Reporting from Washington, DC.
I'm home! (almost)
I just wanted to wrap up my trip with a couple of thoughts.
Travel Agent: If anyone is looking for a great travel agency in India, I can't recommend SITA highly enough. They were great: didn't miss a transfer , were flexible for a group looking for a non-tourist agenda, and set up a great group of travel guides. While I don't think its necessary to have a full service travel agent while in India, it certainly helps.
Denial: In our meetings with Indian government officials, I was frequently impressed with how well they understood the gravity of their situation and the incredible hurdles they are facing to bring India from the "developing" to the "developed" column. In a country with nearly four times the population of the US and less than one-tenth the income, they have challenges beyond compare. That said, there is a large segment of the population that does not recognize that India is not there yet and those are the people that are clamoring at the door of world prestige, but forgetting of all the indigent and helpless people of India that they are cruelly standing on.
I was dismayed to read an op-ed in India Times last week that was complaining about India's portrayal in Slumdog Millionaire. It said that it portrayed India in a negative light, with all the poverty and homelessness. I haven't seen the movie yet, but I understand that this movie really was one of the triumph of human spirit and that the Indian people were featured highly in it. Unfortunately, the sentiments expressed by the author, a prominent Bollywood director, seem to me all too typical of the upper classes. They have found it relatively convenient to forget that India has a population nearly the size of the US that lives on less than $1.25 per day (the World Bank definition of extreme poverty.)
This may be a stinging indictment of India's wealthy and probably unfair to many of them that care deeply for the economic problems of their fellow countrymen, but even after a week it seemed clear to me that this denial was pervasive in the press.
Leakage: One of our first meetings in the country was with 1298 Amulance, whose founder discussed some of the issues that they were having with "leakage", a euphamism for employee theft and government graft. They were solving the problem with technology, increasing monitoring of ambulance movements to prevent moonlighting with company equipment. At first I didn't think too much of this, but by the end of the trip I realized that India has an epidemic of leakage and 1298 has an uphill battle. The corruption ranged from the billion dollar Satyam scandal to fifty rupee taxi ripoffs. While it is clear that these issues have direct negative impacts on the economy they also have further ranging implications: they create intangible barriers to commerce. Whether it's multinationals no longer wishing to do business with large Indian companies or tourists (like us) that tired of getting slowly and constantly ripped off, India is losing business to this culture of corruption and must take more concerted action to solve the problem.
People: I said it a few times, but wanted to reiterate that the Indian people are amazing. Living in a place with such hardships and remaining optimistic is not an insignificant accomplishment. They are generally friendly, even in a place like Mumbai where personal space is at a premium and it would be very easy to become agitated and rude. The tragedy in Mumbai also provides another aspect of the Indian's generosity and kindness of spirit as they all pulled together to get through the past few difficult months. They are the country's greatest resource.
Monday, January 19, 2009
Lessons on the last day
Reporting from Bombay Airport
Lesson 1 - If you’ve hired a full service travel agency, use it! We came to a consensus that sitting around in the airport for fourteen hours was not the best of plans, so we made arrangements to stay in a hotel until it was time to check-in. When we arrived, the SITA representative meeting us at the airport was mildly concerned that we’d set ourselves up for failure and, in fact, the hotel didn’t have the van space to take us all. Fortunately, SITA already had a bus for us! In the end, everything worked out, just something to remember for the future.
Lesson 2 – You can’t buy a plane ticket at the airport after 26/11 (Mumbai Terrorist attacks.) I made the mistake of showing up to the airport without a copy of my itinerary, which is even required to get through the front door. I made a lame plea to be allowed in and the guy refused, but it turns out that they had a copy of the passenger manifests anyway. They eventually let me in, but only after some grief.
Lesson 3 – Dominos delivers, even in Mumbai.
Lesson 1 - If you’ve hired a full service travel agency, use it! We came to a consensus that sitting around in the airport for fourteen hours was not the best of plans, so we made arrangements to stay in a hotel until it was time to check-in. When we arrived, the SITA representative meeting us at the airport was mildly concerned that we’d set ourselves up for failure and, in fact, the hotel didn’t have the van space to take us all. Fortunately, SITA already had a bus for us! In the end, everything worked out, just something to remember for the future.
Lesson 2 – You can’t buy a plane ticket at the airport after 26/11 (Mumbai Terrorist attacks.) I made the mistake of showing up to the airport without a copy of my itinerary, which is even required to get through the front door. I made a lame plea to be allowed in and the guy refused, but it turns out that they had a copy of the passenger manifests anyway. They eventually let me in, but only after some grief.
Lesson 3 – Dominos delivers, even in Mumbai.
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Buy, Buy, No Buy, Goodbye
Reporting from Jaipur
Our last full day in India. We didn’t have much of an itinerary, so today was meant to be pretty relaxing, mostly just finish up shopping. Waking up to say goodbye to Anjali, our trip organizer extraordinaire, we splintered off into small tuk-tuk sized groups to find some more Rajastani treasures.
We found Gopal Singh.
Gopal was a friendly, older, tuk-tuk driver that offered to take us around the city for a princely sum of 50rs per person for 1 hour. We managed to talk him down to 150 for 2 hours (roughly 3 dollars). He then took us to all his favorite (probably commissioned) places. It was pretty enjoyable for the most part and while I wouldn’t recommend cramming five Americans (well, one of us was German) into a tuk-tuk, we made it work. We spent a good amount of time at a fabric place that had markedly improved quality of products compared to yesterday’s market. While there Gopal explained his shopping philosophy “buy, buy, no buy, good-bye.” Sounded good to us!
His next recommendations were busts… a junky restaurant and an overpriced jewelry store. We declared victory and returned to the hotel. When Gopal dropped us off, he seemed a bit miffed that we only paid him double the negotiated fare, despite the pretty significant commission he likely earned from the fabric store and restaurant. Oh well.
Not interested in dealing with crazy cab drivers, we decided to have our final dinner at the hotel’s rooftop. It was a great dinner: we reflected on the trip’s highlights and applauded ourselves for being so great (like a small, slightly less glamorous version of the Oscars.) I’ll talk about that more later.
Tomorrow – the long trek back to the States!
Our last full day in India. We didn’t have much of an itinerary, so today was meant to be pretty relaxing, mostly just finish up shopping. Waking up to say goodbye to Anjali, our trip organizer extraordinaire, we splintered off into small tuk-tuk sized groups to find some more Rajastani treasures.
We found Gopal Singh.
Gopal was a friendly, older, tuk-tuk driver that offered to take us around the city for a princely sum of 50rs per person for 1 hour. We managed to talk him down to 150 for 2 hours (roughly 3 dollars). He then took us to all his favorite (probably commissioned) places. It was pretty enjoyable for the most part and while I wouldn’t recommend cramming five Americans (well, one of us was German) into a tuk-tuk, we made it work. We spent a good amount of time at a fabric place that had markedly improved quality of products compared to yesterday’s market. While there Gopal explained his shopping philosophy “buy, buy, no buy, good-bye.” Sounded good to us!
His next recommendations were busts… a junky restaurant and an overpriced jewelry store. We declared victory and returned to the hotel. When Gopal dropped us off, he seemed a bit miffed that we only paid him double the negotiated fare, despite the pretty significant commission he likely earned from the fabric store and restaurant. Oh well.
Not interested in dealing with crazy cab drivers, we decided to have our final dinner at the hotel’s rooftop. It was a great dinner: we reflected on the trip’s highlights and applauded ourselves for being so great (like a small, slightly less glamorous version of the Oscars.) I’ll talk about that more later.
Tomorrow – the long trek back to the States!
Inspecting the merchandise
Sareena and Sam at dinner
Tourists on Elephants
Reporting from Jaipur
We got to sleep in ‘till 8 this morning! Yes, I do like my sleep. This would be a full day of tours, nothing to redeem the day academically or intellectually. I’m fine with that though.
First up, elephants.
We visited the Amber Fort, an incredible medieval palace not far from Jaipur city on a hill. The traditional way for tourists to get up the hill is on the back of elephants. Of course, what other way would one climb a hill while in India? We fit in well with the other tourists, some of whom were sporting the turbans they’d purchased from the touts in the line. I suppose there was an alternate route, but why would we pass on the elephants? Other than the last minute fleecing by the elephant “driver”, it was everything we wanted (needed?) it to be.
The fort was a spectacular setting with several palaces and a warren-like harem in the back. We spent most of the time getting lost and finding secret rooms. Apparently, the way down from the fort is by jeep…
Next, we visited the City Palace, which was built by one of the maharajas from the Amber fort. Not a whole lot there other than the largest (as registered in the Guinness Book) silver urn.
We ditched the guide after he wanted to take us to the government jewelry store (for a sizeable commission.) All that was left was shop and haggle until we were exhausted, which didn’t take too long. The market we were shopping had a ton of shops and touts, but was light on quality goods. A perfect place to hone our bargaining skills. After about two hours of “that’s not possible my friend”, “for my first customer, a special price”, near walk outs, and treasures acquired, we took our bags home.
That evening we went to dinner at rooftop Mediterranean place that had a huge square table capable of accommodating all twelve of us. The food was good and the staff friendly, but the best part was the beer served in teapots! There’s nothing quite like drinking your beer out of a coffee mug after pouring it from a teapot…
Excited to be on the prettiest elephant in Jaipur
Excited to be alive
We got to sleep in ‘till 8 this morning! Yes, I do like my sleep. This would be a full day of tours, nothing to redeem the day academically or intellectually. I’m fine with that though.
First up, elephants.
We visited the Amber Fort, an incredible medieval palace not far from Jaipur city on a hill. The traditional way for tourists to get up the hill is on the back of elephants. Of course, what other way would one climb a hill while in India? We fit in well with the other tourists, some of whom were sporting the turbans they’d purchased from the touts in the line. I suppose there was an alternate route, but why would we pass on the elephants? Other than the last minute fleecing by the elephant “driver”, it was everything we wanted (needed?) it to be.
The fort was a spectacular setting with several palaces and a warren-like harem in the back. We spent most of the time getting lost and finding secret rooms. Apparently, the way down from the fort is by jeep…
Next, we visited the City Palace, which was built by one of the maharajas from the Amber fort. Not a whole lot there other than the largest (as registered in the Guinness Book) silver urn.
We ditched the guide after he wanted to take us to the government jewelry store (for a sizeable commission.) All that was left was shop and haggle until we were exhausted, which didn’t take too long. The market we were shopping had a ton of shops and touts, but was light on quality goods. A perfect place to hone our bargaining skills. After about two hours of “that’s not possible my friend”, “for my first customer, a special price”, near walk outs, and treasures acquired, we took our bags home.
That evening we went to dinner at rooftop Mediterranean place that had a huge square table capable of accommodating all twelve of us. The food was good and the staff friendly, but the best part was the beer served in teapots! There’s nothing quite like drinking your beer out of a coffee mug after pouring it from a teapot…
Excited to be on the prettiest elephant in Jaipur
Excited to be alive
Girls in the Harem windows...
I found Waldo! No, wait... that's me...
Saturday, January 17, 2009
Cultural Show
Reporting from Jaipur
Another early morning (sorry for the broken record on this…), I managed to get my act together and pour myself onto the bus. The trip from Delhi to Jaipur lasted about six hours. When we finally arrived, I promptly crashed in my hotel room.
I finally felt like a real person again around dinner, which was a good thing because the agenda for the evening was not to be missed. The tour guide set us up at a garden restaurant with a dance show! It was amazing slash terrible. I hadn’t attended the last cultural event so I was excited to see what the Rajastanis had in store for us. There were pots, knives, dancing horses, and crazy Norwegians (one of whom decided that he should share his culture with the crowd.) What more could one ask for?
Dancing, Trumpeting, Fire... What more could you ask for?
We argued whether that was a horse or a donkey... I also have a picture of one of my friends wearing it and dancing on stage, but I'm going to spare him the embarrassment of posting it (I'm not above bribery here.)
Another early morning (sorry for the broken record on this…), I managed to get my act together and pour myself onto the bus. The trip from Delhi to Jaipur lasted about six hours. When we finally arrived, I promptly crashed in my hotel room.
I finally felt like a real person again around dinner, which was a good thing because the agenda for the evening was not to be missed. The tour guide set us up at a garden restaurant with a dance show! It was amazing slash terrible. I hadn’t attended the last cultural event so I was excited to see what the Rajastanis had in store for us. There were pots, knives, dancing horses, and crazy Norwegians (one of whom decided that he should share his culture with the crowd.) What more could one ask for?
Dancing, Trumpeting, Fire... What more could you ask for?
We argued whether that was a horse or a donkey... I also have a picture of one of my friends wearing it and dancing on stage, but I'm going to spare him the embarrassment of posting it (I'm not above bribery here.)Friday, January 16, 2009
Sick
Reporting from Delhi
This posting will be much much shorter than yesterday's...
I was very sick. All day. I didn't leave the room until dinner and then didn't stay out long. I missed a couple of meetings.
Lot's of fun.
This posting will be much much shorter than yesterday's...
I was very sick. All day. I didn't leave the room until dinner and then didn't stay out long. I missed a couple of meetings.
Lot's of fun.
Meetings with Big Wigs
Reporting from Delhi
I'm embarrassed to admit that I missed a bit of the Delhi experience today while working on my final. I spent the morning holed up in my room and then returned afterward to finish it. The upside is that I did get it done in time and that it was pretty good (at least I think so.) All the worlds problems solved in 20 pages, not bad!
That said, the day was amazing even without dumpster diving through the markets. Our first meeting was with no one less than the Indian Minister of Defense Shri (Mr.) A.K. Antony. En route to India's equivalent of the Pentagon, Alicia (another Mid-Career who for the British MOD) and I brought our fellow travelers up to speed on Indian Defense issues. Once there we had a remarkably easy time getting into the meeting, without even having to show ID. We simply wrote down some information and a guide took us to the conference room. No searching, no detectors... Even active duty military has to show 2 forms of ID to get into the Pentagon...
The meeting went well, if a bit tense a times. The Minister didn't give a presentation, but preferred that the conversation be "informal". Of course, most of the questions were polite, if mildly probing. A question of corruption seemed to make the minister slightly uncomfortable, but he addressed it with the cool of a professional politician, saying that it exists, but is not as prevalent as some might think. In a free state the bad is always exaggerated by the press.
On defense issues, we discussed the Pakistan issue a bit and the minister maintained the relatively moderate position that he portrays in the press. He is clearly a critic of the US's role in supporting what he sees as a failing regime, but was hopeful for change with the next administration. He also repeated India's pledge not to be a nuclear aggressor, but didn't get into recent developments in their Nuclear Triad or seeking First Strike capabilities.
For the most part, the conversation focused on India's role in the global security environment. For this, the minister gave an answer that disappointed me personally, but is typical of a country that led the Non-Aligned Movement during the cold war and continues to participate to the detriment of global cooperation: India is not interested in global issues beyond it's own "neighborhood". I'm not going to opine on this here, but if you ever want to get me riled up, please ask me to explain why this is one of the weakest excuses for foreign policy that a supposed up and coming nation can cling to.
(pause, calm down)
Our next meeting was with Mr. Naresh Dayal, the Secretary of the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare. Essentially he holds a position similar to the Undersecretary of the HHS in the US. We had a great conversation with him and his deputies regarding improvements in rural healthcare over the past few years, especially neonatal and infants. India is still behind in meeting the Millennium Development Goals set out by UN, but is making progress. In a few of the states it has exceeded infant and maternal mortality rates, others are lagging behind drastically. They are optimistic, but a number of us were concerned that the recent successes were buoyed by the economic upturn and may not be sustainable as the market goes south. (See the interesting article I mentioned when I first arrived in India.) We had a lot of questions for the Secretary and very little time, so we left unsatiated....
Last meeting was with another Cabinet Minister (hmm... to ministers in one day, whatever...) this time from Commerce. Shri Kamal Nath was one of the primary players in the Doha round of the WTO and its subsequent failure. Naturally, that's what we talked about! He maintained that his primary reason for bringing the negotiations to a standstill was to defend the subsistence farmers of India who do not have a social safety net and cannot survive in a market flooded by subsidized American goods.
Now, I agree that the American trade delegation did not have the best stance on this (read: they were overly self-servicing and protectionist and generally made the same diplomatic mistakes that the Bush administration has been infamous for over the past 8 years.) That said, it is unfair for India to diminish its role in maintaining a distortive global trade regime. As India grows as an economic superpower it will have to make domestic concessions (as will the US), which will ultimately improve every one's quality of life.
I apologize for my going on forever here, but it's difficult to summarize in a few paragraphs meeting with people with such heavy responsibilities. Remember that they have to take care of a population nearly 4 times that of the US with an economy less than one tenth the size and a tax revenue that doesn't even compare. I don't envy their jobs and hope that they continue to make that positive improvements in their people's lives that we've seen over the past decade.
Group with the Minister of Defense. We were joined by another group from HKS that was visiting Delhi.
Meeting with the Minister of Commerce
I'm embarrassed to admit that I missed a bit of the Delhi experience today while working on my final. I spent the morning holed up in my room and then returned afterward to finish it. The upside is that I did get it done in time and that it was pretty good (at least I think so.) All the worlds problems solved in 20 pages, not bad!
That said, the day was amazing even without dumpster diving through the markets. Our first meeting was with no one less than the Indian Minister of Defense Shri (Mr.) A.K. Antony. En route to India's equivalent of the Pentagon, Alicia (another Mid-Career who for the British MOD) and I brought our fellow travelers up to speed on Indian Defense issues. Once there we had a remarkably easy time getting into the meeting, without even having to show ID. We simply wrote down some information and a guide took us to the conference room. No searching, no detectors... Even active duty military has to show 2 forms of ID to get into the Pentagon...
The meeting went well, if a bit tense a times. The Minister didn't give a presentation, but preferred that the conversation be "informal". Of course, most of the questions were polite, if mildly probing. A question of corruption seemed to make the minister slightly uncomfortable, but he addressed it with the cool of a professional politician, saying that it exists, but is not as prevalent as some might think. In a free state the bad is always exaggerated by the press.
On defense issues, we discussed the Pakistan issue a bit and the minister maintained the relatively moderate position that he portrays in the press. He is clearly a critic of the US's role in supporting what he sees as a failing regime, but was hopeful for change with the next administration. He also repeated India's pledge not to be a nuclear aggressor, but didn't get into recent developments in their Nuclear Triad or seeking First Strike capabilities.
For the most part, the conversation focused on India's role in the global security environment. For this, the minister gave an answer that disappointed me personally, but is typical of a country that led the Non-Aligned Movement during the cold war and continues to participate to the detriment of global cooperation: India is not interested in global issues beyond it's own "neighborhood". I'm not going to opine on this here, but if you ever want to get me riled up, please ask me to explain why this is one of the weakest excuses for foreign policy that a supposed up and coming nation can cling to.
(pause, calm down)
Our next meeting was with Mr. Naresh Dayal, the Secretary of the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare. Essentially he holds a position similar to the Undersecretary of the HHS in the US. We had a great conversation with him and his deputies regarding improvements in rural healthcare over the past few years, especially neonatal and infants. India is still behind in meeting the Millennium Development Goals set out by UN, but is making progress. In a few of the states it has exceeded infant and maternal mortality rates, others are lagging behind drastically. They are optimistic, but a number of us were concerned that the recent successes were buoyed by the economic upturn and may not be sustainable as the market goes south. (See the interesting article I mentioned when I first arrived in India.) We had a lot of questions for the Secretary and very little time, so we left unsatiated....
Last meeting was with another Cabinet Minister (hmm... to ministers in one day, whatever...) this time from Commerce. Shri Kamal Nath was one of the primary players in the Doha round of the WTO and its subsequent failure. Naturally, that's what we talked about! He maintained that his primary reason for bringing the negotiations to a standstill was to defend the subsistence farmers of India who do not have a social safety net and cannot survive in a market flooded by subsidized American goods.
Now, I agree that the American trade delegation did not have the best stance on this (read: they were overly self-servicing and protectionist and generally made the same diplomatic mistakes that the Bush administration has been infamous for over the past 8 years.) That said, it is unfair for India to diminish its role in maintaining a distortive global trade regime. As India grows as an economic superpower it will have to make domestic concessions (as will the US), which will ultimately improve every one's quality of life.
I apologize for my going on forever here, but it's difficult to summarize in a few paragraphs meeting with people with such heavy responsibilities. Remember that they have to take care of a population nearly 4 times that of the US with an economy less than one tenth the size and a tax revenue that doesn't even compare. I don't envy their jobs and hope that they continue to make that positive improvements in their people's lives that we've seen over the past decade.
Group with the Minister of Defense. We were joined by another group from HKS that was visiting Delhi.
Meeting with the Minister of CommerceWednesday, January 14, 2009
Indian Nationalism
Reporting from Delhi
Our return to Delhi this morning was uneventful and most of us slept through a significant portion of it (at least I did.)
Another touristy agenda this afternoon. We started out with a rickshaw ride through a market in Old Delhi. Being pulled through the streets by a person may not be the most ridiculous thing we could have done, but it’s up there. There was a minor revolt by a few members of the group that just wanted to walk. Their pragmatism ultimately paid off when we got stuck in a traffic jam and the walking traffic was making better progress. At which point we abandoned our rides and started to walk. Our guide seemed a bit confused at the whole ordeal: why wouldn’t a bunch of tourists want to make a spectacle of themselves? Well, at least I got some fun pictures. (I didn’t get a picture of a cow walking up and peeing on one of the rickshaws, it was priceless, but I was too slow.
Our ride/walk took us to the largest mosque in India. It is a beautiful structure, with a wide courtyard and fountain. Again, some great picture taking opportunities (200rs for a picture-taking permit.) I always find it interesting when we go through “security” at a place like that. There is generally metal detectors, there is generally a guard, but the two don’t necessarily seem to be closely associated. Rather, we walk through the metal detector, it beeps, the guard glances at us from his chair several yards away, we smile, he looks away, we continue: plot averted.
We made two more stops before returning to the hotel: the memorial to Mahatma Ghandi at the site of his cremation and Hanuman’s tomb. Both were excellent although it was surprising how few people were at the Ghandi memorial given that it was a beautiful park, free, and a Sunday.
After getting dressed up at the hotel, we pulled ourselves together for one more event, a Kennedy School alumni meeting. We arrived expecting a cocktail hour and some easy chatting, but were met with a serious lineup of speakers. (I've misplaced my notes, so no names...) Our host was a 1991 grad and introduced 2 national security experts. The conversations were very interesting (and not for attribution), but in general they painted a bleak picture for South Asian regional stability. The first speaker was a fierce Indian Nationalist, which may have its time and place, but when two countries are on the precipice of war probably not the best rhetoric. The second speaker was more measured, outlining weaknesses in the current infrastructure and planned improvements.
I sincerely hope, for the safety of all concerned, that cooler heads prevail.
Our return to Delhi this morning was uneventful and most of us slept through a significant portion of it (at least I did.)
Another touristy agenda this afternoon. We started out with a rickshaw ride through a market in Old Delhi. Being pulled through the streets by a person may not be the most ridiculous thing we could have done, but it’s up there. There was a minor revolt by a few members of the group that just wanted to walk. Their pragmatism ultimately paid off when we got stuck in a traffic jam and the walking traffic was making better progress. At which point we abandoned our rides and started to walk. Our guide seemed a bit confused at the whole ordeal: why wouldn’t a bunch of tourists want to make a spectacle of themselves? Well, at least I got some fun pictures. (I didn’t get a picture of a cow walking up and peeing on one of the rickshaws, it was priceless, but I was too slow.
Our ride/walk took us to the largest mosque in India. It is a beautiful structure, with a wide courtyard and fountain. Again, some great picture taking opportunities (200rs for a picture-taking permit.) I always find it interesting when we go through “security” at a place like that. There is generally metal detectors, there is generally a guard, but the two don’t necessarily seem to be closely associated. Rather, we walk through the metal detector, it beeps, the guard glances at us from his chair several yards away, we smile, he looks away, we continue: plot averted.
We made two more stops before returning to the hotel: the memorial to Mahatma Ghandi at the site of his cremation and Hanuman’s tomb. Both were excellent although it was surprising how few people were at the Ghandi memorial given that it was a beautiful park, free, and a Sunday.
After getting dressed up at the hotel, we pulled ourselves together for one more event, a Kennedy School alumni meeting. We arrived expecting a cocktail hour and some easy chatting, but were met with a serious lineup of speakers. (I've misplaced my notes, so no names...) Our host was a 1991 grad and introduced 2 national security experts. The conversations were very interesting (and not for attribution), but in general they painted a bleak picture for South Asian regional stability. The first speaker was a fierce Indian Nationalist, which may have its time and place, but when two countries are on the precipice of war probably not the best rhetoric. The second speaker was more measured, outlining weaknesses in the current infrastructure and planned improvements.
I sincerely hope, for the safety of all concerned, that cooler heads prevail.
In front of Hanuman's Tomb
Our bus... in case there was a doubt in anyone's mind
Rickshaw fun!
Another wonder of the world
OK, back to blogging…
Reporting from Agra
Another early morning today as we headed out on our five-hour bus ride to the ancient Mogul capital of Agra. Fortunately, we decided to stay the night there, instead of making it a day trip. Regardless, we’ve been racking up our bus time… The bus ride gave us another opportunity to shop at an opportunistic tourist shop along the highway, so that’s good.
A note about driving in India. First, there are no freeways and the traffic along the highways generally crawls along at about 70kph. You do get to see a number of exciting sights though: monkeys, elephants, camels, herds of sheep, temples, etc. Commercial vehicles are generally only licensed to operate in one state, so at every border we had to stop to purchase a license allowing the bus to continue. I would have guessed that this would impede interstate commerce, but it doesn’t seem to be too significant. Almost all the trucks have “Blow Horn” or the like written on their tailgates and the other motorists comply gladly.
How was the Taj Mahal?
-Spectacular
Did you take lots of pictures?
-Yes
(Pictures are worth a thousand words)
Obligatory Taj solo picture
I think we were meant to look tough in this picture
Reporting from Agra
Another early morning today as we headed out on our five-hour bus ride to the ancient Mogul capital of Agra. Fortunately, we decided to stay the night there, instead of making it a day trip. Regardless, we’ve been racking up our bus time… The bus ride gave us another opportunity to shop at an opportunistic tourist shop along the highway, so that’s good.
A note about driving in India. First, there are no freeways and the traffic along the highways generally crawls along at about 70kph. You do get to see a number of exciting sights though: monkeys, elephants, camels, herds of sheep, temples, etc. Commercial vehicles are generally only licensed to operate in one state, so at every border we had to stop to purchase a license allowing the bus to continue. I would have guessed that this would impede interstate commerce, but it doesn’t seem to be too significant. Almost all the trucks have “Blow Horn” or the like written on their tailgates and the other motorists comply gladly.
How was the Taj Mahal?
-Spectacular
Did you take lots of pictures?
-Yes
(Pictures are worth a thousand words)
Obligatory Taj solo picture
Apparently, the Taj makes people jump for joy! (Sorry Carlyn...)
I think we were meant to look tough in this pictureSunday, January 11, 2009
Homework
I'm going to be another day or so before I post again. I'm finishing up my last final. Been having fun though and have a lot of great pictures!
Saturday, January 10, 2009
Travel Day (and Shawarma)
Reporting from Delhi
Not a lot going on today - I spent the morning in my room finishing my Economics and Security final (Got it in 2 hours before the deadline!) while most everyone else did a short tour of Bangalore. Apparently I didn't miss much, which is what I expected based on the travel guides. Our flight to Delhi was uneventful, but I would like to note that the Indian airlines still serve food in their economy class and have great service despite cheap tickets. Take that United!
Once settled in Delhi, we decided to celebrate our halfway point by throwing caution to the wind and eating at what was basically a street vendor. The food was amazing and the staff found our presence quite amusing, it seems that few foreigners have the guts (literally and figuratively) to eat there. We raised a few eyebrows by ordering too much, but we did our damnedest to eat it all. We were almost successful... I had a pile of bones on my plate testifying to the carnage. (unfortunately I didn't have my camera so I'll have to wait for the picture swap to review.)
Tomorrow, it's an early morning drive to Agra where we'll see the Taj Mahal, to knock another Wonder off my list!
Not a lot going on today - I spent the morning in my room finishing my Economics and Security final (Got it in 2 hours before the deadline!) while most everyone else did a short tour of Bangalore. Apparently I didn't miss much, which is what I expected based on the travel guides. Our flight to Delhi was uneventful, but I would like to note that the Indian airlines still serve food in their economy class and have great service despite cheap tickets. Take that United!
Once settled in Delhi, we decided to celebrate our halfway point by throwing caution to the wind and eating at what was basically a street vendor. The food was amazing and the staff found our presence quite amusing, it seems that few foreigners have the guts (literally and figuratively) to eat there. We raised a few eyebrows by ordering too much, but we did our damnedest to eat it all. We were almost successful... I had a pile of bones on my plate testifying to the carnage. (unfortunately I didn't have my camera so I'll have to wait for the picture swap to review.)
Tomorrow, it's an early morning drive to Agra where we'll see the Taj Mahal, to knock another Wonder off my list!
Friday, January 9, 2009
Math Festival!
Reporting from Bangalore...
Today has been the highlight of the trip so far. We visited the Rishi Valley Institute, an organization that is improving the way primary education is delivered to rural communities. To get there, we had to drive 4 hours south of Bangalore, but it was worth it. The bus ride was “interesting” to say the least with a more than a few zero gravity moments. I guess that’s what happens when you combine bad back country roads with bad bus suspension.
Despite the horrific journey, there weren’t any accidents or overly nauseated passengers, so once we arrived we were excited and rearing to go (albeit a little shaken.) Two Indian educators who believed the traditional education system had structural and cultural barriers that inhibited rural traditions from receiving an education started the Rishi Valley Institute in the early Eighties. The program focuses on a self-paced, moderated program with simple activities to promote self-learning. It also incorporates cultural elements by bringing in family and community members into the school and eliminates textbooks. This is especially important in India, where a textbook that comes from only a few hundred miles away may be written by a non-native language speaker who is completely segregated from the cultural norms of the area.
After getting a short introduction, we visited a math competition that invites the community to try their hand at events moderated by the students. We each received scorecards and were to go visit the various stations. They ranged from guessing ones height or weight to playing with tannengrams. Most of the kids had a rudimentary knowledge of English and we also had a few helpers to assist (they wore sashes that said, “May I help you?”). Our welcome was amazing and the group was extremely friendly.
After the fair, we went to visit another school site to see the system in action. The students there were enthusiastic, if shy at first, for our visit. Without speaking a common language we still managed to have a few laughs as they tried to teach us to "read" their composition books. It turns out that I learned how to say "I want to learn", appropriate for the setting. Afterwards, they did a small puppet show for us, demonstrating an important aspect of incorporating culture into the lessons.
India Trekkers with the Rishi Valley founders
A couple of excited kids at the Math Competition
Reading aloud (I didn't take this picture, I gave my camera to one of the students. Pretty good job!)
My grades after the math camp... a couple of Bs, not bad! (Considering everything was in metric measurements and another language)
Thursday, January 8, 2009
Silicon Valley of India
Reporting from Bangalore...
Also, in unrelated news - the Indians are experiencing their own form of corporate scandal ala Madoff Investments. It appears that Mr. Raju, the CEO of Satyam (an IT company), overstated the worth of his corporation by 1.2 billion dollars.
Yesterday we flew to Bangalore in the morning and drove straight to the Infosys headquarters. They have a campus similar to that of Google in Silicon Valley (or so they say, I've never been invited to Google). WIth about 25,000 employees at that location, the facility has several gyms, a pool hall, a swimming pool, a few dining facilities, not to mention the office space. The site does look like it belongs more in Southern California than Southern India. India, and it's traffic, are waiting just outside the gates though!
We discussed the growth model for the largest of India's IT companies (especially after the transgressions of their closest competitor) and the interaction they've had with various government sectors. The challenge of growing from a 300 person company in 1991 to one expected to top 110,000 this year is fairly significant. This especially when one considers the state of Indian infrastructure in 1991. Since then, they had to create the telecom backbone enabling such a significant operation.
Infosys was named the best Indian company to work for the last two years and has had a strong focus on community development. They've made a sustainability pledge and are working to be recognized as a responsible global corporation. With the economic downturn, they've shifted some of their focus back home (90% of their work is done in North America and Europe and only 1% in India). We discussed the problems and possibilities in such a shift, but it looks like their business model won't change too much, there still isn't much money to be made outsourcing within India.
As a side note - several times on this trip, our guides and presenters have discussed how Chinese manufacturing is underpricing India's and closing down industries: textiles in particular. I suppose it's just further proof that no one can be happy in a globalized economy.
On the way home we had the opportunity to experience Banaglore's infamous traffic. It took us 2 hours to drive 6 miles. That evening, we went out to dinner riding in the local taxi (a tricycle motor carraige or tuk-tuk.) On the way home, the tuk-tuk drivers decided it would be fun to race. There's nothing like swerving in and out of traffic on the back of a flimsy tuk-tuk in a place where the rules of the road frequently seem optional.
No pictures of Infosys and nothing worth posting otherwise. More tomorrow, now I have to finish one of my finals...
The Times of India had an interesting article about a couple of Harvard students yesterday...
Also, in unrelated news - the Indians are experiencing their own form of corporate scandal ala Madoff Investments. It appears that Mr. Raju, the CEO of Satyam (an IT company), overstated the worth of his corporation by 1.2 billion dollars.
Yesterday we flew to Bangalore in the morning and drove straight to the Infosys headquarters. They have a campus similar to that of Google in Silicon Valley (or so they say, I've never been invited to Google). WIth about 25,000 employees at that location, the facility has several gyms, a pool hall, a swimming pool, a few dining facilities, not to mention the office space. The site does look like it belongs more in Southern California than Southern India. India, and it's traffic, are waiting just outside the gates though!
We discussed the growth model for the largest of India's IT companies (especially after the transgressions of their closest competitor) and the interaction they've had with various government sectors. The challenge of growing from a 300 person company in 1991 to one expected to top 110,000 this year is fairly significant. This especially when one considers the state of Indian infrastructure in 1991. Since then, they had to create the telecom backbone enabling such a significant operation.
Infosys was named the best Indian company to work for the last two years and has had a strong focus on community development. They've made a sustainability pledge and are working to be recognized as a responsible global corporation. With the economic downturn, they've shifted some of their focus back home (90% of their work is done in North America and Europe and only 1% in India). We discussed the problems and possibilities in such a shift, but it looks like their business model won't change too much, there still isn't much money to be made outsourcing within India.
As a side note - several times on this trip, our guides and presenters have discussed how Chinese manufacturing is underpricing India's and closing down industries: textiles in particular. I suppose it's just further proof that no one can be happy in a globalized economy.
On the way home we had the opportunity to experience Banaglore's infamous traffic. It took us 2 hours to drive 6 miles. That evening, we went out to dinner riding in the local taxi (a tricycle motor carraige or tuk-tuk.) On the way home, the tuk-tuk drivers decided it would be fun to race. There's nothing like swerving in and out of traffic on the back of a flimsy tuk-tuk in a place where the rules of the road frequently seem optional.
No pictures of Infosys and nothing worth posting otherwise. More tomorrow, now I have to finish one of my finals...
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