Day 3: Akshardham/HCL/Gupta Festivities!

Today we left the hotel at around 8 am for the Akshardham Temple. There, we got a thorough glimpse into the teachings of Swarimayan, a boy that had become enlightened at a young age and led people to achieve a greater degree of spirituality. It is a specific sect of Hinduism which considers this man to be their God. In the Disney-like depiction of his teachings, we learned he led people to spiritual salvation through his compassion for all living beings, his belief in harmony of the family unit and his idea of weaning oneself of all addictions. His ideas seemed wonderful as depicted in the mannequin displays and video; however, the exhibit could be considered a bit like propaganda intended to convert people to this sect. After the tour and video, we took a boat ride similar to that of the “its a small world” ride at Disneyworld. There, we learned of prominent figures in India’s history and of all the prominent Western theories that were asserted to have Indian roots. In fact, the ride claimed that Indians were the original inventors of space exploration, geometry, chess and democracy. It was hard to discern fact from tall tale; however, in every single country I’ve ever visited, the home culture has claimed to be the true inventors of particular concepts. The seriousness in which the ride was narrated made the ride not only informative but humorous in the indignance of its claims. When we finally got to the palace itself, I was astounded by the detail of the carvings in marble and other stones. It had taken 7000 craftsmen over 5 years to create this magnificent temple. I’m not sure I’ve seen comparable artful carvings in a place of worship!

When we left the Akshardham temple, we headed to HCL to meet with their CEO, Vineet Nayar. Since we had read a case pertaining to their success in terms of organizational culture, he decided to open the floor for a question and answer period. The group asked him a variety of questions involving the “workers first” policy of the organization and whether he finds it difficult to face the 360-degree evaluation policy (in which every employee can be rated on 19 dimensions by people both below him/her and above him/her in the organization). I asked him which leaders or organizations had inspired him to develop this culture and he told me Gandhi, Nelson Mandela and Martin Luther King. Although I was looking for a particular answer related to business leaders, he was an incredibly articulate and motivational speaker who seems to be truly vested in the vision of his company.

After HCL, we took the bus to a shopping area in which Professor Kahai helped a few of us pick out outfits for Lohri festivities. I bought a beautiful and funky Punjabi suit to wear to the Gupta residence. When we arrived at Professor Gupta’s family’s house, I was able to prep myself for the party and got a beautiful henna tattoo done on my hand. The generosity of the family in welcoming us into their home reflected their wonderful hospitality. They made all of us feel at home and we had an incredible time dancing around the bonfire and enjoying the delicious food that had been prepared for us. Lohri, a celebration of the solstice, was an incredible experience and much thanks to the Gupta family for going beyond the beyond in hosting us for the occasion!

Day #2: Corporate Visits and Kingdom of Dreams!

On the morning of the 12th, I woke up bright and early for a 6 am breakfast. There, representatives from SPA apparel came to speak to us about the market for jeans in India. The market is growing at an incredibly rapid pace with hundreds of thousands of pairs of jeans purchased monthly. Though the market is experiencing exponential growth, their company is not on par with the major players in the industry. They are struggling with the branding of their jeans (the most important factor in Indians purchasing decisions) and asked us for advice in creating a new brand name and image to help their brand take off in the Indian market.

At 7 am, we set off for Gurgaon. After thorough enjoyment of the various modes of transportation on the road, we arrived in Gurgaon. Gurgaon stood out as a very western sort of financial district with large windowed modern buildings in the middle of a seemingly uninhabited area of India. We first visited PwC in which we listened to presentations about the structure and culture of their organization and their role in improving the informational and physical infrastructure in India. The first presentation was on e-governance, an IT system which would enable citizens to obtain important documents (birth certificates, drivers licenses, etc.) without the cost of transport to government offices which may be far from the rural areas of india. It seems to be a very innovative concept which would eliminate a lot of bureaucracy and stimulate the economy through creating new jobs to develop the system. We then heard a presentation about PwC’s efforts to improve road and port infrastructure to increase efficiency and promote greater productivity of established (and yet-to-be established systems). We ate lunch at PwC and then headed back to the bus for another business visit.

Upon arrival at dunnhumby, we were greeted with open arms from a former professor at Binghamton. We learned about their innovate customer analytics system and their “customer first” culture. It seems as if their employees are fully engrained in the strategies of the companies they advise and try to get them to be more customer-centric. Their facilities encouraged collaboration and leisure activities between their employees–including lots of video conference rooms to communicate with employees in the UK and a game room equipped with a wii. The tour guide we had joked that the employees were just “pretending” to work while we were there and were usually engaged in social activities. Their processes seemed creative and their light-hearted culture made it seem like an organization I’d be interested in working for.

We left the business to have a full evening at the Kingdom of Dreams–a Disney-like complex filled with shops and restaurants that were meant to represent different parts of India. Although the complex was ornate and well-decorated, it seemed a bit like an inauthentic Western representation of Indian culture. The atmosphere was a little like Las Vegas where they use an intriguing culture to sell you a variety of souvenirs, food and drinks. However, the performance we saw there was a very fun representation of Bollywood musicals and dance and was similar to some Broadway musicals in its grandiosity and spectacular visuals. Though I found it a bit difficult to grasp the plot and humor in the musical, it was definitely an entertaining experience. Completely exhausted from our full day, we set out for the hotel at around midnight.

Day One in India!

hough jetlagged from a 15 hour flight, we all woke up bright and early for a full day exploring New Delhi. The hotel was modern yet not completely finished and provided us with a continental breakfast of both Indian and American cuisine. After carbo-loading, we took our bus to India Gate–a war memorial commemorating the service of Indian soldiers in the world wars. We were lucky enough to witness the procession of soldiers practicing for January 26th festivities (a celebration of the day India became a republic). They were dressed in a variety of colorful uniforms and ornamental hats. I was most intrigued by the fact that one of the marching bands incorporated bagpipes as one of their prominent instruments! I figured that bagpipes were only used in Scottish and Irish traditions.

After India Gate, we wandered through a shopping district with a plethora of stores which included Western brands. We then arrived at the American Center in which we listened to American expatriates in India speak about their jobs aiding in economic development and strengthening political ties with India. They also told us about the services they provide to Americans traveling within India and what to do if we found ourselves in any sort of sticky situation. I was comforted with a slice of home with one of the speakers–she was an alum of Forest Hills high school!

We then ventured to a Sikh temple near the Parliamentary museum. I was astounded by the inclusive nature of the religion; any person was welcome to enter their place of worship and accept their offering (in contrast to my experiences with Catholic eucharists). The offering had a very sweet taste–similar to that of cookie dough. It was also interesting that it is in the tenets of their religion to feed any person who comes to them in need. The elaborate decor in the interior of the temple was beautiful and the welcoming nature of the religion was very enjoyable.

Upon leaving the Sikh temple, we walked across the street to visit the Parliamentary museum. There we endured an extensive search process prior to participating in a lackluster tour. The tour guide seemed very uninterested in educating us about the history of their government although I did take away from the tour that they have a rich history of democracy in their nation. The video we watched there was too fast-paced for me to follow and I couldn’t retain the names of the key leaders that were instrumental to the founding of their republic. Professor Gupta explained that the tour guides had very secure jobs with the government and therefore weren’t eager to exert much energy in relaying the history of their system of government.

After a jam-packed morning, we enjoyed a traditional American McDonalds lunch. I had a veggie burger and tried a paneer salsa wrap (which is much more delicious than any of the options in the US). We then went back to the hotel and explored the surrounding areas. Some members of the group ate some of the street food while I politely declined.

For dinner, we went to a local restaurant for authentic Indian cuisine. We had an amazing variety of appetizers including delicious paneer. The waiter–seemingly excited about the fact that I’m a vegetarian–kept piling on more appetizers on my plate, noticing how much I enjoyed them. I had no idea that there was more food to come and had definitely had my fair share of paneer and spinach appetizers. For our main course, I was excited to have my favorite indian dish (malai kofta), masala and great naan. It was a wonderful dinner and was my first taste of true Indian food. (I’m not sure Indian food made in the US will ever be as delicious!)