Sylvia's Journal

The fastest way to get from Pune to Lucknow is the one and only direct flight (2 hours) that leaves at 3:30AM and arrives at 5:30AM. On the way back it is a bit better: we will leave at 10PM and arrive at midnight. With an hour ride to the airport we left at 1AM. I usually go to bed at 10PM. Although it wasn’t too  difficult to stay awake till 1, it meant I skipped  a night. I tried to sleep at different moments of the trip, including when we arrived at the hotel at 7AM. I have not mastered the skill of sleeping in short bursts.

Our plane was filled for three quarters with young cadets who either went home to Lucknow after training or had a holiday in Pune, as one told us. They looked very young in their crisp uniforms and their army baseball caps. Many were from the air force which has an enormous base (this is India’s southern command) near the airport. Lucknow too has an enormous cantonment.  India’s army must be an important employer. At our friends’ house we met two retired military men. One of them well trained in organizational development, leadership and management, who was quite familiar with many Harvard business cases.

The government of Uttar Pradesh (UP) flew me from Pune to Lucknow (but not my friends), picked me (and thus us) up at the airport, put me up in the Lucknow Comfort Inn and made a chauffeur available to drive us back and forth to the government buildings. This offer arrived on my birthday – the first and most unusual present ever received.

We have a series of appointments set up for us – a schule that is a bit of a moving target. And so we don’t expect anything to go as planned. Between the three of us we now use ‘VUCA’ as a shorthand for having to turn on a dime. We are beyond plan A and B, it’s VUCA time!

I am still not quite sure what to expect. I also don’t know how to dress. My friend and many of the Indian Gen Xers I am seeing on the streets don’t wear traditional dresses (the wide pants and tunics). I still have a few of them from my Kabul days and had packed them. But my friend was quite adamant that I not wear any of them. She suggested I give them to the maid, which I will probably do.

She certainly wouldn’t wear a saree unless she is forced. Sarees are beautiful but they are impractical in modern life, such as riding a scooter or motor bike. In Pune, around the university many of the young girls dress as if it was New York, the black not even fashionable. It is really a shame as the vibrant colors are disappearing from the scene. Only elderly women wear sarees (the ones my age, hmmm), younger ones (and it seems poorer women of any age) wear the shalwar kameez but even those seem to be on the out.