The North East work adventure – Bagdogra Installation
A few months ago we won a tender from Bharat Electronics to supply some service station equipment and tools to the Indian Air force bases at Bagdogra, Guwahati, Hasimara, Tezpur, Jorhat, Chabua.
Initially it was only commissioning of machines at these sites, and then BEL insisted we take up installation as well.
Having never done this before, we are literally walking in blind.
One way ticket to Bagdogra. No accommodation booked anywhere, no time line, no transport between the sites. No idea which site to do next. Loads of questions and answers on the fly only
Yogeesh, our service head for ATS-ELGI in Mangalore, Jayaram, our chief technical officer in Bangalore and I head to first stop – Bagdogra
It would be their first flight journey ever, and to a part of the country they have never seen
Day 1 – Bagdogra – 18th February 2020
Landed, and headed to Orbit hotel . The same hotel that the BEL officers were staying at.
Hotel is clean, and decent. But expensive, at 2000 Plus tax a night. Service is slow, as any food ordered needs at least 40 mins advance notice.
Lunch was “motor paneer” , tawa rotis, dal fry and jeera rice.
Mr Harish from Bel informed me that our passes weren’t yet ready and hence we would not be able to see the site on our own. He tried to arrange someone to meet us at the hotel and get us to the site, but that didn’t work out.
Spent the whole day watching tv, speaking to customers on the phone, and walking up and down the highway for want of things to do.
At 6, wanted to go out again with Y and J for chai. Just closed my door and the handle came off the door.
Showed the handle to the incredulous receptionist/manager and he was like ” sir, this is chargeable at 2500/- , as it is damage to property”
Raised a little hell, and his senior understood the problem better and shifted me to a better room
Y was overjoyed to see a Patanjali store where he got some toiletries
Headed back to the hotel, and met Mr Harish at 9pm to set the next days plan.
Have to be ready by 830 am to head to the site. No phones allowed tomorrow so it’s going to be a quiet day, hopefully with some meaningful work done.
Harish seems quite hopeful that we would be able to complete installation in a day or max two.
The Mieco pumps are not yet here. Hopefully they will be dispatched tomorrow and will reach us in time for the installation of the next 5 sites
We ordered dinner, and our breakfast as well.
Egg curry, laccha paratha, rotis and fresh lime soda
Let’s see what day 2 holds!!
