Last day in Bangalore...by Tommaso Scafroglia

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!