School Visit

As part of our trip to Reliance (Patalganga Plant) we had the opportunity to visit a school that is subsidized by Reliance. The group that greeted us were the top performers in their class. They are pictured above with some of the Babson students. This would be considered one of the best primary schools in India and the children where very proud to have us visit there school. It's kind of funny to think how much the world they are growing up in is so much different than their parents and how much it will change by the time the children grow up.

Face of India's Youth

This girl captured my eye while wandering on the Chowpatty beach. It was really interesting to see the differences in beauty and vanity between the US and India. The color palette is much broader in India and you would not typically see a young girl in the US wearing such bold primary colors. I thought it was particularly interesting how much jewelery she had on. It looks like her ears are pierced several times each and jewelery is hanging all over her face. It does look beautiful on her....would I think the same if a girl in the US had the same jewelry on her?

Kite Flying

During the latter part of our day Dave and I spent several hours wandering Chowpatty beach during a festival of kites. There were thousands of people at the beach flying small kites trying to cut each others kites with the string of theirs. We learned that this was part of a traditional celebration for the coming of summer when the winds pick up. We really enjoyed the family atmosphere and smiling faces everywhere.

It was hard to take picture though. As soon as you lifted your camera people would come from everywhere to get their picture taken and would not relent until one was snapped. Despite the constant tugging on our arms and hoots from kids wanting pictures it was a great way to see how families enjoy themselves together.

Cricket

On Sunday morning we started wandering around Mumbai and ran across a huge field with multiple cricket games going on. The fog still hadn't completely burned off and made for a great scene. It reminded me of the ball field down the street where I grew up except we would play baseball instead of cricket. Looking through the gate onto the field game me the sense that although the US and India seem worlds apart when you get down the the basics of what makes us happy we are not very different at all.

Rajasthani Festival

After visiting Famous studios we lucky enough to be invited to a festival. I really enjoyed this. It gave us a chance to mingle with family's enjoying a night out in the city. The food was amazing. I really enjoyed being able to try many different food for very little money. A couple of us did eat some food that was prepared with uncooked water...which was a little risky, but you only live once right?

It's Dirty

This is pretty typical of India's city areas. It's a bit hard to get used to at first because there seems to be trash everywhere. It's so different than most of the western world where littering is socially unacceptable. It will be interesting to see how this changes over the next 10-20 years.

Hole in the Wall

Hole in the wall is a non-profit organization that provides computer access and learning tools to underprivileged children. When we got to the computers there were at least 25 kids huddled around the computers taking turns playing learning games. All of the kids were so excited to have us there and were eager to pose for pictures with...or without us! It was really great to see this kind of work going on in such a depressed area. I wish we could have done more than just watch. You could see how much social value the Hole in the Wall organization was creating for the community.

Autorickshaw Ride

Your trip to India is not complete without a ride in an autorickshaw. We squeezed four of us into one of this one (Amar taking photo). I wouldn't recommend four people for rides longer than 30 minutes unless you like having another guy sitting on your lap and having you leg go numb. Just another of many unforgettable experiences...

House of Pearl

On the Evening of the 10th we were invited to the home of Mr. Deepak Seth's the Chairman of House of Pearl Fashions. It was an amazing night that started with music and entertainment and ended with a fabulous buffet dinner outside around a bonfire. Mingling with some of the employees and students of the fashion school in an informal setting was a great way to get a different perspective on doing business in India. Sometimes the powerpoint presentations all start to blur together, just a generic representation of the company. I have always found that after hours and a few drinks is when you can learn the most about the informal norms of doing business in whatever country your in.

The Taj Mahal

One of the most powerful sights in India was the Taj Mahal. The bus ride was nearly fours long, but well worth the it. The monument leaves you torn between the sheer beauty of the structure and the fact that so much money and effort was taken to build the Taj Mahal when the people seem to have so little.

Me!

This is one of the few pictures of me I have with me in it. I figured I should post at least one...to prove that I was in fact in India!

Monkeys!!!

For an American, monkey's are animals you read about in children books and see at zoos. In India you get to see them on roof tops and rummaging through trash. Who doesn't like a cute monkey!

People, bikes, motorcycles, oh my!

Here's a typical street scene outside of Delhi. This would be very light traffic.

Walking

One of my favorite things to do was to just people watch out the bus window. It's hard to imagine what the life is really like. It's easy to gaze from the bus....

Mr. Montek Singh Ahluwalia

Day two brought us up close and personal with Mr. Montek Singh Ahluwalia (Deputy Chairman). This was especially interesting because it gave us some insight into how the government thinks about India, it's people and future. This would help give some insight into the politics of India and how they might play out for business in India. It's also kind of comical to me that our meeting with Mr. Ahluwalia was with a much higher governmental position than I have ever met in the US. The major dichotomy here was how does the government do what is right in spite of the political pressures to do the opposite.
This was the first time it struck me that the servers (tea & cookies) were very obtrusive to the meeting. They even interrupted the Chairman when he was speaking to ask if he wanted a tea. It didn't appear they were doing so on purpose, it seemed to be culturally acceptable.

Qutab Minar

On day one, Dave, Stan and myself ventured out into Dehli to get a jump-start on the trip. Our first visit was the Qutab Minar. It cost us 250 rupees to enter as foreigners....for Indians....5 rupees. Was taken back by the difference in price at first, but realized it made these historical places accessible to almost all Indians. It was a great place to relax and wind down after the long flight. The picture above is a shot down a hall by the "iron rod." oddly enough we got our picture taken with several students that asked for our picture. We thought it a bit weird at first but the people where extremely nice and there seemed to be no other motive other than sincere interest in getting photographed with foreign visitors.