NESCO - eating experience

Earlier today morning, at around 8.30 am I was at the NESCO to attend the biggest South Asia's pharmaceutical event. To the best part, I was just an observer but looking at the things around me, it could not have been more mismanaged. When you are looking at 50k+ people to attend the event, I surely feel that the preparations could have been a lot better.

Let's start with the entrance. There is no sign board from which you have to enter from. There are 3 gates... 1 2 and 3 and as a foreigner, I had absolutely no clue which gate will take me there. My Indian colleagues kept on telling me to take gate 2 and drop of somewhere near the food court but the traffic was a nightmare. Just getting off and paying the Uber guy was a painful experience as the cars behind, enjoyed a musical experience honking their cars. With so much of human wilderness, I somehow managed to meet my Indian buddies.

Next up was to have some breakfast in a jiffy before I rolled my sleeves for the long day ahead. After all,  I had a long list of prospective clients to meet. In order to save the painful ordeal of waiting at the counters, I had given approval for a pre ordered meal for breakfast and lunch. Much to my surprise and dismay, none of this was available when I arrived. I had skipped a five star hotel breakfast just so that I can have a few more minutes with my Indian friends. Until past 10.30 we were struggling to get our breakfast and to top it even brands like McD and Subway were closed. I am used to having McD breakfast at 6.30 am at my home town and to see this was pathetic. The only place opened was a South Indian counter which served only idli or dosa and where which the entire congregation stampede upon. Now, how many dosa can a guy make ? Stingy on the chutney and no sambhar... after about jousting for coupons and then order, I somehow maintained my composure. After spending some time at my booth, I was back at the food court. A pizza place was leisurely starting up, some action at the Subway and the local counter refused anything apart from dosa and idli. I was aching for the chole and batture but that counter was closed for most of the day.
Pre booked orders similar to my companies, was a very big downfall. Nothing came in before 11 and even the sandwiches smelt stale.

The lunch was not coming on time and ultimately I decided to venture out on my own. An hour long Q just to buy the coupons. The squabble and the insistence of the customers at the exhibitors pre booked food counter was palpable to say the least but not unexpected. We have 2 more  days to go and I hope that the management learns from this experience and we see a better tmrw, else I just think I will pack a couple of McD burgers from the nearby Hub Mall tmrw while on the way

Cheers

Comments

  1. VivM24 October 2018 at 01:57

    Yogi the writing for this particular topic is good. I would suggest whilst the organization was not upto scratch it would be good to know what you would have done as an organizer and offer your perspective.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Yogi's Corner24 October 2018 at 02:04

    Point taken. Will put that in too the next time. The org paying will help though 😀

    ReplyDelete
  3. Yogi's Corner24 October 2018 at 02:04

    Point taken. Will put that in too the next time. The org paying will help though 😀

    ReplyDelete
  4. Unknown24 October 2018 at 10:25

    Point taken.

    ReplyDelete

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