Thiruvannamalai

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

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!!!

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!!!

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

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

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

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