Detroit Diary

The world is a village, thanks to the globalization, internet, the economic reformers and MNCs. Today you do not feel away from home in the sense of food and commodity market. I wonder what those early birds had faced when they flew to the USA or Britain all the way from India in early 80s or even before. It is unlikely that those people knew if pizza is edible or anything else, what is MacDonald’s or Subway or any other such brand. Today we are used to all these even in India, so when one comes to USA for the first time, apart from the infrastructure and the cars, you do not find much difference when compared to the Bangalores or the Delhies of India.

I reached Detroit at around 12:40 PM local time. As I came out of the airport, a smart young man approached me, “Taxi service required, sir?” I answered in affirmative but before that I wanted to make a couple of calls. He gave me his cell phone to make the local as well as international calls. This kind of generous behavior is hard to find in India. The taxi was a luxury car (I dunno which make it was as it is not available in India). With the help of GPS we reached the hotel without any difficulty. In India, I am sure; you can’t reach a place without asking several people if you do not know the way.

The first day, Vic and Steve took me for a lunch. We went to “Jimmy John’s” a famous restaurant here. Having spent around 27 years in India, I can’t say a veg sandwich and a coke a good lunch but their gesture was good. They wanted to know more about me. It was kind of a welcome meal.

The next morning as I was walking to office, someone called from a car, “You want a ride Sushil?” It was Hamid, my colleague here. He told me how he spent time till mid-night playing soccer at a club. My god, the guy looked above 45 and he has got such an enthu. And we Indians feel too old to play after 25 or so. It reminded me the saying, “You do not stop playing because you grow old, but you grow old because you stop playing.”

Then came the News of strike at General Motors. I saw all the demonstrations as the GM plant is just next to the hotel where I am staying. In our office people were of the opinion that the GM employees are cutting their own throat by going on strike. Fortunately, within 40 hrs the employees union reached at an agreement with the GM management and the strike was called off. Still the strike left its impact as I read many other suppliers of GM (primarily Delphi) started laying off people.

Truly, Detroit is the automotive capital of the world. All the major automotive companies are having their presence here. But hey, are not all the major global companies (of any sector) have their presence in India and still going strong? So India is definitely on her way to become the world’s factory and the world’s market.