Acclimating

After three weeks of near starvation and more Domino's pizza than I care to think about, I have finally developed a strong tolerance to spice. 

Doesn't mean I particularly like doing that to my poor taste buds, but at least I can handle it now :) 

While I'm eating lots of food and have no idea what it is/what it's called, there is one thing I've really enjoyed: kerola parotha (specifically the parotha). Mmmmmm

Checking an item off my bucket list: The Indian Wedding

I'm still reeling from this weekend and the fact that I was invited to participate in a South Indian wedding, in India. I would have been happy to attend one in the states, but this was just incredible :D

While speaking with a coworker, I mentioned the three wishes I would want granted while in India: to see the Taj Mahal, ride an elephant in Jaipur, and attend a wedding. To my surprise, she mentioned that she and her family were going to one that weekend, and would I like to come?

Well, who wouldn't?

That's how I found myself wrapped in 9 yards of light blue fabric, decked out with bangles, gold jewelry, and a bindi. We traveled to Sneha's house and, after meeting her husband, parents-in-law, 9 month old son, and 94 year old grandmother (who all attended the festivities), we tried on saris. Despite feeling a bit like a burrito wrapped in all that fabric, I was thrilled and we set off. 

We arrived at the venue, and the first thing I noticed was all the colors. Now India in general is one of the most colorful places I've ever been (it's because people got sick of the bland desert after a few hundred years, according to the locals), but this was a whole new level. The second thing your senses are assaulted with is smell, and you realize all that color is from fresh flowers. I mean, thousands of flowers. Everything is decorated to the nines with beautiful bouquets, which are hung near the entrance, arranged in walkways, given as gifts to the groom, draped around the necks of important members of the wedding party (I somehow got one myself despite not even knowing the families that were getting married), and in every other part of the ceremony you can imagine. 

I wish I could recount for you every detail of the rituals, but there is no way to give justice to the grin on the new couples' face as the groom ties the knot on a necklace for the bride three time and they are married, doused in rice with turmeric, flowers, and beads. It was an arranged marriage, but neither the bride nor groom seemed particularly unhappy. Maybe a bit bored at times, but they performed about 20 hours of rituals over the course of two days. I don't really blame them. Everyone else attending the marriage was equally distracted - nobody besides me was watching the ceremony with rapt attention - and they were all milling about, chatting with their sister's cousin's brother's aunt. No one even so much as blinked when the transgender cross-dresser came in and threw a nasty hissy fit over not being paid immediately (it's actually auspicious to have a man dressed in a sari bless a new couple, and they are often paid to attend the nuptials) despite being in the middle of a complicated ceremony. 

I wish I could upload the pictures I took, but alas, I left the cord that connects my camera to the computer at home. So please accept these pictures as place holders, and I'll update the post in a few weeks with the correct picture. 

Now checking off "attend an Indian wedding" from my bucket list :)

Day 1: Sari

Day 2: Salwar Kameez

The Sky Bar

Picture this: a 16-story luxury shopping mall modeled after the elegance of the Roman empire. The highest-end stores, fine dining, and on the roof, an open-air bar with the best view of the skyline, a dance floor, and a dace permit (dancing is not permitted in Bangalore without permission). 

Add the best group of interns you could ask for - all international students starved for dance and drinks - and you'll get an idea of one of the most fantastic nights I've spent in India:

Carol (Brazil), Mariya (Bulgaria), Dan (Columbia), Laura (Mexico), Monica 

To be honest, I usually don't like going to dance clubs; I was even a bit skeptical about this one. It's just awkward when no one can dance and random guys grab your hips and (poorly) attempt to bust a move. But it's a totally different story when you're with people who know real dancing - I'm not talking about just the ability to bounce to the beat or trust your hips - and the other people at the bar are too timid to try anything. We owned the club that night, and with the view, it felt like the entire world was at our feet. And it was the best feeling in the world. 

P.S. If you're worried about the drinking age in India, don't be. It's 18.

Just Go

Advice from an Indian on a moped when I showed hesitation at crossing a busy street (and for good reason): "it's India, just go!"

My new motto, I think.

Commercial Street

We went shopping today :) 

No idea where I'll wear this stuff in the sates, but still totally worth it. At least it'll be my outfit when I visit the Taj Mahal next month! 

Update: I ended up finding a place to wear this - a workshop on volunteering at work. If I thought I got a lot of stares while dressed in Western clothes, it's nothing compared to when I'm in Indian style clothes. I even got to plant a tree on the Infosys campus wearing this (side note: the tree planting ceremony is a pretty big deal. Presidents, kings, internet titans, and other important figures have all planted a tree on the campus, and I was part of a group that added another one). :D

Commercial Street, Bangalore

Bangalore, India


Reminds you a bit of Tokyo, especially at night. There's a million little shops selling everything you can imagine, and bargaining is encouraged at all.

I had my first bargaining lesson when I went last night with Dan, another intern from Columbia. We bought some beautiful souvenirs, and I think my favorite purchase was a sky blue salwar kameez (at least, I think that's what it is). I'm planning to wear it on my trip to the Golden Triangle (Delhi, Agra, and Jaipur) when I see the Taj Mahal :) 

What I Actually Do Here

I've had a lot of people ask me why I'm in India for the next two months, so here's the full story:

How I got the internship:

Last year, I applied to go on a networking trip in Silicon Valley that my school was organizing (but to be honest, I didn't really expect to go). I received my first shock when I learned that I was actually selected to go on the trip; it's normally reserved mostly for select juniors and seniors, and only two sophomores (including me) were chosen to participate. So for the last week of winter break we were paraded around San Francisco as we toured tech companies, passed out resume books, and handed out business cards. It was an informative experience, but only two of the companies sparked my interest: Intuit and Infosys.

So I applied to both, with great excitement for Intuit and smaller expectations for Infosys, which was more selective than I thought myself to be qualified for. So imagine my surprise when I was hit with shock number two: shortly after submitting my application, Infosys contacted me for an interview.

Perhaps most surprising of all was that it was less of an interview and more of an inquiry as to how soon they could book my ticket to India so I could begin work and, by the way, would I like the job? So here I am, surprised even now to find myself here.

About the Internship:

This is where it gets exciting. I've been charged with the task of researching and enhancing the volunteer process at Infosys. This is a project that will actually impact a large number of people, seeing as Infosys has over 150,000 employees in 39 countries. And what I'm doing will change the way all of them use their company as a platform for community service. I met with my project mentor's boss last week, and she explained that she is really seeking a way to intrinsically motivate people to do good because they want to, not because it's something to check off their to do list. 

Right now, there's not much of a system to speak of. Which really means I'll need to create an entirely new system, and I'll need to do it quickly. 

I was supposed to have 8 weeks to work on this project, but I learned last week that I will be presenting my results to Kris Gopalakrishnan, CEO and Managing Director of Infosys, for use in his keynote address at the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (Rio+20). So I'll be in hyperdrive for the next two weeks, and then I'll focus mainly on implementation of my suggestions, quality enhancement, marketing the final product, and progress tracking until it's time for me to go home. 

Whew. 

What's really great about this internship is that it's giving me international business experience. I'm working with people from literally every corner of the globe (there is only one other American on campus besides myself), so I am really getting a variety of perspectives on the business culture. I love it :)