After the school

I’m in Agra, staying near the beautiful Taj Mahal, with 8 friends from the Summer School who decided to visit the North of India, and I wanted to share some conclusive thoughts about this incredible experience with all the readers of this blog J. I know I’m a bit late so I apologize… I wrote it on Saturday 7th.

Every good thing has got to come to an end. Maybe we wouldn’t appreciate things in the same way if the time were infinite; the fact it runs so fast makes it precious. Many times during this two weeks of summer school we have lost some sleep trying not to miss any single drop of this experience, which value does not only stand in lessons and visits.

It’s the morning of 7th august; the last day of Summer School has eventually arrived. We feel numb, confused, as in a surreal dimension. How could this have happened? It looks like yesterday we had the first “traumatic” approach to the city of Bangalore: the pick-ups provided by Xime to take us from airport to college led us to really discover the meaning of the words crowd and horn, which we realized we have used in an incorrect way until that moment! From that point in time a lot of stuff has happened: the most various lessons, the company visits, the cultural show with all its rehearsals, the building of friendships with both our trip companions and the interaction with the Indian students.

Someone is going to leave for Goa in the afternoon, others are heading to the north of India to discover the famous Golden Triangle, the last ones are just going back to Italy or to other countries in the world for another trip. Our roads are going to diverge, and here it comes the feeling we’re losing a piece of ourselves in this place. The bonds we have created in such a short time look so deep, leaving us the sensation they won’t be broken for a long time: living a strong experience such as a summer school 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, is something that hold us together as a very powerful glue.

Different reasons pushed us to go for this adventure, a different search drove each one of us, but I think everyone got touched eventually by India. Some may have found some answers, but most important, got other questions, which I think are the most powerful driver for someone’s growth, leading to another search, another journey…
As Don Williams Jr, an American novelist, wrote:
“The road of life twists and turns and no two directions are ever the same. Yet our lessons come from the journey, not the destination”

Thanks to everyone who made this unbelievable experience possible and so special.
Raffaella

our last school day - marta e flora

Also today our alarm clock rings too early in the morning…no, better…also tonight we slept too little!!!
Finally a rich breakfast…anyway we preferred our traditional biscuits and bread, so thank you Xime, but potatoes and omelette at 7 o’clock is an hard experience for Italians!!!
So with one closed eye and another very tired we dragged on the same old and dirty bus, and also this morning without any care we stretched out trying to sleep some more!
Nobody still realized that this was officially our last summer school day, and for some of us also the last day in India!!!
After our usually ten minutes waiting for the latecomers and with our coughs and sneeze as melody we started going…direction IIMB!
Our light sleeps were continuously and suddenly interrupted by the Indian speed breakers, that here are extraordinary works of arts, because everyone is different from others in length and tallness!!!
IIMB is the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore, the most important business school here, where only “genius” pass the hard admission test (about 1 student for 100 requires).
The building is immersed in the green of trees and gardens. It’s a beautiful and particular structure that remembers the Scottish architectures but also makes feel like walking in a temple.
The first lesson was about the religion and the society in India and was given by a young professor that seemed sing while he speaks, more than we Italians are able to!

After the lecture we came back at Xime.
The last lunch all together was ready and luckily, after complaining, it was a little bit different from the food we have eaten for the last 2 weeks.
At 3 pm there was the final ending!
Everyone dressed elegant and professors gave us the participation certificates and it was an exiting moment for all of us.
After some pictures we had a free afternoon and everyone spent it in his own way….there was someone who played basket, those who went to the shops to get some groceries and so on…
At 7 pm we had a special dinner in the Xime garden instead of eating at our usual dining room.
Everything was beautiful, there were lights on trees, a big table set for the dinner with food and beverages.
Some Xime students came to have dinner with us, and as all the other times that we had the chance to interact with them it was really interesting. In fact I believe that the interaction with the Indian guys was one of the most fascinating moments of our summer school. Even though we couldn’t spend so much time together every time it was amazing because we could discover so many different things as their expectations about their future, lifestyle, religions and thoughts!
I believe it would have been great to spend more time with them but we know it was difficult because of our busy schedule and their lessons and exams. Anyway every time we felt good about this because we could make something that no travel guides or documentary could ever do.
After the last dinner it was time to get the party start.
Every evening it was a bit difficult to organize because of the Xime distance from Bangalore downtown, because of this law of Karnataka state which imposes to close bars and pubs at 11.30 – 12.00 pm.
So this time we decided to stay at the Xime university. It war really nice to see the people who didn’t even know each others became so close in 2 weeks. We had this feeling at the very beginning of the evening; in fact there was an incomprehension, but after we talked about it we made up and the party continued as nothing ever happened.
We bought some beverages and food and despite the tiredness we sang, danced and stayed all together.
At 11 pm unfortunately it was time to greet Martina Antonella and Sofia; after that we continued the party even though little by little some people went to sleep and the party was over only in the morning.

Some final thoughts ... beyond the Summer School

Here you are, at the end of these two weeks ...
Lots of colors, perfumes, impressions in your eyes and in your souls.
The experience of these past five years tells us that noone really goes back to Italy as he/she has left.
When I have started with these programs I had in mind to create a special opportunity for visiting fast-growing countries going beyond the mere "tourist" experience. I hope we have been successful.
Looking ahead, we have already started looking for opportunities for stages in India and encourage those of you who are interested in such experience to contact us in September.
Fabio Corno

PS: the following poem by Kavafis well synthesizes the meaning of our message:
Ithaka
When you set out for Ithaka
ask that your way be long,
full of adventure, full of instruction.
The Laistrygonians and the Cyclops,
angry Poseidon - do not fear them:
such as these you will never find
as long as your thought is lofty, as long as a rare
emotion touch your spirit and your body.
The Laistrygonians and the Cyclops,
angry Poseidon - you will not meet them
unless you carry them in your soul,
unless your soul raise them up before you.

Ask that your way be long.
At many a Summer dawn to enter
with what gratitude, what joy -
ports seen for the first time;
to stop at Phoenician trading centres,
and to buy good merchandise,
mother of pearl and coral, amber and ebony,
and sensuous perfumes of every kind,
sensuous perfumes as lavishly as you can;
to visit many Egyptian cities,
to gather stores of knowledge from the learned.

Have Ithaka always in your mind.
Your arrival there is what you are destined for.
But don't in the least hurry the journey.
Better it last for years,
so that when you reach the island you are old,
rich with all you have gained on the way,
not expecting Ithaka to give you wealth.
Ithaka gave you a splendid journey.
Without her you would not have set out.
She hasn't anything else to give you.

And if you find her poor, Ithaka hasn't deceived you.
So wise you have become, of such experience,
that already you'll have understood what these Ithakas mean.

The Italian cultural show: no words !!!

This very long day has began very early, as we woke up at 7 o'clock to reach ISRO at 8.30. We wasted a lot of time 'cause we had to fill an identification form and to collect our electronic devices as we were not allowed to bring them with us. Finally the visit started. ISRO stands for Indian Space Research Organisation and it is a public agency. It has many centres all over India and its Lead Centre is here in Bangalore, where satellites are designed and built. ISRO deals with many areas, the centre in Bangalore in particular has to do with communication and its main purpose is to provide social and economic benefits in the country. For this
reason ISRO is carrying on a project called TELE EDUCATION, which helps the relationship between the colleges and provides
lectures of qualified professors. Today the colleges linked are 1000.

After this visit we took the bus to go to HAL (Hindustan Aeronautics Limited) but our beautiful bus suddendly stopped and we had to push forward it.

The visit to HAL was not so interesting, we saw many photos but we hadn't a guide that could explain us something about these photos and planes.
We returned to XIME for the lunch and then we had a lecture about culture influences behaviours by Mr. Iyengar. This lecture was
very interesting, he spoke about similarities between Indian and Italian behaviours as, for istance, the strong family affiliation, the
relaxed concept of time and the flexibility about the rules.Then we spent some time trying our dances and songs for the cultural show....

Now let's move on to the most interesting part of the day: our cultural show.

After few days the time of the cultural show is come. We are ready...more or less. Now we have to start. Our amazing announcers,
Luca and Raffaella, were really able to catch the attention of the audience. Ready, steady, go! We start with a video presentation of Italy with images of important italian men, cities and celebrities and the song "Nessun Dorma" slide fast giving all strong and beautiful feelings. We carry on with a tipical south italian dance "Pizzica". The dance is very beautiful and it seems that our guys are professional dancers. Amazing!!
The video about our University is quite boring, nine endless minutes!
Now it's the moment of the song: "Domani". The beginning of the song was very good, but after the first mistake unfortunately we continue to make a lot of mistakes. Nevertheless we were very brave. After this problem we have to do our best, so we show the video about our experience in India with the indian students. Listening Vande Mataram and watching those pictures we see the indian students very happy and moved.

After this little surprise we have another one: the Bangra, a tipical indian dance.
Our dancers are so good that it does not seem that they have practiced only from three days! The audience really appreciates our performance. Perfect!
We are not far from the end of our show and our Tutor, Stefano, talk about our flag and its meaning. After that we go on stage dressed with the colours of our flag and we sing our national anthem with all the voice that we have.
Gorgeous!! Everything is beautiful, the show is come to an end...or, to be more exact, we think that it's finished...
We thank everybody and take some picture with the indian guys...and as the show is not finished yet we dance another time Bangra, but now with the Indian students!!! And we go on dancing the Waka Waka and Indian songs with Abhi as coreograph...!! That's a beautiful party, we feel so close and so friend...a unique feeling!!!
Unfortunately we have to stop making noise, we take the last pictures with our indian friends and we exchange greetings!!!

But for us the party goes on...only in another place...!!!! Until now this day has gone better than we could thought...but the evening is only at the beginning...!
We catch the bus to M.G.Road and as tipycal Italians would do we sing, laugh and make a lot of noise, chatching the attention of all the passengers. We reach M.G.Road where we meet a Stefano's indian friend who take us to the disco; we've met him two weeks ago, but we're not still used to his fast step!!! So we arrived to this sumptuous hotel with swimming pools and fountains and we cross it to reach its disco...very very nice, but the drink and the food (we didn't have dinner at the XIME) are very expensive...they cost as a drink in Italy !!!!
We immediately start dancing because the Indian's club close very early...we have only two ours to do our best!!!! The party is going to finish, some of us are smoking at the on-board swimming pool and the desire of dive is so strong that in few minutes we are playing in the swimming pool!!! The staff of the hotel and of the disco is atonished and please us not to make too noise...but unfortunately it is like to talk with a deaf !!!! We're wet and cold, and we have to come back with the tuc tuc...but we don't care...we can say that we had a night bath in Bangalore!!!! So we dry ourself and we're ready for another adventure in rickshaw...we had already tried to travel in four people per rickshaw, but this is the first time we try it in five...! Unforgettable experince...!!!! But we reach the XIME healthy and save, and we continue our party...

The cultural show was amazing and everybody had a lot of fun. If we have to give a mark to this day it would be definitely a 10, everything was perfect! Unfortunately this Summer School is ending, but every day we have done something that we are not going to forget easily. Every day we wrote an episode of this adventure and above all we managed to create a beautiful group!!! Everybody will remember his mates for this incredible days. We felt and we are feeling glorious and strong emotions, and everything will be an indelible remember!!!

Thank you guys, and thank you to the best tutor we could have!!!!!

Samantha e Chantal

V.I.P. – VERY INDIAN PEOPLE

The new day starts with the fresh Bangalore’s air. “Once upon a time in Mumbay” was our first experience in a traditional Indian cinema. Midnight was just passed and the film had finished; the same people who only few minutes before were noisily clapping their hands, laughing, screaming and whistling, now, outside the cinema, took different directions disappearing in the dark and narrow roads of the sleeping capital of Karnataka, followed by the always present rickshaw’s drivers who were asking if someone needed a lift home.

We personally said “no, thanks”; we were by car with our Indian friend, Jose.
On the way home, we decided to stop to have a cup of lime tea at the appealing price of 5 rupees. The price written on the door of the little and rotten local. Two natives who were enjoying their drink, started staring at us, with the usual curiosity that pervade most of the local population when they meet occidental people. “Take it carefully, it’s hot!” said the innkeeper giving us the small plastic glass. In that moment our eyes felt on a sleeping trump all wrapped in thick blankets and wearing the typical woollen hat. Normal glimpses of Indian life.
We than return at the college crossing the semi-desert town.

At 9.15 a.m. some of us went to attend class, Indian Retail Revolution and Corporate Social Responsibility, while a small group instead went to visit Tata BP Solar, one of the largest Solar Companies in the world.

At 10.50 a.m., almost at the end of the first hour of lesson, the good coffee’s smell make the students understand that was the time for the short coffee break between the lessons. At the same time the other excited small group were finally reaching the plant of Tata, after having had some problems finding the right entrance of the factory.



The planners from Xime in fact forgot to specify that the plant to visit was in electronic city block 1 instead of block 2, it was just across the highway. “Who invited you?” “Mr. Surya Tej..” after these magical worlds the guard let the student and tutor Matteo enter to make them fill in some personal information and give them the personal badges. After having entered that undiscovered world, they felt shocked in front such an amazing reality: technology and innovation go arm in arm with the green spirit that push the ideals and values of this well advanced company. The students followed the Marketing Manager along the passageway as children follow Willy Wonka in the Roal Dalh’s tails “The chocolate factory”; they finally reached the production place where they were able to admire the production process.
We met all together again at lunch time sharing and mixing the different morning experiences.

“Meeting time is at 2.20 p.m. in front of Xime”. In fact we had in our plan to visit Hindujan global solutions Ltd, a call centre based in Bangalore city.



We left with the expectation to have the possibility to see the way in which these famous factories works; we came back at about 5.00 pm having only listened to a long, interesting lesson but not as practical as we expected. In fact we only saw a basic conference hall where we listened at a very detailed explanation of the outsourcing process that is taking place in the last ten year. Just to summarize: a classic morning lesson at Xime, but this time kept outdoor.

Tired but not enough to follow the others in our rooms to take a rest, we decided to stroll around the village just behind our college. In such a small context we found the real Indian essence: spices’ smell, men at work, bamboo’s scaffold, children coming back from school, women dressing colourful sahari, banquets plenty of all kind of fruit, cows eating rubbish, wild dogs hanging all around were only a few particulars of an incredibly full of life village. Here pictures taken from tourists make people pleased but a bit embarrassed, let them feel the sensation of importance.













In this way we had the opportunity to meet some real V.I.P.: “very Indian people”!!!
We found out that time flows also in this village where all seems to be static and life always the same. It was time to go to the Xime auditorium to prepare our “Cultural Show” to let Indian students know Italian way of life.




This rich day full ohttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.giff emotions, experiences and sensations last with a special prize. We in fact decided to order a great traditional Italian dish: PIZZA!!!



Now we can go to have a good rest satisfied and pleased to have eaten for the first time since we are at the Xime, something of good quality and in big quantity!

Silvia Santagostino e Luca Trincavelli

CULTURAL SHOW AND LESSONS


Fortunately the day did not start very early, we woke up at 9.30.
We were supposed to have a lesson at 10.45 but since it had been cancelled we decided to practice a bit for the Cultural Show.
We gathered at around 10.30 in the auditorium and everyone started to work on his part, 9 people practiced the Bangrad, 8 trained for the Pizzica, 3-4 people began making the two power point presentations and the others took care of the preparation of the song Domani 21-04-2009.


After about one and a half hours, we had to move to the classroom where professor Chiranjiv Singh (former additional secretary, govt. of Karnataka) was waiting us for his lesson “Some interesting cultural aspects of Bangalore”.
What I found very interesting is that the professor made a comparison between Italy and India. He started telling us how the Romans and the Indians had a trading deal in the past and how this went on for some centuries.
After that he moved to the central topic: Bangalore’s different cultures.
Through a map he drew on the board he showed us how the city (situated in Karnataka) is very close to the states of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Maharastra, Kerala and that is way the city is full of cultural differences.


The teacher underlined how even from North and South Karnataka lie big cultural discrepancies and how these emerge in the city of Bangalore.
Besides that we have also been told that Karnataka hasn’t always been the capital of Karnataka, and that during the colonial age Bangalore was one of the biggest industrial and trading centers of the British Empire in India. At that time the city was divided into two parts: local people were living in the west and English in the East.
So the western lifestyle is still different from the Eastern and the present government doesn’t like the former. That is way it exhaled some laws to partly contrast its trend
But there is also a positive thing to say: Bangalore is also well-known for integrating properly immigrants in the society.

Right after the lesson we had lunch, with the very same Indian food of the last 10 days.
At 14.20 we moved back to the classroom where the former director of Chitrakala Parishad, Mr Suresh Jairam, was giving us a lesson about the Indian culture.
He said that “if America is a melting pot, India is a Thali, a selection of sumptuous dishes in different bowls”.



Living in India means living simultaneously in different cultures and times: it can be hard sometimes but it’s a pleasure for the Indians and the tourists.
He also underlined that the unity of India lies in its ability to assimilate, integrate, sustain different cultural patterns. To better explain this he used a beautiful metaphor: India is a house with all the doors and windows open through which wind blows around and embraces with his delicate and sensitive arms all things and people whose mind is without fear and head is held high.

Where the world has not been broken up by fragmentation made by walls.
The value guide of india are:
1. AHIMSA(no violence)
2. DHARMA(that which uploads)
3. ARTHA(material wealth)
4. KAMA(desire)
5. MOKSHA(liberation for life after the death because for Indian people life is a cycle that never interrupt his movement)
6. KARMA(action not fare)
7. SATHYA(truth)
Once the lesson was finished we had a 15 minute break followed by a lesson on Human rights in India held by Dr. R. Venkat Rao (Vice Chancellor of national law school in Bangalore).



First thing is said was: “Human rights is the same thing of saying right to be human”. Then he talked about the Indian constitution which was exhaled on January 22nd 1950 when India became a republican union.
The latter was influenced by an historical event happened in 1948: the universal declaration of human rights which talked about rights with no distinction between genders (everything wasn’t referred to men but human beings).
And India had signed it where the countries were only 55, whereas nowadays 193 joined.

The steps of Indian history were:
1) Prevalence of colonial rules
2) Rise of the authoritarian government
3) Establishment of fascist Barbarous and oppressive regime
4) Rise of national liberation movement
5) Movements of democracy
The bad thing, Mr Venkat said, is that India reached political independence in 1947 but it’s still not free from a social point of view (see the caste system).

When lesson was over, we were supposed to meet some Indian students in order to give them our questionnaire but once again in the day we had to skip an appointment.
It turned out, indeed, that Indians were having exams during the all week so they had no time for filling out our papers.
So once again, we dedicated our spare time to practice for the cultural show.
Dinner was ready at 8.30 and after that we all went upstairs to the computer room to shoot the breeze.
I know some people went downtown with the unstoppable Jose to watch a Bollywood movie but I personally stayed at the student house to relax.
Good night everybody!

An Indian birthday

Monday 2nd of August

Before we start with what happened today: HAPPY BIRTHDAY RAFFAELLA!!!
As usual this day also started early in the morning with a breakfast between 8 AM and 9 AM (from 8.55 and 9 AM for those of us who likes to sleep). Even if the day before was a free day, we were all sleepy as visiting India can be as tiring as attending lessons.
During the first lesson we met Mr. Zarir Batliwala. Class started at 9.15 and was referred on trends in India Management HR. The professor gave us an important point of view of Indian HR market history, Indian special skills and the future of the Indian development in this particular area of management.
After a small (but necessary) coffee/tea break, we started the second lesson: “Rural Marketing”. Prof Prakash Philipose shared with us his amazing knowledge of rural needs and marketing advices that companies use in this particular situation. It was an interesting lesson also thanks to the professor charisma, humour and capacity to keep the class awake and sharp.
The last morning lesson was “Doing Business in India” explained by Mr. Hubert Reilard who is a German manager who came in India in 1987. From this date he has been managing a German company (EFD) in India that we visited later in the afternoon. He gave us some brilliant overview of the possibility to invest in this country, to open a company and manage it with success, comparing this experience with similar ones in other countries.
After a quick snack most of us decided to change our clothes to be more comfortable and ready for the company visit. Monday at Xime is “formal day” but wear suits and dresses with Indian temperatures and visiting a firm is impossible. Also Mr. Hubert Reilard came at Xime from its factory without his tie on but in few seconds, after he understood the formality of the lesson he was able to solve the problem opening his “emergency bag” and taking out a perfect tie to wear.
At 2.15 PM our BUS was ready to go EFD but, as usual, we were not... Finally at 2.30 we left Xime and after just 15 minutes we arrived to our destination.



EFD business is based on “Induction heating”, the process of heating an electrically conducting metal by electromagnetic induction. An induction heater consists of a copper electromagnet, through which a high-frequency alternating current is passed. The frequency of alternating current used depends on the object size, material type, coupling (between the work coil and the object to be heated) and the penetration depth. This process of heating and hardening differs from heating using ovens as is more precise and the depth and wideness of the area to operate on can be easily controlled.



EFD plant is just outside Bangalore. When we arrived we split in three groups and we started the visit. We were with the HR director, a kind little man, who brought us firstly in the engineer offices on the second floor, secondly in the area where the machines are built, thirdly in the area on the first floor where EFD use some of its machines to evade the Indian market commission and finally in the area where the machines that are sold to other companies are tested before shipping.

We understood that EFD both build induction heating machines for its customers all over the world and sell the hardening service to local companies.
We finished the visit in the conference room with an interview with Mr. Hubert Reilard who proudly told us other curiosities about this company. Moreover he also explained us that the plant was a little bit a mess (compared to Same, it was a lot) just because they were moving things to restructure some parts of it (the building has at least 20 years).
Finally at 5 PM we finished our visit and we got on our bus.

After we come back to XIME, Matteo managed to catch everybody before we disappeared and make us go to the auditorium to start to work on the Italian cultural show. Thursday night we will have the chance to entertain our Indian hosts showing them somehow our culture. All of us tried to express as better we could all our capability in doing something typical Italian. After a lot of songs, dances and others ideas were proposed, we reached a point and we planned the program hoping to be ready on time for the exhibition.

Dinner time arrived immediately after 8 PM but when we arrived in our cafeteria we were shocked to see that there was not enough food and there was almost just plain rice!! We were really hungry after “cultural show preparation”!! After complaining, they brought some other things to eat and we could nurture our starving stomachs…

After dinner we went out to party all together for Raffa’s birthday. After our rickshaw got lost at least three times in the end we arrived to a special pub chosen by one our Indian friend: The Beach.



Over there we had some cocktails and beers to drink, we danced and after a while we were forced to leave the pub before midnight. Bangalore laws in fact prohibit keeping pubs open after a certain hour in the night (not without any bride for cops).



Even if it was still early for “European standard” we had an awesome night all together and that is the point.

Happy birthday Raffa!!

TNX 2 ALL, 4 BEING HERE N BEING AS U R!!!!

Domi e Gian