April 21 - Leaving Indore

Maria, Delfina & Zack - ready for boarding

I got up early today; given by the time I went to bed last night. I finished my very last bit of packing and went down for breakfast, just early enough to say bye bye to Masashi and Maco who were the next two to leave. Both of them will do some more traveling in India for a week or two, before they would be going home to Japan and Chile. After breakfast it was my turn to get my luggage and to check out. I met with Maria, Delfina and Zack in the lobby who were on the same flight to Delhi this noon. Kabi, Jessica, Tyler and Paul were also in the lobby to say bye bye to us. It was not an easy to leave, especially my two teammates. We’ve really grown together during the past four weeks. Many tears rolled down my cheeks until started laughing hoping this would help to control myself.

the plane that will take us to Delhi

I shared a car with Delfina and the worst was sitting in the car and leaving the hotel, driving down the road which we drove down with a rickshaw so many times, taking the turn to get to the roundabout and crossing the bridge to Rajwada, the street we have done our first walk four weeks ago. Tears shot up my eyes and I had difficulties making sense of what is happening… It has ‘only’ been four weeks.

I have been working in international teams for many years now, with some of those teams I did not only work virtually but also abroad for many months together, probably very similar to the CSC. But still the CSC was different, I cannot describe it right now… but I think what made it so hard leaving is that I left many new friends, of which are 11 CSC team members, Kabi, and Riya, and not to forget famous Hemal.

April 20 - Last minute 'everything'

newly weds at Khajrana Ganesh Temple

My last Friday in Indore. Of course, Kabi had to be right when saying on the first day that we should try to finish our work by Thursday because there will always be some last minute ‘everything’ before leaving. A busy Friday ahead of me, I started it with a visit to the Khajrana Ganesh Temple. Followed by Chhatris, Rajwada a historical palace and Kajuri Bazar which is just next door. After a quick lunch at TI some of us headed to the Tata leather outlet store where I found a few souvenirs and all of the sudden it was already late afternoon. This last day went by way too quickly.


at Khajrana Ganesh Temple

me telling the cow my wish at Khajrana
Ganesh Temple

Chhatris

boys hanging out at Chhatris

a market at Chhatris

Rajwada

Masashi, Delfina, Zack & Maco at Tata
leather outlet can you find Paul
in the picture



Tyler and I trying a 'hot' pepper after
dinner



 In the evening we have been invited by the hotel for cocktails and dinner in the Citrus Café. Sadly, this was also the time when the first 2 of us twelve left Indore. Greg left to catch his plane back home to Australia and Amalia was off to go and meet her husband. Luckily I knew I would meet Amalia again in Delhi a few days later, therefore it was more like a see you later than a bye bye. During the evening we were shifting between the Café and the Bar and it became quiet late… having to say bye bye to Patrick who left early in the morning to go back to Brazil.

April 19 - Final presentation day

me presenting

Tyler, Jessica, Hemal and I
after our presentation

Today was the day. As most of the days Jessica, Tyler and I met in room 314 at 09:30 to start our working day. Today was different though, because we were done. We packed our materials and headed to the IBM Office in Indore, where we would hold our final presentation to Hemal. We started a packed day at 11:00. We were ready and Hemal as well… we presented to her the final outcome of our work and handed over the deliverable to her. We were proud to over-delivered what we have committed to and being able to give Hemal an even better package to start her Women’s Resource Center with. When we finished our presentation she said “perfect, perfect” in the cute little way we have heard often during the last 4 weeks ;o)… obviously a sign that she liked what she has seen. When wrapping up, we all became a little emotional and the first tears had to roll down our cheeks, knowing that our time together with Hemal and her team in Indore will come to an end very soon.



at dinner

But this was not the last time we would see Hemal. The whole CSC India 17 Team, Kabi, Riya as well as Hemal and her family joined us for dinner that night. Hemal couldn’t rest, which she never does, and brought presents for each of CSC team member… the girls got a bag and the guys got a folder made by Concept Society, as well as some Sev, which Indore is known for. Thank you Hemal!

Jessica, me, Tyler, Hemal, her son
and her husband

After dinner it was time to say good bye to Hemal. This was not easy at all. We promised to stay in touch. Hemal… we already miss you!



April 16-18 - How to print in Indore

the printer guy and I

On April 19 we would hold our final presentation to Hemal and hand over the deliverables to her. Until then we have met with representatives from Mahindra, Suzlon and Tata to test the concept but also to get feedback on whether the ideas and assumptions we made are realistic. From all three of them we received valuable feedback which was now up to us to implement those changes so that we could hand over a realistic and feasible concept to Hemal to set up her Women’s Resource Center. Late Wednesday afternoon, Riya was ready to take us to a copy shop in Indore. Prepared with our USB Thumb Drives (that is what they call them here) and the final version of the presentation and all deliverables we went to the shop. The place was crowded and very hot. We had to wait a little bit until it was time for us to print.

me, Jessica, the copy shop guys & Tyler

Unlike to what I am used to at home you are not able to print the stuff on your own, but there is an employee sitting in front of a computer who prints for you. So you end up telling him want you want… which is not simple if you are not fluent in Hindi. Luckily Riya was with us and helped us out. As IBMers are we want it very specifically done in our way and when communication and pointing with fingers on the screen failed I took over the PC for a while. The poor guy, I probably interfered with his personal space now. Anyway, everything got printed and the next stage was to copy all of it a couple of times. Because what we learned was that printing is more expensive than copying... so we did.

I don’t remember how much time we spent in that shop but we got it done and were happy… we had dinner and even had some more time to do a last minute shopping… a leather store and a handbag, this is how the day ended.

April 15 – Meeting the Minister

in front of the minister's house

This morning my phone rang, Tyler telling me that Hemal just called and we have an appointment with the Minister of Industry and Employment of Madhya Pradesh, Kailashji Vijayvargiya. Remember, it is Sunday the only day which is not a working day in India. So we are getting ready to meet the minister. Hemal picks us up and we drive to Old Indore where he has his house. On the way she tells us that he has been hospitalized yesterday and is now back at home but still sick. This is why we suddenly had a chance to get an appointment with him. This wouldn’t happen in Germany… when you are sick; you stay in bed and want as little interaction as possible with others. But this man really must be committed to his work.



the minister, Tyler, Hemal, Jessica and I

When arriving at his place we saw many people in front and in the hall of his house who came to see him. After the confirmation of our appointment we were led into a waiting room. We were told that you usually get little time (2-5 min) with the minister but we are lucky and can expect to have a meeting of about 15 min with him. After a while he joined us in the meeting room and sat down with us. Tyler and Hemal showed him the concept of the Women’s Resource Center that we have been working on over the past 3 weeks and we got really good feedback from him and he promised to support Hemal with this project. Wow… this was great, this is what she wanted. So this meeting went really well. In the end he also introduced us to his wife and his two little dogs. This day could not have gone better... congratulations Hemal...way to go!

Tyler, me, the minister & his wife,
Hemal, Jessica and another minister

April 14 - Village wedding

Bridal Couple

Two nights ago we received a call on Hemal’s mobile phone from one of the farmers in Dewas who we have visited during our first week in Indore. His daughter is getting married this Saturday and he happily invites all CSC members to the wedding. Wow… we cannot miss this opportunity. Six of us went to the wedding. Not knowing what neither an Indian nor an Indian village wedding would be like we asked Hemal a lot of questions, so that we would not turn up with an inappropriate gift or clothing. When arriving at the wedding it took me a few minutes to recognize that the farm that we have visited is the ‘venue’ for the wedding, it totally transformed.

the farm transformed to a festival area

We were welcomed into the wedding with bindis and flowers. After passing the entrance we saw a huge crowd of people… I am not good in guessing but it was more than 700 people I would say. The whole village seemed to be there. Right away we were led to the stage where the newly weds were sitting all evening welcoming their guests, receiving congratulations and blessings. A group picture was taken by a photographer of each of the guests.

After some time, more and more other guests seemed to have spotted us. One has to explain that most of them have probably never seen a foreigner before, they were very excited to see us and plenty of pictures were taken with cameras and mobile phones. After 3 weeks in India we have all experienced plenty of situations where we have been asked for pictures but this was very extreme, felt a bit like being a celebrity.

 

From left: Tyler, Patrick, Maco,
me, Jessica, Amalia and Hemal

Maco feeding me

Then it was time for us to have dinner. We were sitting down in a row on the floor as any other guest. Received a plate and a number of different things were given to us… bread, dal, spicy sauce as well as dessert. It seems to be a tradition that the desserts is fed to you, instead of being put on your plate. Suddenly Maco was missing but he reappeared with a bowl of that dessert in his hands and started feeding us as well as the locals… hilarious ;o)

After dinner it was time for us to burn some of those calories. The DJ played a special song for us which meant translated ‘beautiful faces’ (if I remember correctly) and we went off to the dance floor and enjoyed ourselves, even though there was no way to keep up with the locals.

And then it was already time to leave and go back to the hotel. We really enjoyed the wedding and while driving back we looked at each others photos and relived some of what we have just experienced. Awesome… thanks for the great memories, certainly very special ones.

April 13 – Visiting the IBM Office & Party

me at the reception with IBMers
and security

Today Jessica and I checked out the IBM Office in Indore. Only very few IBMers are currently located there so we were excited to see what it looks like and where it would be located... it looks like any other IBM office in the world… almost felt like coming home.

view from the IBM Office in Indore

But there were a few more tasks on our list. As we were planning for CSC Social Event today we had to do a bit of shopping... when this was done we finally were able to do the jewellery shopping which we had to postpone due to a strike a couple of days ago. And, yes we were successful!



our tinfoil ganesh

The Social event in Room 314 was a success… We have prepared a welcome ceremony; everyone received a necklace made of fresh flowers, a bindi and drew a raffle ticket. When everyone has arrived the party started. Each of the CSC subgroups came up with a game which we played during the evening and easily kept us going past midnight – name the goldfish in citrus café, ‘stille Post’, make something out of tinfoil, a game where each had to write a line and provide the 3 first words of the next sentence that had to be completed by the next person in line. We had a lot of fun... also check out Jessica's blog, she documented the whole night with great pictures...

April 11 & 12 - Elephants at a Press Conference

After two exciting days with the Desi Corps Team we kept working, working and working on Wednesday. On Thursday another Media Event was schedule… a Press Conference about the CSC Program and our projects. Late morning we left to go to the Fortune Hotel where the Press Conference was held. Shortly after we have arrived our NGO partners arrived as well. Mamtha gave us a quick introduction of what to expect at a press conference as it was the first for most of us. After a while the press arrived and Mamtha did a great job in giving the press an overview of IBM’s CSC activities and what it is all about. We were introduced and our NGOs presented themselves. To conclude the Press Conference we answered their questions.

Hemal speaking to the press

the press conference taking place

The next day we found articles about the CSC and our projects in many newspaper, below I included 2 of the English aticles. Most of the articles published were in Hindi.



Times of India, April 13





Hindu Times, April 13



The whole Team: India 17, our
NGOs  and Mamtha

After the press conference we managed our first picture with all 12 CSC India 17 participants. This is us:





Paul and his 13 elephants



While we were at the press conference, the housekeeping was supposed to set up Paul’s room. One evening we have talked about the Towel Animals which we regularly find in our beds. Paul fell in love with his Towel Elephant. A few days later Jessica had this brilliant idea to ask housekeeping to put 30 Towel Elephants on Paul’s room while we are at the Press Conference. All was arranged for; we arrived back at the hotel and followed Paul to his room to not miss his face when 30 Elephants would be facing him while opening the door to his room. Unfortunately… not a single Elephant at sigh. Something went wrong. But the second attempt worked. Paul was working with his team in the afternoon in the business center while housekeeping covered his bed in towel elephants. When he returned to his room Tyler and I heard a big laugh… hehe… unfortunately Jessica wasn’t around, as she was not feeling well. Jessica, thanks for this brilliant idea… lightened up this afternoon.

btw – we were told by the hotel manager (Nishi) that it is not an elephant but a Ganesh.

April 09 & 10 - CSC going Bollywood

nervous me, before shooting

Over the weekend the Desi Cors Crew arrived. Sunday evening we had a briefing on what the next two days will look like. Desi Corps is a communication platform focusing on the Corporate Services Corps activities in India… Desi means ‘local’. As you will see on their website Desi Corps features stories from IBM India employees on CSC projects around the world as well other IBMers from around the world who are on CSC Assignments in India… just like our Team.

during our team interview

On Monday the Desi Corps Crew came along with 2 of the 4 CSC projects groups to work. In the evening we attended a get together at which we were able to meet three of the first local IBMers in Indore. The same evening our team had their one-one shootings with the Desi Corps Team, we have been asked about what it was like to have been accepted to the CSC as well as what our first experiences were in India. Even though these were fairly simple questions I was still very nervous before and during the take, luckily it only took one take. The crew did a great job guiding us though the shooting and tried to make us feel as comfortable as possible.
 

at Rahul's home

Tuesday morning we met with the Desi Corps Team for another shooting focusing on Concept Society and the project we are working on. Virginia led this scene by interviewing us on these aspects… again one take and the crew seemed to be happy with what they have seen. In the afternoon we had a shooting in Indore at a boy’s home. Tyler met this boy during our first week in Indore. The boy’s name is Rahul and his parent’s story is very similar to what we are trying to achieve with our project for Concept Society. The family has been interviewed at their home and Rahul translated his parent’s answer from Hindi to English. We took a few more shots outside until it was dark. Later that evening a very last shot followed in the hotel and then we were done. Well done Team!

at Rahul's shooting in German

us with Hemal, Rahul, and his parents

Two very intense days… but it was again interesting and exciting to see how film crews work, so different to my day to day job. 


Thanks Desi Corps, we enjoyed working with you! Check out the Desi Corps website!

April 06 - 08 – Easter weekend with a bit of Rajasthan and a trip to Ujjain

On Friday we worked, worked, worked and worked and finished the day with a team dinner with half of the CSC India 17 Team, as the other half of the team visted the Ellora Caves. I decided to stay in Indore and explore Indore and it’s surrounding a bit, what we have done…

Saturday morning started with a manicure & pedicure. When we (Jessica, Maria and I) entered the salon we were facing approx. 8 young men. Only one single woman worked there. One of the guys started with the pedicure and then a second one started with the manicure a few minutes later. So now both of them were pulling on my feet and hands – this is maybe part of the process optimization... oh well, can’t ask for more for 650 Rupees (9 Euros). In the afternoon we had a look at an exhibition which was held in our hotel… crafts and traditional clothing was sold from different regions in India. I found some cute little gifts to bring home.

In the afternoon we left for Nakhrali Dhani a Rajasthani heritage resort about 45 min away from Indore. I would describe it as a little amusement park, offering camel ride, a puppet show, traditional dances, a magician, acrobatic shows and a few other things. The evening was concluded with a typical Rajasthan dinner, before we went back to the hotel.

Sunday morning we left in a group of 6 to Ujjain, one of the 7 holiest cities in India for Hindis, also known as city of temples. I first stop led us to River Shipra, whereas other multiple stops took us to a cave as well as a number of different temples. We have seen very beautiful places during the day, but our tour guide in Ujjain was not very fluent in English he only was able to tell us little about the places we have visited. Which was a pity, as I would have liked to understand more about the rituals that we have seen as well as their significance to the people.