India Unbound

The randomness that is India didn’t end with our housing issues. On the first day of classes, we took the auto rickshaw to the address provided to us. After circling around the area for a little while, we asked a local if he knew where the D-31 Defense Colony building was. He pointed us to the adjacent street but he insisted our address was incorrect since the building was recently demolished and under reconstruction. We figured he had no idea what he was talking about… but low and behold, when we arrived our university was a floor and a half high amidst a pile of rubble! The sign directed us to C-133, our makeshift building – we entered our classroom, a converted living room inside someone’s apartment!

If the location was unassuming, the American Institute of Indian Studies (AIIS) is anything but. Affiliated with over 100 American Universities, AIIS is a launch point for International Studies in India – ranging from the study of 18 distinct Indian languages, to affiliation with archeology sites in India, to government projects for India’s national museums. It was reminiscent of a language school in Latin America with an Indian flair – i.e. endless cups of free tea, breakfast in class and a full serving kitchen.

In true Indian fashion, we began our day’s program a half hour late. We didn’t actually have class, but it was more of an introduction and orientation. With pleasantries out of the way, we were taken to a conference center to meet two of India’s greatest thought leaders – Mr. Gurcharan Das and Dr. Ashis Nandy! Mr. Gurcharan Das is a bestselling author of “India Unbound”, former CEO of Proctor & Gamble India and former Managing Director of Proctor & Gamble Worldwide. Dr. Ashis Nandy is a prominent Indian political psychologist and has previously appeared on the list of Top 100 Intellectuals on Foreign Policy and won the Fukuoka Asian Culture Prize.

Being the inaugural Hindi class of the Lauder Institute, we were a little suspicious of the quality of business and national leaders we would get a chance to meet, but we started with a BANG! The lineup on day 1 blew us all away and we took advantage of the opportunity, enjoying a thoroughly engaging conversation with our celebrity speakers. Much credit goes to our Hindi Program Director and the Lauder Institute – the Hindi track is off to a great start.

The Apartment

Upon landing in Delhi, I was excited to see our apartment. A friend, living in the US managed to hook me up with an awesome pad in a new apartment building with a gym. A gym!! That’s unheard of in India… off the hook! The taxi slowed down at the apartment...

Taxi fare	Rs. 160
Mineral water	Rs. 175
Mattresses for apartment	Rs. 1500
“Gym”	Climbing up 3 flights of stairs with heavy luggage
Indian style bathroom	Free
Wasp’s nest in bathroom	Also Free
2 dead wasps	Killed by roommate
Security system	2 stray dogs
Average temperature in Delhi	110o F (~40o C)
Air Conditioning	Non-existent
Refrigerator	Also Non-existent
Hours of running water	30 mins per day
Water tank	Empty
Pump for water tank	Burnt Out
Plumber Costs	Rs. 4500
Summer Immersion in India	PRICELESS!

The issue wasn’t so much with the amount of problems with the apartment, these kinds of things tend to be commonplace in India, but it was more an issue of expectations. My friend (who for the record is living it up in West Palm Beach, Florida) told me there was a gym in the building and that was the basis for a WHOLE bunch of other assumptions. Clearly all of them turned out to be false so my roommate and I have been sweating it out (literally) for the last 4 days. To add insult to injury, the area of town we’re living in is across from slums, there are no fun places to hang out and it’s a 30-minute auto rickshaw ride to classes every morning (which also happens to be the 30 minutes when the city water is available).

The good news is we’re not sticking it out here any longer… We found a place with all the amenities we need for a great price and walking distance from our classes. We’ll be moving there once we return from Mumbai. As for my friend in West Palm, she’s been very apologetic about the whole thing – don’t worry, I won’t hold it against you for more than a few years! :)

Off to Delhi

As part of the International Studies portion of my masters, I’m off to New Delhi for 2 months. The goal during of the immersion is to improve our language skills – we’ll have Hindi classes every morning, followed by corporate or cultural visits most afternoons. There are 5 of us in the inaugural Hindi track and we’re paving the way for future Hindi track Lauderites.

After exams got done on Thursday afternoon, I rushed home to pack. By the time everything was said and done it was already midnight and we had to take a 2:40 AM bus to Newark airport. Naturally, we weren’t planning to sleep so off we went to Silk City to party with the rest of the Lauder class. 2 hours of partying later, we stumbled to the bus stop and went to Newark. My sleeping habits took the best of me as I slept on the bus and on the plane to Heathrow. Now here I am, on the second leg of the journey – Delhi is just 4 hours away!

Lauder Love - May 2011

Wow! I can't believe the month of May has almost entirely passed. I started classes on May 9th and since then it's been a whirlwind. For those like me, that thought business school would be significantly less work than a professional job, we were surely mistaken! There's just no way to keep up with all the material that's thrown at you so you have to get good at pruning out what you need to study.

On the academics side - I've had 3 classes throughout this month:

• Competitive Strategy/Global Strategic Management
• South Asia Area History
• Hindi Language Classes

But the BIG decision is how you'll trade off the academics with the endless number of social activities. Off the top of my head I think I've attended the following in the last 3 weeks:

• 3G Party - 3 generations of Lauder students partying until 4 AM
• 1G Party - just our Lauder generation - also partying until 4 AM

• BRIC dinner - somehow the Brazilians never got the invite for this! :(
• A minority tracks dinner - to get back at the Chinese track!
• Entrepreneurship dinner at Zaffron (owned by a fellow Lauder classmate)
• Entrepreneurship dinner II

• Hangover 2 night
• A party before going to NYC
• A party in NYC
• A party for coming back from NYC
• A party because we hadn't had a party in 2 days

So that's basically what happens when you put 70 of the most international and vastly diverse group of students together. It all adds up to one big family, known as Lauder LOVE!

Back to Philadelphia

The final morning of the first Equipé, brother trip we had a wonderful Guatemalan breakfast and then walked around Antigua. Wifi Freak and I headed back to Guatemala City airport leaving Photo Freak to enjoy 2 more days in Guatemala. It was a sad moment but Equipé, brother will only spend a week apart before we reunite for the start of classes on May 9th.

For yours truly, Sleeping Beauty, you may spot me wearing a Guatemala hat and sleeping on some form of public or private transportation on my way to England, UK. I will be spending some quality time with my family before embarking on my MBA journey.

Tikal

The second last day in Guatemala – we took a trip to Tikal, an ancient Mayan city that existed from approximately 200 BC to 900 AD. It was quite a long journey to get there – we took a shuttle bus back to Guatemala City, hopped on a 1 hour flight to Flores and finally, another shuttle bus to Tikal (of course I slept through most of each leg). Archaeologists are still excavating Tikal and the amount of history here is fascinating.

We happened to arrive during the hottest month of the year at the hottest time of the day, which made for an interesting tour. We were so eager to complete the 4-hour tour and get out of the heat that we rushed the guide through the whole thing. We didn’t even give him a chance to get some rest, although we did offer him water multiple times. We got done the tour in 2.5 hours and the poor tour guide looked ready to collapse by the end of it! The abridged tour gave us a lot of free time, so we stayed cool by drinking Cerveza Gallo (Guatemalan beer) and enjoyed the sunset while we played dominos.

Equipé, brother at Lago de Atitlan

Once again we took an early shuttle bus, today to Lake Atitlan. The lake is surrounded by 3 volcanoes and is considered one of the most picturesque lakes in the world. The towns surrounding the lake are inhabited by Mayans who have maintained their culture on the most part. We visited San Juan and Santiago – the Mayans in this region are known for their arts & crafts and coffee production. We also got an inside peek into their daily lives, including their worship of Saint Maximon, who the Mayans offer alcohol and cigarettes to. Quite different from the offerings I’m used to as a Hindu!

But the most exciting moment of the day for me was the purchase of my Guatemala hat – I finally had the appropriate attire to be a part of “Equipé, brother.” “Equipé, brother” – a term popularized by a Brazilian Coca Cola commercial, literally means “Team, brother” but more importantly it represents the team before the individual and in the context of our lives, the team is a group of international travelers with unique eccentricities. Just the 3 of us in the group so far:

• “Wifi Freak” – has the uncontrollable urge to look for wifi signal anywhere – such as inside caves atop a volcano 
• “Photo Freak” – insists on turning any location into a photo opportunity – such as a random building or tree 
• “Sleeping Beauty” – yours truly, aptly named for falling asleep in all kinds of places – cars, buses, boats, planes and the dinner table! 

When not partaking in our passions, we can be recognized by our unique hats – the hat of the country in which we joined Equipé, brother – 2 Panama hats and a Guatemala hat.  Equipé, brother!