On Saturday 23rd Jan. 2010 we visited the Vidya Mandir Slum School. We were well received by the children and the school authority. At first, the children entertained us with great dancing steps as well as other performance. Secondly, the head mistress of the school gave us first hand information on the administration of the school. She started with the reason why the school was established, the challenges they face, how the school raise funds and other activities they engage in, to ensure that the school runs smoothly.

In the second section, we participated in their classes. We sat with them, helped them in their school work, as well as answered some of their questions. We had lots of fun with them, we gave them gifts. In the end, we were made to write down our impressions on the school. Then we took a long walk around the slum, and to end the afternoon section, we all went for lunch. The bus took us back to the hotel where everybody dispersed. Finally, at exactly 6 o’clock in the evening, we all had to converge for the last program for the day. This was a presentation by two Indian business people from the AoL-Organisation.

Paschal

It is said that evolution is an imperfect and often violent process, a battle between what exists and what is yet to be born.

It is so how we were encountering ourselves in the early morning of Mumbai‘s bay delighting a „continental“ buffet at the marvellous five stars Trident-Hotel. A kind of reality for us, just a vague illusion for the vast majority of the inhabitants in Dharavi, Asia‘s biggest slum. We head us in 2 Pullman buses through the city passing through vestiges of English-colonialism like the mini Big-Ben and landing in one of the entrance of the city within a city. Home to more than one million people. As if men, women and children had been thrown together in a place where the under privileged of the Indian-society are the rulers who follow their own codex. 

Short after a five minutes-walk we found the Sri Sri Ravishankar Vidya Mandir Slum school and had a wonderful welcoming-dance by the children if I would guess, between 8 and 13 years old. At the blowing of the teacher‘s whistle they were coordinating their rhythm. Right after we had the chance to interact with the kids. Happy of receiving our visit they showed us how extrovert they were. Some of them showed us their dancing and even acrobatic skills. Me and some of my colleagues could‘t resist and let us brood by the vivid atmosphere transforming us in a human bicycle. For a few minutes we were immersed in another world, far from geographical and societal boundaries. Indeed, fulfilling moments.

Nevertheless by leaving the school a disturbed feeling took possession over me. A school founded by his „Holiness“ Sri Sri Ravishankar following his teachings of the „Art of Living“ based on meditation but merely on his dubious spiritual teachings I asked myself: „How far are those good intentions of his Holiness in reality?, How far is this educational wing merely just an indoctrination pillar in his criticised spiritual movement?, how far will the kid be able to develop its own judgement about life, it‘s magic and its difficulties without the strong influence of such teachings?, how much freedom does the kids in reality have to develop their own way of thinking?.

We then walk about one hour through the slums, passing by a family run pottery-business. The heat was consuming our energy while waiting for the buses, when then the buses finally arrived and transported us back to another reality, to the „most-evolutionary“ part of Mumbai.

That early aroused rare feelings in my guts about this „Art of living“ organisation melted a bit down during the trip back to the hotel. Nevertheless about at six o‘clock in the evening those feelings of doubted credibility were furiously awaked again after having the presentation of the AoL-organisation by two Indian business persons. All the practices of the organisation, in appearance good social, poor-oriented activities and human sensibility awakening-practices for management; were merited again, again and again towards and because this called Holiness. The video showed at the end of the presentation as showing how managers from international companies have found sense in their lives and how they have managed it with this „Art of Leaving“ teachings seemed to me just a  commercialisation of ashram looking every time, everywhere for more and more followers.

The doubts about the good intentions of this organisation seemed to be me that day, fallacious, and it still does today.

And as I said at the beginning of this post: evolution is an imperfect and often violent process, a battle between what exists and what is jet to be born. In the midst of this birth-paints morality losses its meaning. The question of good and evil is often reduce to one simple choice: survive or perish. Our task as IMs is to reconcile, conciliate smoothly and built a suitable platform where differences are everytime much more even.

Inti

After arriving at Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport (Mumbai, BOM) from Jaipur at around noon we were transferred directly with two buses to the Trident Hotel which took about one and a half hours. As one Trident Hotel has been attacked in 2006, the security measures were quite high and tedious. But after getting through we were very satisfied with the Hotel as it is considered as one of the best in Mumbai and almost every wish was being satisfied. After enjoying the very rich international / Indian buffet (even serving beef filet carved by an Indian chef) we got some time to rest before leaving for the Mumbai-at-night sightseeing tour. For that we had two open double-decker buses driving us across Mumbai at sunset and still approx. 25 degrees, offering us a great impression of different facets of the city. The tour ended in front of our restaurant where we had kind of a table-served buffet of different Indian specialities. After dinner some of us went out to explore Mumbai on their own initiative and some returned to the hotel to rest.

Michel.

Boys showing off at the pool

Today was our day off. January 26th marks Republic Day in India, it was today in 1935 when the Constitution of India came into force. It is a national holiday, meaning that most businesses close for the celebrations. Approaching this day there was some nervousness surrounding security threats of possible terrorist attacks. Furthermore our group feared if it was safe to leave the hotel that day or not. Grim memories of the November 2008 attacks were present in the students’ minds. This fear was increased when the official Republic Day parade was cancelled in Mumbai due to security threats.

Mainly for this reason most students decided to stay at the hotel that day. Another reason was the excellent amenities which the Trident Hotel offered. The beautiful outside pool, spa facilities and lovely restaurant made it a good way to relax after some hectic and strenuous days travelling and visiting companies.

For the “brave” who decided to go for a walk around town, the presence of riot police reminded them that today was a special day indeed. However at the Oval Maiden (the giant green space just a few blocks from our hotel) it seemed normal as ever with countless cricket games going on simultaneously. It was nice to take in some traditional Indian sports culture and relax beneath the trees. Other students decided to find the few international stores which were open today and spent the day spending their Rupees on Nike shoes and Puma sporting gear.

In the evening we enjoyed another excellent dinner from the Trident Hotel’s buffet. Especially the gentlemen (or pigs) rushed to the buffet trying to secure a rare piece of the tender, juicy beef.

Team Fofana/Krähenbühl/Millen/Ungricht/Votta

The 25th of January 2010 was all about doing business in India. Firstly, we received a presentation about the TATA Group, more specifically about TATA Teleservices. The TATA Group is the “largest private corporate group” in India and has achieved global significance in recent years. The TATA group provides products and services in areas as varied as automobile, chemical, insurance and telecommunication industry. By all means, assigning the TATA Group to a particular industry or even sector would be impossible.

The presentation we received focused to a large extent on corporate sustainability – a topic which somebody would not necessarily expect to hear about India. Though this is certainly a fallacy – and Indian companies do not have to hide their light under bushel. TATA Steel belongs to the world’s 100 most sustainable companies (HDFC is the second Indian company belonging to the top 100). TATA Teleservices divides its corporate sustainability initiatives into 4 groups, namely HUMAN, SOCIAL, NATURAL and ECONOMIC. The initiatives range from active volunteering on the HUMAN side to providing opportunities for people of less privileged backgrounds in the focus area of ECONOMIC. One initiative, which struck us as extremely simple but nevertheless rather potent, was the introduction of a print manager. The goal was to reduce print output, and thus contribute to a greener working environment. With the introduction of a print manager tool, every employee was able to track its own output and cost. Astoundingly, the total output decreased by 73%. This is indeed a small step towards a greener office, but nonetheless a highly significant one. Continue Reading »

Thursday, 28 January 2010

Team of the day: F. Henriquez/ K. Jeszenszky/ D. Leicht / P. Poëll

Amazingly everybody still managed to survive the night, despite the allegedly smelly and dirty rooms. After a delicious breakfast everybody was fit and ready for what was to be a quite business-heavy day.

In the morning we were joined by Mr. Salil Godika, the Chief Strategy Officer of MindTree Limited. His presentation took place in the hotel’s own conference room, where he introduced our knowledge-thirsty students to his business. MindTree Ltd is globally operating IT Solutions Company that specialises in IT services, testing, infrastructure management and technical support, as well as product engineering and knowledge services. Mr. Godika himself was working for MindTree for around 3 years, after having acquired his degree in Boston (US) and having worked in the Indian IT industry for already 14 years. After giving us a brief overview of the overall market situation in India, he went on to talk about the developments in the Indian IT business in the past 15 years. As of 2006, India has become the most favourite destination for IT businesses, due to their focus on cost efficiency, enhanced customer value and quality based on established CMMI standards. He also attributed the success of Indian IT companies to the drive and ambition of Indian talent in the IT sector, their general proficiency in English, as well as the ability to marry cost advantages with a reasonable amount of technological innovation.

As MindTree Ltd. is concerned, Mr. Godika distinguishes itself from the competition through outstanding customer satisfaction, which stems from a highly motivated workforce that sees MindTree as their employer of choice. The company has also won several prestigious awards, among them the MAKE (Most Admired Knowledge Enterprise) award for innovation and knowledge creation. When asked about the future challenges of his company, Mr. Godika stated that his company of course wants to stay competitive, but at the same time wants to move up the value chain through greater innovation, ultimately reaching higher economies of scale.

After this very insightful presentation we immediately had to rush off to our next meeting, which took place at the headquarters of Titan Industries, situated about a two-hour drive outside of the city of Bangalore. Due to the time constraints we had to eat lunch on our way there.

We arrived at the Headquarters of Titan Industries and where greeted by the Chief Manufacturing Officer and Senior Vice President M.S. Shantharam. He introduced us to the business of Titan Industries Ltd., which engages in manufacturing and retailing watches, clocks and jewellery in India as well as internationally. As a part of the Tata Group, they sell watches under brand names like Titan, Sonata, Fastrack or Xilis, through department stores or their own “World of Titan” showrooms.  In 2007, they introduced a line of eyewear and in 2008 a line of high-end jewellery. As of today, Titan Industries is India’s largest jewellery retailer and one of the largest retail chains in India altogether. Attempts were made to conquer the European and the US markets, but ultimately failed due to the lack of acceptance (EU) and bad timing (US). Over 300 new models are introduced each year and production is spread over 10 manufacturing plants across India.

The presentation was followed by a tour through one of the manufacturing plants of Titan. The students got a close look at how all the tiny parts that are needed for the movement of the watches are manufactured and brought together. The original machines, some of them still operating, where bought, where else, in Switzerland. After this spectacular tour we were given the chance to buy some souvenirs at one of the “World of Titan” showrooms. This concluded our visit to Titan Industries, and we made our way back to the hotel.

For the evening, everyone was free to do some shopping at the famous Mahatma Gandhi Road and to eat dinner individually. The students that were tired of Indian food took the opportunity to go to the huge Hard Rock Cafe Bangalore, where they served “genuine” hamburgers and French fries, and guests were entertained by a life band until midnight. All in all the perfect ending of a busy day.

(Some pictures to follow!)

Friday, January 29.

In the morning we visited Globals, a young, growing Indian IT company. Globals was started in the year 2000 by Suhas Gopinath, and has since developed from a home office to a globally recognized company present in more than 11 countries, providing IT solutions in Web, e-Commerce and Mobile for companies and governments. Globals’ main product is a software called education ERP for the educational sector, supporting the improvement of the administration and organization, for documenting and filing reports and records.

Besides the organizational structure and products of Globals, Mr. Vinit Kumar and Mr. Anmol Vij talked to us about their own experience of starting up a company, respectively, working with a start up. Mr. Kumar worked for Globals almost from the start for the company. It was very interesting besides the other big companies which we had visited, to hear about the aspect of starting up the own company. Especially in India we found many young people with entrepreneur thinking. The development potential of the country presents countless opportunities for new businesses. Mr. Kumar encouraged us to invest two years after college in starting up our own company, as it is very rewarding to do ones ‘own thing’, working as an employee in a company can still be done later in life if you want to.

After the visit at Globals we went by bus to the Ashram of the Art of Living Foundation.
In the temple seen on the photo to the right we had the first course in the afternoon where we were taught breathing techniques and meditation which should help us to relax.

Saturday, January 30.

Saturday there was a yoga course in the morning at 7 and then the course at the ashram continued. While some students continued learning about breathing techniques and meditation, others explored the villages around Bangalore.

Sunday, January 31.

Again Yoga at 7am, followed by the last day of course in the ashram. In the evening all students and professors including Mr. Rüttimann the director of the ZHAW, Mr. Haelg, met for the farewell dinner in the Tandoori Restaurant at MG road in Bangalore. To not make exceptions, also the farewell dinner started on Indian time, set at 7pm with the bus and the majority of the students arriving around 8pm. It will be interesting to see how the time comprehension will be back in Switzerland. The farewell dinner was a delightful final get together of everyone with three student dinner speeches and a speech of each of the professors. It was a happy round up of a great and eventful study trip.

Team: Patricia Losser, Birgit Theiler, Rabia Butt, Miriam Müller

Team: F. Alvarez / J. Nicolet / C. Paulsen / V. Wilhelm

 In the Morning the students finally had some leisure time and many of them used this chance to discover Mumbai on their own. Others just relaxed at the beautiful Poolside of the Hotel and enjoyed the terrific view over the Arabian Sea. Some also took the benefit of the hotel spa treatments while many guys had to use the gym to get rid of their fat surplus caused by an overdose of Christmas cookies.

Some enjoyed a peaceful walk along the Marin Drive at the Arabian Sea.

At the early evening the students had to gather on the rooftop in the Mexican room, where we had the pleasure to listen to a concert by Arvind Parikh.  Mr. Parikh, the brother of Jadgish Parikh, is not only a well known entrepreneur, but also a gifted Indian Classical Musician. He transformed in the last 60 years the Allied Lenuir Group from a simple freight company into a complex multimodal logistics provider between 51 Indian cities and the rest of the World.  His concert was impressive and we learned that the main instrument used in a band is the Sitar. Many elements of the Indian spiritual philosophies (yoga, tantra…) are embedded in the Indian songs.  The notion of the Guru is similar to god and praised in many Indian songs.  An old saying, quoted by Mr. Schuez reflects this conception perfectly: “Music should be an expression of god’s voice.”  

Subsequent to the concert the dinner was served as a buffet where we could choose from a variety of delicious Indian dishes. During the dinner some students held their dinner speeches whit following topics: Mahut Elephant, rickshaw driver in Jaipur and the jewellery industry in Jaipur. These speeches gave us an insight in the competitive working live of a Mahuts, the daily routine of an innovative rickshaw driver and impact of the jewellery industry on Jaipur’s economy and society.

The evening had its and at the hotel bar. And an early sleep in order to be full of energy for the following adventures in incredible India.

Team: Tanja Sax, Ines Röhrenbach, Fabienne Kiener, Beny Martin

After an amazing breakfast at the Trident-Hotel in Mumbai we left for another megacity called Bangalore…

Continue Reading »

On the second day in Jaipur, we had the opportunity to visit a jewelry exporter company in the morning.  We were supposed to leave at 9.30, but since the visit was optional, many people who signed up did not appear. As we were announced as a group of 21 we had to get everybody out of bed as fast as possible. We succeeded at around 10.15 and finally left by bus.

Continue Reading »