Now you’re on plane and you’ve had dinner; your eyes close as you drift into sleep, to dream of maharajas, elephants and computer geeks…

After sailing skies for an interminably long time, you finally arrive in Indian subcontinent. Hot, humid air surrounds you as you disembark from aircraft; flocks of parrots and other exotic birds streak by overhead.

Immigration takes anything between 10 and 90 minutes depending on inflow of passengers... it pays to move fast and get a good position in line.

Customs is usually a breeze, since officers are only after big offenders (and hopefully you’re not one of them!). They usually wave foreign citizens right by since they know these visitors are potential customers.

Incidentally, from moment you entered terminal, surveillance has been on, but since it's hidden, you've no idea it's in place.

If you now walk straight out of terminal, voracious taxi drivers will descend upon you en masse, much like vultures on an African kill, after which they will proceed to confuse and destroy your thinking process in their attempt to sell you a ride.

So don't venture outside unprotected. Buy a controlled-rate coupon inside terminal at 'prepaid taxi' counter for a taxi ride to your hotel. The salesperson will also assign a taxi and driver to you.

The prepaid taxi coupon is your body armor against those unregulated taxi-drivers... they will not come near you when they see that slip of paper in your hands. You can walk to your taxi without fear of attack.

Once you're at your hotel, you're in safe hands, because indeed, Indian business hotels are havens for travellers. Their managements are seriously concerned about guests' well-being and comfort; their environs are restful and healing.

Knock back your welcome drink and decompress. Once that’s done, gently channel your thoughts towards acquiring a vital necessity: a mobile phone with GSM connectivity.

If you are a seasoned traveller, you will have a 'tri-band' mobile, in which case all you have to do is buy a SIM card and a prepaid connection, which will cost you about US$35 (as of 2005) including nearly 250 minutes of talk time.

If you don't have a tri-band, buy an inexpensive GSM mobile for about $45 in addition to a SIM card. SIM cards and phones are available at any of myriad phone shops in any Indian metropolis; your concierge will tell you where nearest one is.

Take this advice on mobiles very seriously... one cannot stress how important it is... I’ll be you $10 you’ll thank me for it later!

"So, you've just been to Bangalore, have you?"

"Is it everything it's cracked up to be?"

"Is there still room there for new customers?

"Did you find a good deal? Did you close?"

"Are they shrewd business people?"

"How do you know that your new-found service provider is reliable?

The fact is that as far as outsourcing goes, India is (at present) akin to paradise. Those who have gone before talk about golden fruit hanging from trees, about how they plucked that fruit and about how that fruit imbued their balance sheets with enhanced flavour.

If you haven’t already outsourced your non-critical operations to India, you had better move your tail and do it fast, else your competition, who likely has a back-office operation in Bangalore, is going to eat you alive.

If you are a mid-size company you will also have to make an ‘outsourcer’s trip’ to India, and here in Part I of this article we describe preparations you have to make in run-up to trip.

Part II tells you what to do once you go out there.

There are a handful of simple prep guidelines, which, if kept in mind, will optimize benefits accruing from your journey.

We will assume that you already have compiled a comprehensive RFP for your service requirement. This should include precise, quantified definitions of what you expect in terms of:

* Volumes * Delivery periods * Scaling capabilities * Reporting norms * Performance metrics * RFI response times * Service uptime * Track record * Disaster recovery strategy * Problem management * Change implementation * Data and physical security * anything else vital to operations you plan to outsource.

You should also have budgeted 10% of project cost towards project management expenditure. This is to pay for skilled executives you will necessarily have to deploy at your end for managing outsourcing project.