Italytoindia

After the school

2010-08-11T11:43:00.000-07:00

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

2010-08-08T04:40:00.000-07:00

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

2010-08-06T23:43:00.000-07:00

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 !!!

2010-08-06T05:26:00.000-07:00

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

2010-08-04T14:24:00.000-07:00

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

2010-08-04T08:35:00.000-07:00

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

2010-08-03T01:31:00.000-07:00

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

A (splitted) sunday in the beauty of Karnataka

2010-08-02T23:09:00.000-07:00

Sunday in Mysore

It’s Sunday in Mysore! Free day!!!
A group composed by Carlo, Gian, Domenico, Luca T., Silvia S. and Federico decided to sleep a little bit more to recover the huge efforts of the last three days.
The alarm is at 10am, and we are still struggling to get out from the bed. The more reckless persons decide to take the shower despite the bad conditions of the hotel and the cold water!
After paying the bill of the charming hotel we decided to go to have a breakfast in another hotel of the city offering black coffee and cheese-toasts.
After having satiated our thin palates, we directed towards the temple of Chamundi Devi placed on the top of the hill that dominates the town of Mysore.
The trip on the hill in rickshaw was hard and weary because of the traffic. Hundreds of people were flowing in the area in front of the temple where on Sundays a free meal is distributed to the pilgrims.
One hour later we found that we crossed just five km, and we were able to reach just the bottom of the stairway leading to the temple: unfortunately anything was in sight and 300 rapid steps were waiting for us!
After fifteen minutes climbing we reached the Temple gateway. The crowd there was impressive: sounds, colors, lights brought us in a mystic atmosphere.
The time was short and after a brief standstill we had to return towards the rickshaw for going down to the city.
In Mysore the rickshaw drivers bring us to visit a shop of pashminas and silvers, but the most interesting thing has been the visit to the shops of different fragrances: sandal, lilac water, musk; special fragrances sold to convenient prices.
After this tour the hunger was at its peak, so before the 3 hours journey in the train we decided to make a fast standstill in a typical Indian restaurant, tasting the Southern Indian specialities, the famous Rava Dosas.
At 6 pm the train was on the platform ready to depart, direction Bangalore: ticket only 40 rupieses! For almost 140 kms!
Our adventure continued climbing on an Indian train! The impact is strong: a carriage about ten and about ten people close to each other in every possible combination.
We only find place in the superior part of the carriage, sitting with the legs crossed. The trip was not very comfortable, but the enthusiasm for the experience made all of us very happy. The three hours of trip passed fast chatting and laughing.
At 9 pm we reached Bangalore station, incredibly crowded of people! We succeed in taking a rickshaw to the McDonald's of the Forum Mall: the stomach was empty and the willing to have a good dinner, even in a fast food, was high!
At 11 pm we finally came back to the XIME with full bellies and relaxed faces we return, just on time to celebrate with the other guys the birthday of Raffaella.
At midnight a small party started with the classical ritual: Happy Birthday to you, Raffaella!
Tired but very happy we came back to the room soon: tomorrow is Monday, another formal day and another week of Summer are waiting for us!

A trip to the Temples

Our day started at 6.30 a.m. after a few hours of sleep.
A hard but exiting day was waiting for us: we planned a visit of 3 temples: Gomateshwara, Hoysaleshwara and Chennakeshava.
The beginning of the journey was troubled: we left the hotel with a delay of 2 hours. Our bus arrived 1h late and after that we found out that our driver couldn’t speak English at all, so we had to asking for another driver. At least we had some problems of misunderstanding on the amount of payments too.
It wasn’t the only trouble made by the Indian’s holistic conception of time…Also we had some little unexpected problems, the most important was a “squaraus” attack (squaraus is an Italian slang word meaning dysentery) by our tutor’s Monica.
We passed four hours in a little 20 seat bus, with inside 8 western tourists (us), 1 driver and 2 co-drivers. We could not understand the usefulness of the two co-drivers since they didn’t do anything all the time, but at least we became friends.
We arrived at a village named Shravanabelagola, famous for its massive statue of Gomateshwara (18m high), a prime destination of pilgrimage for the Jains.
I want to spend 5 min to speak about our trip in the Indian countryside to underline the bad condition of the roads, too small and full of holes, but perfect to contemplate the quite and beautiful landscape. It’s amazing to see the wild and green nature plenty of palms and high grass. Also we were able to see a lot of very little small villages with palm made roofs and very small huts; time stopped 200 years ago there.
Before enter into the first temple we took off our shoes, according to the Indian tradition, and we started to climb the 674 steps that divided us from the entrance of the temple.
At the top we found some little temples and the most important statue was enclosed by a 3 meters high wall.
It’s was very impressive but what catches our attention most was the landscape and the quietness of the place. The calm, the sight and the breeze gave us good sensations; far from the chaos of the streets we felt relaxing, a sensation that we couldn’t find from quite a very long time; to be on a holy mountains gave us a real mystical experience.
It reminded us some wonderful sensation one could have climbing the top of our wonderful Italian mountains….
The moment was really peaceful, maybe too much; in fact we stayed 3 hours instead of staying only one hour like we planned. We also planned to start our trip at 7.15 a.m. visit every temple in 1h our each and drive for 10h in a way to come back to XIME at 8.15 p.m., but the programme was maybe a little bit ambitious (as you will found at the end of this post we had arrived the day after at 1 a.m.)
The second temple was amazing, and this is not only my opinion but all of us say that was awesome! A good surprise for all of us… Hoysaleshwara is an Hindu temple damaged in a little part by the Muslims, but anyway this historical fact doesn’t reduce the majesty of this amazing masterpiece of Southern Indian art.
Decorations covered all the walls outside and inside. The black stone structure of the temple is also amazing. I could explain more deeply all the characteristics of this work of art but even a photo can not explain all its beauty.
Out of the temple court swarms of hawker assault us; they almost gave us no time to do nothing; for example when we was ready to go with our mini van with the engine switch on and the doors closed and while I was speaking with Matteo a book magically appears from the half-closed window….there was a desperate seller who was going to sell us a little kamasutra’s book.
It was too late and our delay continued to grow. Not taking care much of this situation we wanted to reach our last destination, about 30 min far from Hoysaleshwara.
The Chennakeshava temple was little disappointing, for us. Since we had visited the huge draqvidian temple of Tiruvannamalai, it seemed to us a small scale copy of the former.
Before going back to the bus we stopped to eat something in a little canteen; we did not eat a lot but anyway it was more than we got for lunch, when we eat 2 little banana’s and some biscuits sitting on bus (eat few and walk hard: excellent for diet!).
At the end we leave to go back to Bangalore
We had 5h of bus in front of us, we started watching a very trash Hindi movie (made in Bollywood) and after that we tried to sleep, someone with success other not….in this field the best in our league was Sofia, unrivalled in sleeping and eat biscuits.
At the end we arrived at 1 a.m. tired but happy and ready to reach our mates and enjoy the Raffaella’s birthday’s party.

Carlo and Luca

Day and night-life in Mysore

2010-08-01T12:44:00.000-07:00

Wake up at 6:30 am after four hours of rest. The plan of today is visiting Infosys campus in Mysore, about 3 hours away from Xime.

Just after leaving our campus we realized that the bus wasn't working well but we were so tired that the trip passed so fast! Our "ultra-deluxe" bus was so stressed from the sportive way of driving of our chaffeau, that just arrived it started to lose a strange green liquid probably from its brakes.
Luckily after the visit to Infosys we changed it.
During the days before everybody told us about Infosys as a wonderful place to work, which is so different from Indian style.

Just crossed the cancel we realized that we weren't anymore in India but in a completely different world. Soccer fields, gym, swimming-pool, bowling, biliard, cinema, tennis courts and yoga's room are the tools to underline the importance of employees welfare.
But each-one of us thought that working couldn't be easy with so many distractions (a typical italian filosophy)!

We had lunch in a very beautiful area circled by a river full of oriental fishes that unfortunately weren't on the menu! We left campus with sad faces because we couldn't enjoy any of these facilities.
Always in a hurry and late we arrived at Maharaja's Palace just one hour before closure time. Luckily we had time enough to visit the palace and understand that the maharaja's life was awesome, especially for the elephants in the garden :)!!

After the visit to the palace, some of us decided to came back in Bangalore but the majority remained in Mysore. Thanks to Matteo's "Lonely Planet" we found a "nice" hotel where with 7 euro we had the chance to sleep with mice, bugs and dirty sheets :0....but we were in a suite!!!
At 8 pm started the night, the special guest was KingFisher Strong! ;) which stayed with us till 3 am. Another day of summer school was gone and our batteries were flat but we had for sure the best night till now!

p.s: for those who went back in Bangalore: was it the right choice?? We think NOT!! :)

Sofia Schiaffino and Rino Di Loreto

the journey of ``indian hope``!!!

2010-08-01T11:46:00.000-07:00

This morning we woke up
at 6.30 am because we had scheduled the start al 7.15 am but infortunatly the coach came with one hour of delay. The travel was too long and problematic,it took more than four hours and for some minutes we were thinking that the caoch broke down. While the driver was trying to repair the damage, we made a little walk around,so we found a little school but didn't have enough time to talk with some people because we were called back from the coach.During the travel many people were sleeping,all tired from the long last night.

Same Deutz-Fahr welcomed us in a very kindly way forgiving our delay, we found at the entrance of the meeting room a girl that made us the typical "third eye",they offered us some drinks. Deutz-Fahr is a firm that contains companies like Same,Deutz-Fahr , Lamborghini and Haulimman. Same produced in 1927 the first diesel tractor of the world, now its core business is tractors too but also telehandlers and power generations. The firm has factories all over the world: Treviglio, Lavingeni, Moscow, Dalian, Ranipet, Zupanja.

The tractor market during the crisis was hurt and recorded more than 20% of losses, in particular a fall of 74% in Europe sales. In India this field is very developed because the tractors are sold as a "mean of transport" for the movement of population from villages to cities because of the huge problem of infrastructures, which prevents the use of cars in the villages. At the end of the presentation of the CEO, MD and commercial director , we had lunch; after we went to the factory to see the production; this company places heavy emphasis on safety of workers and quality of products, therefore, machinery are engineered in order to avoid any error or omission on the part of worker. They showed us the phases of the production and at the end they gave us some presents like an hat and a photo of us..

After the visit to this firm, we went to the temple of Thiruvannamalai. Because we spent 2 hours on the bus, we arrived when it was already dark and we could see the temple in all its splendor at night. Bad luck would have it we lost the "Puja", ie an act of worship toward God, which can be expressed in a tender, a cult, a ceremony or rite. One enters the temple strictly barefoot, so not everyone was enthusiastic about this, but is worth it especially because there were so many people at night.. During the visit we received the blessing of the typical "third eye"... After the visit we stopped in a distinctive place and we got a toast that we ate on the bus because it was late; finally after 4 hours of bus (that in India is an unique experience), we got to Xime exhausted at 3 o' clock , knowing that we would be able to sleep 3 hours..

chicca e jerry

Tired but happy

2010-07-29T10:45:00.000-07:00

We woke up very early in the morning to reach Bosco.

Bosco is an acronym for Bangalore Oniyavara Seva Coota but the name is also inspired by Don Bosco, it is a NGO for child/young, it was established in 1980 by 5 Salesians. This institute gives protection, care and rehabilitation to children.

Bosco strongly believes that the phenomenon of street children cannot be ignored, they need help and a mentor, and Bosco is one way to give them all of this. This situation affects the society, so this kind of center supports the child to be re-inserted into society.

The vision is to create a community (starting from Bangalore) with this kind of sense of responsibility, it’s so important to teach to everyone (not only Indians) the fundamental role of the youth.

So the mission isn’t just to help the children, but also create awareness in the society, it’s a double goal.

This help is given to children who are abandoned, victims of abuse (physical, sexual and emotional), begging and so on.

The major activities of Bosco are counseling, health care, home placement, personality and talent enhancement, education, recreation, job placement.

Afterwards we went to Bethany High, that is a school situated in Koramangala, where a large number of students showed us typical indian dances and songs.

They started with a dance following the notes of Vande Mataram, a song written by the nobel prize R.Tagore, that is the national song. Then they showed us the typical dance of Punjabi: Bhangra, and eventually one of the most famous and difficult dance: Bharatanatyam - an ancient dance which is characterized by very particular movement of the eyes.

In order to show something to the Indians as well, right after their performance half of us walked on the stage and thanks to someone’s ipod we sang the Italian national anthem all together. One thing we noticed, when we put our right hand on the heart the Indians followed us right away to show their respect.

After that, we went to Metro: the German cash and carry.

Our “guide” showed us all inside the store and spoke about the differences that stand between our Metro and the Indian’s. For example we saw a special product that could make the skin brighter, according the last fashion stream. Besides that we saw a whole room all dedicated to spices.

Unfortunately we were in a hurry and had to skip the presentation they prepared for us and went straight away to our bus.

Two-hour drive got us back to Xime where the Indian students were waiting our arrival for their cultural show. We honestly have to say that it’s been a fantastic show, we all were very impressed.

They started with a welcome speech, followed by Kashmiri, a traditional Indian dance.

We then saw an incredible variety of clothes and dresses coming from all parts of India followed by songs and other dances.

Even if we are a little tired we have a lot lof fun!

Federico e Silvia

A rainy day....

2010-07-28T10:51:00.000-07:00

When we awoke, we realized that it had rained during the night. All day sun and rain alternated, but temperature was always pleasant.
Yesterday night we went to the disco so this morning we were shattered. In fact, during the first lessons we seemed to be zombies. We tried to conceal the sleepy mood, but not everyone succeeded in doing it.
With this preface, we had lessons all day long.
After a quick lunch, professor Philip, the President of XIME, had a lecture dealing with all achievements his country had reached, as atomic bomb. Contextually he compared India with our Italy, that in his opinion had more and more troubles.

Professor Iyengar had a more realist point of view, he pointed out many problems that still have to be solved. An example was Mombay’s airport, which is next to a slum that hind airport expansion.
Finally at 5 pm we had time for relax.
Dinner hadn’t surprised us. Almost the same as all other meals, breakfast included, we had at the XIME.

Anyway, most of us really appreciate spicy indian food... as a different taste of life.

Karin & Giuseppe.

Economics Faculty.

Building group's identity through narration

2010-07-27T23:30:00.000-07:00

Hello, we are still here to tell you the story of the second day of summer school!

We decided to let the night be and put together all the events of the afternoon and the evening early in the morning.

That served us to reflect about the significant of this blog: it’s a tool for manage informations or a possibility to give news significants of our staying toghether every day? And also, are we telling our story because obliged or because we really need to construct our group identity?

As the tutors of the blog yesterday we decided to observe and to be attentive not only to the content of the lessons or what’s happened during the visit to Biocon, but also at group’s dynamics.

Morning started with our tipical breakfast here at XIME, black tea or coffee to begin the day with the necessary energy.

During the morning we followed different lessons: first one was made by Professor Ravindra, which illustrated us the innovation and development of indian IT industries; it departed from historical notions, trying to explain times and passages which had produced the actual assect in indian IT industries.

He was followed by Professor Palta, who deeply explained us the Indian Manufacturing Industry, passing from food, to beverage, to chemical and pharmaceutical, with special references to the aeronautical sectors, in which he had worked for years.

The last lesson of the day was made by Professor Natarajan, who described with a richness of details the Indian higher education system, especially analyzing engineering education value, and the opinion of the possible stakeholder of the future.

It was very late when we ended the lessons, so, after a very quickly lunch, just in few minutes, we were ready, waiting for our first visit to a company in Bangalore, during this summer School.

The impression we have had when we arrived was to be in a different, new world.The company is Biocon, a pharmaceutical one, leader in biotech products, and in particular researching on development of drugs for diabetics and oncologycal patients.

The industry is near our campus so we took a few minutes to arrive.

Biocon’s hub is located in a beautiful place, with all around garden perfectly cut and green.

We were received in the conference room, where all is perfect and modern.

The head of public relation office described us the company, how it was created and how it develops in those years; he also listed all the first products of the company, and what are their ambitions for the future.

Biocon operates in a really innovative sector of pharmaceutical industry; biosimilar products probably rapresent the future of medical research and clinical trial in oncology sector first, so Biocon has a very important role also in the future of healthcare.

What we found very interesting during the presentation was the information about women employed in the company; they are about 30%, and that’s due to a specifical policy of the company, and it’s President, which is a lady!

The description of products was still completed hurriedly, and the information he gave us was maybe too technical for many of us.

At the end of the presentation finally came the moment that all of us were expecting with enthusiasm… the visit to the productive hub!

But… at the end, they told us that it wasn’t possible to make the visit, because of reparation works at the productive sector.

We don’t hide our delusion for this happening: most of us don’t really understand the reason.

However, we immediately find a way to make up for the disappointment.

First of all, we’ve had a good notice: our indian telephone sim cards now are active; second, we are all free for the rest of the day!

We start to tell the story of the afternoon and the evening reflecting on the words of Professor Moorthi, who came with us to Biocon, about our group. He said “it’s very hard to organize a large group, and it’s also very hard to pleased everyone”. In one phrase he touched two sides of the coin: the rational one, with rules and organizzative aspects, and the other one, affective, emotional. As a tutors of the blog we should write about the both sides of heart of our group, both having pair dignity.

We didn’t resume only at the observation, but we decided to partecipate. So, we choose to continue our adventure each one with one group, because we though that gives us the possibility to put together all the stories.

During the afternoon and during the long long evening that followed our group splitted in two groups who rapresents two vision of how to spend the time and for how to understand India.

One group searched the spiritual side of India, visiting hindu temple and making a full immersion in the traditional places ; for the other, full immersion also, but in…shopping in Commercial Road!

We took a relevant number of risciò; the trip had been really difficult, because of the traffic, the suffocating air, and the hour and half used to arrive in the centre of the city, and this is valued for all the groups.

But…finally we arrived!

We start telling the story of the hedonisthic group.

We’ve never been in Commercial Road, and at six pm o’clock colours are very suggestive, because sun is setting, and the light slowly decline, mixing colour and people moving in the evening.

Commercial street is a very pleasant road, full of little shops of sari, pashminas, bracelets and shoes, and all the typical indian products we where searching!

All the girls, but also boys, were really glad to be there, e some of us started buying some present to return back home to parents and friends!

From Commercial Road we took again the risciò to go in Saint Mark’s street, another location in Bangalore very different from the colours and all the people we founded in the centre of the city, at the market, but, full of modern restaurants , coffee and pub.

We seats in a modern restaurant, not cooking

indian food… we can’t wait also this moment: for the first time from our arrival we ate a fantastic fillet!

Dinner was more expensive than in other places, but it was worth the bill!

From restaurant we follow our indian friend, Josè!

He took us to apparently the central mall… but at the fifth floor of the mall we found a typical discoteque, full of boys and girls coming from very different nationality!

For an hour we dismissed student’s clothes, and leave space to fun!

Very interesting fact: the location, music and people moving around seem very occidental. I was observing even in the disco, and I was really shocked about the fact that the young girls entrered in bathroom wearing jeans, and after one minute they were going out ready to dance, wearing mini skirt; this made me reflect about the style of the younger generation!

But at midnight, all was closed, and, tooking again a lot of riscio, we came back to Xime, really tired but happy for this amazing day!

What about the spiritual group?

We decided to go to the buddisth temple, Sri Dodda Ganapathi and the impact of the first time seeing this kind of monument was very strong. First of all because we have the “lack” to see for the first time in our life a saint, which we quickly named “Santone”. He was ugly, with strange mouth and strange eyes. He scared all of us , but for the first time we understand the hindu rituals taking by his hand water and fire.

We learned out that in the temple you have to enter without shoes, by the left side and exit by the right side, and if you want to have luck in your life you have to shoot against a wall a coconuts, like an offer for gods.

At the second temple, Bul Temple, we were alredy prepared; that time we didn’t entered by the wrong side, we talked with the next santone (young and nice this time!), we apologised about our ignorance regarding the rituals, but he said it’s ok, invited to his temple and he let us again touching the fire and tasting the water.

But our spiritual trip dedicated to know the profound India didn’t end here.

We preferred to take dinner in the muslim quarter, staying behind a little shop of food. We discovered how enchanting is eating the food not in the plate, but on the leaves, using not white napkin but journal paper, and creating relations with the locals.

We hope that our story have really enjoyed you.

Two faces of India, two faces of the group, both necessary to be known for understand the spirit of India and the spirit of our own group!

Thank you for reading,

Carmen & Martina

Faculty of Psichology

Three, two, one.. GOOOOOO!!! First day at Xime

2010-07-26T10:09:00.000-07:00

We were excited not only because today we would have started classes, but also for the long a-waited formal day. We woke up early in the morning, had breakfast in very fancy clothes, but we made a big mistake: we ate a typical salty Indian pastry with jam, like Germans who eat our pasta with nutella. :D
Afterwards we went to the conference room, finding some labels with our names on our respective spots, along with a bottle of water and brochure. Everything was very formal: we surmise that we must be very important people!! We have been welcomed by many illustrious professors: first of all we have listened to the interesting speech of Prof. D. Subramaniam, who has been talking about the partnership between Xime and our university Bicocca. Our Prof. Roberto Caimi thanked Xime for the hospitality and for the chance they have given us.

We had the honor to be welcomed by the founder president of Xime, Prof. J. Philip, who he has shown his India very proudly, from different points of view. He was very enthusiastic about the success of the Summer School project, developed not only in India but also in the other BRIC countries. The proudest of us, Stefano, had the difficult task to explain our expectations about this experience and he has actually done a very good job, thanks to our support, of course! :D
After breakfast first and then after the spicy lunch, we had different lessons about economics: the first by Mr. Mohan was about BPO, the sector where India is the leader. The second one was about Capital Market, given by professor Satya Moorthi: he was very well organized, he had even prepared for us a summary of his own lecture (without this help we wouldn’t have been able to understand anything probably!!!). Then Prof. A. Dasgupta showed us the importance of giving power to employees and the differences between HR management in India and in Italy. Finally we had a pleasant meeting with Prof. Dr. Naseer Mohamed Jaffer, who explained the history of foreign trade and investment. These lessons were very interesting, but.. are you wondering how we managed to survive so many classes? It’s easy: our irreplaceable chef supported us by serving tea/coffee with biscuits for everybody (if we can talk about coffee).. Why can’t we have those delicious biscuits in the morning as well? :D:D

At the end of this tiresome day, we had the most important meeting with the Indian students of Xime! They were very friendly and they told us about their life: they come from different parts of India and each of them has different hopes for their future. They were very interested about our lifestyle, as much as we were about theirs. We have had the possibility to spend more than an hour in their company and to become friends. We hope to meet them again because an hour isn’t enough to satisfy our curiosity..

Antonella e Cisca O.

Let's getting started

2010-07-25T08:41:00.000-07:00

Finally all the team is here! The last participants arrived early in the morning, and the class is ready for the first day of touring in Bangalore. On the bus to Cubbon Park the male section engage is some rehearsal for the cultural show, and the trip fly over the notes of Bocelli and Verdi.

The garden is small and charming, and while walking among gigantic bamboo we stumble upon the Venkatappa Art Gallery. The exhibition is various, from Neolithic find to paintings and sculptures of different ages. A big representation of the episodes of Ramayana gives us the input to discover some more about Indian mythology and old history, thanks to the expertise of Stefano and of a very kind Indian visitor.

With our eyes full of such beauty, we decide to go and get our bellies full as well. We choose a very posh restaurant near MG Road, one of the main commercial streets of Bangalore. Koshy's is a internationally looking restaurant, serving nice and not so spicy Indian dishes, but we have to get out a little too quick because the air conditioning is definitely too efficient for our standards.

Off we are, back on the road…and MG Road is fully active, with dangerous traffic and lots of business to be done. Monica exercises her bargaining skills with a street vendor, and gets away with 2 garlands of Rudraksha beans. They are used to count prayers and even treat diseases in traditional Indian medicine. Getting rid of the seller is one of the most difficult part of the task! But we are now skilled rickshaw riders, and we arrive, divided in little groups, to the city market. Hidden behind a little green mosque is the beautiful flower market, just what you would expect to find in India, but at the same time an experience one cannot imagine before having being there. We are swept away in the flow of people, colors, noises, smells (a lot of them, some nicer, some less agreeable). The students are conquered by the multitude of unknown items on the offer, and feast on colored powders, bangles, and flower garlands. But on the offer is a small world of fruits and vegetables, cooking tools, sacred images and much more.

Next stop is the Forum Mall, where we are thrown back to modern, western like style of life. The building hosts boutiques of global brands and more traditional products, and a worldwide variety of foods.

Tired but very happy, we finally head back to Xime, where, after dinner, the last challenge awaits our brave students: they will have to prepare a 3 minute speech for the inauguration day that will take place tomorrow.

We are really happy of being here and already sure that this first experience as tutors at the Xime summer school will be full of challenges and will enrich us both academically and humanly.

From now on we pass on the torch of this blog to the students.

Giulia, Matteo, Monica

Delhi-Bangalore by train 22.07-->24.07

2010-07-24T11:16:00.000-07:00

Why taking a flight and have a confortable but boring trip when you can try the experience of taking the slow but charming Indian trains???

We started from the station of Nizzamudin in Delhi during the evening of the 22th and our destination is XIME University in Bangalore city, 2.600Km far from Delhi.

Despite our parents' expectations, ours has been a fantastic and unique experience, enduring poor sanitary and safety conditions, nevertheless we arrived safe and healthy.

We got the chance:
- to see the breathtaking landscapes of Delhi, Rajastahn, Uttar Pradesh, Andra Pradesh, Maharastra and eventually Karnataka;
- to live the heartwarming kindness of our Indian travel mates;
- to taste the particular foods served frequently aboard, without getting intimidated by their spiciness.

36 hours later we reached our destination, proud of having had the courage to embrace this journey.

...

All we can say is
INCREDIBLE INDIA

Rino Di Loreto, Massimo Maria Bosisio, Stefano Pozzi

Welcome to India 2010

2010-07-20T08:57:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone!
This is the first blog from the fifth India Summer School organized by Bicocca University with the support of Fondazione Cariplo.
We are very proud for this newly repeated venture, which sees a good number of students approaching once again inner India.
We look forward to hearing from you and sharing your adventures.
Good luck!
Fabio Corno,
Summer Schools Coordinator