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This past January I had the pleasure of visiting India with 24 of my Carlson classmates as part of a two week global enrichment program through school. We spent the first week in Delhi and the second week in Bangalore learning about managing in a global environment with an emphasis in outsourcing and off-shoring.
Delhi is a very dynamic city. It is extremely populated with 7 times the people of Minnesota. There's not much sense of personal space, and the air has a very distinct smell (and taste) from the smog. It's the first time I've ever traveled where I felt true culture shock and found it a bit difficult to get around. The people though were extremely friendly, as in all of India, and the food was great!
Delhi is the DC of India, so that is where we got to meet with various government officials, including N Gopalaswamy, the Chief Election Commissioner of India, and Som Mittal, Chairman of NASSCOM. We also met with various business leaders, including a stop at MN based United Health Group. UHG was my favorite stop because we got to meet with the two individuals that launched their operations in India before we left MN, and then got to meet with the executive group that continued the operation when we visited in Gurgaon.
After a week in Delhi, we took a five hour train ride to Agra, which is where the Taj Mahal is located. The picture on this post is of a peasant girl just outside the Taj. The train ride can only be summed up nicely as an "experience". We were all excited to get to our hotel after that's for certain!
Agra is rural compared to Delhi although it definitely had a hustle and bustle in MN terms. It is the one city where we did see the most wildlife. It's strange to see a monkey haul tail across the street, but that is one of the aspects that made the trip so enjoyable. The Taj Mahal is beautiful, and they maintain the grounds wonderfully. It truly is a great site. I thought that seeing pictures of it my entire life would trivialize it, but I was pleasantly amazed much like the first time I saw the Colosseum and Eiffel Tower. The only thing I disliked about Agra, and I'm sure many of my classmates will agree, were the numerous street vendors that followed us around everywhere. The town is a tourist destination, so the vendors are out in full force!We took a bus back to Delhi which allowed us to see much of the countryside, and listen to the bus's extremely loud horn for five hours. We went straight to the Delhi airport, where we took a plane to Bangalore for our last leg of the trip. We all liked Bangalore instantly; it was a bit more modern with wider streets and trendier shops and pubs. We had a chance to meet with leaders from large businesses like HP, Dell, and Target, to manufacturing firms and NGO's. We really met with a wide variety of leaders which added depth to the experience.
In true Target fashion, we were welcomed with open arms, and given a very long and detailed presentation. We had a chance to meet with a group of expats from MN living and working in Bangalore. I really admired what they were doing, and was envious of their experience. HP was interesting as well as it was our first taste of a mega campus complete with housing and a huge campus like cafeteria. Of course the trip was completed with a stop to Raymond's and two tailor made suits!
My experience was important from both a professional and personal development standpoint. The people of India were very accommodating, and I was impressed with their hunger to work and educate themselves. The trip completely altered any perception, negative or positive, I had of the country. Hopefully I'll get the chance to visit again in the future. It's interesting to see how someone living a completely different life half way around the world can help you succeed and vise versa.
