The Mysore city tour day was really fantastic. We were supposed to be ready with our luggage by 7:00 am for breakfast, then depart at 7:30. In a shocking turn of events, the restaurant on the Mysore campus did not open until 7:30, and our tour bus didn't arrive until after 8, so we ended up making a later start than expected.
Mysore has a lot of history, as it was the seat of the Maharajah. It's just a much nicer city than Bangalore. Bangalore is kind of like Atlanta; pure urban sprawl, while Mysore is more like Philadelphia or Boston, with some nice history tied into it. Our first stop was Chamundi Hill, home to a temple. The views on our way up were beautiful, and we got to see a lot of locals, including all black-clad pilgrims who walked 600 kilometers to the temple, and school children who were so excited to see us and pose for pictures. There were also a wide array of cows, some more photogenic than others. It was just nice to have a real feel of local culture. Even though we didn't get inside the temple (the line was longer than the line for Space Mountain mid-July), it felt like the "real India" for one of the first times on the trip.
After Chamundi Hill we headed toward Mysore Palace, which was built between 1897 and 1912. This palace was gorgeous; incredible grounds and just beautifully detailed artwork, carved ceilings and iron columns inside. We were not allowed to bring cameras inside, unfortunately, but I got plenty of photos outside and was able to purchase a book about the castle for 20 rupees (less than 50 cents). We had to remove our shoes to tour the palace, which was just cool. My feet were dirty & gross... but hey, I wanted the "real India", right? After we left the palace, we were invited in the back to take an elephant ride for 100 rupees. Many in our group chose not to, and I know that it's very un-PC to do it but I also felt that when else would I get an opportunity to ride an elephant in India? Plus, in a Hindi country the elephants are better taken care of than at a US circus, right? So I did it. I did feel bad for the elephant, but we were assured that we were not too heavy a load for her. She pooped while we were on her back, too. Unfortunately, we had to leave our cameras on the bus for the palace tour, so didn't have them with us for the elephant ride, but I was able to get a few pictures using the camera on my BlackBerry. Others in our group also rode a camel, but I opted against that.
After Mysore Palace we headed to a very bizarre restaurant. This restaurant was in a hotel, and called "The Road: A Unique Pub." Well, unique doesn't begin to describe it. We walked through 2 doors shaped like barrels, and then walked on a floor that was lit up Vegas-style. The place was very dark and sleek, with a few random antique cars that doubled as tables. Our table (not an antique car) had a glass top and was filled with pink feathers; thing is, the feathers looked kind of mangy. It was just weird. And the food in the buffet was not too good. I selected something called "Shanghai Chicken," but when I took a bite, it was certainly not a part of a chicken I had ever eaten before. I almost choked on it and decided from that point on to stick to white rice and these tortilla-style things that tasted like Munchos potato chips. I did have dessert- the vanilla ice cream tasted just like frozen cool whip, and they have these nifty little things that are basically doughnuts soaked so completely in a sugary glaze that they are soft all the way through. But overall, this place was just wacky.
After that stop we headed to another palace; this one was built in the late 1700s as Tippu Sultan's "summer palace" - most of the artwork depicted battles between the people of Mysore and the British. It really made me realize how America-centric my history education has been. The "bad guy" in these paintings was Cornwallis; that would be the same Cornwallis who surrendered to George Washington at Yorktown. Who knew that he went on to become Governor-General of India and led the British to victory in in the 4th Anglo-Mysore War? He killed Tippu Sultan, whose palace we walked through. I really had no idea that these wars were going on with India around the same time as the American Revolution, and that some of the same characters were involved.
The nice thing about Tippu Sultan's palace was that the grounds were beautiful; there were families picnicking and kids playing games. It was the first time we had really seen kids "be kids" in India; they weren't selling trinkets, asking for money or on a school field trip. It was a great stop on our tour.
So after a day of tourist activities we were off to the airport. It was a long commute, which also included stopping on a city street to transfer luggage, since only 12 of us were going to the airport as others' flights were later on Sunday or even later in the week. We had a bit of a wait at the airport, but eventually got to check in. While going through immigration, they barely glanced at the Visa paperwork that was the cause of our terrible Monday waiting at the police station; they didn't even take the copy from one in our group. Such a waste of time.
We got to the airport at 9:45, but couldn't check in for our flight until 11:30. The flight wasn't scheduled to leave unitl 3:30 am, and was delayed until 4:10. Fortunately, there was a lovely sports bar to occupy our time (much more fun now that we all knew each other!) and we all made it onto our respective flights. Our flight from Bangalore to Frankfurt was fine, but when we landed in Frankfurt there was snow on the ground, which caused us to deplane somewhere outside the gates and take a bus into the terminal. Unfortunately, there was only one bus for the whole plane, so I didn't make it until the 3rd trip (one in our group didn't make it until the 4th!). So basically, it took over an hour to deplane, and then we had a 10 minute bus ride and then had to go through security in Frankfurt... let's just say there was some stress over whether we'd make our connections. Once we got to our gate, we found out our flight to Boston was delayed an hour. At least we all made it. Upon arrival in Boston, my luggage came through about 20 minutes after everyone else that I knew, but at least my luggage returned safely.
So I'm finally back home safe & sound. It was definitely a memorable experience and one I'm glad I did. I don't know whether I'll go back to India (I certainly will carry on luggage) but I feel like I learned about a really incredible company, Infosys, learned about the bureaucracy of India firsthand, and eventually got to be in and among the people. While annoyed by street vendors, I never felt unsafe. The Indian people were all very nice (sometimes to a fault) and very hospitable. TONS of people took pictures of us; they were as interested in us as Americans as we were in them, which was kind of a funny phenomenon. The cost of living is incredibly low, and people are poor, but they seem happy. The people at Infosys especially talk about how India is on the cusp of greatness; while there are an abundance of intelligent minds and good companies, there is still a long way to go in terms of infrastructure, education and social justice.
I'm so glad I went, drama and all.... but am so glad to be home, too.
Monday, January 11, 2010
Saturday, January 9, 2010
Quick blog due to limited internet...
So this will be another belated blog, because our lodging in Mysore only provides internet access in one of our two assigned buildings. Unfortunately (but not surprisingly) I am in the building without internet access. Ironically, there are many people who didn’t bring computers, and many of them are in the building with internet access. So I was able to get online by bringing my computer to a classmate’s room and letting people get online using her port but my computer. It’s just annoying, and also disappointing because I haven’t been able to Skype with Shaun or my parents for a few days, since our access in Bangalore was spotty at best and here it’s been non-existent. Why couldn’t they have planned it so everyone with computers got the building with internet access?
Anyway- here we are in Mysore. I was particularly excited for this leg of the journey because this is the world’s largest corporate training facility, and I loved my time in Training & Development at Disney and have a lot of passion for that process. It’s great to be in an environment where training is valued and appreciated. One of our speakers today even told us that in last year’s tough economic times, their training budget got increased – they are just that passionate about it. We learned about their development program and leadership development process; particularly interesting to me as it reinforced what I already believe about Leadership, Leadership training and how it fits into a person’s skill set. Our presenters were very interactive today as well, which made it interesting. Overall, the presenters from Infosys have been excellent, very open to questions and making us feel that our contributions have been valid. This company is so well run and so focused on ethics- it’s admirable to see.
We got a tour of the Mysore campus today as well, which includes a pool, bowling alley and squash courts. Imagine an extremely well-appointed college campus, as all of the new Infosys trainees are fresh out of engineering undergrad.
After our campus tour we got on our bus for a shopping trip in Mysore. This was quite an adventure. We were excited to have a chance to purchase some souvenirs and walk around a bit on our own. It was very crowded, with lots of vendors selling all kinds of wares. The street salesmen were particularly aggressive; they literally walked right next to us for blocks, trying to sell beads, flutes, etc. by shoving them in our faces. Highly annoying. We had less than an hour to shop and navigate the marketplace atmosphere, but it was definitely worth it.
So tomorrow’s plan is to be up early and load up all of our luggage on the bus. We’re doing a city tour in Mysore to experience some of the sights, and then in the afternoon will head back to Bangalore (on the long, winding & rickety road) directly to the airport. Tomorrow is officially our last day in India, and I can’t believe it’s over.
I have to pack up tonight; I bought an extra suitcase since I was so close to the limit at Logan. I’ve had to purchase clothes plus some souvenirs so I’m coming home with more than I left with, and I’d rather have 2 bags than be so far over the limit.
It’s been an incredible learning experience on a lot of levels, and I really can’t wait to get back home to good old Boston.
Anyway- here we are in Mysore. I was particularly excited for this leg of the journey because this is the world’s largest corporate training facility, and I loved my time in Training & Development at Disney and have a lot of passion for that process. It’s great to be in an environment where training is valued and appreciated. One of our speakers today even told us that in last year’s tough economic times, their training budget got increased – they are just that passionate about it. We learned about their development program and leadership development process; particularly interesting to me as it reinforced what I already believe about Leadership, Leadership training and how it fits into a person’s skill set. Our presenters were very interactive today as well, which made it interesting. Overall, the presenters from Infosys have been excellent, very open to questions and making us feel that our contributions have been valid. This company is so well run and so focused on ethics- it’s admirable to see.
We got a tour of the Mysore campus today as well, which includes a pool, bowling alley and squash courts. Imagine an extremely well-appointed college campus, as all of the new Infosys trainees are fresh out of engineering undergrad.
After our campus tour we got on our bus for a shopping trip in Mysore. This was quite an adventure. We were excited to have a chance to purchase some souvenirs and walk around a bit on our own. It was very crowded, with lots of vendors selling all kinds of wares. The street salesmen were particularly aggressive; they literally walked right next to us for blocks, trying to sell beads, flutes, etc. by shoving them in our faces. Highly annoying. We had less than an hour to shop and navigate the marketplace atmosphere, but it was definitely worth it.
So tomorrow’s plan is to be up early and load up all of our luggage on the bus. We’re doing a city tour in Mysore to experience some of the sights, and then in the afternoon will head back to Bangalore (on the long, winding & rickety road) directly to the airport. Tomorrow is officially our last day in India, and I can’t believe it’s over.
I have to pack up tonight; I bought an extra suitcase since I was so close to the limit at Logan. I’ve had to purchase clothes plus some souvenirs so I’m coming home with more than I left with, and I’d rather have 2 bags than be so far over the limit.
It’s been an incredible learning experience on a lot of levels, and I really can’t wait to get back home to good old Boston.
Friday, January 8, 2010
Mysore....
So the reason this blog is not being posted in a timely fashion is because the internet access is Mysore is not working… which brings me to an interesting discovery. It seems that culturally, the Indian people are so eager to please that they will tell you what you want to hear, even if it is not true. I noticed this with my bag (“it’s on its way”), the visa registration process (“it will just take a few minutes”), and particularly with the internet issue here in Mysore. Upon arrival & setting up my room, I connected my computer to the LAN and immediately noticed that the connection was listed as “Local Only” – meaning I could only access the Infosys systems, were I an actual Infosys employee. This happened a few times in Bangalore, and Internet access returned after a few minutes. I went about unpacking and came back, still said “local only.” Used the LAN port on the other side of the room, “local only.” So I called the front desk: “Hi, I just checked into Building 22, room 004* and my internet access isn’t working.” I was told “it needs to be turned on, I will transfer you to Housekeeping.” Seemed an interesting department to be transferred to, but I allowed him to transfer me. Housekeeping then transferred me to IT support services, which rang and rang for at least 5 minutes before I gave up. I called the front desk again: “Hi, me again, Housekeeping connected me to IT support, and there was no one at that number. I’m trying to get internet access turned on in my room.” “OK, let me connect you to Global support in Bangalore.” Mildly impressed that my internet access could be turned on from a remote location, I patiently waited as the phone rang for another 5 minutes or so. This being around 10:30 pm, I figured that perhaps we were beyond IT support’s working hours. I called the Operator, which connected me again to the front desk. Perhaps 3rd time is a charm? I explained that I was still waiting to have internet access turned on, and had been transferred twice to IT support but no one seemed to be working. He said, “OK, then you need to call housekeeping, they should be able to help.” I called housekeeping again, explained the whole saga, and he told me to call the front desk. At this point in time (11 pm), I put on my flip flops and walked over to reception. Once I walked in, I explained the whole story, and he tells me, “Yes, internet access is not working on the Mysore campus right now. It should be working by the morning.”
Was that too difficult to tell my upon my first phone call? I would have understood, but it seems no one wants to deliver bad news. This was addressed in our earlier Thursday class session in Bangalore, where we discussed communication across cultures (my favorite session so far, by the way). The speaker, Aruna Newton, talked about how generally, if you express an opinion and then ask an Indian, “do you agree with me?” the Indian will say “yes” because they haven’t had time to formulate their opinion but don’t want to offend you since it was your idea whose approval is being sought. So you may leave the meeting thinking that you have a deal, and then the next day, when the Indian person has had time to reflect on the idea and its consequences, the agreement may no longer exist. It’s simply not a “snap decision” culture- but a culture that aims to please. So you are often left with a feeling of frustration since the answer keeps changing. We were told that the visa registration forms would be ready in time for a 2:45 departure to Mysore… but by this time I had learned “I’ll believe it when I see it.” They ended up being ready around 3:15 or 3:30, incidentally.
Yesterday’s sessions were my favorite so far, because they were about HR practices for the BPO unit of Infosys, the previously mentioned cultural communication, and two sessions about the Indian education system and Infosys’ collaboration with top academic institutions to ensure that graduating engineers are prepared for real-world work in the IT sector. It’s amazing how much influence a company that is less than 30 years old has.
We departed to Mysore a little late. This ride was the one that was about 150 kilometers but would take 4 hours. Some was highway, but especially at the beginning of our journey, some of these roads were the bumpiest I’ve ever been on. That statement includes the roads of Kilimanjaro Safaris at Disney’s Animal Kingdom, which are engineered to be bumpy enough to make it a bit of a thrill ride. Imagine being in a bus! I’m glad I was close to the front. I took tons of pictures of the countryside out the window (while it was light enough) and the ride was generally good. We made one rest stop, where I decided to brave the toilet that was essentially a hole in the ground that could flush. This was actually more sanitary, as you just squat over the hole, but just a bit weird. We also visited a cool little gift shop there before we got back on the bus.
We arrived at the Mysore campus after dark, but it looks just beautiful. This is the world’s largest corporate training facility, equipped to house (and teach) up to 15,000 trainees at a time. The movie theatre looks like Spaceship Earth at Epcot. There is stone walkway over a giant koi pond that encircles the dining area, and our rooms are huge with patios or balconies. I can see why Mysore is at the end of the trip- while the Bangalore campus was state of the art, this is much more resort-like. Imagine what these people who grew up in the towns we passed on the bus today must feel like when they get hired by Infosys and moved into this location for their first 4 months. People keep saying that it does feel like Disney World. I’ll be sure to take lots of pictures while it’s light out today.
So yes, India is more fun when we are under the protective arm of Infosys. We finally received this afternoon our registration forms from the Police office that we spent Monday waiting for. It basically says that if I don’t leave the country by January 23 I am subject to 5 years in prison and a fine. While I feel better about the whole India experience than I did on Monday, I’m at no risk of extending my stay. It’s easy to forget where we are when we’re at Infosys- we almost have to remind ourselves that we are in India. We have a fun group, and are all getting along well. We’re looking forward to our Mysore city tour tomorrow, as Mysore is an older city than Bangalore with some palaces, etc. that will be fun to experience. My HR/training background has me particularly interested in what we’ll learn in Mysore as well. So these next 2 days could be the best part of India so far!
*as an aside, one of the interesting things here is that the first floor of a building is numbered “0.” So I’m in room 004. Some of my classmates had to walk up a flight of stairs and are in rooms 100-108. So in Bangalore, when our rooms were in the 400s, it was actually the 5th floor. And if floors are underground (i.e. Basement level) they are called -1, -2 etc. It’s just an interesting little phenomenon.
Another aside.... my room will not be receiving internet access, so I have to write this from a classmate's room!
Was that too difficult to tell my upon my first phone call? I would have understood, but it seems no one wants to deliver bad news. This was addressed in our earlier Thursday class session in Bangalore, where we discussed communication across cultures (my favorite session so far, by the way). The speaker, Aruna Newton, talked about how generally, if you express an opinion and then ask an Indian, “do you agree with me?” the Indian will say “yes” because they haven’t had time to formulate their opinion but don’t want to offend you since it was your idea whose approval is being sought. So you may leave the meeting thinking that you have a deal, and then the next day, when the Indian person has had time to reflect on the idea and its consequences, the agreement may no longer exist. It’s simply not a “snap decision” culture- but a culture that aims to please. So you are often left with a feeling of frustration since the answer keeps changing. We were told that the visa registration forms would be ready in time for a 2:45 departure to Mysore… but by this time I had learned “I’ll believe it when I see it.” They ended up being ready around 3:15 or 3:30, incidentally.
Yesterday’s sessions were my favorite so far, because they were about HR practices for the BPO unit of Infosys, the previously mentioned cultural communication, and two sessions about the Indian education system and Infosys’ collaboration with top academic institutions to ensure that graduating engineers are prepared for real-world work in the IT sector. It’s amazing how much influence a company that is less than 30 years old has.
We departed to Mysore a little late. This ride was the one that was about 150 kilometers but would take 4 hours. Some was highway, but especially at the beginning of our journey, some of these roads were the bumpiest I’ve ever been on. That statement includes the roads of Kilimanjaro Safaris at Disney’s Animal Kingdom, which are engineered to be bumpy enough to make it a bit of a thrill ride. Imagine being in a bus! I’m glad I was close to the front. I took tons of pictures of the countryside out the window (while it was light enough) and the ride was generally good. We made one rest stop, where I decided to brave the toilet that was essentially a hole in the ground that could flush. This was actually more sanitary, as you just squat over the hole, but just a bit weird. We also visited a cool little gift shop there before we got back on the bus.
We arrived at the Mysore campus after dark, but it looks just beautiful. This is the world’s largest corporate training facility, equipped to house (and teach) up to 15,000 trainees at a time. The movie theatre looks like Spaceship Earth at Epcot. There is stone walkway over a giant koi pond that encircles the dining area, and our rooms are huge with patios or balconies. I can see why Mysore is at the end of the trip- while the Bangalore campus was state of the art, this is much more resort-like. Imagine what these people who grew up in the towns we passed on the bus today must feel like when they get hired by Infosys and moved into this location for their first 4 months. People keep saying that it does feel like Disney World. I’ll be sure to take lots of pictures while it’s light out today.
So yes, India is more fun when we are under the protective arm of Infosys. We finally received this afternoon our registration forms from the Police office that we spent Monday waiting for. It basically says that if I don’t leave the country by January 23 I am subject to 5 years in prison and a fine. While I feel better about the whole India experience than I did on Monday, I’m at no risk of extending my stay. It’s easy to forget where we are when we’re at Infosys- we almost have to remind ourselves that we are in India. We have a fun group, and are all getting along well. We’re looking forward to our Mysore city tour tomorrow, as Mysore is an older city than Bangalore with some palaces, etc. that will be fun to experience. My HR/training background has me particularly interested in what we’ll learn in Mysore as well. So these next 2 days could be the best part of India so far!
*as an aside, one of the interesting things here is that the first floor of a building is numbered “0.” So I’m in room 004. Some of my classmates had to walk up a flight of stairs and are in rooms 100-108. So in Bangalore, when our rooms were in the 400s, it was actually the 5th floor. And if floors are underground (i.e. Basement level) they are called -1, -2 etc. It’s just an interesting little phenomenon.
Another aside.... my room will not be receiving internet access, so I have to write this from a classmate's room!
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Quality time at Infosys
To start off, last night we ventured off the Infosys campus to the Otero hotel- it reminded me of Miami. Very fancy and sleek. They have an Italian restaurant there, so yes, I did have gnocchi in red sauce in India and it was fabulous. I was also able to enjoy some Kingfisher. I figured since I'm in India, I should at least enjoy a local beer instead of ordering a Bud or a Corona. We had a fun night. Cricket was airing on TV, which was interesting to watch now that Tareq explained the game a bit. I still don't quite get it (it's a combination of baseball, football, lacrosse and quidditch) but at least I was able to watch with some knowledge base.
Today was more class at Infosys. The speakers have, for the most part, been very good and interesting. Yesterday we got a lot of big picture information, and today was more about specific areas like Project Management, University partnerships, Metrics, Knowledge Management and BPO (Business Process Outsourcing). I loved the Knowledge Management part in particular- I have a book to read about it because I feel like it's an area that I might want to explore in more detail.
We continue to have the same timing issues as previously- we are told to be back by 2:00 to begin a session; all of the students are ready to go, but our speakers and hosts are chatting with each other and we get started 20 minutes later. It wouldn't be as bad if it weren't so constant. We are told that we'll be done by 5:15 but then don't finish until 6:30 because the time is so poorly managed. This is also ironic since Infosys has such a fantastic reputation for on-time delivery of products and anticipation of risk.
The timing is but a small bone to pick, since overall I feel like we are getting good information and asking good questions.
I have been asked about the food- Infosys is providing breakfast, lunch & dinner. There is a combination of traditional Indian food (Tikka Masala and lots of spicy curry + vegetable options, Mutton at least once, Paneer, etc.) and American food which the chef prepared especially for us. I have tried to try at least a little bit of the Indian food each time, but the texture is not my favorite and a lot of it is super spicy. At least I'm trying. The only eating we've done outside the Infosys campus is at the Chinese restaurant in Bangalore (which had some things I've never had before, like Thai fried chicken, cold potato strings and fried baby corn) and the Italian restaurant at the Otero hotel last night.
Tomorrow's plan is to have class in the morning, and then head to Mysore in the afternoon. Unfortunately, we still don't have the cards from the visa registration so if we don't get those, it could delay the trip to Mysore. That will be a real bummer. The upcoming move to Mysore means that I will have to pack up my clothes tonight, which is a real shame since I just unpacked yesterday when my luggage arrived.
The Indian people are definitely a low-key group. I know that I'm particularly animated, but it's funny to see how loud and animated we, the Americans, are in contrast to the Indian people. We get stared at a lot, but unlike in the U.S. where, when someone catches you staring you quickly look away, the Indians keep on staring. That's an interesting phenomenon.
My life has certainly improved since the arrival of my luggage. I do feel a little like we're learning about Infosys, which is nothing like the "real" India, but haven't gotten to experience much of India itself. Maybe that will change in Mysore!
Today was more class at Infosys. The speakers have, for the most part, been very good and interesting. Yesterday we got a lot of big picture information, and today was more about specific areas like Project Management, University partnerships, Metrics, Knowledge Management and BPO (Business Process Outsourcing). I loved the Knowledge Management part in particular- I have a book to read about it because I feel like it's an area that I might want to explore in more detail.
We continue to have the same timing issues as previously- we are told to be back by 2:00 to begin a session; all of the students are ready to go, but our speakers and hosts are chatting with each other and we get started 20 minutes later. It wouldn't be as bad if it weren't so constant. We are told that we'll be done by 5:15 but then don't finish until 6:30 because the time is so poorly managed. This is also ironic since Infosys has such a fantastic reputation for on-time delivery of products and anticipation of risk.
The timing is but a small bone to pick, since overall I feel like we are getting good information and asking good questions.
I have been asked about the food- Infosys is providing breakfast, lunch & dinner. There is a combination of traditional Indian food (Tikka Masala and lots of spicy curry + vegetable options, Mutton at least once, Paneer, etc.) and American food which the chef prepared especially for us. I have tried to try at least a little bit of the Indian food each time, but the texture is not my favorite and a lot of it is super spicy. At least I'm trying. The only eating we've done outside the Infosys campus is at the Chinese restaurant in Bangalore (which had some things I've never had before, like Thai fried chicken, cold potato strings and fried baby corn) and the Italian restaurant at the Otero hotel last night.
Tomorrow's plan is to have class in the morning, and then head to Mysore in the afternoon. Unfortunately, we still don't have the cards from the visa registration so if we don't get those, it could delay the trip to Mysore. That will be a real bummer. The upcoming move to Mysore means that I will have to pack up my clothes tonight, which is a real shame since I just unpacked yesterday when my luggage arrived.
The Indian people are definitely a low-key group. I know that I'm particularly animated, but it's funny to see how loud and animated we, the Americans, are in contrast to the Indian people. We get stared at a lot, but unlike in the U.S. where, when someone catches you staring you quickly look away, the Indians keep on staring. That's an interesting phenomenon.
My life has certainly improved since the arrival of my luggage. I do feel a little like we're learning about Infosys, which is nothing like the "real" India, but haven't gotten to experience much of India itself. Maybe that will change in Mysore!
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Hallelujah!!
At 5:30 pm, as our class session was ending, I was told that my luggage had finally arrived at our Guest House!!!!
I am now finally, happily attired in my jeans, black shirt and black sandals, freshly showered with my shampoo & conditioner, and just generally happier about life. My fellow classmate's bag also arrived at the same time. We may be the two happiest people in India tonight.
Our class session today was really good- the speakers from Infosys were great, kept us interested and were really open to our many questions. I was nervous that a day of speakers would be boring, but the time really did fly. It really is an amazing corporate story, with a great corporate culture. We heard speakers today who discussed the history & structure of Infosys, their strategy, recruitment, hiring and training processes. We still have 3 more days of speakers, but it was definitely something that kept me interested and engaged. Everyone is in a much better mood today (not just those of us with fresh clothes to wear)- today we learned something. Of course, we spent the day in a board room, so not much of the "real" India - but it was pretty amazing.
Heading out tonight to try a restaurant at a local hotel - I promise to write more about food when we return!
I am now finally, happily attired in my jeans, black shirt and black sandals, freshly showered with my shampoo & conditioner, and just generally happier about life. My fellow classmate's bag also arrived at the same time. We may be the two happiest people in India tonight.
Our class session today was really good- the speakers from Infosys were great, kept us interested and were really open to our many questions. I was nervous that a day of speakers would be boring, but the time really did fly. It really is an amazing corporate story, with a great corporate culture. We heard speakers today who discussed the history & structure of Infosys, their strategy, recruitment, hiring and training processes. We still have 3 more days of speakers, but it was definitely something that kept me interested and engaged. Everyone is in a much better mood today (not just those of us with fresh clothes to wear)- today we learned something. Of course, we spent the day in a board room, so not much of the "real" India - but it was pretty amazing.
Heading out tonight to try a restaurant at a local hotel - I promise to write more about food when we return!
Monday, January 4, 2010
Monday - aka Terrible Horrible No Good Very Bad Day
I am not always the most punctual person. However, the Indian culture is more time-flexible than I can tolerate. We were told yesterday to be at breakfast by 7 so we could meet with the Infosys people at 7:30 with our visa paperwork for the visa registration that is required by Indian regulation. I got downstairs at 7, paperwork in hand- only 2 at breakfast, people slowly arrived, and we were told to meet in the lobby at 8 to walk over to the conference room. 8 came and went..... we finally got over across the way to the conference room by around 8:45 ish. Some people, betrayed by the general lolly-gagging, ran up to their rooms and missed the walk over, so I came back for them and we finally started talking about stuff related to the visas around 9:00 or so. We had our briefing, had information collected, which took about 45 minutes, and were told those of us who had to register for the visas (11 of the 24 total) would be dropped off at the police station for registration- the bus would leave at 10:30. In the meantime, we'd get a tour of the Infosys campus. The tour was great, and very interesting - this place really is state-of-the-art. At 10:30 our guide, Shweta, told us that we'd need to head over to the bus, but we'd make some quick stops because they were waiting for us. (We had been divided into 3 groups.) We get to the bus around 10:45 or so- and were still waiting for the third group. Once they arrived we made our way into the city of Bangalore.
Traffic is just atrocious. There are no lanes and about 20K vehicles on the road, so it takes forever to get anywhere. We finally arrived at the police station to have our visas registered at 12:30 pm. By 1:30 pm, when they closed for lunch, 5 of our passports had gone through one step of a 4 step process. Fortunately, Infosys had a representative to help "facilitate"- but the fact that it took an hour to accomplish less than a quarter of the work, even with a facilitator, was pretty astounding to me. The other half of the group, who did not have "must register within 14 days of arrival" stamped on their visas (which was only a function of the New York visa office, we found - the only thing the 11 of us who needed to register had in common was that we all got our visas in New York), basically just had to hang around and wait for us in one area while we hung around and waited at the police station. We eventually met the other half of the group for lunch at a good Chinese restaurant (yes, Chinese food in India. It was really good though). We then had to go back to the police station for when they returned from lunch, scheduled to be 2:30. Well, the officer who needed to sign our paperwork didn't return from lunch until 3:30. So we went back in and waited. Everyone finished step one pretty quickly- then we had to go get our paperwork signed (another line) - then go to the office on the other side and wait in another line to drop the paperwork off again, then wait to hear our name called. I will mention that the officer who signed our paperwork was reminiscent of the Soup Nazi on Seinfeld- you approached, handed over paperwork, said "Thank you" and stepped to the side.
We then had to wait in the office for our names to be called. The building itself was 150-200 years old, and I doubt it had been cleaned more than 5 times in that span. The walls were just covered in grime- there's no other word for it. We waited a long time. Finally my name was called, and we got a form that said we needed to return to the office to pick up our registration cards at 5:00 pm tomorrow. FOR REAL. It seems that the Infosys rep believes he will be able to pick up our cards for us tomorrow- but what a hassle this has been!!
As an aside, I will note that the process of getting a visa for this trip has been a disaster from day 1. I had to fill out the paperwork and FedEx it, with my passport, to an outsourcing company in New York City. They were unsure as to the right kind of visa for this trip - were were tourists, since we will only be here a week? Students, since we're here for a class? Business people, since we are sponsored by Infosys? Each visa office seemed to have a different answer for each person, which is why it was a disaster from the outset. So that took a while to get ironed out, and we (who had to use the Consulate General in New York) got Entry/Tourist visas. This was also a pricey prospect ($155- not small change, especially the week before Christmas). Then we found out about the registering and I spent the day before my flight to India getting copies made, additional passport photos, etc. Then we basically spent our first 2 days in India dealing with bureaucratic stuff related to the visa. Yes, it's educational, as I understand the hoops that one must jump through to do international business.... but as Infosys has this multimillion dollar campus from their IT solutions business, I can't help but think that they should come up with some IT solutions to assist the government. It was like going back in time- piles of paper, the computer in the registration office was a green screen DOS system from 1982.... Definitely not impressed.
When we finally finished (for today, at least) at the police/registration office, we had to wait a while for the bus with the other half of our class, who had gotten to go shopping. We all have done a fair share of waiting around, but this was particularly difficult because it was through no fault of our own that we had to do this step.
Once we met up with the bus (at around 5:15 pm), they dropped us for a bit at an Open Air market- essentially a farmer's market, India style. This was neat because it was our first real chance to talk to locals (non-shopkeepers or police personnel)- we all got some great photos and a real feel for what life is like for the people of Bangalore. We were told to meet at 6 pm back at the bus, but most of us took the same path, so we were all at the end of the farmer's market and the call was made to have the bus come meet us. Well, not all of us were there so there was some confusion that delayed us all a bit, and didn't have us in the bus and on our way until 6:30. It's great that our Indian tour guides try to be accommodating, but part of the frustration of the past 2 days is that the rules and times for things keep changing. There's just a general lack of discipline around time, which is very frustrating for me. But at least we did get to see some of the "real" Bangalore today.
When we got back to Infosys, I found out my luggage, which was to have been delivered at 7:30 am today, still has not arrived. That's right. I checked my bag in Boston at 1:00 pm on Friday, and here is is nearly Tuesday (India time) and still nothing. One of the problems has been that Lufthansa's Bangalore office is open from 10 am to 4 pm- that's it. You may note that we have been occupied with activities from 10 am to 4 pm each day (or at least, waiting for activities) so it's not like I have been able to spend time aggressively calling for information. It's $3 a minute to call from my cell phone, so it's also cost prohibitive... and we've been out in the town, not at our guest house, so I can't exactly call them and harass them about luggage not arriving when I don't know if it has arrived or not. So yes, the bureaucracy of this too has driven me up a wall. I am so sick of the clothes I have, and the Indian clothes, while working for city touring, are not exactly appropriate "business attire" for classes that start tomorrow. The 2 pairs of shoes I bought yesterday (for equivalent $4 American) were apparently worth less than that, as a strap broke on one on my way back from dinner last night, and the strap broke AND sole fell off the other while touring Infosys today. I really am a walking disaster with this stuff.
Fortunately, Jay's wife Gayle has loaned me a pair of slingback heels, and Katlin (a fellow student) has loaned me a skirt and top to wear tomorrow. I finally figured out that baggage claim number they gave me on Sunday was off by a digit, and was finally able to access the online tracking for my bag. It says it has been recovered at the airport, and "in process" of delivery. It's that "in process" step that is killing me right now. Another classmate is also missing his bag- at least they sell men's business attire in the on-campus store for him. I'm kind of out of luck in that department. It's a long & windy road from the airport to Infosys, so it seems that it's just not a priority for the folks from Lufthansa baggage to honor their timeline, and they'll get it here when they get it here. Not very efficient or respectful of my time- that's the way it works here in India.
So yeah, today was not a good day. It's also hard when I'm frustrated to keep a positive face as a representative of BU. I also think that I'll be writing my paper for this class on anticipating challenges. This has been quite an adventure, but not in a good way so far. Keeping my fingers crossed for better days in class tomorrow, and finally being able to wear my own clothes that I packed for this trip, not the sweats that were my travel clothes or the variety of other pieces I've had to buy or borrow.
All of the folks here in India have been very nice, but I have yet to see what can actually be accomplished. There's no sense of urgency about anything, which is particularly frustrating when we all had to jump through hoops, pay a lot of money on last minute plane tickets and had to have a lot of fortitude just to make it onto this trip- I wonder if we had applied the same set of time values we have experienced in the past few days, would any of us had made it here at all?
Traffic is just atrocious. There are no lanes and about 20K vehicles on the road, so it takes forever to get anywhere. We finally arrived at the police station to have our visas registered at 12:30 pm. By 1:30 pm, when they closed for lunch, 5 of our passports had gone through one step of a 4 step process. Fortunately, Infosys had a representative to help "facilitate"- but the fact that it took an hour to accomplish less than a quarter of the work, even with a facilitator, was pretty astounding to me. The other half of the group, who did not have "must register within 14 days of arrival" stamped on their visas (which was only a function of the New York visa office, we found - the only thing the 11 of us who needed to register had in common was that we all got our visas in New York), basically just had to hang around and wait for us in one area while we hung around and waited at the police station. We eventually met the other half of the group for lunch at a good Chinese restaurant (yes, Chinese food in India. It was really good though). We then had to go back to the police station for when they returned from lunch, scheduled to be 2:30. Well, the officer who needed to sign our paperwork didn't return from lunch until 3:30. So we went back in and waited. Everyone finished step one pretty quickly- then we had to go get our paperwork signed (another line) - then go to the office on the other side and wait in another line to drop the paperwork off again, then wait to hear our name called. I will mention that the officer who signed our paperwork was reminiscent of the Soup Nazi on Seinfeld- you approached, handed over paperwork, said "Thank you" and stepped to the side.
We then had to wait in the office for our names to be called. The building itself was 150-200 years old, and I doubt it had been cleaned more than 5 times in that span. The walls were just covered in grime- there's no other word for it. We waited a long time. Finally my name was called, and we got a form that said we needed to return to the office to pick up our registration cards at 5:00 pm tomorrow. FOR REAL. It seems that the Infosys rep believes he will be able to pick up our cards for us tomorrow- but what a hassle this has been!!
As an aside, I will note that the process of getting a visa for this trip has been a disaster from day 1. I had to fill out the paperwork and FedEx it, with my passport, to an outsourcing company in New York City. They were unsure as to the right kind of visa for this trip - were were tourists, since we will only be here a week? Students, since we're here for a class? Business people, since we are sponsored by Infosys? Each visa office seemed to have a different answer for each person, which is why it was a disaster from the outset. So that took a while to get ironed out, and we (who had to use the Consulate General in New York) got Entry/Tourist visas. This was also a pricey prospect ($155- not small change, especially the week before Christmas). Then we found out about the registering and I spent the day before my flight to India getting copies made, additional passport photos, etc. Then we basically spent our first 2 days in India dealing with bureaucratic stuff related to the visa. Yes, it's educational, as I understand the hoops that one must jump through to do international business.... but as Infosys has this multimillion dollar campus from their IT solutions business, I can't help but think that they should come up with some IT solutions to assist the government. It was like going back in time- piles of paper, the computer in the registration office was a green screen DOS system from 1982.... Definitely not impressed.
When we finally finished (for today, at least) at the police/registration office, we had to wait a while for the bus with the other half of our class, who had gotten to go shopping. We all have done a fair share of waiting around, but this was particularly difficult because it was through no fault of our own that we had to do this step.
Once we met up with the bus (at around 5:15 pm), they dropped us for a bit at an Open Air market- essentially a farmer's market, India style. This was neat because it was our first real chance to talk to locals (non-shopkeepers or police personnel)- we all got some great photos and a real feel for what life is like for the people of Bangalore. We were told to meet at 6 pm back at the bus, but most of us took the same path, so we were all at the end of the farmer's market and the call was made to have the bus come meet us. Well, not all of us were there so there was some confusion that delayed us all a bit, and didn't have us in the bus and on our way until 6:30. It's great that our Indian tour guides try to be accommodating, but part of the frustration of the past 2 days is that the rules and times for things keep changing. There's just a general lack of discipline around time, which is very frustrating for me. But at least we did get to see some of the "real" Bangalore today.
When we got back to Infosys, I found out my luggage, which was to have been delivered at 7:30 am today, still has not arrived. That's right. I checked my bag in Boston at 1:00 pm on Friday, and here is is nearly Tuesday (India time) and still nothing. One of the problems has been that Lufthansa's Bangalore office is open from 10 am to 4 pm- that's it. You may note that we have been occupied with activities from 10 am to 4 pm each day (or at least, waiting for activities) so it's not like I have been able to spend time aggressively calling for information. It's $3 a minute to call from my cell phone, so it's also cost prohibitive... and we've been out in the town, not at our guest house, so I can't exactly call them and harass them about luggage not arriving when I don't know if it has arrived or not. So yes, the bureaucracy of this too has driven me up a wall. I am so sick of the clothes I have, and the Indian clothes, while working for city touring, are not exactly appropriate "business attire" for classes that start tomorrow. The 2 pairs of shoes I bought yesterday (for equivalent $4 American) were apparently worth less than that, as a strap broke on one on my way back from dinner last night, and the strap broke AND sole fell off the other while touring Infosys today. I really am a walking disaster with this stuff.
Fortunately, Jay's wife Gayle has loaned me a pair of slingback heels, and Katlin (a fellow student) has loaned me a skirt and top to wear tomorrow. I finally figured out that baggage claim number they gave me on Sunday was off by a digit, and was finally able to access the online tracking for my bag. It says it has been recovered at the airport, and "in process" of delivery. It's that "in process" step that is killing me right now. Another classmate is also missing his bag- at least they sell men's business attire in the on-campus store for him. I'm kind of out of luck in that department. It's a long & windy road from the airport to Infosys, so it seems that it's just not a priority for the folks from Lufthansa baggage to honor their timeline, and they'll get it here when they get it here. Not very efficient or respectful of my time- that's the way it works here in India.
So yeah, today was not a good day. It's also hard when I'm frustrated to keep a positive face as a representative of BU. I also think that I'll be writing my paper for this class on anticipating challenges. This has been quite an adventure, but not in a good way so far. Keeping my fingers crossed for better days in class tomorrow, and finally being able to wear my own clothes that I packed for this trip, not the sweats that were my travel clothes or the variety of other pieces I've had to buy or borrow.
All of the folks here in India have been very nice, but I have yet to see what can actually be accomplished. There's no sense of urgency about anything, which is particularly frustrating when we all had to jump through hoops, pay a lot of money on last minute plane tickets and had to have a lot of fortitude just to make it onto this trip- I wonder if we had applied the same set of time values we have experienced in the past few days, would any of us had made it here at all?
Sunday, January 3, 2010
Shopping Excursion - Sunday Part II
There has been a lot of paperwork drama over here- aside from general confusion from when we were applying for our visas back in the US, we now have to spend part of tomorrow morning turning in more copies of our paperwork, including 4 copies of general questions as to our birthplace, address in India, etc., to each of which a passport photo needs to be affixed. Most people didn't get the email about these forms until they had already left for India, so part of our excursion today was to go to a Photo shop in India so 13 of our group could have passport photos taken. We first met to go over particulars, then had a lovely lunch outside (I had a yummy pumpkin soup, and they also had spaghetti and french fries, because they knew the Americans would be here today! I stayed away from the other stuff, which was too much a mystery to attempt. I will, eventually, just not today). We then walked through the Infosys campus to board the bus for our excursion.
Bangalore by day is much different from Bangalore at night. The Infosys campus is pristene, beautiful and well-equipped... drive 100 yards off the campus and there are total slums. The road to the city is hard to travel- tons of bikes, mopeds, cars and buses all trying to maneuver, along with cattle on the side of the road (we saw an Ox cart attempting a rotary) and people everywhere. Just masses of people standing around on the streets. We had to walk to our first stop, and crossing the street was quite a difficult feat. Upon our first stop at a trinket store, there were pushy peddlers out front trying to sell us mini chess sets, mini snake charmer baskets, etc. but it was nothing worse than the merchants in places like Cozumel. The store was quite clearly a favored merchant of our tour guides. Lots of stuff, but you couldn't tell the quality of the jewelry. A few folks bought vases, elephant sculptures, etc. I took some pictures, as some of the work was amazing, but in general everything seemed overpriced. We then took a fairly treacherous walk to the photo shop, and eventually back on the bus for a drive to the silk and clothing store.
I had been eagerly awaiting this stop, as I am sick to death of the long sleeved white T and blue sweat pants that I have been wearing for 48 hours. It doesn't help that everyone else was freshly changed into their cute touristy clothes and I look gross. Fortunately, I have money from Lufthansa to purchase some duds in India- I got a skirt and a top that I'm sure will make me look like a fool when wearing them together- but both will go with my top & bottom that are right now the key components of my wardrobe. I was also able to buy 2 pairs of sandals on the street for the equivalent of about $4 US, so that should help my feet too. So not fun.
So yeah, I'm tired now - it was a long day, and I took my 3rd shower since arriving here less than 16 hours ago. I just really want my clothes, and have my fingers crossed that they will arrive before our city tour tomorrow.
But the people in our group are really nice- some quite entertaining - so it should make for a fun week. Once my clothes get here.
Bangalore by day is much different from Bangalore at night. The Infosys campus is pristene, beautiful and well-equipped... drive 100 yards off the campus and there are total slums. The road to the city is hard to travel- tons of bikes, mopeds, cars and buses all trying to maneuver, along with cattle on the side of the road (we saw an Ox cart attempting a rotary) and people everywhere. Just masses of people standing around on the streets. We had to walk to our first stop, and crossing the street was quite a difficult feat. Upon our first stop at a trinket store, there were pushy peddlers out front trying to sell us mini chess sets, mini snake charmer baskets, etc. but it was nothing worse than the merchants in places like Cozumel. The store was quite clearly a favored merchant of our tour guides. Lots of stuff, but you couldn't tell the quality of the jewelry. A few folks bought vases, elephant sculptures, etc. I took some pictures, as some of the work was amazing, but in general everything seemed overpriced. We then took a fairly treacherous walk to the photo shop, and eventually back on the bus for a drive to the silk and clothing store.
I had been eagerly awaiting this stop, as I am sick to death of the long sleeved white T and blue sweat pants that I have been wearing for 48 hours. It doesn't help that everyone else was freshly changed into their cute touristy clothes and I look gross. Fortunately, I have money from Lufthansa to purchase some duds in India- I got a skirt and a top that I'm sure will make me look like a fool when wearing them together- but both will go with my top & bottom that are right now the key components of my wardrobe. I was also able to buy 2 pairs of sandals on the street for the equivalent of about $4 US, so that should help my feet too. So not fun.
So yeah, I'm tired now - it was a long day, and I took my 3rd shower since arriving here less than 16 hours ago. I just really want my clothes, and have my fingers crossed that they will arrive before our city tour tomorrow.
But the people in our group are really nice- some quite entertaining - so it should make for a fun week. Once my clothes get here.
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