POCATELLO ROLLS OUT THE RED CARPET FOR THE INDIAN TEAM!
Tales from Indian GSE member Srijat Mishra continue with his update of adventures in Pocatello.
Srijat talks with Todd Fischer of the Boise Downtown Club upon his arrival
in Boise. Catherine Greenspan of Boise Sunrise listens attentively.
The deep roots and the branches far & wide that Rotary has dug in Pocatello stood out during our stay. Equally enjoyable and conspicuous were the industry visits. In the 3 and half working days we had – we had 4 club presentations, 2 industry visits [I had an informal third one] in addition to vocational meetings and the tours of the important destinations of the city.
Each of the 4 different clubs we visited had its distinct flavour. The Centennial club is the first that we visited. Being the breakfast club on Mondays, it I guess helps members break-away from the weekend mode and move to work mode one hour earlier than the entire city. Probably a nice way to get a head start from the rest of the world. All the clubs gave us the characteristic Rotary warm welcome. Gate City – the Tuesday Lunch club – was next in our agenda. Pocatello is known as Gate City, hence the name. This club has undoubtedly the most distinctive flavour of all the clubs we have met in the last 3 weeks. They seem to want to do things a wee bit differently from the rest – or so I felt from the way they introduced their guests and the way they had their ‘Brags’ announced. This club can be a synonym for the fun & bantering. We did have an opportunity to interact with some long time Rotarians who have been pillars of RID 5400. The 3rd club we visited was the Portneuf club, named after the Portneuf river which flows through Pocatello. This is the youngest club and also has the youngest average age of members. True to the young spirit the meet in the evenings post work [on Tuesdays] in the brewery to wash off their tiredness with a refreshing glass of beer. The last – and the most awaited – was the largest and oldest club, the Pocatello club. The atmosphere and the size of the gathering emanated purposefulness. We thank the Presidents of all the four clubs - James, Jerry, Heath and Howard – and their teams to have organized the vibrant interactions at the clubs.
I was hosted by the Fransworth’s – Frank and Sue, an amazing couple, married for amongst 40 years. They have two children. My introduction to Pocatello was through a walk down to Portneuf river from Juniper Drive. The house was on the way atop the mountains – amidst receding snow, juniper trees, sprouting seasonal greenery and mountain deer. I was absolutely comfortable there. Frank even loaned me his laptop and mobile internet connection every evening and early morning so that I could connect to India. To add to it, the Fransworth’s signature dessert – i.e. the delicious home cooked Apple pie. We had Apple pie and ice cream every evening. Frank has built his business - Parle Gems, a jewellery designing, manufacturing and selling [to retailers] from scratch. He has a globally networked organization. I had an opportunity to go to the Parle Gems and be a part of the inspiring work vibration for a few hours.
Two other high points of Pocatello were the visits to Simplots’ fertilizer plant, where Dan Smith part of management team of the company and a member of Gate City Rotary Club gave us overview of the plant and showed us around the plant. While the Simplot factory exposed us to a powerful and successful old economy conglomerate; the visit to ON Semiconductors gave the feel of the high tech precision automation of the electronic industry. The degree of automation, the extent of care taken to maintain the temperature, air quality and other factors was mind boggling – and mind you, the plant at Pocatello is not the largest of ON’s different facilities. Glenn Harvey, another illustrious Rotarian of Pocatello took us around the plant. The Simplots’ and ON are an icon of American entrepreneurship and economic success, it was as honour to have spent an hour each at the plants. The impeccable courtesy and hospitality of Dan and Glenn were a treat to watch and learn from.
Like in all other places we got a tour of Pocatello – the zoo [where we saw the Indian bird Peacock], the museum, the different Rotary projects, the Indian reservation. Idaho State University round-up was a reinforcement of the power of American education and as one the pillars of American global power of the 20th century. The type of facilities and freedom that faculties and students in every university; cannot but create outstanding academic, economic and community success.
As in other places there were lot of people who got involved to make this visit successful Henry [the co-ordinator], Sam [who was in effect the ‘chaperon’ behind wheels during the 4 days, in fact he and his wife took the time out to escort us from Twin Falls and hand-over to the Idaho Falls], Norman & his wife [who also escorted us from Twin falls and who worked behind the scenes], George [who drove us all over Pocatello and beyond on Tuesday]. My vocational visit was very interesting thanks to the personal involvement of Gynii of Bannock Development Corporation, who went out of the way to set-up the meetings; it was nice of Joe to take Pradip and me to different departments at ISU. Thanks for James, Sam, Ron and others [am sure there were many others] who used their networks to set the appointments for vocational visits for the team. Would love to thank Linda of the Pocatello club, the leader of the GSE 5400 team that visited India. She was her peppy best and was darling of the team during the trip. It was fun to visit her home and see how she has been using her post retirement days to adorn her home with a variety of photo art. Special mention for Rich for showcasing the vintage cars and the associated photo ops! His dad Dale’s experiences and anecdotes of world war II were the icing of the cake of the Wednesday evening gathering.
Thanks Rotary Fraternity Pocatello for the lively and enriching experience.
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