Back in the USA

I am officially back in the country I call home (Good Ole America). However, I did take a piece of India with me that I will never forget. This adventure was eye opening and life changing. I will have stories to tell of this trip for the rest of my life; and I feel very fortunate to be apart of this adventure. I was amazed at the camaraderie with our fellow colleagues, the politeness and beauty of the Indian culture, and the overall sense of hope, determination, and grit that drives this historical country.

This drive and determination by the people of India is so alive and incredible that it reminds me of America in the past. Americans once had this drive and determination, but I have seen it slip, while the rest of the world catches up and will eventually pass us by. It is a sad fact, but one I feel very strongly about. If India keeps doing what I have seen it do over the past 14 days, the days of America being the major superpower will quickly come to an end. Hungrier countries are preparing much more for the future than we are. Globalization is here and we all need to accept it and be ready for many changes in the near future.

I have many stories that I will share with you all when I see you. If you ever have a chance to visit India, you will quickly realize why they call it "Incredible India".

All the best,

GB

The Taj Mahal!!!

Hello everyone. I have been very busy with limited access to the Internet. This is the capstone of the trip...The Taj Mahal. The first sight of the Taj is breath taking. It is almost as if it is surreal or it is a Hollywood background. However, it is easy to understand why it is one of the seven wonders of the world...it is truly amazing.

The outside is a very clean and green, which is considerably different from the majority of India. Millions come to visit every year. I took as many photos as I could, but I ran out of memory and had to use someone elses camera....I will have those photo's updated later.

Here are a few shots of a majestic structure everyone should see once in their lifetime. Enjoy!

Microfinance...Putting An End to Poverty

Today we visited a Muslim village outside of Bangalore and learned about the impact of Microfinance on the poor. It was remarkable to see woman of all ages and learning how they started their small business and finding out how the business operates today. After we watched the woman payback their loans we were able to take a tour of the village. Many of the children wanted to hang out with us and speak english. Myself and another classmate broke away from our group and hung out with the children. They showed us their homes and took us to the jungle gym. They were very pleasant and their laugh and smile was infectious. I will provide more on Microfinance later.

See photos....I am going to take a nap!

GB

Microfinance at Work

This morning we are leaving for a village to learn about Microfinance. Microfinance was founded in 1976 by Dr. Mohamad Yunus in an attempt to solve world hunger. Dr. Yunus later went on to win the noble peace prize for his work. There is a great book that I highly recommend reading, entitled "Banker to The Poor".

Essentially Microfinance institutions act as very small banks that lend money to poor people in villages so they can increase their standard of living. It has proven very effecting and there is over a 90% payback rate (Which is phenomenal). The loans are primarily given to women, since they are more responsible with the money (sorry fellas). These loans are as small at $20, so a borrower can work and grow their business. The businesses are making bags, fishing, pottery, and the like.

Microfinance was originated in Bangladesh and has spread to impoverished countries such as Africa, India, and Latin America. However, there is not a major presence in the United States, which I find odd.

I will take plenty of photos and provide more information on my next post.

Until then...Adios!

GB

Sh!t Happens!

The past few days have been so busy that I have not had any time to even get on the web. We took a 1 hour ferry ride across the Arabian Sea to visit the Elephanta Caves and learned about various Indian gods and some of the history of the Persians and Indians. It was very interesting to hear different beliefs and worldly viewpoints. The caves had magnificent artifacts that have been around for centuries (See photos) and are still in relatively good shape.

In the afternoon we visited the largest slum in Asia, Dharavi. Having tourist visit the slum was very new and many of us felt it may be inappropriate to be walking through as tourist. Needless to say, there were mixed reactions with our presence. Upon de-boarding the bus, we were immediately struck with the heat, humidity, and a foul, pungent odor. The slum is a city inside the city of Mumbai and has over a million people calling it home. Although the majority of the residents do not acknowledge Dharavi as their home to outsiders, as they are ashamed of telling outsiders where they live, which gave us further credence that we may not be well received by members of the community.

We walked through narrow passages and witnessed how this community operates. Surprisingly, the community operated businesses that forged aluminum, plastic, and they also made and sold clothing and pottery. With garbage in every area of the slum, it was amazing to see how simple and efficient certain small businesses ran within the community.

After an hour, we started receiving a lot of attention from the children. Much to our surprise, not one individual in this community begged for money or food during our entire two hours in Dharavi. They residents predominately had a pleasant demeanor about them and smiled and greeted us. One young woman even offered us chopped up coconut as a courtesy.

The children started to follow us and they all wanted a "high-five" and greeted us with a "Hello, How are you?" We acknowledged and returned the gesture, but the children looked perplexed and did not know how to respond. However, all of the children were so happy to see us and their enjoyment of having us there made us all feels great.

We ventured out of the slum toward the bus. During this entire "walk-through" I was the only person wearing flip flops (Not a good idea, but I did not bring tennis shoes with me). As we were walking I slipped and my left leg feel into a grayish liquid that ran through the sides of the slums. I quickly pulled my leg out of the liquid and had a solid grey coat from my foot to the middle of my shin. My fellow group members quickly came to my rescue and dumped bottled water on my shin, foot, and flip flop to remove my newly added grey sock.

My first thought was that this grey matter was run off from the slum homes or it was some kind of liquid for patching broken areas of the homes. The next morning, I was advised that the liquid I stepped in was raw sewage. I was disturbed by this and went back up to my room and took another shower and profusely scrubbed my foot until it was nearly raw.

The people of Dharavi left their mark on me (literally) in more ways than one and I will not forget the how bad things could be for us and how fortunate we all are in America.

My new name in the group is now Shitshin. :)

Cheers,

GB (AKA Shitshin)

Still Cannot Sleep

I woke up this morning at around 5:30am and could not fall back asleep. So I decided to check out the fitness center and walk around city. As soon as I crossed into the street I became a target of endless solitors (everything from touring, women, beer, or whatever else I wanted). I politely asked the cab driver to leave me alone.

I ended up meeting another restless colleague and we walked to the Gateway to India. The Gateway to India is equivalent to Ellis Island in New York. The gateway (picture shown) was built by the British as a sign of their arrogance (or so the story goes). I took pictures, but they were foggy due to the condensation on the lense from the intense humidity. Charlotte, NC humidity pales in comparison.

From there, we were targets of other locals looking to hustle and make a buck. I was asked by one man if I wanted to act in his movie. My first reply was, "how much does it pay?" He was very criptive about it, but did present a script and he wanted me to the be the hero in the movie. However, I think he really just wanted money so he could start it the film. I kindly declined before being circled by several other Indians. It is the equivalent to throwing a piece of bread on the beach and having hundreds of seagulls flock to get whatever they could (that is part of the experience here). Three young men wanted to get photos with us because they thought we were in the movie business (I did not correct them :)). They were extremely polite, shook our hand, and left us alone. AND YES, I did check my pockets immediately afterwords in case they were pickpockets, but nothing was taken.

I also was pleased to see the Detroit Redwings are going to the Stanley Cup and the Detroit Pistons will be facing Boston (D-TROIT BASKETBALLLLLL!!!!!).

I am currently watching cricket and have no idea what is going on. We are killing some time this morning and will be off to our first company visit of the morning, The Tata Group. Tata is a major conglomerate corporation that owns business in Auto, Financial Services, Coffee, Tea, Consumer products, and many other industries. Some of you may be familiar with 8 O'Clock Coffee in the U.S....Tata Coffee owns it. The Tata Motor company also just purchased Landrover and Jaguar from Ford Motor company a couple of months ago. In addition, they currently deployed an automobile that runs on compressed air. The car can run for 110 miles before needing a "fill up".

Our suits get delivered tonight and if all goes well, I may look like an official movie star tonight (Georgio Armani suits for less....I love it). If we could only negotiate everything in the U.S. as they do here.....

That is it for now.

Cheers

P.S. The second photo is the outside of our hotel (The Taj Hotel and Towers).

GB

We are considered GODS as visitors in India

The is a photo shortly after our "Welcoming" to the country. The other photo is some other students enjoying a nice cold beverage after a very long flight.