July 7th to July 10th - Indian Bureaucracy and the Mexican Economy

On Monday, we spent the day registering with the Bangalore police department, a requirement for all foreigners with a longer-term visa. After taking a bus to the foreign registration office, we began the long tedious process of police registration. Bringing back memories of the Department of Motor vehicles and waiting in line for ages for a driver’s license, I took my number and sat. And waited. And waited. Five hours later, after every other person in the group had finished, I was still waiting. Only at this point did I get called to meet with an officer and get approval. Within five minutes, he had stamped my paper and informed me that I need to return after another two hours. Excited to be outside of the warm, artificially-lit office, I went to grab lunch. For lunch I had a delicious thali or a fixed meal equivalent to a cafeteria tray of different curries. I went to briefly visit the botanical gardens in Bangalore, only a five minute walk from the registration office. Despite being in the offseason, it was fun to see some of the small bonsai-like trees and be out in this little sanctuary within the city. I returned back to the office, picked up my forms, and excitedly returned home. 

While so far my blog has been describing my fun adventures in Bangalore and the surrounding area, the rest of my week was spent writing a paper detailing the potential for business in Mexico and analyzing its political and economic indicators for a paper in one of my classes. For that reason, I do not have any amazingly fun or exciting adventures to discuss, unless I give a detailed explanation of me sitting a writing my paper or tell you about why you should invest in Mexico (which coincidentally you should, as it is huge in electronics manufacturing and design and still has a lot of potential for cheap but highly technical manufacturing despite the rise of China). Therefore, I will use this opportunity to mention some of the smaller details that I have not elaborated upon fully about my time in India:

The roads and traffic – As a pedestrian in Bangalore, I have been able to fully experience Indian roads and sidewalks. On my daily walk to school, I encounter fairly large amount of cow excrement, pavements that are made from whatever stone was laying around at the time, missing pavements which just drop into the underlying sewage, water flooding the streets after rainy days, and crazy drivers who will not stop even if it means running over a human or animal. While often treacherous, disgusting, and absolutely insane the roads are hugely intertwined with the Indian culture and mindset and can say a lot about the society and nature of the place. Despite getting used to the cows and dogs that roam the roadways and having to stare down my entire walk to school in order to avoid falling through the pavement or stepping into something unsavory, I cannot get used to seeing trash built up along the roadways and the general lack of care for the city. Maybe it is something cultural that I don’t quite understand, but I struggle to understand why the roads and sidewalks of a huge metropolitan area are filled with trash and often impassable. It would be fascinating to look further into the reason for the condition of the roads and what efforts are being made to improve the local infrastructure.

Food – The food has certainly been a highlight of the trip. Most mornings I got to the school cafeteria and grab a dosa or vegetable puff along with a cup of tea. This will cost me 60 cents. Lunches are also eaten at school and are equally delicious. For $1.20 I can get an entire meal including one or two vegetable curries, rice, bread, a pudding, and a milkshake. For dinner, I have gone different places every day, trying various foods such as panipoori, an South Indian cracker filled with a heavily spiced broth, gentgio;a;lfd, an donut-shaped spongy bread which can be dipped into various sauces, and gulab jamun, a sweet ball of doughy bread that is soaked in a sugary honey sauce. Along with these new dishes, I have had some of my favorites including naan, aloo gobi, dahl tadka, and vegetable biryani. What I have found amazing about India is the sheer amount of vegetarian options that are available, many of which are more delicious than their non-veg counterparts. Many of the students have fallen in love with fried Gobi, or cauliflower, which when cooked tastes as good as or even better than chicken. I have also found it interesting how many Western options and food products are available. Items such as Oreos, digestive biscuits, lays potato chips, and all sorts of sodas are available from local supermarkets. Along the streets you can find McDonalds, KFC, Pizza Hut, Domino’s, and Papa Johns as well as Italian and American cuisine.

Fascination with Americans – Because in the past I have been in India travelling with my parents, I have not noticed how the local people seem fascinated by the Americans I am travelling with. The tall white guys and blonde girls are frequently stopped and asked to talk to people or to take photos of them. Crowds gather around them at tourist locations with people treating them as if they are an attraction much like the zoo or temple we are visiting.

Bartering and Street Vendors – Another fun part of India are the street side merchants. Walking around the more tourist-focused locations, we are harassed by a number of people attempting to sell us fake sandalwood fans, cheap knick-knaks, decorative bowls, jewelry, incense sticks, and various other items. These items are all marked up by extortionate amounts from their production costs, sometimes as high as 250% in the case of the fake fans and incense sticks. With even the slightest sign of interest, these merchants will continue to follow you for a couple blocks and shove their items in your face. Stores along the street sell all sorts of items, including food, handicrafts, textiles, ornaments, and even some toiletries. Almost any item can be bartered for and bought just by walking along the main street. While malls are fixed price, all markets accept some form of bargaining. Some of the student have embraced this while other cringe at the hassle of the system and will just take the initial price and pay.

Clothing – Much like the food, a lot of the Western clothing styles have transitioned over to India. While female students still wear churridar, or tunics, the male students will wear shirts and khaki pants to class. Even around the city, jeans and collared shirts are frequently worn. The malls are mainly filled with American stores like Tommy Hilfiger, Arrow, Ralph Lauren, and Levi’s.

Laundry – While the apartments that the college have provided us are nice, due to poor infrastructure, power outages occur frequently. During one of these, my washing machine broke down. Due to this, for the past week I have had to hand wash all my clothes and hang them out to dry on our washing line. This has gone about as well as one would expect it to given that I have done laundry only with a washer and dryer previously. Currently, my nice khaki pants all have a multitude of random stains that will not disappear no matter how long they are scrubbed. Nothing is discolored through, which is encouraging.

As I approach the end of my second week in India, I am exhausted but loving every minute of being here. India is an assault on the senses and a stark change from life in the US but is often beautiful and remarkable when you take a step back from the chaos. Despite the challenges, I am eager to see what else I can discover and to make the most of my time here.

July 5th and July 6th - The Slums and Nandi Hills

Boarding our bright yellow campus bus, we headed out Saturday morning to tour a local village and one of the nearby slums. After traveling on the highway for 45 minutes, the bus turned off onto a dirt road. While the paved road had some occasional potholes, as we reached the dirt road, the bus had to slow to a crawl in order to avoid the huge chunks of missing road. The program director explained how this was the only road in and out of the village, with only one bus departing in the morning and one bus arriving in the evening. If anyone in the village had to reach a hospital, this would require them to us on of the cars in the village and travel for 30 to 40 minutes down the dirt road. As we continued on to the village, we saw vast areas of farmland that the village men cultivated. This included various fruits and vegetables, but most surprising was the huge number of flowers being grown, as these were much more lucrative than growing crops. The village we had entered was one of the many local villages that is sponsored by Christ University. A woman who was appointed by Christ University to facilitate the University’s involvement in the village greeted us and began to tell us about the village. Through Christ’s efforts, the village had gained a bus route, funding for their local school, power and water lines, and soon a paved road. We were allowed to look around one of the homes in the village. Each home had one cow for dairy and a couple of chickens. As we entered the house, we observed the how the people were living. The house had five rooms including a storeroom, a kitchen, a living area, a bedroom, and a bathroom. While basic, the villagers had all the basic essentials that allowed them to live a fairly normal life. We then visited the schoolhouse and met some local children. Taught mainly in Kannada, the local language, the children gathered each day in a classroom that was only slightly larger than my dorm room and took elementary level courses. Older kids were provided bikes by the government and would bike to a neighboring village which had a middle or high school. As we entered the schoolhouse to greet the children, the children expected us to sing a song for them. After singing “Row, Row, Row Your Boat” the children giggled at us, amused. We were then greeted with a chorus of voices adorably singing local songs along with happy birthday and the ABC song. The kids then demanded we play a local game called Kabbadi with them. In this game, a combination of tag and red rover, we gathered on two teams and took turns attempting to tag a member of the other team and then making it back to our base without being pulled back to theirs. On the condition that the big kids couldn’t pull the children, we joined in. By the end a number of us ended up with scrapes and bruises from being pulled across the dirt field we played in, but most importantly the children were happy and having fun. Before we left, a number of students wanted to get photos with the local kids. As we pulled out phones and cameras, the kids quickly became fascinated, snatching them out of our hands and pushing every button they could see. One kid in particular took about 50 selfies on accident using an iPhone he had grabbed. Having to leave, we pried the electronics out of their hands to their disappointment and waved goodbye, having enjoyed our time with the children.

               

We then moved back into the city and visited one of the local slums, which was only a 15 minute walk from our housing complex. Also sponsored by Christ University, the slum was just off of a main road, however was noticeably different than its surroundings. The houses became more compact, crammed into the small area. The roads were riddled with potholes and were under major construction. The cleanliness of the area also declined with some sewage in the roads as well as a considerable amount more dust. While conditions outside were considerably worse than the surroundings, the interior of the house we visited was cramped, but clean. Invited in, we sat on rugs and listened to our host tell us about the village and the initiatives that were occurring. Along with a daycare and an activity center, the major initiative was a migrant school. In the slums, conventional schooling is not always possible as students may not remain in one location for a long time as their parents try to find work. The goal of the migrant school is to provide temporary schooling for these children in a way that encourages them to enjoy school and potentially allow them to transition to a full time school. Overall, the experience in the village and slum was encouraging. While the conditions were poor, there were many signs of progress and the people seemed to be encouraging change.

On Sunday, we journeyed to the Nandi Hills, a 2 hour car ride from the city. The hills towered over the nearby villages and was covered in fog. Driving up in our car, we reached the top and immediately felt the difference in temperature from the warm climate of the city. Having to put on jackets, we walked around the complex on top of the hill. As the fog covered area, we walked around old ruins of cave shelters that had been built into the hill. The walls had been covered with writing and stone seats and enclaves were carved into the rock. Feeling vaguely like Indiana Jones exploring ancient ruins, we walked around further discovering a number of these dwellings built into the hill, some branching into fairly large caverns.  Further along the path, we reached a temple, still being used by visitors and the small group of people who continued to live in the hills. With the fog all around us, the area felt mystical, making what would’ve been just a simple temple seen extremely meaningful and powerful.  After having a cup of tea and admiring the beautiful view of our surroundings, we returned back to the city.

American Independence Day in India - July 4th

After our first week of school had finished, we all gathered to celebrate July the 4th, hosted by the Christ University hospitality students. Not quite sure what to expect, we gathered at a pavilion in the middle of campus eager to celebrate. As the festivities began, a team from Weber, a barbecue grill manufacturer from Chicago, greeted us. As a company who had began global operation in India a few years ago, Weber was actively pushing the concept of barbecues in India. Outside of Tandoori chicken, an Indian dish prepared in a clay oven, the concept of barbecue was foreign to India. As part of the company's efforts to spread to India, this group of company representatives met with groups of people and catered their events, giving them the opportunity to display their grills and get some free advertising. Excitedly, the Indian students gathered around, fascinated by the lighting blocks and charcoal briquettes that were being used to cook the food. The team prepared a deliciously cooked meal, including 5 whole roasted chickens, Indian chicken tikka, corn on the cob, and roasted peppers and mushrooms. While the food cooked, we met the Indian students who were hosting us. They excitedly greeted us, fascinated by our backgrounds and wanting to hear our thoughts about India and learn more about the US. After the meal had finished, we moved over to the cricket field and began the final part of the evening, the firework show. While all nonprofessional firework shows inevitably have some degree of danger, this firework display was partially amazing and partially terrifying. While most American children from a young age are taught not to stand over fireworks, to run away after lighting them, to have a source of water nearby to put out any fires, and to light fireworks carefully from the end of the fuse, apparently these lessons had not been taught in India. Professional grade fireworks began launching everywhere, most reaching a safe altitude, however a large amount began exploding after only reaching a few meters off the ground. Slightly anxious about the safety of the show, we gathered a "safe" distance away from the launching area. A few moments later, a rogue firework begins launching towards us. With students diving out of the way to avoid it, the firework whistled past us, exploding nearby and covering a number of students with sparks. Multiple people's clothes had holes where the firework sparks had burned holes through them. Students began hiding behind nearby buildings, afraid of what else may happen. We all nervously enjoyed the rest of the show without any more incidents. While unorthodox and strange, this easily became my most memorable 4th of July celebration.

Class and What I Have Learned So Far - July 2nd and 3rd

Since the last update, I have attended 3 more classes, including my first Macroeconomics course. Despite being thousands of miles from the US, the concepts we are covering in class mirrors what I would be learning back in the United States. What has been different is the examples used to demonstrate the basic concepts in each class. In globalization and engineering, we learned about reasons for a company to globalize and entry barriers that companies can experience. Our primary case study was general motors who began globalizing when faced with heightened competition from Asian and European car makers in the US domestic market. The company was forced to expand to other markets, including India, where through focusing on producing their smaller cars and marketing them for upper and middle class consumers, they became a major brand in India. Another interesting case study was shampoo companies who had to sell shampoo in small 5 rupee packets so that they would sell in India, as lower class consumers could not afford to buy 1L bottles of shampoo. We also discussed McDonalds and KFC who both introduced vegetarian options into their menu in order to enter the Indian market, with McDonalds not even selling any beef products at all. Despite coming from an engineering perspective, it has been fascinating to learn what globalization means from an economic and cultural perspective.

First Day of Class and Shopping in Bangalore - June 30th and July 1st

As we all began to settle down into life in Bangalore, we began our respective courses. The first course I am taking during my time here is Globalization and Engineering. This course focuses on global business and how companies evolve from domestic to international business and the way business operates in various countries. Along with this is a look at specific companies, business throughout history, and analysis of growing markets. Excitedly entering the class, we met the professor, a former electrical engineer who worked primarily for TATA, an Indian company who works with everything from cars to consumer electronics to food goods and even aeronautical engineering and satellites. We discussed various companies such as Saab, Nokia, and Nutella and countries such a Singapore and China in order to get a glimpse into the complexities of globalization and how companies and countries are effected by globalization. The remainder of Monday was spent by grabbing a North Indian meal from one of the school cafeterias, grabbing the necessary supplies for our classes and starting to work through the course material. We were also able to meet some of the local college kids who were excited to discuss the US and our thoughts on India, while giving us tips on where to shop and eat while we were here. Being mostly separate from the actual students on campus, it was fun to chat with them and see how their life at the university is. One of the major differences that seemed shocking, but unsurprising given the close family structure of India, was that students’ parents are directly informed about absences and poor grades compared to the US where students have the choice to inform parents of their grades and many students regularly skip lectures.

On Tuesday, we ventured into Bangalore and began exploring and shopping. Waking up early, we found a packed restaurant where we ordered sodas for breakfast. Standing up at the tall metal tables in the restaurant, we dug in, tearing off pieces of the dosas and dipping them in sambal while we watched outside as a herd of cows passed by in the street causing traffic to divert. Taking a tuk tuk into the city, we reached the commercial section of town. Walking along the street, we were bombarded by drivers offering to take us to cheaper shops that their friends own and streetside merchants offering us their various goods and foods. Simply approaching one of the temples along the street caused a group of people approaching us offering to show us the temple and pray for us in exchange for American dollars. Glancing at a shop would cause the merchant to attempt to drag you in and impress you with the quality and value of his goods. After looking at a few shops, a couple of students retreated off to McDonalds to both escape the heat and to get a quick fix of American food, one eating their first full meal since arriving on campus. Looking around for a little while longer, we took a tuk tuk home and spent the evening relaxing and meeting up with other students to grab dinner.