HOLA Everybody (HOLA means Hello in Spanish)
Just penning some thoughts of my recent trip to Spain (August 2015)
We were a bunch of 6 middle aged & young people who visited Spain recently. (myself, my wife & my cousin sisters family)
The weather is pleasant with range from 20 (nights) to 35 degrees (days) & sunny.
Moreover with only 3.5 hours of time difference with India, there is no worry of getting jet lagged.
We visited the cities of Madrid & Barcelona while staying in apartments so that we could keep some money in our wallets for shopping!
Madrid is more like a mix of village & city life whereas Barcelona is more of the city types.
We saw a couple of museums, palaces, churches, watched football (Messi in action)
We ate mostly Indian stuff with a mix of Continental & Spanish specialities in between. Spanish specialities we tasted: Tapas – which is basically a small portion of baked and cooked vegetables with butter, sauce & toppings served as an appetizer / breakfast with glass of juice or wine (Tapas has its roots from the 10th century during times of Spanish king Alfonso – who was advised by his physicians to eat only small portions of food when he was sick.
Churros - Fried wheat flour rolled into cylindrical rolls and eaten with chocolate sauce
In addition to enjoyment our group as a whole had, personally I got a lot of Insights from the trip:
1. Enjoy @ all times
Spanish people (also true to most Europeans) in general enjoy with what they have @ all times.
2. Considering the unemployment levels of 22% (second highest in Europe after Greece) and challenges faced by people in having / struggling for basic necessities like food & shelter they enjoy by listening to the music (played by freelancers on the street), cracking jokes & have a smile on their face. Though this is good in general, the downside of this is that they don’t feel the energy / enthusiasm of putting that extra effort for saving for their future or betterment of their lives.
Learnings: Even in bad times there are small things that can be enjoyed
3. Preservation of Heritage
Most of the Palaces, museums have been well maintained with great care & details stored about the history, traditions thru photos, articles, regular maintenance, cleaning & detailed explanations which has ensured their good retention across log times to the next generations. This is evident through architecture works of Antonio Gaudi (great Spanish designer, architect) of the “Sagrada Church”& Casa Balta, the famous Flamenco dance that has become Popular in India courtesy the Hrithik Roshan movie “Jindagi Mile Na Dobara”.
Learnings: In India the forts in Maharashtra, the Ajanta Ellora carvings are in shambles with poor maintenance, statistical data, huge funds are spent on Tajmahal every year for restoration, palaces & temples – exist on maps.
4. Strong Positioning & Marketing
Good things / deeds are demonstrated thru high visibility
eg. Benefits of spain joining European union to both Spain & Europe are highlighted in the exhibition @ Royal Palace very vividly and in detail (increase in GDP of Europe due to increase in foreign tourist arrivals to spain, support from EU resulting in financial support to Spain for retaining their heritage)
Simple sweet like Turron (this is a mixture of honey & crushed almonds combined with different other ingredients like peanut butter, other nuts, dry fruits etc). Good part is that this sweet has a history of 500 years when it was first prepared in Spanish village of Jijona for celebrating Christmas. The way it has been marketed and positioned across generations till now makes one feel that it is exotic when you enquire about it for the first time. (just google Turron & you will be amazed about the wealth and diversity of informatives about it)
Learnings: We in India have so much of food, drink varieties but alas are not positioning them effectively / maximizing the benefits out of it.
5. Cleanliness & Discipline – A Spanish DNA
At traffic signals even when there are no people crossing the roads all cars stop @ signals Streets are mostly clean (though some instances of thrown up stuff like cans, food wrappers is observed). Dust bins are put across every nook & corner of roads & people put the stuff in them.
Learnings: With reference to the Indian context - the lesser said on this the better.
6. Innovation – A Forte
Spanish people are great @ packaging & combining food, drinks to make new products for sale eg.Spanish sweet Turron has umpteen combinations of nuts, dry fruits which are packaged and marketed as different products. Wines eg. The famous Sangria wine is a combination of Red wine & fruit juices mixed together, Red spritzer is a mix of Wine with other alcoholic drinks
Learnings: For most Indians – the word ‘’ Innovation” is restricted to the dictionary (though off late - the young generation is showing the way & there is hope)
7. Football - A Passion
We watched league match - FC Barcelona vs Mallaga @ Nou stadium, Barcelona. The atmosphere was electric with a full house of 1 lakhs and people cheering every moment . Watching the great Messi from 10 feet was like a dream come true for all of us. Barcelona won 1-0 thru a second half goal.
But the beauty was that post match when we left the stadium we saw a lot of buses (Volvo kind) – almost 50 plus full with people. On checking we came to know that these were used for transporting the spectators that had come to see the match @ fares charged were very reasonable. Can we imagine in India if any-one would subsidize the travel fares for the spectators for watching any cricket match
In fact even the metro train thru which we travelled to be at the match was jam packed (similar to the Andheri-Churchgate local during office times)
Learnings: Indians are passionate about sport (cricket is a religion) but when it comes to facilities, serving people – it is still a grey area for us.
8. English Language - Strongest Enemy
Most of the Spanish people don’t understand or speak English. (though @ airports, some places you will be pleasantly surprised). This is a huge challenge especially if you are traveling on your own without any guided tour, tour guide like us. So it is better to do some homework on the frequently used words and phrases before you visit any foreign country. Luckily we had an expert with us - my niece (cousin sister’s daughter) – courtesy her having learnt it as a Level 4 Curriculum. I even asked her to enrol for a post-graduation course in Spain for her higher education.
9. Take Care of your belongings
Due to high unemployment levels in the country (22%) there are high incidences of your wallet or belongings being stolen or grabbed away. There is nothing to be scared off, but especially when you are visiting crowded places eg. Museums, palaces, football stadiums, travelling by trains etc. it is advisable to keep a close watch on your wallets / belongings.
I am sure we as Individuals and as a country (India) can learn a lot from these insights.
Moreover even if we can partially imbibe some of these positives in the days to come, I would say Gracias. (Gracias means Thank You in Spanish)
Enjoy
Ravindra
