As we make our way through the colors, stories and contradictions of India, through this blog, we hope to give a glimpse of what we experience - inside and outside the classroom.
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1. The Gate of India 2. The Qutub Minar Tower 3. Palakshi Blessing Punyav 4. The Group + The Pal Family 5. The Terra Cotta Mural at Spice Route
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August 7 - One (Planned) Day More
Today was our first official day in Delhi, and we had quite a cultural and culinary itinerary lined up to soak up everything the capital of India has to offer. To kick off the day, we took a brief drive to the India Gate, a memorial no more than 10 minutes from our hotel that remembers all the Indian soldiers who passed away in World War I. In front of the monument, flags symbolizing India’s Air Force, Navy, and Army waved free. Despite the numerous strangers trying to hijack our group photos, seeing such a public memorial to the Armed Forces was deeply moving.
Next, we met up with a tour guide named Pia to show us around the Qutub Minar complex in Delhi, which featured a stunning six story pillar dating back to 1192 AD and the first mosque in India in the area. Although the complex was stunning, the weather made it nearly unbearable to explore any further. It was hot and humid to begin with, but it began to rain upon our entrance to the complex. Elsewhere in India, light rain helped to make the humidity bearable; however, the cloudy rain evolved into sun showers, which quickly evaporated all the water that was raining down and further intensified the humidity. All of us agreed that we had never felt more uncomfortable from the weather on our trip than we did this morning. We wanted to explore and give the complex more of a chance, but we quickly retreated to the bus for some refuge from the stickiness. We’re wimpy tourists.
After the complex, we dropped off Pia and headed to Gurgaon, a neighborhood in Delhi, to attend a celebration of Rakshah Bandhan, also known as Rahki, with Punyav’s family. Rahki is an Indian festival that commemorates the bond of brothers and sisters. In the ceremony, the sister blesses the brother with red powder and ties a bracelet, called a rahki, onto the brother’s hand, marking him as her protector, and then feeds the brother a cashew sweet. In return, the brother provides her with a gift to show his care for her. We witnessed Punyav’s sister Palakshi tie a bracelet for both Punyav and her cousin, as first cousins are essentially siblings in the traditionally tight-knit Indian family. Then, Palakshi tied rahkis onto the wrists of all the boys on the trip, touchingly insisting that we were all siblings of the family after celebrating with them. Thankfully, I was the last one to get a rahki, so that means the other five boys on the trip have to fail before I get tapped to do any serious protection work.
Following the ceremony, we had a delicious, home-cooked meal with Punyav’s family and got to know each other better. After eating, we said our goodbyes, as we had to head back to our hotel and debrief before our (final) class at 5PM. However, our day was not over after class, as we had a meal at the Spice Route, rated by Conde Nast as one of the top ten restaurants in the world, planned for that evening.
The Spice Route is a concept restaurant that reflects the literal Spice Route and, on a grander scale, life – complete with hand-painted walls and deeply detailed architecture, each room of the restaurant was designed to capture one of the nine different stages in ‘the journey of life’. The room we sat in was a metaphor for the stage of ‘luxury’, and it fit the theme dead on - in addition to having notably larger wine glasses than the rest of the tables in the restaurant, the walls of our room were lined with literal 24K gold. Our waiter gave us a tour of all the different rooms, and some of the concepts were both stunning and meaningful. For example, the room which represented ‘loss’ featured a terra cotta mural with people gently holding one another in lines as a metaphor for a vision of the afterlife. This mural was crafted by hand by blind monks, whose lack of sight strengthened their sense of touch so acutely that they learned to replicate human faces just by touching and feeling the contours of one’s face.
After the tour, we indulged ourselves in the three course pre-fixe meal by the world famous Thai chef Veena Arora. Although the food was spectacular, Prof. Lefevre said it best: “you’ll enjoy the food, but you’ll never forget the experience”. After the meal, we headed back to our hotel as we prepared ourselves for our last planned day on the trip.
Phil Z
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August 6th
Today was a very exciting day. We woke up early to see the Taj Mahal at sunrise. We were out of the hotel by 5:25 and at the Taj by 5:30 as our hotel was right around the corner from the Taj. After getting our tickets and going through security we were finally at the gates. We learned about the optical illusion nature of the Taj as it appears larger the farther out that a person stands. We lined up in a straight line outside the front gates and single file we walk in – the Taj getting smaller and smaller with each. The precision with which we walked would put any 1st grade class to absolute shame. I personally felt like a first grader who was in the back of the line and couldn’t see over everyone else so he had to give himself some room to see over the others – only difference was that I am nineteen. I can’t say I ever had that experience in first grade, I was a big first grader. The Taj was underwhelming… if I was expecting to see a literal heaven on earth. The sheer size of the Taj is overwhelming, and we lucked out in our timing of our visit. Apparently a two year cleaning project of the marble walls had just finished. Even more overwhelming is the attention to detail that was shown to creating the Taj. The Taj was created by Shah Jahan, a great Mughal emperor, for his most beloved wife; it was created to look like heaven on earth, and would have costed $61 billion dollars to create today. The marble is inlayed with semiprecious stones that created beautiful artistic drawings on the sides. After visiting the Taj we went back to the hotel for some rest and breakfast before we checked out. We then ventured to the Agra Fort, which has been around since around 1000 A.D., but was built to its present state by Shah Jahan’s Grandfather, Akbar. The fort has many beauftiful palaces within, but we were only able to tour aboiut a 5th of the grounds because the Indian Military still uses the rest of the fort. After visiting the Agra Fort we went to a marble cooperative where the descendants of the very people who crafted the marble masterpieces of the Taj Mahal create beautiful marble pieces. We got a chance to see how they craft the pieces, and then we got to see some of the finished pieces. After this we went to lunch and made our way to Delhi – Punyav’s home!
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August 5, 2017
Today began bright and early as we all packed up and left Jaipur. After a quick breakfast we departed on our drive to Agra, the home to the Taj Mahal. On our drive we stopped in the village of Abhaneri for the afternoon. We first stopped at the Chand Baori step well, which was a beautifully designed rainwater storage basin. After taking some amazing pictures, we all geared up for our camel ride through the village of Abhaneri. There was a mixture of excitement and nervousness as we stood face to face with the camels. One by one we began riding around the path taking in the fantastic scenery around us. It was a wonderful change of pace from the bustling nature of the cities we have been visiting. The camel ride lasted about a half an hour and was the perfect way to break up the five hours of driving today. The camel ride ended and we sat down for a nice buffet for lunch at the camp in Abhaneri. We again boarded the bus and had a quick discussion of a book we all read for one of our classes. Everyone shared their thoughts on different parts of the book and the discussion was very fruitful. Once we finished talking about the book we all fell back asleep for the rest of our trip to Agra.We then arrived at the Trident Hotel in Agra in the late afternoon. We all relaxed for the rest of the evening to prepare ourselves for a sunrise visit to the Taj Mahal. What a great day we had today and tomorrow is looking to be amazing as well!
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August 4th, 2017 Today started with a quick in class session. We looked at the case of Haier, a kitchen appliance company with a unique management system. We got to learn about why it worked so well, as well as what they did and how they adapted their model for different countries. It was a great case to learn about, although perhaps their corporate culture was just a little intimidating for some of us!! After getting out of class, we headed to the streets of Jaipur. Going up and down through the markets, we got bustled and shoved just a little bit while trying to find leather, jewelry, clothes, and other goodies. While the shop keeps could be just a little pushy, we met some awesome people along the way. Haggling and bargaining was a bit of a challenge, but we think we were able to get some pretty good deals in the end! After finding our way back to the hotel and freshening up, we got the chance to go to a different local hotel for dinner. A converted palace, the hotel offered a magnificent setting for a delicious dinner. While the food was great, the private tour we got after was even better. We even got to check out the presidential sweet, which goes for up to 16 lakh a night - I'll let you look up the conversion. After our little tour ended, we headed back to our hotel to try and get some sleep before a big day traveling to Agra. Thanks! Matthew :)
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3 August 2017
Day 25.
The fact that it is already my third turn on the blog means our time in India is ending way too soon.
Today was a very full and incredible day. On our first day in Jaipur, aka the “pink city” (it’s really more of a terracotta), we saw many of the top tourist attractions. After breakfast, we met our tour guide for the day who brought us first to the beautiful Amber Fort. We couldn’t simply walk up to the fort… we rode ELEPHANTS. Though the elephants were rather slow moving, they were gentle and beautiful.
I got to feed my elephant a banana that I took from breakfast which supposedly brings good luck.
The fort was built in the early 17th century and is where the Maharaja (king) lived with his twelve wives. We explored the various tunnels and intricate rooms. The fort combines Mughal, Hindu and colonial architecture.
From there we went to a Jaipur handicraft emporium where we learned about block printing and how their rugs were made.
We had a delicious lunch at Aanandam before heading to Janta Mantar, a collection of 19 architectural astronomical instruments. There was a monument for each zodiac sign and 2 sun dials (when the first one wasn’t quite accurate enough, they made one 20 times bigger!)
Next, we went across the street to the City Palace, which includes Chandra Mahal. The royal family of Rajasthan still resides here. Inside, we saw an exhibit on textiles and clothing worn by the royalty.
We were also lucky enough to visit Ladli, a vocational training program for abused, orphaned and destitute children. Ladli runs schools and shelters as well as a hotline on which they receive and respond to dozens of calls each day. We got to meet some of the kids and shop their beautiful jewelry and clothing creations.
After a full day, we went back to the hotel to prepare for class tomorrow. Most of us enjoyed dinner together at Rainbow Restaurant and all agreed that we’re excited to explore Jaipur’s famous markets after class tomorrow.
- Molly Osmulski
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Before the Pink City
2 August 2017
The plan for today was Fidelity Investments, and then fly to Jaipur.
Our visit to Fidelity Investments was a very fulfilling and satisfying experience. We met with senior members of the Bangalore office, all of whom were very kind and knowledgeable.
They had organized (and surprised us with) a very simple and short market analysis task conducted in teams, followed by a 5 minute presentation.
Fidelity was one of the most engaging and educational experience I have had on this trip. Their team answered our questions in depth, and helped us understand who they are, what they do, and how they make their money. Thank you very much for everything this morning, Fidelity.
After Fidelity, we returned to the hotel, checked out, and headed to the airport. The Bangalore skyline was truly beautiful this evening, and we flew IndiGo Airlines for two hours to Jaipur, the Pink City.
We had dinner at the hotel almost as soon as we arrived, and the food was delicious. We had Indian and Western food as options for the main course. This was Charlie’s dinner (yes I forgot to take a photo of my own dinner).
This is what the desert plate looked like
This is what Lisa’s accumulated ice cream bowls looked like
When life gives you ice cream, eat it.
Good night.
Love,
Yuri
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Tuesday, August 1st, 2017
First of all hey! It’s August already! Can you believe it? I sure can’t! Oh well, so to start off the month, today we met up with Mr. Prasanna, the head of a joint venture between the American industrial giant, GE and top Indian IT Consulting firm Wipro, at Fava. He told us about his experience in marketing, how he grew the GE division from $5M to $200M. The restaurant we were at, Fava, was fantastic, the food was great, and it has just recently won the Foodie Award for Best Mediterranean Restaurant as a Standalone for the year (2017). It was a wonderful experience because we not only learned so much from Mr. Prasanna’s wisdom, but ate delicious food.
After parting ways, we went to the Infosys headquarters here in Bangalore’s Electric City. We were first given a short meeting in which the company’s history was summed up for us, and then we got to tour around the ~90 acre campus which has about 30 thousand workers. It was amazing. It was sooo huge yet so beautiful. It was quite the experience, and I think I can say on behalf of all of us that working at a place like that would be a dream.
The meeting and tour were over and we were all left to wander on our own. Matt, Charlie, Eric, Lisa, Molly and I went to Commercial Street and GM street to explore and do some local shopping. Yuri met up with a friend. Phil, Alex, and Professor Lefevre went to pick up their tailored suits/pants, and Punyav rested at the hotel.
We all enjoyed our last night in Bangalore, but can’t wait for what will come in these last few days ahead of us :)
Stay tuned,
Maria
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July 31st
Lisa here!
We started the day off bright and early to travel to the Wildlife Conservation society where we met with Dr. Ullas Karanth. He founded this society after following his passion and interest in wildlife. He told us about their efforts to help save wild tigers and other wild animals through tracking devices and ensuring their environments are safe. As part of an effort to save not only the tigers but help people, the WCS relocates civilizations that are harmed by wildlife eating their crops and attacking their citizens so they can live a safer life. Check out their website: http://wcsindia.org/home/
After speaking with Dr. Karanth, we headed over to the National Center for Biological Sciences to check out their research on Tiger stem cells. We spoke with lab head Uma Ramakrishnan who analyzes tiger DNA in order to track the population.
When we got back, it was time for our first lecture with (a very jetlagged) Professor Lefevre! We discussed a case study and had some really great conversations about cultural adaptation and culture clashing in business environments.
After sitting in class, we were visted by two members of the Bangalore Improv group, Nassar and Abeshake. We got to let out our goofy sides as they lead us through various improv games. It was 2 fantastic hours filled with laughs and reflection on our time here in India.
Sadly, last night we had to say goodbye to our beloved TA, Sagar and the hilarious and knowledgable Professor Mulki. Sagar has organized everything for us the past 3 weeks, and nothing would have been possible without him. We would all probably be stuck lost in Mumbai without him. We will miss Sagar’s incredible personality, snappy jokes, and infectious happiness, but we are excited to welcome our new TA, Priyavrat aka PV aka Peevie! Professor Mulki never failed to make us laugh or encourage us to take advantage of happy hour, but we are happy to have Professor Lefeve (you can call him Duane when he’s not in a suit) with us for the remainder of the trip!
Peace out blog, it’s been real!
-Lisa Morgan ★
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30th July!
The day started with a lazy morning with everyone waking up late at different hours, some even skipping breakfast, giving justice to a typical Sunday. We all took to different activities, some individually, while some in groups. Many took the opportunity of a free day and a beautiful weather to explore the city. M.G. road (or Mahatma Gandhi road) was the perfect spot to hit as it covered almost every possible thing one would want to do in Bangalore. While some enjoyed a delicious Sunday brunch, there were some who took the time to relax themselves after a stressful week by getting a spa. A few also went to visit their local friends from Bangalore. Many also visited the famous Cauvery Handicrafts Emporium, which was just the perfect place to get some gorgeous Indian souvenirs to take back home. In the evening, after having an eventful day, very unwillingly, everyone got busy with their essays due at midnight and wrapped up yet another day. -Punyav
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July 29
Today was a very unique day. First, we welcomed Professor Lefevre to the trip! We had a site visit this morning at a place called Varnam. Varnam is a multi-award-winning social enterprise that has been working with artisans in Channapatna, Karnataka in India, for over 4 years. They make all different types of handicrafts which include Toys, Jewelry, Clothes, Lamps, etc. While there, we had the head of Varnam talk to us about why he started the business and all the factors that go into this particular profession.
After the site visit, we all went to a lunch place for a bite to eat before we returned to our hotel where most of us worked on some work we had. Tonight we went to Sagar’s friend’s house where we received a cooking lesson from Professor Lefevre’s old cook. Some photos from the night:
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July 28
Today, we spent most of our day at the stunning Indian Institute of Management in Bangalore, one of the top Business Universities in East Asia.With a labyrinthian quality to the campus (read: we couldn’t get around without any help) and ivy growing along the walls in a way that had to have happened naturally but seemed too perfect to have been accidental, it immediately made today's trip feel a little bit more epic. One of the students we met with said it was referred to as the “Garden of Bangalore”, and it was clear why.
The first thing we did during our day at IIM was receive a lecture from Prof. Preeti Krishnan Lyndem, who spoke about a few different India-exclusive brands in order to give us perspective on different elements of the Indian market. Straying from most lectures we receive at Northeastern, she personalized the lesson by using a few write-ups we sent to her before our trip (and, admittedly, most of us forgot even writing) to provide us all products from different brands that fit our interests. Mine was a drink from the Coca-Cola company called “Rim Zim” that tasted like liquid cumin (in a good way). Although it wasn’t exactly refreshing for me to drink, Prof. Lyndem explained that Coca-Cola developed it to replicate a popular Indian drink called jal-jeera. Given that I had a Coke sitting on my desk and I have been trying to be an adventurous eater on the trip, the product she provided was really a perfect fit for me.
After the lecture, we took a brief tour of the Financial Markets Lab at IIM Bangalore before eating a delicious buffet lunch with a few of Prof. Lyndem’s doctoral students and Anand Venkateswaran, a Northeastern University Professor conducting research there. We gabbed over the delicious food about the sights to see in Bangalore and India, before delving into a tour of the campus led by the doctoral students. It was incredible to see how reserved from the chaos of Bangalore the campus felt and get an understanding of how the students there lived. After the tour, we all took a moment to reflect on one another on the trip so far and the things we had seen that had impacted us. We discussed the ways that Western culture has taken hold in India for better or for worse and the differences in social mobility between America and India. The conversation enabled us to not only debrief over the busy past few weeks but also try to make sense of what we can do with the knowledge we’ve acquired on the trip once we get back to the States.
IIM Bangalore provided us a glimpse at what academic life in India is like and could be like if any of us decided to pursue an academic career in India. After a long day on campus and an even longer week of site visits and travel, we all treated ourselves to a night exploring all the wonders Bangalore has to offer so that we are relaxed and ready for our visit to the social enterprise Varnam tomorrow morning.
Phil
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