The Natural State

For the next 8 weeks, I will be stationed in the Natural State. I didnt know that this American state was called the Natural State. When you look around, you'll definitely feel so. Nothing much around other than lots of empty tracts of grassland. And then some buildings just to show that its not a forest reserve or something.

My flight to the US was quite exciting. The chennai to bombay flight took almost 3 hrs. After a point, I was wondering what the pilot was really doing. the next leg to frankfurt was sleeping time. in frankfurt, i met prof rakesh vohra - our ISB Eco prof from Kellogg. it was very nice to talk to him after almost 2 yrs. we were talking about consulting, ISB, the mohali school, the placement scenario, my new client and all sorts of stuff. i got into the flight to chicago and then figured out that my seat was also allocated to another german girl. knowing this, the air hostess gave me a business class seat. it was a pleasant shock. maharajah seats that turn into a bed at the touch of a button, all sorts of controls, special treatment from the staff, amazing food spread - i had a wonderful time.

then the wait in chicago was terrible. my next flight was only after 6 hrs. so i had to literally waste time. one thing i noticed at the domestic terminal 3 in chicago was there is only one payphone that allows you to use a credit card. for everything else, you need to put coins.

the next flight was for 1.5hrs. when the flight reached XNA (the airport in Arkansas), i was really tired. there were less than 20 ppl who came with me. my luggage had already arrived on a previous flight.

my hotel was like a 30mins drive from the airport. on my way, i figured out that walmart, jb hunt and tyson foods are the only big employers in this state. and in bentonville, where i was going to work, its was just walton's world. i noticed a delivery center that was as big as an international airport. there must have been a thousand trucks waiting to load goods.

office is very strange. everyone here comes to work at 7am!!! and then they leave only by 5pm. do they really have that much work to do? also, this place is a real factory. we've heard of factory model in IT, but here i saw it live. there are thousands of people around you working for the same company. everyone walks in a line. when they reach a junction (inside the office), they slow down to see oncoming traffic and then they proceed. especially during the lunch hours, if you tried to jump the line or go on the wrong side, you'll create chaos maybe. it feels as if you are in the middle of programmed employees. Like the ones in i-robot.

on friday, i got a car as well. when i entered the rental car office, they showed me PT Cruiser. I had no intention of taking that. Then they showed me a Chevy HHR which was an extended version of the Cruiser. I was definitely not taking that too. Then I noticed a Pontiac G6 in the garage and I asked them about it. Apparently it was available and they had no idea that it was there in the garage. I signed up and took the car.

so thats the travel update and i hope to write more about the natural state and maybe from the factory as well.