India

Day 1

The morning began with a short walk around Delhi. We saw some of the local schools as well as small vendors that produce milk. The best part of this walk was seeing some of the street performers. Young girls from ages 3 to 12 were up bright and early attempting to earn some sort of income. Their faces were painted with makeup and smiles as they danced to the beat of the drums.

As we roamed around New Delhi I began to think more about India as a developing country. With a population of over 1 billion people, you could see on the streets the strength in numbers. India is a land of hardworking people, whether employed or unemployed they are all working hard to earn money to support themselves and their families. Although there are many issues with poverty and infrastructure India is also a technological hub with a rising middle class. With the help of other nations such as US India will be able to reach its goal and become a stronger nation.

Today we visited the American Center which is the United State Embassy’s cultural center in New Delhi. There we were able to see various art exhibits as we roamed the halls, they also spoke to about different programs that are conducted throughout the year such as musical programs and book launches.  Overall I thought that this part of the trip was boring, I was more interested in the Parliament Museum.  I’d much rather explore the city than be lectured to. My favorite part of the Parliament Museum was learning about the involvement of Gandhi in the liberation of the Indian people from British rule. It was interesting to see the similarities between that time and that of the Civil War. This portion of the day was extremely motivating. It made me think about the work that people have done in the past to fight for what they believe in and the work that still needs to be done in the future. Professor Gupta mentioned Ghandi’s talisman. This was something that I had never heard before but something I will always remember. It describes some of the things that people should think about when making decisions:

“I will give you a talisman. Whenever you are in doubt, or when the self becomes too much with you, apply the following test. Recall the face of the poorest and the weakest man [woman] whom you may have seen, and ask yourself, if the step you contemplate is going to be of any use to him [her]. Will he [she] gain anything by it? Will it restore him [her] to a control over his [her] own life and destiny? In other words, will it lead to swaraj [freedom] for the hungry and spiritually starving millions?
Then you will find your doubts and your self melt away.”

While walking around Delhi, a few of my friends and I met a young boy named Haruun. He looked about 12 years old and spoke English pretty well. He tried to help us by telling us good areas to window shop. I asked him if he went to school and it broke my heart to hear his response. He said that he would love to go to school but couldn’t afford books because they ranged from 300 to 1000 rupees each. It is interesting how I complain about going to school every day but there is people out there who would give anything to be in my position.

Today was my birthday and the professor helped me celebrate by getting a cake. The hotel had a traditional Indian welcome ceremony for us which was really nice. I don’t really like this hotel much though. The sheets and towels were damp n dirty I definitely have to get my own tomorrow.

Day 2:
We started off the day with an Indian dish called Parathas. It was pretty good. I could get used to this Indian food, just wish there was some meat in it.  Then we visited the Indian Gate, which is a war memorial in Delhi.  On the gate you could see the names of the 90,000 fallen soldiers that died in battle during World War I. From there we walked towards the Presidential Palace. On our way we saw groups of young men practicing their march for the upcoming parade for Republic Day on January 26^th, in celebration of the day the Indian constitution came into existence. There were also young students on the side watching them practice. We were able to talk with them and learn some dances, which was a lot of fun.

From there we headed to the Auto Expo. The Indian automobile market is one of the fastest growing automobile markets. The size of auto industry is increasingly growing. By talking to some of the business people there that were representing some of the companies we found that foreign businesses were interested in getting into this market because they see the increasing wealth of the area. When walking around the hotel area you could see nothing but automobile shops that sold parts as well as auto accessories.   The target audience seemed to be middle class consumers. A lot of the cars that we saw didn’t seem as futuristic or far-fetched as some of the cars that could be seen at an auto expo in NY. We saw mostly practical cars such as the Volkswagen Jetta and the Honda City.  Auto Expo participants were able to actually sit in some of cars to get a feel for them. We also saw a lot of trucks and buses. Most of the cars of the future seemed to be more energy efficient. It was interesting being able to go to the Expo however I wish we didn’t have to stay for four hours.

Day 3
Today we traveled to Jalandhar to visit LPU. On our way we stopped in Old Delhi to pick up some of the students that went on the bike tour. We walked around as we waited for them. There was an intense amount of poverty in this area. Professor Gupta mentioned that the literacy rate was low in this area. This was interesting to hear because in contrast you could see a large amount of books being sold.  These books were mostly educational, ranging from GMAT prep to beginners Physics.  We also interacted with some of the underprivileged children in the street. They spoke to me in their language but the only thing I could make out was photo. They wanted me to take a picture of them. I took the picture. Some of my classmates told me not to show it to them in fear that they would grab my camera and run, but I did it anyway. Its amazing to see how when you don’t have much, how much joy you can get out of something so little. This was definitely self reflection point for me on this trip.  It caused me to really think about some of my future goals. Yes my major is accounting and I have accepted an offer to work in Accounting, but how am I helping others? Wat role does this play in the bigger picture? I love children and really wish I could help each and every one of them, but how?

Later on that night I finally met my e-buddy Shivani. Through prior email conversations with her I thought she would be uptight but she’s actually really cool. I guess she didn’t feel to comfortable expressing herself through email and was trying her best to be as professional as possible. We have a lot of things in common from movies to shopping. We talked about everything such as marriage and our futures. When speaking about her career goals she spoke about being in the MBA program now, but after graduation she is considering working in politics. The poverty in her community is a great concern to her and wants to do what she can to change that and is not sure what. This shocked me because I was thinking about similar concerns earlier in the day. When she spoke she was a little emotional and it definitely touched me. Shivani is someone that I plan on being good friends with for a long time.

Day 4:
I feel sick. I don’t know what it was but it could be the fact that I drank the water in the shower by accident. It is also REALLY cold. I can’t eat anymore Indian food I need a break. I’m dying for some Mcdonalds. In NY it is probably colder but at least when u go indoors or in cars there’s heat and you can take a break but here there is no break its cold everywhere.

Today we took a tour of Lovely Professional University campus. The campus is similar to that of Binghamton. Computer labs and lecture style class rooms, cafeterias and auditoriums. We got to watch the students interact in a classroom setting. On Mondays and Fridays uniforms are mandatory. I actually like wearing uniforms. They have stricter rules. Large signs on campus displaying a no alcohol policy, very different from the Binghamton world.

We visited a Hindi temple. It was amazing to see the many deities and to hear the stories behind each of them. We also had a meeting where we met the vice chancellor and got to learn more about LPU. The university is fairly new yet is the largest university in India. It aims to provide quality education to its students in hopes that they will become well rounded individuals, obtain placement in companies and essentially boost Indian economy. I think the school has a lot of potential and look forward to hearing great things about it in the future. We also went to a beautiful restaurant called Haveli. It was a Punjab vegetarian restaurant with numerous types of entertainment. Palm reading, magic tricks, there was even a theater show. It was a very entertaining night followed by dancing with our buddies by the bonfire. Our visit at LPU was fun but I’m looking forward to going back to the hotel where the water in the showers are hotter.

Day 5

Today we visited Infosys which is India’s largest IT company. This company had a global strategy in which it aided other companies of various countries with their IT work. 30 percent of the work is done overseas and 70 percent in India or Malaysia etc. I love Infosys! They treated us so well. The visit began with French fries! For lunch we had pasta and butter chicken with chocolate cake.
Later in the day we met with Dean Dhillon and his family for a reception at a Golf resort in Chandigarh. It was such a pleasure to interact with his family. We also had chicken tikka, which is my new favorite food. We talked to his sister in law’s daughter who told us about her experiences working in the media industry. She worked on a documentary called “Ice Men” which was about men that transported diamonds to sell throughout India. Instead of being followed by tight security. Average looking men would travel with billions of dollars worth of diamonds in a small pouch to dealers and auctions, using public transportation. She talked about it being a tight knit family that ran the business, so if there was any theft it was easy to find the culprit. This reminded me of all the other family run businesses that are present in India. I also wondered how that was at all possible with the amount of chaos that occurs in public transportation.

Her mother also mentioned to us that there are nicer areas of the city. This is something we haven’t seen so far on the trip.  I’m grateful for having been able to see the slums, and the busy city streets, but if someone was to ask me if I would consider moving to India my answer would be NO. I have yet to see the beauty of India outside of the Temples and I can’t live in the Temple. Before I came a friend of mine mentioned that she wanted to come for her honeymoon and now I don’t know why anyone would do that. Maybe there’s more to see on this trip, who knows.

Day 6
Today we are going to visit DSCL, which is a retail company that focuses on rural areas. It identified a new niche and exploited it. Infrastructure in the city is pretty bad so it’s interesting to see how the company was able to succeed through these obstacles. Top management is within the same family such as that of Lovely group and diversified into several different businesses. An interesting fact about the company was that they offered training for local farmers.

In the evening we visited professor Gupta’s home. They provided a warm welcome with pizza! Veggie pizza, but pizza nonetheless. We danced around the bonfire and got to tell them about some of our experiences that we’ve had so far in India. Once again I got to interact with the children in the area which was a lot of fun for me.

Day 7

We started off the day by stopping at Shiv Murti where we saw statues of different Hindu avatars. Then we went to PWC. An interesting topic that was discussed was business process outsourcing (BPO). The amount of outsourcing being done in India has increased dramatically because companies are looking to cut costs. India is a preferred destination because of the rising middle class and the large population of young adults. When the PWC professional was asked whether he thought Americans would lose jobs due to outsourcing he made it seem like that wasn’t possible and that new jobs such as nursing would be created. Before coming to India I strongly felt that a lot of Americans would lose jobs to outsourcing and that it could possibly be a negative thing. But really this should only push Americans to higher education and obtaining different skills to prevent that from occurring.  One thing that crossed my mind is that it could also be possible for Indians to become complacent with their current success. They need to be aware that outsourcing is also increasing in other areas such as China and Brazil and that they will be competing with them also.

We took the metro for the first time. Professor Gupta was nervous about us all taking it at the same time but it went well. The metro was actually really clean and safe. Similar to an airport, there were metal detectors and other security measures which were surprising.

At night we visited the Red Fort where we saw a light and sound show. This show described the history of Delhi through lights and sounds. I really enjoyed it as well as the McDonalds that followed.

Day 8

Tragedy: my camera battery is dead and I can’t find a voltage converter to charge it!

Today we split up and went shopping at the bazaar. I know Professor Gupta was probably on edge the entire time but it worked out well, we all met back at a certain time and were able to get a lot of shopping done and get KFC!

The bargaining world in India is awesome! I was able to get so many gifts for family and friends for about 20 dollars. I still need some more stuff and can’t wait to go back. It was funny that the sales people used some of the same lines to drawer customers in such as “I remember you” or “You are my first customer today.” Most of them were selling the same product but trying to differentiate theirs as unique.

We also visited HCL which was pretty boring but short and sweet.