1985- Pak Pin went to Dallas, Texas

did

I rented an Oldsmobile! My first experience
of driving an American car, on American road
which was obviously on the 'wrong' side!

I was a young engineer with Texas Instruments when I was chosen to work on a project at the HQ, in Dallas Texas for three months.

It was my first business trip ever! The Americans had problems pronouncing my name as A-R-I-F-F-I-N, and most of them would say, A-R-A-F-A-N, so I told them what my friends called me, simply Pak Payne! A name which started in STAR during school days has traveled to Texas, and more places since then. I knew that the name Pak Pin has gone global, as far as a name is concerned, when a delegate of Ministers came to Jeddah and two chielf Ministers were looking for me by asking the other attendees for 'Pak Pin'!

That was a start of a career filled with traveling. All in all I have been to more than thirty countries on business travel alone.

I have lived a full life - a life I can say with contentment, I have been there, and done some of that too! Not bad at all for a Kampung boy!

I revisited the HQ twice after the first one, both of the later visit were when I was the H R director of the company, in mid nineties!

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