From the beginning to the end
What a final of our Indian tour. Our car visited his family members at Mercedes.
About one hundred people welcomed us when iglidur® arrived at the Indian headquarter of Mercedes (R&D department).
Most employees were astonished when they got to know that their more or less “own” car, improved with igus® bearings, is going to drive around the world.
The managing director itself, Mr. Koellermeyer, took this occasion to pass on his good wishes for the project.
We visited Mercedes on our way back from Chennai. Chennai is an automobile hub at the east coast. It was the last stop on our tour. Imagine yourself sitting in a sauna where a few million people are working and you a have the entire year 100% humidity. This is more or less the climate of Chennai. We took off from Bangalore at five in the morning to be able to drive about five hours, to visit some customers and to find some nice places for pictures. This time I would like to go straight onto talking about my surroundings rather than the drive itself.
Up on a hill, overlooking the entire city is a cathedral. About one to two hundred meters below the square from where you have a stunning view on the city and the nearby airport is the parking place, the highest point you can reach by car. If you want to get further you need a special permission.
We went to the church a few kilometers south where we were looking for a talk with the Reverent Father in charge.
Reverent Father Aeja is working closely with make a difference, the voluntary network which will receive hundred Rs per kilometer we have driven. Not interested in our bearings but fond of that we connect our trip with helping children, he gave us not only a special permission to drive up to the cathedral but even accompanied us.
The next day we woke up at five again. As we were at the east coast we wanted to take the occasion to have a sunrise picture with iglidur®.
Unfortunately, we couldn´t take the car as close as we wanted to the water so that we continued searching for a better spot. A few kilometers west of Chennai is a small fisher village which at this time, was already full of life.
Nevertheless, we took the chance to demonstrate that our bearings can endure not only unbearable heat and humidity…
…but also sand and sea water.
It was still very early when we left for our second trip the day. We tried to find more tropical areas. A colleague has told about a hill with stunning views. Initially, we thought about going there shortly and then to continue to Bangalore but due to traffic we got delayed. Thus, we decided to stay over night. The hotel wasn´t the best but the view the next morning was worth it.
I can barely believe that our India trip is at its end. The last five weeks went by incredible fast. The time has to come to say goodbye for me. I want to use this occasion to say thank you to all my Indian colleagues and friends. With your great hospitality and your support you made my stay here an experience I will never forget.
On the plane on the way to Germany I was sitting next to a guy who had been travelling to India already four times. When I asked him about India he just said one sentence: Once you come to India, you always come back!
I agree on this. For sure, I will come back to see you guys again and to explore more of this country, of incredible India!
The next time when I will write to you guys I’m in China. I will take a few days off from the blog-writing business. See you guys in Shanghai!
yours Sascha.
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