Home Sweet Sweet Home as Sofia would say!
How great it is to be home and enjoy my family, wash in my own shower, sleep in a clean bed, with my pillow and wake up to food in the fridge that I am use to.
I must admit that I do miss India a little, the people and having new experiences every day, however I am sure that my career will eventually take me back to India, and I can reflect on my 2008 stay in the Ginger Hotel!
Chao
Thursday, January 17, 2008
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Going Home
Leaving Mysore, I was a little sad, even though I was anxious to get home to Candis and Sofia, my shower and bed. We spent the first part of the day site seeing in Bangalore, but I was site seeing out and just wanted to relax at the hotel. For lunch we went to the most disgusting restaurant of our visit. During our time in Mysore AR did a great job making sure we went places that were clean and had the appropriate amenities, such as clean bathrooms. This place had good food but since it was filthy and bath rooms I could not even get into with our having to puke. Need less to say, AR would not have been impressed.
In the evening some of us went into Bangalore, where we experienced western civilization of McDonald and KFC. Food never tasted so good. Our cab driver ran a luxury cab service and was very interested in our visit. He drove us around the City in his Mercedes E series car, which he paid $95,000 US. He also showed us town homes beside GE medical and SAP campuses that started at $250K - $500k US. What a contrast of income and wealth.
On Thursday, I chilled at the Ginger hotel until 3 when we went to Praxair. Praxair showed us a part of India that no none else admitted to, supply chain and logistics issues. As a provider of gasses to various large businesses, getting product to their customers on time and as efficient as possible is a challenge. Their MD for India also mentioned that there is a support group for x-pats families that help them get acclimated to a new country. If I ever move to India, this information will be helpful.
The evening was spent at the Oberio Hotel where we had a fantastic dinner with wine and cigars after the meal. It was a great night sitting on the patio and just handing out. Little did we know that this was the calm before the storm.
I will not go through the hell we experienced to get home but I want to reflect on team work and the code of conduct that I tried to live by, which is “no man left behind”. 14 hours in an Indian airport that is under construction, two nights in a hotel that was not anticipated, O’Hare airport on a Saturday night when there is no flights out, and ticketing agents with attitudes can cause the strongest person to loose it and act irrationally.
Overall, I feel that the group managed the last 72 hours in a professional manor. The peasants could have revolted but for the most part we kept our cool and managed to avoid another international incident. OOPS, international incident # 5 was Theresa Waldof standing up for her self when a European called her stupid because she did not see them in line. He picked the wrong person to mess with.
In the evening some of us went into Bangalore, where we experienced western civilization of McDonald and KFC. Food never tasted so good. Our cab driver ran a luxury cab service and was very interested in our visit. He drove us around the City in his Mercedes E series car, which he paid $95,000 US. He also showed us town homes beside GE medical and SAP campuses that started at $250K - $500k US. What a contrast of income and wealth.
On Thursday, I chilled at the Ginger hotel until 3 when we went to Praxair. Praxair showed us a part of India that no none else admitted to, supply chain and logistics issues. As a provider of gasses to various large businesses, getting product to their customers on time and as efficient as possible is a challenge. Their MD for India also mentioned that there is a support group for x-pats families that help them get acclimated to a new country. If I ever move to India, this information will be helpful.
The evening was spent at the Oberio Hotel where we had a fantastic dinner with wine and cigars after the meal. It was a great night sitting on the patio and just handing out. Little did we know that this was the calm before the storm.
I will not go through the hell we experienced to get home but I want to reflect on team work and the code of conduct that I tried to live by, which is “no man left behind”. 14 hours in an Indian airport that is under construction, two nights in a hotel that was not anticipated, O’Hare airport on a Saturday night when there is no flights out, and ticketing agents with attitudes can cause the strongest person to loose it and act irrationally.
Overall, I feel that the group managed the last 72 hours in a professional manor. The peasants could have revolted but for the most part we kept our cool and managed to avoid another international incident. OOPS, international incident # 5 was Theresa Waldof standing up for her self when a European called her stupid because she did not see them in line. He picked the wrong person to mess with.
Monday, January 14, 2008
More press
A stimulating lecture on Indian Perspectives in International Branding was delivered to us by Prof K. Balakrishnan. The majority of the lecture was spent on the branding and selling of Indian Paint Company and how they market their products. The movie clips were very interesting from the fact that the houses that were shown in the clips looked very close to the houses that we have in the USA, none of which I have seen while we are here.
The last portion at SDM-IMD was spent with reporters firing questions at us and the students of the SDM. Other then the typical questions of how has your time been here, what have you experienced, there were some specific head belligerent questions asked.
For a report to ask the question, do you think that the Indian students are as smart as US students are a BS questions to ask. What was he expecting us to say?
Other questions they asked were what do you think of the class room process vs. the US? Since we did not spent 1 minute in the class room with the other students, how could that is answered.
The one question that chapped my ass was “what is the cause of the US recession and do you think the US will emerge from it? My response was that there are varying opinion if the country is in a recession but if we were, the country would emerge. I mentioned that the housing market correction, and sub-prime mortgage market have attributed to the demist on the economy. It was also mentioned by some one in the group that the American people have been living far outside their means and have over extended themselves and that was the major cause of the issue. Regardless of our answers the reporter was pompous enough to blow off our answers and say, and I quote “Don’t you think that if the US corporations out sources to India sooner that the recession would not have happened”? There is a general consensus in India that the people of India and the businesses drive the world economy, which is hard to respond to with out bursting their bubbles.
I spent the afternoon working on MTM email, blogs and a nap, followed by a trip with Karl to FabCity for an extra bag to bring back the purchases that we had made.
Our supper was spent at Subway where there were 5 of us salivating over a good meal. It took about an hour for all of us to get our sandwiches. They are so slow here at customer service. It was not that there was a lack of staff, as there were 5 of them, but their processes are mess up. I would not call them the quick, efficient sandwich artists that we see at home but relate it more to watching concrete curing or grass growing. They are very fortunate that labor is cheap!
The last portion at SDM-IMD was spent with reporters firing questions at us and the students of the SDM. Other then the typical questions of how has your time been here, what have you experienced, there were some specific head belligerent questions asked.
For a report to ask the question, do you think that the Indian students are as smart as US students are a BS questions to ask. What was he expecting us to say?
Other questions they asked were what do you think of the class room process vs. the US? Since we did not spent 1 minute in the class room with the other students, how could that is answered.
The one question that chapped my ass was “what is the cause of the US recession and do you think the US will emerge from it? My response was that there are varying opinion if the country is in a recession but if we were, the country would emerge. I mentioned that the housing market correction, and sub-prime mortgage market have attributed to the demist on the economy. It was also mentioned by some one in the group that the American people have been living far outside their means and have over extended themselves and that was the major cause of the issue. Regardless of our answers the reporter was pompous enough to blow off our answers and say, and I quote “Don’t you think that if the US corporations out sources to India sooner that the recession would not have happened”? There is a general consensus in India that the people of India and the businesses drive the world economy, which is hard to respond to with out bursting their bubbles.
I spent the afternoon working on MTM email, blogs and a nap, followed by a trip with Karl to FabCity for an extra bag to bring back the purchases that we had made.
Our supper was spent at Subway where there were 5 of us salivating over a good meal. It took about an hour for all of us to get our sandwiches. They are so slow here at customer service. It was not that there was a lack of staff, as there were 5 of them, but their processes are mess up. I would not call them the quick, efficient sandwich artists that we see at home but relate it more to watching concrete curing or grass growing. They are very fortunate that labor is cheap!
More press
A stimulating lecture on Indian Perspectives in International Branding was delivered to us by Prof K. Balakrishnan. The majority of the lecture was spent on the branding and selling of Indian Paint Company and how they market their products. The movie clips were very interesting from the fact that the houses that were shown in the clips looked very close to the houses that we have in the USA, none of which I have seen while we are here.
The last portion at SDM-IMD was spent with reporters firing questions at us and the students of the SDM. Other then the typical questions of how has your time been here, what have you experienced, there were some specific head belligerent questions asked.
For a report to ask the question, do you think that the Indian students are as smart as US students are a BS questions to ask. What was he expecting us to say?
Other questions they asked were what do you think of the class room process vs. the US? Since we did not spent 1 minute in the class room with the other students, how could that is answered.
The one question that chapped my ass was “what is the cause of the US recession and do you think the US will emerge from it? My response was that there are varying opinion if the country is in a recession but if we were, the country would emerge. I mentioned that the housing market correction, and sub-prime mortgage market have attributed to the demist on the economy. It was also mentioned by some one in the group that the American people have been living far outside their means and have over extended themselves and that was the major cause of the issue. Regardless of our answers the reporter was pompous enough to blow off our answers and say, and I quote “Don’t you think that if the US corporations out sources to India sooner that the recession would not have happened”? There is a general consensus in India that the people of India and the businesses drive the world economy, which is hard to respond to with out bursting their bubbles.
I spent the afternoon working on MTM email, blogs and a nap, followed by a trip with Karl to FabCity for an extra bag to bring back the purchases that we had made.
Our supper was spent at Subway where there were 5 of us salivating over a good meal. It took about an hour for all of us to get our sandwiches. They are so slow here at customer service. It was not that there was a lack of staff, as there were 5 of them, but their processes are mess up. I would not call them the quick, efficient sandwich artists that we see at home but relate it more to watching concrete curing or grass growing. They are very fortunate that labor is cheap!
The last portion at SDM-IMD was spent with reporters firing questions at us and the students of the SDM. Other then the typical questions of how has your time been here, what have you experienced, there were some specific head belligerent questions asked.
For a report to ask the question, do you think that the Indian students are as smart as US students are a BS questions to ask. What was he expecting us to say?
Other questions they asked were what do you think of the class room process vs. the US? Since we did not spent 1 minute in the class room with the other students, how could that is answered.
The one question that chapped my ass was “what is the cause of the US recession and do you think the US will emerge from it? My response was that there are varying opinion if the country is in a recession but if we were, the country would emerge. I mentioned that the housing market correction, and sub-prime mortgage market have attributed to the demist on the economy. It was also mentioned by some one in the group that the American people have been living far outside their means and have over extended themselves and that was the major cause of the issue. Regardless of our answers the reporter was pompous enough to blow off our answers and say, and I quote “Don’t you think that if the US corporations out sources to India sooner that the recession would not have happened”? There is a general consensus in India that the people of India and the businesses drive the world economy, which is hard to respond to with out bursting their bubbles.
I spent the afternoon working on MTM email, blogs and a nap, followed by a trip with Karl to FabCity for an extra bag to bring back the purchases that we had made.
Our supper was spent at Subway where there were 5 of us salivating over a good meal. It took about an hour for all of us to get our sandwiches. They are so slow here at customer service. It was not that there was a lack of staff, as there were 5 of them, but their processes are mess up. I would not call them the quick, efficient sandwich artists that we see at home but relate it more to watching concrete curing or grass growing. They are very fortunate that labor is cheap!
Sunday, January 13, 2008
All by my self
My first day to myself since I arrived in India. I did not go on the tour; I slept in, worked out, worked on email and read a chapter for the quiz. It was very peaceful day that I needed after a busy two weeks.
For dinner that night we (Harvey, Karl, Mary, and Jenny & Omni) went to the “Olive Garden”. The food was great we had chicken wings, chicken loll pops, fish, pasta, chicken, ice cream, spring rolls and cheese and garlic filled nana bread. It was awesome. I am positive that Harvey and I will get malaria from all of the mosquitoes that ate us alive because we wore shorts.
In talking with my buddy, the topic came up about Wal-Mart vs. Fab City the local shop with the same philosophy of inexpensive products. He said that Wal mart was having a hard time coming to India because they want large stores and land is too expensive, where Fab City will go into the smallest location. What a difference in marketing.
For dinner that night we (Harvey, Karl, Mary, and Jenny & Omni) went to the “Olive Garden”. The food was great we had chicken wings, chicken loll pops, fish, pasta, chicken, ice cream, spring rolls and cheese and garlic filled nana bread. It was awesome. I am positive that Harvey and I will get malaria from all of the mosquitoes that ate us alive because we wore shorts.
In talking with my buddy, the topic came up about Wal-Mart vs. Fab City the local shop with the same philosophy of inexpensive products. He said that Wal mart was having a hard time coming to India because they want large stores and land is too expensive, where Fab City will go into the smallest location. What a difference in marketing.
Saturday, January 12, 2008
Happy Birthday from India
Happy Birthday to me in India!
The day started at 7 am when we went on a tour of various temples. The first one is the most memorable where we have to walk up 700 stairs that went straight up. I considered that my work out for the day. The significance of this temple was the stature of a naked man what was 40+ feet high and made out of one rock. This was a place where certain men went were they had given up all worldly possessions and only had a peacock feather to chase flies and mosquitoes away. YES, naked men everywhere, the women of the group appeared to be happy. As mentioned before, the national monuments had garbage everywhere, public urination prevalent and people in the temple on their cell phones. I don’t get it.
Once again at 7 pm we went to meet the press and take more pictures interacting with the SDM students so the local paper can see us interacting. It is too bad that we have painted the picture that we are attached at the hip with the students of SDM.
We went to The Road to dining and dancing for a birthday celebration.
The day started at 7 am when we went on a tour of various temples. The first one is the most memorable where we have to walk up 700 stairs that went straight up. I considered that my work out for the day. The significance of this temple was the stature of a naked man what was 40+ feet high and made out of one rock. This was a place where certain men went were they had given up all worldly possessions and only had a peacock feather to chase flies and mosquitoes away. YES, naked men everywhere, the women of the group appeared to be happy. As mentioned before, the national monuments had garbage everywhere, public urination prevalent and people in the temple on their cell phones. I don’t get it.
Once again at 7 pm we went to meet the press and take more pictures interacting with the SDM students so the local paper can see us interacting. It is too bad that we have painted the picture that we are attached at the hip with the students of SDM.
We went to The Road to dining and dancing for a birthday celebration.
Friday, January 11, 2008
Welcome to the Firm!
The site visit of the day was to Infosys. As we were pulling into the campus, they were checking all the vehicles for computers and were taking the serial numbers of the computers. For a company in the information industry, that did not surprise me, but after we left I think that it was just a control issues. The person that we meet with was a director at Infosys. He had only been with Infosys for two years and did not have a lot of knowledge of the company and its values. Case in point, in each sentence he mentioned the “values” the company had. So after 30 minutes, I asked, “What are some of your values”? He did not have a very good answer. Todd asked him who he felt Infosys competitors were, and his response was, “we do not have any competitors” after a long pause, he said, if I had to pick someone, it would be Accenture. That was very pompous and not professional at all. Even though the campus had all of the luxuries of spas, tennis courts, banks, pharmacy, barbers, doctors and beautiful living quarters, I am a firm believer that they operated as a cult and only wanted total control of their employees.
What a difference a day made, two world class companies, but two very different philosophies. I like the L & T approach much better.
In the evening we were to have a talent show with the students of SDM-IMD. What a great experience. The native dances with the different dress was incredible. The culture of the various areas was neat to see. Because no one in our group had any talent, our fearless leader Rajiv was selected to play a game on our behalf. The game was, the audience shouted out a topic and Rajiv had to argue for or against the topic. The hard part was the MC for the night would throw out numbers and if the number was positive Rajiv had to argue for the topic, if the number was negative, Rajiv had to argue against the topic. We the first topic was “size matters”. You can guess the excitement that the topic brought. Hats off to Rajiv, he represented us will.
International incident #3 happened that evening. I was starting to get frustrated and missing home and it was not taking very much to get me irritated. We were going on a rickshaw ride when some of the other drivers in the lot we were at were trying to rip us off. Well my mouth got before me and I verbalized the international sign (FU). Apparently they understand what that means and it took 20 minutes to calm the crowd down. The amazing thing that happened was Harvey was the peace maker this time, and altercation was avoided.
What a difference a day made, two world class companies, but two very different philosophies. I like the L & T approach much better.
In the evening we were to have a talent show with the students of SDM-IMD. What a great experience. The native dances with the different dress was incredible. The culture of the various areas was neat to see. Because no one in our group had any talent, our fearless leader Rajiv was selected to play a game on our behalf. The game was, the audience shouted out a topic and Rajiv had to argue for or against the topic. The hard part was the MC for the night would throw out numbers and if the number was positive Rajiv had to argue for the topic, if the number was negative, Rajiv had to argue against the topic. We the first topic was “size matters”. You can guess the excitement that the topic brought. Hats off to Rajiv, he represented us will.
International incident #3 happened that evening. I was starting to get frustrated and missing home and it was not taking very much to get me irritated. We were going on a rickshaw ride when some of the other drivers in the lot we were at were trying to rip us off. Well my mouth got before me and I verbalized the international sign (FU). Apparently they understand what that means and it took 20 minutes to calm the crowd down. The amazing thing that happened was Harvey was the peace maker this time, and altercation was avoided.
Thursday, January 10, 2008
Money to be made
The lecture for today was delivered by DR. H Gayathri, “Growth and Business Opportunities” I enjoyed this lecture for two reasons. First, at some point my employer will have a business presence in India and second there were many ties in his lecture that you could make to the book the World is Flat. The fact that India’s exports are expected to triple by 2010, shows that the country will be a player in the world market, health care is already outsourcing some of its non-traditional, non-strategic functions, transcriptions and CAT scan readings.
Growth in the IT and communications industries will also be enormous. The IT expansion and growth is evident with the amount of money that Intel, Microsoft and the like are spending. Per Dr. G, there are 125,000 cell towers today and the need will be 350,000 by 2010. With the JV’s between the phone providers like Nokia and Sony Erickson and air time providers like Vodaphone or Airtel, and cell minutes at a penny, I can see the how the needs will have to be met.
For our site visit, we went to Larsen and Toubro, a 30 bil market cap company with sales of about 7 billion and is India’s largest engineering and Construction Company. I was particulary interested in the visit as L & T is currently one of our vendors that we outsource engineering and IT work to. The facility we went to was their EMSYS division. They manufacture gas meters, hospital equipment and make or convert games to work on cell phone platforms. How cool. Our host was the GP Nagaraj who ran that division.
Their attention to details and our needs was unbelievable. It started with lunch where they had the best food that we had had to date, and for those who wanted western food, they brought in Pizza Hut pizza. They continued this treatment the rest of the afternoon. We had their top officials with us the whole day while we were on the tour, answering questions and giving us insight to the company and at the end of the visit, we were all given a parting gift.
L & T covers outsourcing, offshoring, insourcing and supply chaining in their business model and has made a lot of money in the process. I almost forgot to mention, the company was started by two Danish men, that’s globalization.
After the L & T visit, Karl, Harvey and I went to Bangalore to meet Sonny Tara, my GM for Dinner. Sonny was traveling with our director of IT Gary Burgess. It is funny that 5 people from the USA meet at a hotel in India, eat Thai food, drink wine from Chile and smoke cigars from Cuba, that is a global event. The event was worth the 5 hours that it took us to get there and back.
Growth in the IT and communications industries will also be enormous. The IT expansion and growth is evident with the amount of money that Intel, Microsoft and the like are spending. Per Dr. G, there are 125,000 cell towers today and the need will be 350,000 by 2010. With the JV’s between the phone providers like Nokia and Sony Erickson and air time providers like Vodaphone or Airtel, and cell minutes at a penny, I can see the how the needs will have to be met.
For our site visit, we went to Larsen and Toubro, a 30 bil market cap company with sales of about 7 billion and is India’s largest engineering and Construction Company. I was particulary interested in the visit as L & T is currently one of our vendors that we outsource engineering and IT work to. The facility we went to was their EMSYS division. They manufacture gas meters, hospital equipment and make or convert games to work on cell phone platforms. How cool. Our host was the GP Nagaraj who ran that division.
Their attention to details and our needs was unbelievable. It started with lunch where they had the best food that we had had to date, and for those who wanted western food, they brought in Pizza Hut pizza. They continued this treatment the rest of the afternoon. We had their top officials with us the whole day while we were on the tour, answering questions and giving us insight to the company and at the end of the visit, we were all given a parting gift.
L & T covers outsourcing, offshoring, insourcing and supply chaining in their business model and has made a lot of money in the process. I almost forgot to mention, the company was started by two Danish men, that’s globalization.
After the L & T visit, Karl, Harvey and I went to Bangalore to meet Sonny Tara, my GM for Dinner. Sonny was traveling with our director of IT Gary Burgess. It is funny that 5 people from the USA meet at a hotel in India, eat Thai food, drink wine from Chile and smoke cigars from Cuba, that is a global event. The event was worth the 5 hours that it took us to get there and back.
Wednesday, January 9, 2008
Silky
The site visits today took us to a sandalwood factory and a silk factory. Once again we saw the contrasts of India. Old buildings that were falling down, machines that were 30+years old, employees that were probable not paid very much, even in Indian terms. Both factories were government owned, so the state of the facilities should not have been a surprise. The sandal wood factory was not that impressive other than the boiler was from England and the heavy equipment used to process the wood was all from Germany. Once again the Germans show their abilities to produce equipment that you can be abused and still have it work.
The silk factory was very cool. The process that is used to turn the silk worm into fabric was awesome to watch. The process of making fabric with designs was also interesting to watch. It is not a precise process and lengths of fingers and string is used to measure where the patterns start. I also look at the manufactures of the equipment, thinking would see a place in India that made the equipment, but once again, the sourcing of equipment came from over seas but this time it was from Japan. Go figure.
The silk factory was very cool. The process that is used to turn the silk worm into fabric was awesome to watch. The process of making fabric with designs was also interesting to watch. It is not a precise process and lengths of fingers and string is used to measure where the patterns start. I also look at the manufactures of the equipment, thinking would see a place in India that made the equipment, but once again, the sourcing of equipment came from over seas but this time it was from Japan. Go figure.
Monday, January 7, 2008
It's a jungle out there.....
Trip to the Kabini lodge.
What an awesome two days. We traveled on roads that for the standards in India were ok until we reached the last ten km which was a dirt road plagued with pot holes and debris. According to Varma, (p164), from the time he wrote his book through 2007 the Government of India will have spent 12 bil on road construction, covering 13000 km’s or 8125 miles. With the current road ways, that will barely dent the landscape. The significance of the road showed the contrasts of India and its culture and the challenges that they will face.
The time was very relaxing as we spent the first couple of hours hanging out on a hammock that held 10 of us. After a brief stroll around the compound we stumbled across the second flattener of Friedman, an old style satellite dish what was five feet in diameter. The last time I saw such a large satellite dish was off of hwy 42 in Minneapolis where there is a satellite grave yard. This giant piece of equipment is keeping this peaceful hide-a-way resort connected to the world.
The evening safari was awesome. There were 9 of us in the TATA jeep that drove around the park. The sides of the jeep open and our guide hung off the side scouting for various wildlife. We were able to see elephants, deer, Guru’s, peacocks, and various other birds during the three hours that we spent traveling the country side.
Safaris have some a long way since the back packing and horse days. The off road vehicles where equipped with Motorola radios that the guides used to communicate back and forth with and where the animals were. Our guide also had a high-tic pair of binoculars that we use to zoom in on the various animals that were almost too far to see with the human eye.
There was an event that happened at dinner that evening, that bothered me, and it bothered me enough to inquire about the next day. When we were sitting at dinner that evening with our guide from SDM, the driver from the school went through the food line and sat at the table next to us, even though there was ample room at the table. I motioned for him to come and sit with us, but as he looked around the table and saw who we were sitting with, he declined. Varma spoke of the hierarchical society in India, however I did not recognize that it existed to that degree. That is where I like how India handles the school system in India. Other than a few private schools, the government runs the schools and the students are given uniforms to wear each day and the meals are also paid for by the school. I like how the government has taken class structure out of the clothing and meals and gives each student a chance to education where by looking at a student you do not know if they come from money or not.
With a wake up call at 5 am to do yoga, we started the am fresh and rejuvenated. I have come to the conclusion that I will never have the flexibility that I once had. The morning safari yielded the same animals, although we spent the better part of an hour looking for a tiger. We finished the morning with at fantastic breakfast day with eggs over easy and a grueling 3 hr buss ride.
The flattener of the evening was at trip to Regallis Hotel, a five star hotel for my first Indian hair cut. For $140 rupees I received a hair cur, head, neck and back massage, straight razor shave done twice and a shampoo. What a deal. The event was an Indian barber that used French shampoo, Gillette razor blade and shaving cream and Axe after shave. What an international event.
After 4-5 hrs of paying attention to my real job, I joined the group for a night cap at a club called The Road. They try very hard to immolate the American society, with theme nights. They had a hip-hop night where the dance music was from the 80’s and 90’s but the weird thing was the staff was dressed in cow boy outfits. What a warped sense of the western world.
Good night.
What an awesome two days. We traveled on roads that for the standards in India were ok until we reached the last ten km which was a dirt road plagued with pot holes and debris. According to Varma, (p164), from the time he wrote his book through 2007 the Government of India will have spent 12 bil on road construction, covering 13000 km’s or 8125 miles. With the current road ways, that will barely dent the landscape. The significance of the road showed the contrasts of India and its culture and the challenges that they will face.
The time was very relaxing as we spent the first couple of hours hanging out on a hammock that held 10 of us. After a brief stroll around the compound we stumbled across the second flattener of Friedman, an old style satellite dish what was five feet in diameter. The last time I saw such a large satellite dish was off of hwy 42 in Minneapolis where there is a satellite grave yard. This giant piece of equipment is keeping this peaceful hide-a-way resort connected to the world.
The evening safari was awesome. There were 9 of us in the TATA jeep that drove around the park. The sides of the jeep open and our guide hung off the side scouting for various wildlife. We were able to see elephants, deer, Guru’s, peacocks, and various other birds during the three hours that we spent traveling the country side.
Safaris have some a long way since the back packing and horse days. The off road vehicles where equipped with Motorola radios that the guides used to communicate back and forth with and where the animals were. Our guide also had a high-tic pair of binoculars that we use to zoom in on the various animals that were almost too far to see with the human eye.
There was an event that happened at dinner that evening, that bothered me, and it bothered me enough to inquire about the next day. When we were sitting at dinner that evening with our guide from SDM, the driver from the school went through the food line and sat at the table next to us, even though there was ample room at the table. I motioned for him to come and sit with us, but as he looked around the table and saw who we were sitting with, he declined. Varma spoke of the hierarchical society in India, however I did not recognize that it existed to that degree. That is where I like how India handles the school system in India. Other than a few private schools, the government runs the schools and the students are given uniforms to wear each day and the meals are also paid for by the school. I like how the government has taken class structure out of the clothing and meals and gives each student a chance to education where by looking at a student you do not know if they come from money or not.
With a wake up call at 5 am to do yoga, we started the am fresh and rejuvenated. I have come to the conclusion that I will never have the flexibility that I once had. The morning safari yielded the same animals, although we spent the better part of an hour looking for a tiger. We finished the morning with at fantastic breakfast day with eggs over easy and a grueling 3 hr buss ride.
The flattener of the evening was at trip to Regallis Hotel, a five star hotel for my first Indian hair cut. For $140 rupees I received a hair cur, head, neck and back massage, straight razor shave done twice and a shampoo. What a deal. The event was an Indian barber that used French shampoo, Gillette razor blade and shaving cream and Axe after shave. What an international event.
After 4-5 hrs of paying attention to my real job, I joined the group for a night cap at a club called The Road. They try very hard to immolate the American society, with theme nights. They had a hip-hop night where the dance music was from the 80’s and 90’s but the weird thing was the staff was dressed in cow boy outfits. What a warped sense of the western world.
Good night.
Sunday, January 6, 2008
site seeing
This will be a short blog as we spent the day sight seeing various places around Mysore. The high light of my day was the Mysore palace and the lighting of the palace. The pictures can be seen on my Picasa site but we visited the palace in the am and observed its history and beauty, but we went back in the evening when the palace is illuminated with 96000 light bulbs. The light show was incredible and very worth while to see. In the morning visit we were attacked by the street vendors and got roped into buying snake magnets, which you toss in the air and they sound like a rattle snake. After some practice I got very good at it and they helped pass the time on the bus.
Saturday, January 5, 2008
Golfing in India
I meet Harvey in the lobby at 8am for an Indian golf adventure. Our guide for this event was Rahul, Ramesh son who had moved back to India from the US to work for GE Medical. The course is located off of the race track in Mysore and some of the holes go across the track. The cost of golf was very reasonable, with a caddy it was about $12. Purchase price parity did not happen until we had to buy golf balls. Three top flight 3000 balls cost $9, which in the US, for another $3, I could have purchased a dozen balls. My caddie had a 12 handy cap and did a great job helping me read the greens and directing me around the course. It was not my best round but golfing in January was treat.
We rushed from the course and headed to the hotel to catch the buss for AT&S, a circuit board factory.
AT&S is a high tech, circuit board factory or (PCB), the factory was very loud and I could not hear the person giving us the tour, however I observed them making boards of all sizes, from cell phones to computer servers. Depending on the customer the boards even included precious metals such as gold. One of the most interesting facts that impressed me was their quality control area. To determine if the PCB had the appropriate holes punched into it they had a template that was held over light with the PCB and reviewed. That was incredible, for someone to sit and review this all day long and be 99.9% accurate. With inexpensive labor, there is no need to automate this process.
We rushed from the course and headed to the hotel to catch the buss for AT&S, a circuit board factory.
AT&S is a high tech, circuit board factory or (PCB), the factory was very loud and I could not hear the person giving us the tour, however I observed them making boards of all sizes, from cell phones to computer servers. Depending on the customer the boards even included precious metals such as gold. One of the most interesting facts that impressed me was their quality control area. To determine if the PCB had the appropriate holes punched into it they had a template that was held over light with the PCB and reviewed. That was incredible, for someone to sit and review this all day long and be 99.9% accurate. With inexpensive labor, there is no need to automate this process.
Friday, January 4, 2008
Meet the press
Meet the press. We started our day with a group of reporters from New Delhi. Ramish, the director of SDM-IMD and has done a lot of work to promote our visit and the school so we were on the hot seat. This visit was for us to ask the media any questions we had on India, but instead there were more questions for us on what we though of the country.
The morning lecture was on HR & Business – a symbolic relationship. Not that interesting.
Based on my work experience I had a great time at our visit to TVS motors. TVS is a manufacturer of 3000 motor scooters and motor cycles per day and even more interesting they had 72 inventory turns on their raw material, (35 on finished goods). During their presentation they talked the language of lean and 6 sigma, TQM and TPM, I knew I was in for a fabulous tour. When we walked on to the shop floor it was what I expected to see in a world class manufacturing facility. There were metrics boards, clean and orderly manufacturing cells, process flow and a work force that looked that they were busy at all times, no one standing around chatting. This was even more impressive as they pay their average shop employee $200 us a month of 9000 rp. They also had a mix of 40% company employees and 60% temporary employees, which they say is a low ratio, as they want 60%/40% Company vs. temp employees. Need less to say, I had a great time and felt at home in a factory.
The morning lecture was on HR & Business – a symbolic relationship. Not that interesting.
Based on my work experience I had a great time at our visit to TVS motors. TVS is a manufacturer of 3000 motor scooters and motor cycles per day and even more interesting they had 72 inventory turns on their raw material, (35 on finished goods). During their presentation they talked the language of lean and 6 sigma, TQM and TPM, I knew I was in for a fabulous tour. When we walked on to the shop floor it was what I expected to see in a world class manufacturing facility. There were metrics boards, clean and orderly manufacturing cells, process flow and a work force that looked that they were busy at all times, no one standing around chatting. This was even more impressive as they pay their average shop employee $200 us a month of 9000 rp. They also had a mix of 40% company employees and 60% temporary employees, which they say is a low ratio, as they want 60%/40% Company vs. temp employees. Need less to say, I had a great time and felt at home in a factory.
Thursday, January 3, 2008
Labor is cheap!
The lecture on supply chain was more geared toward a high school business class and did not add much value to my over all supply chain knowledge. The tour to Automotive Axle was awesome. Automotive Axle (AA) is a US JV that was previously a Rockwell Automation Company, that now is a JV with Arvin Meritor.
The CFO went through the Company’s history and cost structure. The amazing fact was the $0.90/ hr average labor rate. Also the tour of the factory was very amazing. Since AA has just started their lean journey, there are some very evident flow issues; however at $0.90 per hr labor they can afford some inefficiency. There is not much for a safety program there. Material handlers were loading trucks in flip flops and painters were in the booths with masks, welders were given helmets but held them in their hands 6 inches from the welding area, not an OSHA approved safety program.
The highlight of the evening was another American dining experience at Pizza Hut where their pies are just like we get at home. It is nice to experience 1/3rd of our meals in a familiar setting.
The CFO went through the Company’s history and cost structure. The amazing fact was the $0.90/ hr average labor rate. Also the tour of the factory was very amazing. Since AA has just started their lean journey, there are some very evident flow issues; however at $0.90 per hr labor they can afford some inefficiency. There is not much for a safety program there. Material handlers were loading trucks in flip flops and painters were in the booths with masks, welders were given helmets but held them in their hands 6 inches from the welding area, not an OSHA approved safety program.
The highlight of the evening was another American dining experience at Pizza Hut where their pies are just like we get at home. It is nice to experience 1/3rd of our meals in a familiar setting.
Wednesday, January 2, 2008
The legal system
The day started with a lecture on “The Indian Legal System” by Mr. Shivakumar. It was a very interesting over view of the legal system and if there is one thing that I will remember is that you never want to have a reason to utilize the system.
After the lecture we went to the court house (lower court) and observed the proceeding. The buildings were run down, the transcriptional used a manual type writer and the tables and chairs were dilapidated and mostly broken, it was a very, very run down area and not typical to the US system. My expectation for their legal system was much higher because of their years under British rule and how diplomatic the British system is, from the law that they practice to the building that they practice in.
Later that afternoon a group of us went to the down to the local vegetable and craft markets and had a blast. I had the opportunity to play Cricket with some of the locals in the street and observe Harvey Ma get a traditional arm rub with sensual oils from one of the local men. Thanks Harvey for taking one for the team.
That night was one of the best meals in history. We actually found a Subway. Although it was a chicken meatball sandwich, it was very tasty. With their free wifi service and North American music, I will be back often.
After the lecture we went to the court house (lower court) and observed the proceeding. The buildings were run down, the transcriptional used a manual type writer and the tables and chairs were dilapidated and mostly broken, it was a very, very run down area and not typical to the US system. My expectation for their legal system was much higher because of their years under British rule and how diplomatic the British system is, from the law that they practice to the building that they practice in.
Later that afternoon a group of us went to the down to the local vegetable and craft markets and had a blast. I had the opportunity to play Cricket with some of the locals in the street and observe Harvey Ma get a traditional arm rub with sensual oils from one of the local men. Thanks Harvey for taking one for the team.
That night was one of the best meals in history. We actually found a Subway. Although it was a chicken meatball sandwich, it was very tasty. With their free wifi service and North American music, I will be back often.
Tuesday, January 1, 2008
Happy New Year
Happy New Year from India.
Against all I believe and have ever stood for, I went to class on New Years Day. On a national holiday where I would have spent the day relaxing, watching football and eating junk food I sent the morning in Professor JM Subramanya class talking about business ethics from Indian Scriptures & Gurus. Ethics abroad take on a different meaning when there is poverty everywhere bribes are expected to do business. What I have witnessed for bribes the locals call tipping. This kind of activity reminds me of trade show activities in the USA. You can not get anywhere or do anything with out slipping the rupees. I believe that Varma called bribes a “creative way” corruption is accepted.
With some R & R in the afternoon, we were treated to a concert by the local police band. It was not Sting and the boys but the locals in uniform.
Having a professional musician in the family, I have high expectations for concerts and this was one of the worst. Besides that fact that all of us just wanted to get back to the hotel, it appeared that the band did not want to be there either. 4 of the members arrive 30 minutes late and just walked on to the stage and started playing. The high light of the evening ties directly into 10th flattener, “the steroids”. I want to remind the readers of this blog that was a police band, a group of professionals that in the western world are known for discipline. There was piece with a flute solo that was going along smoothly until there was a cell phone that went off. My first reaction was some one in the band was going to get their ass chewed for having their phone on while performing, but to my amusement the flutist stopped in the middle of his solo, reached into his pocket and pulled out his cell phone, looked who the caller was, put the phone back in his pocket and continued his solo as if nothing happened. Unbelievable.
Against all I believe and have ever stood for, I went to class on New Years Day. On a national holiday where I would have spent the day relaxing, watching football and eating junk food I sent the morning in Professor JM Subramanya class talking about business ethics from Indian Scriptures & Gurus. Ethics abroad take on a different meaning when there is poverty everywhere bribes are expected to do business. What I have witnessed for bribes the locals call tipping. This kind of activity reminds me of trade show activities in the USA. You can not get anywhere or do anything with out slipping the rupees. I believe that Varma called bribes a “creative way” corruption is accepted.
With some R & R in the afternoon, we were treated to a concert by the local police band. It was not Sting and the boys but the locals in uniform.
Having a professional musician in the family, I have high expectations for concerts and this was one of the worst. Besides that fact that all of us just wanted to get back to the hotel, it appeared that the band did not want to be there either. 4 of the members arrive 30 minutes late and just walked on to the stage and started playing. The high light of the evening ties directly into 10th flattener, “the steroids”. I want to remind the readers of this blog that was a police band, a group of professionals that in the western world are known for discipline. There was piece with a flute solo that was going along smoothly until there was a cell phone that went off. My first reaction was some one in the band was going to get their ass chewed for having their phone on while performing, but to my amusement the flutist stopped in the middle of his solo, reached into his pocket and pulled out his cell phone, looked who the caller was, put the phone back in his pocket and continued his solo as if nothing happened. Unbelievable.
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