Update from Marianne Gulloev; EMEA Anita Award Winner 2010
If yesterday was emotional and close to a trail of tears for all of us today has been exciting and powerful right from the very beginning. But before I get into today I have to mention the fabulous dinner and thank The Body Shop India for a marvelous evening the day yesterday. We felt so welcome and really enjoyed getting to know our Indian colleagues. And the fact that the dinner took place in a five star hotel, definitely didn’t make the evening less pleasant!
Today has been very exciting and different from the beginning. We can now tick several boxes on our list of things we always wanted to try, but never have. Maybe getting up at 4 am or standing on the train station 6 am don’t belong to this category (though I wouldn’t have been without it). However, we have experienced a lot of fantastic things we had never dreamed of, such as running like mad dragging all our luggage in order to get on board and in the right wagon the two minutes the train stops (no matter how many is getting on or of!), or to have warm milk to our cornflakes as well as watching a sunrise in India. It really did kick-start a day where speed and jogging seemed to end as our theme of the day.
When we arrived on the train station in Jaipur porters stood ready to carry our pretty heavy suitcases. Watching them piling our suitcases on their heads and elegantly walking up and down the stairs was really impressive. When arriving to the hotel we entered a completely different world of gods and goddesses and were welcomed like maharajas. The building was awesome and a man outside the entrance was drumming a welcome in order to notify the staff which stood ready with hot towels, flower rings and blessed us with a red spot in the forehead. While having a welcome drink we got time to adore the beautiful hall and relaxed atmosphere of Shiv Vilas / our paradise of a hotel.
The itinerary said sightseeing in Jaipur but didn’t mention anything about ‘sightseeing jogging’ with a speedy talking guide, nor an exciting camel ride – where several of us afterwards could tick a box on our lists!
As it had taken us a bit of time to get settled and to be ready for go to out we didn’t have as much time as planned (and need) as we didn’t want to miss out anything. The fact that we are an unruly lot running around photographing etc. didn’t really speed things up (Lisa says she has never counted to eight so many times a day before!).
We saw the most amazing palaces and learned a lot about the Indian history – really interesting stuff, but as we were running a bit late the first places we saw, we arrived just before the closing time, and only due to our guide’s good contacts we were extraordinarily let in. And this is here where we can claim we invented a new sightseeing style: a jogging tour around the palace, while taking pictures and getting all the highlights of the story. Quite entertaining and a bit exhausting, but you never get bored!
Between the visit to the marhajan palace we got the chance to ride on camels and it was a fantastic and a bit terrifying experience. When they got up and down you really have to hold on to the saddle and we agreed that even though it was amazing. We were happy we weren’t to cross a dessert or the like this way that would have resulted in some very sore butts!
After camels and palaces it was time for power shopping and a dinner in a cultural restaurant with the entertainment of a drumming band a two beautiful Indian women dancing graciously with oil lamp lighted on their heads.
The day contained several entertaining elements. Apart from a little boy showing us magic, while riding along in the bus, Lisa almost got a heart attack and claimed she had been robbed after our guide stopped and handed all our money for the trip to a stranger, it seemed.
The money were to be exchanged and she didn’t have a relaxed moment before a guy suddenly turned up on our jogging tour in the palace and handed over her money again – exchanged into rupees and even at a good rate! As the guide said ’This is India,’ meaning everything is possible. And it really is – so far the trip, the people we have met, the projects we have seen and the great time we have had are an evidence of that this is a truly amazing country.
All this and the emotions we experience all the time will forever be in our hearts and kept as an exceptional and heartwarming feeling. The energy and the enthusiasm we all will come back with will be fantastic and so inspiring.
I can’t wait to tell about the projects and to fight harder to inform my colleagues, the press and all my friends and family about all the good things we are able to do as individuals as well as a company.
And I am so grateful to have won the trip and to be a part of this great adventure in the company of fantastic (and sporty) people.
Marianne Gulloev, The Body Shop Denmark – and Jaipur India
