First steps for Fleet Forum India

Last week I started in Delhi to talk to WHO about participation in the Fleet Safety project. WHO operates a large fleet here as they are monitoring a polio project. All in all 350 doctors are driving around the countries to monitor immunization rounds and to watch closely if polio doesn't break out again (I always thougth that the world was polio-free these days...not). As WHO is also in the process of purchasing new vehicles including tracking systems it looks like they want to integrate the project in their new and improved fleet management system and approach. Good for us as WHO is also the organisation who advocates for Fleet Safety and their participation will show that they lead by example!

Now I am in Bangalore, doing the 1st round of job interviews with people who want to work for Fleet Forum. Doing interviews with a candidate from a different culture and background has some good learning points. Questions you would easily ask in the Netherlands (bossy and direct as we are ;)) are not understood or you don't get a direct answer. And questions I would never ask in Holland are quite important here....like 'how is your family, father, mother etc'. All a matter of learning and adapting

Tomorrow evening back to Delhi for meetings with Unicef and some local driving institutes.

So far life is good! India is a fascinating country with huge differences (sadly) between rich and poor. On one hand you have all the posh (really posh) facilities, on the other hand people are sleeping on the streets. Delhi is a big melting pot of cultures, one moment you think you are in colonial Britain, the next moment you could easily be on a market in the Middle East. And the people are great...have had really nice experiences with taxi drivers (who were completely lost themselves in the city), a nice couple who invited me to their house for dinner, the cleaning guy who loves to polish my shoes and lots of others!