New Years Eve

We woke up, ate breakfast at the hotel, got ready to be picked up by 8:30am, and headed to class at SDM institute. Class today consisted of a lecture by Rajesh Haldipur. He gave us a pretty basic background of India. I found it interesting that this country has a 94% male literacy rate, while the female literacy rate is only about 65% nationally. We also watched a few videos of all of the new state-of-the-art projects that are being introduced to help out the people of India. It was a very interesting class, but after a while it turned into a bit of a bragging session about India. I know that they want us to love their country, but I have a hard time believing the stories of perfect life and happiness for everyone. After class, we had time to sit in the computer lab for about an hour to email and work on our blogs. The internet service here is less then par, it may be difficult to get blogs done each day.

After lunch at the university, we took a tour of Vikram Hospital. They gave us a presentation about the hospital and what they do. It is a specialty hospital, so they do plastic surgery and other surgeries that would be a lot more expensive in the United States. They work with many people that fly over for the inexpensive care. We toured every area of the hospital. It was such a different experience then it would have been back in the states. We saw paint pealing off the walls and broken glass on windows. I felt very invasive while we pushed past all of the Indian people seeking help. We tend to get many stares wherever we go. Especially with my blond hair, it like nothing I’ve ever experienced.

When we finally got to breath in some fresh air after being in a hospital for hours, we headed back to the hotel. Merry and I took a much-needed nap (I’m still trying to get used to the time difference). Being New Years Eve and all, the students at SDM planned for us to go to a party at a place called Planet X. As it turns out, it was a huge gathering of hundreds of people with lots of food, drinking, and an even bigger dance floor. It was all outside under the stars. We spent the evening dancing and having a wonderful time. We had the opportunity to meet some of the student from SDM and dance with them. It was a great way to ring in the New Year.

The assignment that we were given that goes along with these blogs is to relate our experiences in India to our assigned readings for the course. These readings consist of “Being Indian” by Pavan K. Varma and “The World is Flat” by Thomas L. Freedman. Within “The World is Flat” (or WIF as I will be calling it) they list the 10 forces that are flattening our world. This company visit in particular relates to the WIF by making it incredibly easy to travel half way around the world, to spend thousands of dollars less on the same surgery and care that you would receive in the states. It gives the same opportunity to those living in other countries that can’t afford to receive their own health care. The cheap labor also favors the people of India by offering these services for prices that are more affordable to them.

Intro to India

Where to begin. we have spend many days in transit to Mysore, India. now that we are finally here, it is like nothing i could have imagined or expected. India is a beautiful place. it is filled with breathtaking scenery, architecture and people. i was told before visiting, that i would come in contact with people of great riches, and great poverty. this seems to be exactly what i am experiencing.

it's almost as if there are two worlds here. the one is growing so fast and developing new technology all the time. the other is so poor, they live in huts on the side of the road and don't have food to eat or water to drink. there is some of the most beautiful architecture that I've ever seen. but at the same time, some of the dirtiest streets and shops. i think that begging children are the worst. you feel so bad not giving them all you have, but if you give to one, you have to give to all.

We left the MSP airport on Thursday, December 27th at about 1:30. we took a 2 hour flight to Chicago, where we had a 4 hour layover. then we traveled to Frankfurt, Germany on an 8 hour flight, followed by another 8 hour flight to Bombay, India. from there we flew to Bangalore, India. once we were FINALLY done with planes and airports, we took a 2 hour bus ride to Mysore. all in all we in the air for about 20 hours, with a total of about 30 hours of travel total. needless to say it felt great to arrive at our hotel at 7am on Saturday morning.

Since then, we've eaten delicious food, done some excellent shopping, slept a lot, and read textbooks. i can already tell that this is going to be an experience i will never forget.