Just returned this morning. Jeddah was hot but not so humid as Dubai can get this time of the year as the heat desperately tries to cling on to every droplet of vapour for respite. Feel strangely disoriented. In any case, when you travel on work, it tends to be another plane, another airport lounge, another limo to the hotel and another hotel room. It is funny that wherever you travel on work these days, even the breakfast is the same! A surreal dimension to the global economy which is so engrossed with emulating standards that its efforts leave no room for the simple, unexpected, surprising touches. Once you are profiled, even your mattress is the same wherever you go! One reason I love traveling in India is that most hotels have a unique character, the food is just delightful and the smiles extraordinarily pleasant.

I am sure traveling expands horizons etc, it also instills in one an ability to work with an expanded time horizon. I sometimes wonder whether in this big game of corporate jet-setting there is another, bigger reason..one that is more real, pertinent and tangible. Sometimes I think this game is engineered only to allow for a change of scene. If that is even remotely the reason then I have to say, going by what cloning of service has achieved, reality couldn't be further from the objective.

I mean, every European city wants you to feel at home. Why would you want to feel at home, when you are actually away - knowingly, voluntarily and for a reason? And what after all is being at home? I never get a welcome drink (sparkling water with a twist of lime, two cubes of ice) at home. Neither am I asked how I would like my potatoes this morning. Or does every traveler have a fantasy of being serviced in a manner that stinks of 5 star patronage-at home? I counted almost 20 'How are you sirs' between taking the headphones off to throwing myself on the massive King Bed at the Meridien. I definitely did not feel at home.

Talking of change of scene, while the tensome are busy tapping on the key board, I shift my gaze away from the rapidly forming letters on this TFT screen...the sun is shining bright on the lake beneath my office window. A boat seems to have been moored right in the middle with no-one in sight. The large fountain is quiet and will get excited only when the moon makes its presence felt and nudges it to explode in the anonymity of night. As of now it seems to be resting on the shoulders of these placid waters. My attention is suddenly drawn by the phone on my desk, closer home, making its presence felt in a gentle yet compelling manner commanding me to release it from its cradle and pay heed to its shrill siren. ACNielsen's majestic blue stares at me form all angles...Welcome home - o weary traveler!

Another day unfolds....