Arriving Thursday at Cochin airport (Kerala), we were met by the driver arranged by the Nadukkara Agro Processing (Juice) company, a fair trade certified juice processing plant we’re meeting with.
We were taken to the hotel where a royal treatment awaited.
The manager personally welcomed us and another 6 people are constantly buzzing around us. I’m guessing we’re pretty much the only guests around for the moment.
We were officially handed the Royal Guest Book that already mentioned 2 other customers. I guess they had just started a new one cause they’ve been open since 2001…
Mr. Manager is almighty in this hotel and is omnipresent. Gets called in for everything. A very helpful person.
When I asked some more explanation about the food: Manager! Approach please.
When Clai asked for a second coke: panic aboard. We saw some major whispering and hissing action over at Mr. Manager’s desk after which the waiter who had drawn the shortest straw, had the unfortunate task of bringing us the bad news: there was only one Coke in the hotel.
Dare I inquire about a possible internet connection? The World Wide Web so to speak? The information super highway? I could see them think: the internet… yes… we got it caught in a cage last week but it managed to get away. Uh oh – major panic. Two guys had to go check with Mr. Manager. He appeared promptly, telling us there’s no internet today. Maybe tomorrow (don’t see any connection though). But problems call for solutions, so he kindly volunteered a member of his staff to help find a connection in town. The volunteer looked puzzled…
Anyway, off to our business of the day: Nadukkara plant visit. Highly recommended. They have a very refined infrastructure set up, funded partially by the Government of Kerala and the European Union (Italian machines). (My mind sort of wondered off during the factory visit: How come our host didn’t have to cover his moustache with a hygienic cap? A whole lot of hair going on there…)
The company is owned for 70% by the farmers collectives (pineapple), 30% by the government. We met with the General Manager and the Quality/Procurement Manager and tried to find potential opportunities for us to work together. We might go into an R&D process and gave them some ideas about new markets which we could tell they liked… It’s amazing to see how coming in as a volunteer, not wanting to sell or bargain and without having a personal business interest opens up so many doors. Productive meeting. First connections made between Team Ladakh and Team Kerala. North and South unite.
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