole thicket. Things don't get done by half round here.

Anyway, this was my reward for speaking today at a national conference on skills development organised by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry, in lieu of a more conventional token of appreciation. I thought this was a rather nice touch. I wonder if it's possible to visit my thicket. Probably not, sadly.

Indian audiences have incredible stamina. My presentation came at the tail end of a very long day, but the hall was still close to full and the Indian attendees all sat ramrod-straight, apparently paying close attention to the content (it has to be said that the non-Indians in the audience fared less well in this regard, and gradually sank lower and lower in their chairs as we closed in on 7 pm. I don't blame them, it was only being on a dais that was preventing me from doing the same). It was nice to have an attentive audience despite being on the graveyard shift. And a thicket to boot.

1 comment:

louisejourdan@gmail.com said...

I don't know why but this made me laugh so much... I love it!
I don't think I could have maintained a straight face if I was presented with a "thicket of 5 trees"