Italy to India

Last day in Bangalore...by Tommaso Scafroglia

2009-09-08T02:48:00.000-07:00

It is so sad to write about the end of a great experience like that of the Summer School ‘09. I really would like to escape this last blog writing…. But I’m forced to do it for the simple reason that all the other students complain about the fact that I did nothing during our stay in B’lore. Hare babre! (see it Stefano, Matteo Sandrini is not the only guy who learned a bit of hindi…). This is a distortion of the truth! They say this just because I’m a little bit shy, and perhaps a little elusive as well. Should I have to remind to everybody that during the second week I was always the first to reply to Mària’s roll calls on the bus (perhaps because all the others were sleeping)? Should I say that during the last lesson at the IIMB I was the lonely one to ask a question (unfortunately my voice is not that loud…and the Professor did not heard it…). And who was the lonely one who was always 100% healthy throughout the trip? And who was the lonely one who never complain about the spicy Indian food?
Anyway, let’s coming back to the reason I’m writing this last post of the blog, that it is supposed to be a retrospection of the last day of the Summer School ’09. The day started with one of the hardest wake up of my whole life. Aargh! After two weeks I really needed some extra sleep!!! But we had to be awaken soon for the ceremony distribution of Certificates by Professor Philip. After the ceremony and the filling of the feedbacks we got our day free in town. It was a very good opportunity for everyone for the last shopping and the last hard bargaining…some of us had to stay longer in B’lore, some small groups planned their trips to Kerala, Delhi, Jaipur, Agra, Ladakh…so we took some rooms in a typical Indian one star hotel….Hotel Brindavan, a “home away from home”…rooms were not exactly very nice, but the corridors on the court within the hotel building were perfect for a last night party (ho jaega balle balle!).
Now it is the moment for me to make a confession without duress …I was the one who did not pay the room bill, making Matteo Zaramella absolutely out of his mind…But it was just a joke… Who could say now that I’m too serious and that I’m not a funny guy?
Finally we got our last dinner all together, with Chateubriand fillets (not exactly a typical Indian dish), mugs of beer, and chants, and tears….everything you could expect from a real farewell dinner. We said goodbye to all the tutors and students who were going back home. And it was a very emotionally moment. But for the people who stayed…the party was going on at the Brindavan hotel! The highlights of the party were a great monologue of Bruce (I was laughing in hysterics…but I can’t really understand what exactly Bruce wanted to say…somebody could help me please?) and the meeting with two Indian guys, whose profession was really indecipherable…I could only understand that one guy was the manager of the other….and that they were quite drunk….that’s all.
So, with the farewell dinner and the last party at the great location of Brindavan (should we suggest this hotel for future parties for cool Bangalorians…) the Summer School was over. I can only say that it has been a great experience for me. It was not my first time in the fascinating Country of India…but the whole experience was absolutely great anyway. It has been hard in so many moments, but now after few weeks I can keep on my mind just the enrichment I had in attending the lessons, in visiting companies, NGOs, schools, temples, in living the vibrant town of B’lore, in meeting the Indian students and in preparing our cultural show.
I really would like to thank the mastermind of the Summer School, Prof. Fabio Corno. I knew from the students of the previous years that the Summer School was such a great opportunity for personal enrichment, and I had no doubt that it would be. But having living the whole event from the inside I just could be grateful to Prof. Corno for giving us the opportunity to enrich ourselves with this very good experience.
I want to thank particularly our Mission Chief, Paolo Brusaferri, who got the difficult task to look over the organizational aspects of the event, and all the tutors as well, who have been very helpful to all of us, even in the moment of illness and extreme tiredness...
I want to thank the XIME as well. We passed a very good time there, and for that I want to thank the institution that hosted us.
In the end I would like to thank all of you, girls and guys. I think we have been a very good group. We are very different from each other, we are coming from different backgrounds and we have different interests, but, I can’t explain exactly why, the chemistry of the whole group was just brilliant, almost perfect. Everyone brought with him a small brick to built a wall made of interpersonal relations that I hope will last. And finally, even with some difficulties, illness, tiredness, exhaustion we were able to complete all the duties given to us (blog, reports, acknowledgements, cultural show, Country presentation…).
And now let me coming back to some jokes, I would like to finish my long post (I have so many things to say…perhaps because I never spoke before…), with my personal top ten moments at the XIME. I want the other students to add their personal top tens as well, if they want.
Bye bye dears, the blog is closed...
Phir milenge!
Tommaso Scafroglia

Tommaso’s Top Ten Countdown

10. Bruce’s monologue on the last night at Brindavan hotel
9. Visit at the village on the way to Tiruvannamalai
8. Ride on the bus coming back from the visit to METRO, stuck in the horrible Bangalore traffic but at the end...very happy!
7. Train ride back from Mysore (with dinner at the railway station)
6. Punjabi dance at the cultural show
5. Meeting with Indian students for questionnaires filling in the garden at the end of the day (with daylight fading…great atmosphere…)
4. Bella Ciao
3. Friday night’s party....till 10,30 pm!
2. Last dinner with chants, greetings and...
1. Presentation of Italy during the cultural show. A real touch of Italian pride!

Last night @ XIME!

2009-07-31T10:36:00.000-07:00

Last day of lessons here in India!

We went to IIM B, the first Business School in Bangalore. There we attended two interesting lessons, the first about “Religion & Society in India”, the second about “Entrepreneurship in India”. These are the last days and we were tired but it doesn’t mean at all that we weren’t interested!

We were supposed to have lunch there, but…there was no lunch! XIME and IIMB had a little misunderstanding, so we had to come back at our hostel and we could eat only at 2.45. We were just a bit nervous because of the full schedule, and on the bus we had a discussion about this journey and about what can be improved for the next Summer School.

Then…it’s time for the Cultural Show!

After lunch we had to practice a bit for the Italian Show (and it never seemed enough!!). We started singing songs all together and after the dance group practiced with the Indian dancers. All of us were really excited for the Show that started at 6 o’clock. The performance begun with our national song “Inno di Mameli” : it was a moment of great emotion!

Suddenly our great showman Andrea made all the audience burn out introducing the dance group that performed an Italian traditional dance, called “Tammurriata”.

Italians and Indians girls were wearing long skirts and shirts, OK those are not the traditional dresses but we didn’t bring them with us in India!!

Then the dancers could have a break; it was the moment of a presentation of our Country that included history, food, art and all the great things that Italy has, including football!!! We should emphasize that we are WORLD CHAMPIONS!

Now it’s “Bhangra” time! Some of us tried to perform this energetic Punjabi dance, with typical Indian dresses and turbans! We hope we didn’t look ridiculous!

The show continued with another Italian song, “Bella ciao” a partisan song written during Italian Resistance against fascism. We got a good appreciation from our Indian friends!

The show ended with a video presenting our university Bicocca, and prof. Corno made a touching speech concluding the great experience of India Summer School 2009.

At the end of the day we had a gala dinner with the President Philip and the professors of XIME.

Now we are sorry to leave, but it’s our last night at XIME and we want to pary all night long!

Stefania e Chiara

Lost in the sky!

2009-07-30T11:24:00.000-07:00

Ok, here we are, guys!

This morning we left XIME at 7:30. The bus was more like a dormitory, you know, with all the people sleeping in their seats just like babies...weariness is growing stronger and stronger but... hey! These are the last three days!

In spite of that, we were able to reach the ISRO ( Indian Space Research Organization) at least 20 minutes before the estimated time! There we had the extraordinary opportunity to see with our own eyes a real satellite that will leave for the space in october. It was completed just a couple of days ago, so we were lucky to have a chance like that! Unluckily they didn't let us take a pictures of it for secutiry reasons, but..hey! that's life!

After that, we left for the HAL (Hindustan Aeronautical Limited) where we spend some time visiting the local museum, and the exposition of old planes' models, situated in a lovely garden.

Thereafter we came back to XIME for lunch, had a little rest, and we prepared for Professor Iyengar's lesson. That was an interesting lesson, indeed! We talked a lot about the ethical ways of conducting business and the unethical ones...and we found out that in this particular field, differences between India and Italy are less than anyone can imagine!
...but after a so compelling lesson, we just deserve some rest, dont' you think so?

And that's when happened!!! It started to rain like a monsoon!!!

And just istantly all the things messed up!!! The meeting arranged with the the indian students became a major issue because of the rain, and it required quite an effort to set up everything for compiling the questionnaires, but somehow we managed to gather each other and complete them thoroughly, even in spite of the adversities!
In the meanwhile rehearsals for the cultural show resumed, and they're going on even now! While we're writing this blog's page, our wonderful dancers are working hard to prepare a great show for us all! we wish them good luck!

and for the moment, that's all folks! Stay tuned, 'cause time's running out!!!

Matteo Z & Leo

Summer School has all its members back!

2009-07-29T13:02:00.001-07:00

This morning we were very happy to find the breakfast room almost full.
We can finally say that the Summer School team is mostly fully recovered from health diseases.
Today, after the last programme change we had only 2 lessons instead of 3.
During the first lesson we had an introduction on retail development in India. The lecture was held by a professor very experienced in this growing reality who used to work for United Colours of Benetton in India.
The second lesson was on CSR mostly based on Tata Group experience and some ethical aspects implemented by the Group.
Following the previous days trend, we found a very healthy buffet  based on plain rice, boiled potatoes and chicken, so that we cannot complain about Indian spicy food!!
Anyway we will have soon the chance to taste again our “beloved” tandoori chicken, samosa, masala dosa, aloo gobi and so on…
In the afternoon the bus took us to HMTM, a BPO company where we met some nice guys who talked us about the company structure and programmes. As usual it was a good occasion to have a good cup of coffee and tea.
After the visit, the group had some proposals about how to spend the rest of the evening.
Somebody suggested to celebrate Tommaso’s birthday and the idea was really welcome!!
So it can be the time for partying and dancing in a disco … until 11 PM, of course… as per Indian time standard!!!
As today we had enough spare time, the group has also chosen to split for shopping around Bangalore city, dribbling crazy rickshaw, very fashionable motorbikes and calm cows walking everywhere as usual…. But today we have some news: for the first time since we were in Bangalore, rain falls!!!

Luisella & Claudia

Work in Progress!

2009-07-28T11:33:00.001-07:00

Our day started with a surprise: the first lesson about “Villages – Soul of India” was deleted. What a pity! The topic sounded so interesting and we were looking forward to it! Anyway, we didn’t waste time: we could discuss about the program, summaries and Cultural Show.

Today our classroom looked quite empty: some of us are suffering tiredness and “intolerance to Indian food”! In addiction, the group of Law student went to Bangalore to visit the High Court. Their vacant places added sadness to our sleepy status.

Our program today was full of lessons, and we had to stay in our classroom both morning and afternoon, enjoying intensively the small breaks we had. The first topic was “SMEs – Small Medium Enterprises- in the Indian Economy”, later Mr C. Singh told us about “Some Interesting Cultural Aspects of Bangalore”, then “India – a brief Socio – Cultural Introduction” and, last but not least, a speech on “Human Rights” with a particular focus on Constitution and Women in India.

We had little time to take a deep breath before interacting with Indian students of XIME. In the dialogue, that lasted more than an hour, we spoke about our different life-style, our countries, our aspirations and started to know each other better. On Thursday we will meet them again, in order to fulfil the “Cross Cultural Assessment”, which is a questionnaire dealing with different aspects of our life.

But our day was not finished: in order to balance mind and body , we were ready to practice the traditional dance steps for the Cultural Show that is going to take place on Friday! We were assisted by some Indian students, professionals in the energic and amazing Punjabi dance, who tried to teach us Bhangra. While some of us showed them “Tammurriata”, a dance from Campania.

Well, we confess we had a lot of fun in that rhythmic atmosphere…but the result of these efforts will be a surprise!

We’ll see…

P.S. It’s 2 o’ clock and some of us are still working….what is called WORK IN PROGRESS!

Clara, Lucia, Chiara

WHY?

2009-07-27T08:11:00.000-07:00

Monday 27.07.09

It's almost time for dinner, Rise&Curry is waiting for us but anyway we find the time to update this blog.

It's Monday again!Time to wear formal dress for a formal day...

If we start to think about last week, at the beginning we could count 27 student and 6 tutor. After only seven days we are more or less 20 students and 4 tutor. What's going on? Well, someone has not a good feeling with indian food, someone else doesn't like the abuse of the Air Condition on the bus, while there are more than 30 degree outside, others are suffering for the quite intensive timetable.

The day started with three really interesting lessons about “Multinationals in India and their impact on India Management” - Mr. Salil Punoose, “Rural Marketing” - Prof. V.M. Cavale and “Health Management” - Dr. Dara Amar. The last one wasn't focus on the topic that was expected to be hospital management, public and private sanity, but it was focus on the different way to look at the reality and learn from children the curiosity for the world without prejudice.The professor finally told us that we always have to ask “WHY?” about everything around us.

As Professor Amar told us, we feel natural to say: WHY are you like that Andrea?

“Because i'm sick and tired, and my immune system coudn't keep this way of life” he said. Mmmm...actually, Andrea (and the others) maybe are not strong enough for this India Summer School...eh eh eh eh :-)

Around 2:00 pm we left XIME to BOSCH where we visit the manifactury unit. In India Bosch Group has about 18,030 employees and it is a leading supplier of technology and services, and has a strong presence in the country at numerous locations in diverse industry segments - both automotive and non-automotive. Bosch set up its manufacturig operations in 1953, and has grown over the years to 11 manufacturing sites and 4 development centers.

After dinner some students will have a meeting to prepair our Cultural Show; on friday night we will have to show to our indians collegues “The Italianity” through our dancing and singing.

We invite all of you to read this blog to know how is proceeding the preparation of our show and, of course, to know more about our health!

Enjoy your dinner

Dario Cinzia + Andrea

Indian Dancing

2009-07-26T22:43:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it: I finally managed to upload both the videos Paolo Brusaferri recorded during the Cultural Show that took place on July, 21th.

It looks like you gotta be very, very patient with this network.

Enjoy the videos!

Thiruvannamalai

2009-07-26T10:08:00.000-07:00

Dear bloggers,

Get up at 6.30, as usual, and a very long trip on the bus expected for us! The destination is the famous Shiva Temple in Thiruvannmalai.

We had estimated 4/5 hours on the bus, but thank to the profound madness of our great driver, in three hours, more or less, we were there!

It was really a kind of experience: if you were sit in the back, you felt like on a roller coaster, if you were sit in the front, you really risked a heart attack!!!

We broke off our journey in a typical little Indian village, just on the road. We spent there quite a lot of time, playing with the children, which challenge us to a cricket match. Unfortunately we were in a hurry, because the temple would close at 13 o’clock pm, and they couldn’t find the ball, so the match never took place.

We get to the temple around midday and as usual we had to take off our shoes.

A Brahamano escorted us in the core of the temple, where we took part of a benediction ritual. We came out of the temple with the third eye painted in red on our forehead, symbol of the reached illumination by the divinity.

Then visited the little market just outside the temple, but the tour was very short: the weather was really hot and humid, so we sheltered in a cute restaurant in front of the Thiruvannamalai Ashram.

Unbelievably the menu included also western food, so some of us run the risk of ordering a pizza margherita!! Actually it was not so bad…it tasted like the Speedy Pizza!!

While we were waiting for the lunch, a Hindu funeral procession took place in the street nearby the restaurant. We all came in the street due to the fireworks (and a cracker was nearly to hit Paolo!).

After the lunch we dragged ourself on the bus and we left for the XIME…but after five minutes, in spite of the guidance skill of the driver, everybody fell asleep!!

Adry & Val

late night writing

2009-07-25T13:07:00.000-07:00

A tough day.

Basically it's like we spent the most of our time on the bus, going up and down from Bangalore.

First, we went to Micro Finance Institution. It's a microcredit company, they provide credit for poor people to make them start or develop an activity. We learnt that entrepreneurship can be a way for taking people out of their condition, giving them a chance in their life.

We got there in late because of the famous Bangalore traffic, we came back in a hurry because we had to attend a lesson at XIME - we quite left two people of our group in the middle of the street.

We got to XIME late but luckly enough our lecturer was in late too. It was a wonderful lesson about Indian manifacturing industry.

After a fast lunch we got on the bus and headed north to METRO. We visited this big mall, and we were quite surprised when they showed us the wine zone with a lot of italian wines – we miss Italian wine a lot actually.

After a little bit of shopping we tried to get back at the XIME. But of course we got stuck in the traffic and it took us more than two hours.

Once there we attended the grat party fot the juniors. It was a bit strange because it was all over at 10:30 pm, and we are definitely not used to end parties at such a early time.

Anyway, we had some dance, we had some food, we met great people and while I'm writing this post we are still sitting in a room chatting with some Indian students.

Paolo

WELCOME TO THE REAL INDIA!!!

2009-07-24T13:33:00.000-07:00

Dear Bloggers,

Another day on tour for us today! After waking up at 6 o’clock, the first step of our trip was the most important enterprise of the IT-ITES sector all over the world: the Infosys. The travel by bus took us around 4 hours, but it didn’t matter because everyone was sleeping… At 11 am finally we reached the “Global Education center” of Infosys near Mysore: a monumental campus with tons of buildings, sports area, shops and restaurants. Just arrived we had an interesting briefing about what Infosys is.

Infosys Technologies Limited is a Information tecnology company founded in 1981 by Narayana Murthy. In 1982, Infosys opened an office in Bangalore which soon became its headquarters and nowadays it is one of India's largest IT companies with more than 100.000 professionals. It has several offices in twenty two countries and development centers in India, China, Austrlia, UK, Canada, Europe and Japan. After this brief presentation we had the best lunch of our journey, at least till now: fusilli, pennette, tomato sauce (not ketchup!), sweet fruits and black coffee too. For a while we almost thought not to be in India!

At 3.30 pm we leaved Infosys to reach the Mahraja’s Palace. This palace was built in 1920 by the British with the object to copy the original Indian architectural style. The expectations were not satisfied: We think that the British failed in their try and the palace seemed a mix of different styles, anyway two of us enjoyed riding an elephant for few rupees.

Seven days in India with no time to recover are starting to make the troops tired and stressed, so, after leaving the Mahraja’s Palace, the group decided to split. Some of us went back to XIME with our bus, while fourteen decided to stay in Mysore and then go back to Bangalore by train.

In these few hours we took the time to visit the temple of “Chamunda Devi” placed on a hill with a great view and a spicy market so small and quiet for this noisy and crowded country.

At 8.15 pm finally we catched the train to Bangalore. This was an amazing experience for the whole group! Indian trains are incredible: you can smell the food that goes up and down the railway carriage, you can feel the air that comes from the open doors and windows. This kind of experience make’s you touch the real India!
After arriving in Bangalore at 11.15 pm we had a short dinner and the usual Riscio’ took us home.

Now it’s really time to go, take care!

Nico

ALL DAY LIVE ON TOUR!!!

2009-07-23T13:41:00.000-07:00

Dear Bloggers,

Today we spent all the time on tour!!

First step: pleasant house of Don BOSCO. After a short introduction about their activities we met around 20 children. Interacting with them, even without knowing their ugly background, was amazing!! A smile given by heart have not price!

Second step: High School Bethany, a catholic private institute from first primary school, to secondary school, who count more than 2,600 students!
They welcome us to the theatre: a teacher explain all about the activities for the children, than a group of selected boys and girls entertains us with a beautiful musical show!!

It was very strange saw how they move freely and offhandedly on stage, we weren’t be able to do the same only twelve y. old!
They did really excellent performance!!

Moreover they offer us a special “SAMMOSA” (typical popular Indian snack!) and delicious apple juice during the show! We appreciate especially the funny performance of “Under the sea”, the sound track of Disney film The little mermaid (La Sirenetta).

Next, in the afternoon, we spent the rest of the time free in the city! Divided in many small groups we enjoyed crazy shopping: pashminas, souvenir, tailor, shoes, etc…
Before dinner we have a special turkey KEBAB!!

At 8 o’clock, everybody together had a dinner, offered by XIME institute…
But in the end, we had to pay by our own!!!

PS: fortunately, the food war really delicious!!!

Eddy&Bruce

2009-07-23T12:38:00.000-07:00

Wednesday 22nd July 2009 (again...)

We are here to talk about the program that the students of Law and one student of Education Science followed all day long.
Prof. Diana Cerini brought us to the "Contract Law" lesson run by a professor of XIME which is usually attended by Indian students. As soon as we entered, we experienced their different approach to the subject and their respect for the teacher.
In the afternoon we went to the National Law School, placed in a very green campus out of the city centre. After a brief explanation by Prof. Vijaya Kumar, we could visit the huge law library , the moot court (which is absolutely unusual in Italy!) and the departments of "Social Exclusion" and "Child Rights" research.
When we finished our visit we saw some buffaloes running in the street in front of the university (which is absolutely unsual in Italy!).

Later we met some companions and Indian students and we went for dinner in such a great club!
There we could eat, dance and enjoy karaoke all together!
It has all been amazing, but (as usual) we went to bed very late....

Francesco & Chiara

Different point of views

2009-07-23T12:36:00.000-07:00

Wednesday, 22.07.09

...we are late! The longest sun eclipse of the century has gone but some anonymus told us that two courageus girls (we still don't know who) got up earlier but unsuccessfully becuase of the clouds...such a shame!!

Just the time for a breakfast and the group is splitted in two parts in order to follow different programs during the day.

Today the law students has a dedicated program that will conclude with the visit at the Indian National Law School while the rest of the class analyses deeply economic topics like “Indian Taxation System” (run by prof. S.P. Srinivasan), “Indian Capital Market” (by prof. Ashok Thampy) and “Governement's Role in Business and Economic Development” (by prof. S.L.Rao).

We should also say that some of us remained victims of the first physical diseases... it happens... joking folks! But generally tiredness affected our heroes. Hopefully, the lectures of Prof. DR.J.Alexander and the President of the XIME, Prof. J.Philip kept alive our attention with two really interesting lessons about “Indian Tourism Industry” and “Management Education in India”.

In the evening, after resting for a while, a little misunderstanding devides the group again... some went to catch up the law students at the meeting point and the others remained at the campus while a group of revolutionary decided to have a no-limit experience with a challenge...12 persons on 4 rikshaws with the mission to find a restaurant in the city centre…

Distance: among 10 km

Time: not given.

Bulletin: 1 incident with a motorcycle, not scheduled stops along the way, the usual traffic and a fight between two rikshaw drivers but at the end they worked it out... go heroes!

As a prize, they won an incredible dinner in a real Indian style: spicy chicken, rice and flavoured souces... fabolous!!! After that, the revolutionaries discovered that they have a golden heart and come back before the tutors, but suddenly a good news rose up the moral of the troup. The alarm is shifted one hour later so they have the opportunity to spend some more time together enjoying themselves waiting for all the others to say good night... which is what we want to wish you now...

Local time:4.05 Italy time :3.39 (...we're in late again...)

Hold on, bye

Adam and Alessio

Bollywood stars at XIME

2009-07-21T10:53:00.000-07:00

The alarm starts to ring at 8.00 am. After a long long night we have to get up early because another hard-working day is waiting for us.
After a brief indian breakfast we begin with the lesson of Mr. Rathi Dasgupta, talking about the IT industry, explaining to us the basics of the Indian IT process.
Now it is time for a coffee break to help us open our eyes a bit more and follow the lessons of Dr. M P Ravindra and Prof. Seenu Iyengar: the former talking about Indian IT and ITES sectors and the latter speaking of the impact of the economic crisis in India.
We can’t leave out the participations of our “Capocampeggio” (camping chief) who has brighten up the morning and made the lessons more interactive.
Afterwards, we eat our lunch quickly, in order to catch a quaint bus and two cars that will take us to the TVS plant in time for our visit. During the journey, we have the opportunity to see the Indian countryside around Bangalore and strangely we saw some vineyards.
And finally, here we are in Tamil Nadu! ...another State, another culture and another language at less than one hour from our campus.
After a little perquisition, we are allowed to see the production chain, discovering a situation of excellence: the TVS is exporting in 17 countries, producing 650 bikes every 8 hours, underlining the success of this reality.
Back to the campus we assist at the cultural show arranged by the students of XIME, coming from all over India. They started with a catwalk showing typical outfits, proving the many differences between States, cultures and religions. Shining colours and refined silk of the saris, transport us in the heart of this culture giving the real felling of the land.
The second part of the show is about songs and dances: the Indian students turned out to be really great singers and dancers, increasing our worries for our future performance but at the same time motivating us. A really jaw-dropping show, exciting and touching demonstrating warm hospitality of our hosts.

Excuse us now: it’s the time to catch up our friends and enjoy the Bangalorian night.

Gigi, Marco e Matteo

2009-07-20T11:01:00.000-07:00

Let's get started with the lessons!!!!

You wouldn't believe, but this morning we had biscuits for breakfast!! and this was not all for the morning: arriving to a conference room, we were dazzled by finding our name on our place, as if we were top managers about to discuss the current economic slowdown! cool, isn't it? we had the honour to receive a warm welcome by the president himself, Sir J. Philip. it was followed by a very grateful and kind feedback from our representative Mr. Paolo Brusaferri. we felt really lucky to assist in such a manifestation of mutual gratitude and respect between Indian and Italian spokesmen.

In the end of the inauguration of this unique experience, we enjoyed tea/coffee break (much more tea than coffee...it is more indian-like, don't you think?).

Refreshed and recharged, we were back on track for the first official lesson with the Vice Director, Prof. C P Ravindranathan, who clarified the Indian economic scene in the current global context. During his exposition he was very clear in comparing the most significant aspects of the two faster-growing economies in the world, that are, India and China. It really attracted our whole attention and interest, thanks to the testimony of a professional Indian living the reality of his own country. The lesson gave us inputs for further developments from the prospective of the reports. The scene passed to another professor of XIME, Prof. Dasgupta, who introduced the Indian labour market with all its salient and interesting points. It revealed many aspects we miss, and turned out to be meaningful in the consideration of the Indian economic and social world. After Indian-based-spicy lunch, we sank in the historic development of the Indian education system kept by the Former Secretary of the Ministry of Human Resources of India. In this case, we had the chance to conduct a comparison with our Italian system.

In the conclusion of this starting and amazing day, we were given the possibility to interact face to face with our senior colleagues of the MBA programme in XIME. We "touched" the diversity of which India, and in this case XIME, is well-known: the students come from all around the country presenting us their own language, culture and traditions. In the dialogues we had, we came to know their aspirations and hopes or plans for the future. Indeed, they are not so different from us!

Rita & Ana

From a temple to malls, to a garden, and to posh restaurant

2009-07-19T13:35:00.000-07:00

Day #2: completed.

Once done with breakfast we got on the bus to go to the Tourism Exhibition in Bangalore. Pretty neat, uh? Unfortunately we came to know that the exhibition was "cancelled", or was already over, I'm not sure about that.

Ok, full of resources as we are, it didn't take us a ton of time to elaborate a B-plan. A very different one. We visited a temple (a Hindu one, I'd say) and what an experience it was.

It wasn't as crowded as I'd have expected, statues and pictures of gods pretty much anywhere. People inside were actually very welcoming as usual (I can't stress this thing enough), not intimidated or annoyed by our presence. As a matter of fact, a nice family sitting in front of one of the many temple's chambers told me that I should take a look at a statue of goddess Shiva, dominating another statue of a lying god, whose name is not clear to me, nor I can say I know it (I just can tell it had a bunch of extra arms and it was red-skinned).

After that we went to visit a small mall and - hey! - it was 3:00pm. So, hungry as we were, we got into a sort of "fast food" (you wanna forgive the very unappropriated use of that expression), a place where "spicy" seemed to be the key word. I can't tell pretty much anything about the food, since I decided to skip the lunch (GERD isn't funny), but honestly a lot of folks liked it.

One thing I'd have never, ever expected: a guy who was selling fresh drinks just behind the place people had lunch in actually recognized one of the tutors, Federica. He saw her at the flower market the day before. Now, how on earth is thins thing possible, in such a crowded place? We live in a very small world, don't we?

Time for the afternoon activity: a visit at the botanical garden.

At first I couldn't see what the "botanical" was about, since the main thing I saw was a huge stone (a very interesting one, actually) with a - let's say - Hindu thing on top.

But then, moving forward, a vast green area appeared, with huge trees, monkeys a lake with lotus flowers (at least the leaves). Exhausting.

It turned half-late afternoon. You may think we were done. And you'd be wrong. Another mall (an enormous one) was waiting for us.

This one was very different from the other one we took a look at in the early afternoon. Once in, I felt so much at home, since very popular brands were at every corner. Brands like Louis Vuitton, Ermenegildo Zegna and many many more.

Starting from that, you can easily imagine the type of people targeted. What a difference from the flower market we went to just 24 hours earlier.

Dinner time was coming. After having to wait for the bus for 20 minutes or so, we went in one of the most famous places in Bangalore (I totally forgot the name, and I do apologize). I finally had something to eat that couldn't have burned my throat and had a very, very nice evening with all the folks attending the Summer School. Included a Stefano's friend.

Again: you may want to excuse the lack of pictures and the fact I don't remember important things/names/places, but - man! - it's 2:38am. Gotta jump to bed.

Classes are starting tomorrow and I still need to practice with Windsor tie knot (just kidding, no way I'm gonna try such a complicated knot so late. Hope a regular half-Windsor one may meet the needs of the context).

Gotta love formal Monday!

Blossoming India

2009-07-18T11:45:00.000-07:00

Well, finally we've arrived in India!

After spending many hours travelling, we all meet in Xavier Institute of Management and Entrepreneurship (XIME) for lunch. In a couple of hours, every student is matched with another in each room, a breaf appetizer is consumed and a bus is ready to leave for the downtown...

The whole group has been risking life experiencing the indian motorways to reach the destination: two hours to cover a distance of 10 kms only; overcrowded buses; motorbikes with at least three riders each; noisy and continous horn blasts; dangerous overtakings...
Wet but safe we arrive in the centre of Bangalore and we go to the flower market: million bodies are running everywhere grabbing weard stuff; plenty of sellers and buyers are dealing on their goods! Moreover, have you got in mind the famous picture of the slim cow standing steal in the traffic jam? It's definitely true: we have seen a cow crossing the street once the traffic light turned green!
We pass through different types of vegetables, fruits and spices and then we get in the heart of the market where we are welcomed by the intence parfume of exotic flowers, the brightness of their colours and the way they are presented!

Once out from the market we start walking down the streets without a destination but we suddenly stop: some girls of the group have disappeared! Do you know where we find them? In a silk shop staring at marvellous sarees!
At the end of the day our war chest is composed of: one pinky saree; two panjabis and many sweet saunfs named BAMBAIYA!
We go back to XIME tired but happy for the journey and also exited for the arrival of the last few mates that came by plane in the evening.
Now, all togheter, we are ready to start the adventure!

Francesco & Cinzia

Getting things done

2009-07-14T10:00:00.000-07:00

When it comes to get ready for such an adventurous journey, it may be tough to fell truly "ready".

Bags that needs to be packed, vaccinations, medicines (hell yeah!), papers (tons and tons of) and stuff.

It looks like it was yesterday when selections were goin' on, ain't it? And it's July already.

So, how am I getting ready for this thing?

Well, apart from the fact I've taken out basically all my clothes from the wardrobe (you never know what you're gonna need), and bought every medicine available (see what I've written earlier), I'm starting to look closely, to pay real attention to the regular routine, to the things I do pretty much every day (the usual stuff you never care about).

Why?

'Cause I wanna truly feel the difference between now and what's gonna happen. And not just because "it's gonna be different there" (I've heard this thing way too many times), but also to get the chance to feel how different is life there.

I don't know too much about India, I can just say I know what people told me about it. And while that can kinda prepare me to what I'm gonna see once arrived, I want to truly feel (taste, smell, see, touch, hear) every single piece of my life now.

That's the only tool I have to compare.

What's yours?

Mail n. 4

2009-07-09T01:21:00.000-07:00

Ciao a tutti,
quarto aggiornamento.

INFORMAZIONI AGGIUNTIVE
Lo Xime ci ha comunicato che alcune delle Aziende che visiteremo ci chiedono la data di nascita (informazione che già abbiamo) e la Validità del Visto di permanenza in India.
Vi prego di essere il più possibile solleciti nello spedirmi questa informazione.

ASSICURAZIONE SANITARIA
Assicurazione Xime
Lo Xime ci ha comunicato che non ci offrono assistenza medica gratuita durante il soggiorno, ma assicurano che gli eventuali costi per la sanità in India sono comunque molto contenuti. Non siamo in grado di quantificare (tradurre in termini di spesa con esempi pratici) questa affermazione. Cercheremo di chiedere quanto può costare una visita medica con un medico che si reca allo Xime o una visita medica in ospedale.
Rimborsi in caso di spese mediche in India.
Contiamo, se non ci sono inconvenienti, di restituirvi i modelli ASL firmati venerdì 10 (vedi mail n.3). Chi non li avesse consegnati li lasci quanto prima in portineria di U7 in una busta a nome Brusaferri.
Viaggiare sicuri
Segnaliamo inoltre che sul sito della ASL c’è un documento che può essere di interesse: “Pronti e via: come viaggiare sicuri”: http://www.asl.milano.it/user/Default.aspx?SEZ=2&PAG=64

ASSICURAZIONE VIAGGIO
Come sapete, gli studenti dell’Università Bicocca sono coperti da un’ Assicurazione Infortuni stipulata con Generali Assicurazioni. La vostra assicurazione è stata estesa anche per il viaggio e la permanenza allo Xime. Non copre eventuali spostamenti turistici non connessi alla Summer School.
Per saperne di più, andate sul sito: http://www.unimib.it/go/Home/Italiano/Studenti/Per-gli-iscritti/Opportunita/Assicurazione-infortuni

TESINE 2008 E PRESENTAZIONI CORSI PROPEDEUTICI
Grazie a Matteo, siamo in grado di accedere alle tesine degli anni scorsi e alle presentazioni dei corsi propedeutici di quest’anno: Ia presentazione della prof.sse Cerini e Silva di oggi è invece allegata a questa mail.

ATTACCHI ELETTRICI
In India si usano senza problemi gli attacchi elettrici Schuko standard. Non ci risulta siano disponibili le prese italiane tripolari. Se avete spine tripolari portate un adattatore o tagliate il polo centrale di massa della vostra spina.

Un saluto

I vostri tutors

Mail n. 3

2009-07-09T01:17:00.000-07:00

Ciao a tutti,

la ASL riconosce i rimborsi per spese sanitarie fatte all'estero nel caso in cui uno studente sia assegnatario di una borsa di studio.

Per poter avere questo riconoscimento dovete presentare alla ASL:
- un "Attestato per l'Assistenza Sanitaria..." (qui allegato e in parte precompilato)
- una dichiarazione rilasciata dall'Università che siete assegnatari di una borsa di studio

1 - vi chiedo di completare la compilazione dell'Attestato per l'Assistenza Sanitaria..." (dovete compilare solo Cognome, Nome, Luogo e data di nascita, Comune di residenza, via e data di compilazione del documento).

2 - noi provvederemo a:
- far firmare il modulo dall'Universitą
- farvi avere la dichiarazione che siete assegnatari della borsa di studio.

Portateci domani, in triplice copia, il modulo compilato in modo che lo possiamo far firmare e timbrare. In uno dei prossimi incontri vi daremo il modulo timbrato e firmato e la dichiarazione, in modo che voi li possiate consegnare alla vostra ASL di appartenenza.
Vi invio anche altre info utili:
il link per l'assistenza sanitaria italiani all'estero dove trova tutte le procedure per la richiesta di rimborso č

http://www.ministerosalute.it/assistenzaSanitaria/paginaInternaMenuAssistenzaSanitaria.jsp?id=1092&menu=italiani

Come indicato in caso di assistenza si richiede il rimborso delle spese presso gli uffici consolari in loco entro 3 mesi dalla spesa. L'ufficio consolare di Bangalore č

CORRISPONDENTE CONSOLARE - BANGALORE
c/o INDENA INDIA Pvt. Ltd.
94 V 'A' Cross, II Main
HIG Colony, RMV II Stage
Bangalore 560 094
Tel. 0091-80-28567247 - Fax 0091-80-27622830
Puņ trovare l'elenco degli altri uffici consolari in India al link
http://www.viaggiaresicuri.it/index.php?id=4641&view=consolari

Ringraziamo Claudia Cani per l'interessamento!

A domani,

i vostri tutors

Mail n. 2

2009-07-09T01:13:00.000-07:00

Cari studenti,
come promesso vi inviamo un nuovo aggiornamento della situazione, tenendo in considerazione le vostre richieste che giungono via mail, Facebook.

CURRICULA
Vi sollecito ancora una volta il curriculum che invieremo allo Xime prima della nostra partenza per l’India. E’ un modo per farci conoscere, anche in vista dello stretto scambio interculturale previsto nelle ultime giornate del nostro stage. E’ anche un’opportunità per chi ha intenzione di avere esperienze lavorative all’estero.
Per questo il Curriculum Vitae dovrà essere compilato in lingua inglese. Il modello da usare (la versione europea) vi è già stato inviato tempo fa, subito dopo la prima riunione.

QUESTIONARI
Come detto sopra, durante le ultime giornate chiederemo ai nostri colleghi indiani di rispondere alle domande del Questionario che Roberto Caimi vi ha inviato nei giorni scorsi. Prendetene visione, cominciate ad entrare in atmosfera e pensate come stimolare i vostri interlocutori. Al tempo stesso, proprio prendendo spunto dal Questionario e dalla vostra vita quotidiana, cominciate a pensare a come presentereste la realtà giovanile italiana ai vostri colleghi indiani.

PASSAPORTO
Abbiamo bisogno di raccogliere i dati dei vostri passaporti per la registrazione allo Xime. L’invio di questo dato in anticipo ci facilita ad abbrevia le pratiche del check in.

INCONTRI PROPEDEUTICI PER CONOSCERE L’INDIA
Sul blog http://bicoccasummerindia2009.blogspot.com/ potete trovare il programma dei seminari propedeutici, che comunque alleghiamo anche in questa mail.
Ricordatevi che il giorno 1 e il giorno 13 luglio i seminari saranno preceduti dalla riunione con i vostri tutors.
Il giorno 1 vi chiederemo di verificare insieme la situazione dei:
- visti
- versamenti allo Xime
- arrivo dei voli a Bangalore
- curricula vitae
- verifica dei numeri di passaporto

Un saluto, arrivederci a mercoledì,

I vostri tutors

Mail n.1

2009-07-09T00:23:00.000-07:00

Cari partecipanti alla Summer School,

si avvicinano i primi impegni e vi mandiamo un aggiornamento della situazione, in modo da tenerci tutti allineati.

PICK UP A BANGALORE

Entro martedì 30 giugno dovete mandare a Paolo Brusaferri i riferimenti dei voli di arrivo a Bangalore il giorno 18 luglio, in modo che si possa organizzare il pick up all'aeroporto. Al momento non è possibile dare indicazioni sugli orari dei bus, in quanto non sappiamo gli orari di arrivo dei vostri voli.

PAGAMENTO DEL SOGGIORNO ALLO XIME

Come già vi è stato detto, il costo dl soggiorno allo Xime è di 850 € che dovete versare con bonifico bancario sul Codice IBAN: IT49 Q076 0101 6000 0009 6897 251 entro e non oltre venerdì 24 giugno, in modo da poter avere il tempo di fare a nostra volta il bonifico a Xime.

CURRICULA

Vi ricordo, per chi ancora non lo avesse fatto, di inviare i vostri curricula a Roberto Caimi (roberto.caimi@unimib.it ) e Raffaella Cecchetti (raffaella.cecchetti@unimib.it ) entro e non oltre il 30 giugno.

VISTO

Se avete già ottenuto il visto, vi prego di comunicarlo a Paolo Brusaferri (paolo.brusaferri@unimib.it ). Se non avete ancora fatto le pratiche, consultate il sito www.indianvisamilano.com e scaricate la modulistica necessaria. Dovrà essere richiesto il visto TURISTICO. Per ottenere il visto sono necessarie due fotografie formato tessera; per qualsiasi evenienza vi consigliamo di portarne almeno altre due in India, soprattutto se avete deciso di prolungare il vostro viaggio.

FESTA DI FINE CORSO

Chiedo a Francesco Tagliagambe, che è stato nominato portavoce degli studenti, di organizzare un incontro fra tutti i partecipanti per pensare alla manifestazione di fine corso (come sapete nel 2008 il soggiorno si è concluso con un ballo italiano danzato dagli studenti indiani e viceversa; quest'anno si può ripetere la proposta o pensare a qualcosa di differente).L'argomento sarà discusso nella prossima riunione fra studenti e tutors.

INCONTRI FRA STUDENTI E TUTORS

Ci vedremo sicuramente agli incontri propedeutici (che, vi ricordo, si terranno il 1, 2, 6, 8, 10 e 13 luglio), ma sono previsti anche due incontri formali (i giorni 1 e 13 luglio dopo gli incontri) in cui faremo il punto della situazione ed avrete la possibilità di avere ulteriori chiarimenti.

I vostri tutors

join the blog as author!

2009-07-02T02:54:00.000-07:00

Dear all!
I invited those of you who have an e-mail account supported by blogger ( gmail, yahoo, AIM) to join the blog as author, if you accept you can write posts directly using your personal ID.
The other students have to create one of the accounts suggested. Once done, send me an e-mail, I will send you the invitation,

Elisa

6 Seminari per "CONOSCERE L'INDIA"

2009-06-29T11:47:00.000-07:00

New Blog: India 2009

2009-06-29T08:24:00.000-07:00

Dear all,
here is the time to open our new blog, which will hopefully become our best friend during this fourth edition of Indian Summer School! (... alternatively our daily nightmare...).
In any case, this space is supposed to become a window to share our experience with our public at home: curious friends, worried parents and envious colleagues, too...:D
You are invited to post photos, stories and comments, to let our dears taste the flavour of our Indian daytime.
For the first time the blog will be entirely written in English, so that we can welcome our Indian friends to follow our adventure and make exercise of English writing, as well.

Don't be shy!
Start to write your expectations from now! Suggestions from ex-Summer school attendants are welcome!

I think we can just wish a good journey to everybody....Have a nice Summer School 2009!

Elisa