Dream Locations

I think I've decided what my dream locations are now.

1. Rest of UK/Europe (I want to see everything!)

2. Chile

3. Botswana, Africa

Videos- England

Videos- India

Where to next?

If you know me, you know that going to London has been a dream of mine since, well, forever. I plan to go again some time soon and I'm glad that it met my expectations of it. However, now that I've gone, I feel a little sad because now what? What's my dream location now? I'll have to think about that and up for any suggestions that anyone may have.

I'm happy that I decided to try something new and travel abroad on my own. India especially forced me to get out of my comfort zone and it's hard to put into words just how much I learned from Dr. Kanti, the sites we visited, and from the people in my group. It's easy to learn things out of a textbook but my classmates and the people at the site visits forced me to apply what I learned at UB in the real world situations.

Thanks for reading this travel blog :)

What I learned

       A photo of all of us at the theater. From left to right: Lou Anne, 

Ms. Shobha, Darrell, Dr. Kanti, Me, Parakh, and Omeed.

            My trip to India with Dr. Kanti was a once in a lifetime experience. I learned so much about knowledge management and about the country through taking the course.  Pursuing my MLS degree gave me background on libraries but having to take all that learned information and putting it into practice was an invaluable result of visiting and speaking with all the information specialists at the various sites we went to. I also learned about the knowledge management practices of a developing nation such as India. 

            India is a land of contradictions and there is more to the country than what meets the eye. On one hand there are places like Infosys which appears to have the best management model and information practices out of all the institutions visited. This is because it has integrated most of the different approaches to knowledge managements into one comprehensive model. Yet, on the other hand there are still large discrepancies between the very rich and the Still, as a whole, India is an energetic and hopeful country that has much to teach other nations of the world about how to have and create a global view of information management.

            On a non-educational front, it was great getting to travel to a country I may not have been able to visit otherwise. The people are so friendly, the food is fantastic, and India is just really a wonderful place to visit.

Day 18- leaving London

We got up really early, ate breakfast, checked out and left our bags at the hotel. We walked through Buckingham palace grounds again on the hunt for one of the oldest bookstores in London, called Hatchards. It was a bit of a walk to where it's located in Piccadilly. Then we walked even farther to the British Museum. Along the way we were asked for directions again! The walk took forever but the British Museum was nice we saw the Rosetta Stone and parts of the Parthenon. Then took the tube from Convent Gardens to Harrods. Mom wanted something from there and Tisha wanted to stop by there. I never really had a desire to see it before but my mind was quickly changed by being there. They're so nice and have everything! We'd been looking for the Christmas special for Downton Abbey and out of the dozens of bookstores we stopped in they had it at Harrods. I got to say the Brits have a love of books. So many book stores! Even in Harrods. No DVD places but tons of bookstores- I love it here :) 

                                                  ^Trafalgar Square

We had lunch at the tea room in Harrods. Delicious!  

Then at 4 pm off to the airport for New York.

Day 17- 9 3/4

Today we got up on the later side and took the tube to Kings Cross. Of course we did the nerdy Harry Potter thing but that's okay, I'll own up to it. I'll also even admit that I loved it :) The tube is so clean!

Gryffindor!

Ravenclaw!

Then we came back and went to Clark's shoe store I bought some English boots. We wandered around around Big Ben because there's always an amazing picture to take at Big Ben. We wanted around towards Trafalgers Square and stumbled upon  St. James Park. It's very pretty! We went into the National Gallery  and then went to meet Tisha's friend, Gillian. She's her friend from Leicester who's a Canadian living in Cambridge, UK. We tried out the Albert Pub. So far I got to say English food is as they say- bland.

Went back to Victoria station to get some English candy and on the way back we were asked for directions! Made my night.

Day 16- Big Ben is here and nowhere at the same time

We got up, had breakfast at the hotel's pub. I was suppose to have "American pancakes" but it tasted like crepes. Still good though. Then we walked to Buckingham Palace. We could only take pictures because it's closed for the winter but we were able look around the store. Then we hopped on the original tour again. The guy who loved that we're from New York was there and he offered to meet us at a club that night but we respectfully declined. The Brits sure do love NYC as almost every cashier when they find out I'm American and from New York tells me that they want to visit New York one day or that they've been there and it's their favorite place in the world.

 We got a sight of Shakespeare's globe while on the bus and got off at Trafalgar Square. We found this awesome bookstore there, called Waterstone. It reminded me of how much I miss Borders. Then we went back to the hotel to meet with our second cousin on our dad's side. It was great meeting her!

After that we wondered around. We stumbled on Convent Gardens which is a nice shopping area and where the Lion King is playing. I didn't like it that much as it was crowded and reminded me of how creepy Times Square gets late at night.

Tisha talked me into having Indian- not nearly as good as the food I've been having for the last two weeks sadly. Not sure if it's because it's the UK style or what but just not the same. Speaking of which, I really miss Indian coffee.

I love England so far it doesn't disappoint my high expectations of it which I'm happy about. I'd built it up so much in my mind so I'm glad that I like it.

Day 15- Westminster

Today was the first full day in London. We had breakfast in the pub attached to the hotel then headed off to Westminster Abbey. I love the location of the hotel! It's in walking distance of Westminster, Big Ben, and Buckingham Palace.

Westminster has a good audio tour that allows you to walk around and explore on your own. We saw the resting places of all three if Henry VIII's children, Dickens, and others. Then we looked for the bus tour we pre ordered tickets to, "The Original Tour". The ticket guy found out I was from New York so he kept trying to do a NYC accent and random stereotypical NYC sayings which was pretty funny. We stayed on the tour until it got to the Tower of London. Once at the tower we stayed there for a good while.

On a whim we decided to try and see Wicked. There were seats available for the night and at much cheaper prices than Broadway. We had time to kill before the show but not enough to be able to sit done and eat so we went back to Victoria station to try to eat there. All they had was American stuff :/. We settled on a Mexican takeout. It was spicier than anything I ever had India!

The play was good, I enjoyed it.

Day 14- Twins Reunited

Everyone else had a earlier flight so I waited in the lobby of the airport until I could check in for about five hours. I will admit that I got a little choked up after everyone left. Traveling alone is lonely and I'll miss everyone in the group. I fought back sleep for the next few hours (got to read all four books I downloaded on my kindle before leaving) until I could check in around 5am. I went through security, had my passport stamped again (Post note from the day we left England: which wasn't a thing in England. I kept bugging Tisha when we left about getting my passport stamped to leave the UK. After going through a round of questions in the Bangalore airport I couldn't get it in my head that the UK would just let us... leave.)

Anyway, I was able to board the plane around 8am. I'd become so used to flying at this point that I wasn't scared like I used to be.  I just really wanted to get on the plane so I could sleep. The flight wasn't too bad, only about 9-10 hours.

I got off the plane, went through customs (having an India stamp earned me a smile from the immigration officer and some conversation), and headed towards the baggage area. Guess who was standing by the baggage belt? The twin. Reunited we got my luggage and got a cab.

The cab driver was nice but the cab was so expensive! After being in India where you can get a fancy dinner for $3, it's hard getting used to English prices! We walked around a bit, explored Victoria Station then went back to the hotel and passed out.

Day 13- Goodbye

Today we had to leave Mysore and Infosys. We were fortunate enough to meet with Dr. Subraya the director of the entire Infosys-Mysore training operation before we left. He actually took the time to speak with us at length about the company which was incredibly nice of him. Then we did some shopping, gave our presentations at the midway point between Mysore and Bangalore and then went back to XIME. Wifi, again! We had to say goodbye to Parakh as he's staying with family in Hyderabad for a bit longer and therefore was dropped off at the train station. As I said in my last post, I'll really miss everyone in the group.

Today's another holiday, Sankranti- a kite festival. More about it here: Makar Sankranti



I learned a lot during this trip. This was my first time outside of the US, besides going to Jamaica. This was also my first time traveling by myself. I gained so much both educationally and personally. India is a great place, everyone should get a chance to experience this country at least once!

India is a land of contradictions. On one hand you have places like Infosys while on the other, you have poor farming villages. However, there is more to India than what meets the eye. As a whole, it's an energetic and hopeful country that I think will do amazing things in the future.

Library wise, I learned about all the different ways of organizing knowledge in India. You can do something very different as with TATA where people can come for classes to learn new skills or a more traditional approach as with IIMB.

I learned how different public libraries are here in the sense that they are more like reading rooms while in the US they're community centers where you can access a variety of books beyond just checking out books.

Bye India, it's been fun- onward to London.

ಹೋಗಿ ಅವಕಾಶ - "Let's go!"

Day 12- SDMIMD

Today we went to visit our last school called Shri Dharmasthala Manjunatheshwara Instittute for Management Development (SDMIMD). This one is located in Mysore set at the foot of Chamundi Hills and holds about 350 management students. We listened to a lecture on rural development, tour the building and met with several professors. The best part was a Q&A with some of the students there. I wish we had done a meet and great with them like we did at XIME and ISiM because the students were so friendly and energetic. They asked frank questions about life in the US and our thoughts on India.

The students reminded us that Mysore is the yoga capital of the world. Apparently Michelle Obama has been taught by the school's yoga instructor.

After that we went to see a 12th century temple called Somanathapur. We also went  up the hills to see the entire city of Mysore and see another temple from afar at the top of Chamundi Hills. Then back to Infosys. We went looking again for internet access. Lou Anne and I found the Internet cafe but today's a holiday in India so it's closed. Along the way we snuck into the multiplex where they show movies and other things. Unfortunately, it too was closed. Bummer I was really hoping catch a movie in there before we left for Tish's sake. We met the boys for dinner at the "floating restaurant" which like most of the food here was amazing. A quick stop at the store and then back to the room. They have a few English channels including HBO so I caught The Hunger Games on TV before bed.

This is the last real night here before leaving India. I'll miss the food, the people, the way they shake their head while speaking which can mean a million things at once, the language, "chalo" (Kannada for "Let's go" ) ,and the excitement and love their have for their country and culture. I'll also miss the group. Putting five strangers together on a two week trip across the globe could have gone very badly but I'd like to think we all got on well. It took awhile to get used to things but overall, I'd say I had a good time and don't regret going. 

Day 11- IsiM

Day 11- IsiM

This morning I got up early and tried going for a bike ride on the bikes they have available here. Then I met up with the group and we got a formal tour of the Infosys campus. Lou Anne and I walked around most of the campus the night before in our hunt for wifi or public computer access (there isn't any) so it was much of the same. We did get to meet the head librarian and tour the library which was interesting. The Infosys library is the largest corporate library in the world.

After the tour we heading to the University of Mysore to see the  International School of Information Management (ISIM) school located on their campus. IsiM is the only ischool in India so it was good to get their perspective. The others go to the ischool at the University of Maryland so they knew about the system but as UB doesn't have it, which made it all new to me. We also had a meet and greet with the students there. A couple of the students are Iranian so since they're also new to the Mysore area they joined us on a tour of the museum of Kannada history. Each state in India has it's own language/culture and Kannada is what's spoken in Karnataka which is the state that both Mysore and Bangalore are in. The museum was ok. I think it would have been more effective if they provided more of a context of what artifacts we were looking at and their significance.  

It's strange most of my friends like (or pretend well for my sake) history so it was an experience going with people who are more into engineering than history. Parakh asked me why he should care about the artifact he was looking at. He's an engineer who likes math and numbers and didn't get why history matter. I liked the challenge of trying to explain why history is awesome and why it is important.

After that we went to the Brindavan Gardens, walked around there and hung out in this amazing hotel over looking the garden and water. Then back to Infosys for dinner. While waiting for everyone to meet, Dr. Kanti, Lou Anne, Darrell and I were geeking out about the Briggs personality test. Turns out we're all introverts! 

Day 10- Mysore

We left Bangalore and headed for Mysore, India about 3 hours away. Along the way we stopped at a rest stop that had the restaurants Coffee Day (India's Starbucks) and KFC. On the way to Mysore, we also stopped by the Ranganathaswamy Temple where I was able to have fresh coconut water for the first time since Jamaica in July. Again all the similarities between the two is so interesting to me. It makes sense why but I never thought of India that way. Very cool.

When we arrived in Mysore we checked into our rooms in Infosys. XIME was a good way to get more of a feel of college life in a hostel, the accommodates there really made me really appreciate what we got with our rooms at Infosys. However, let me just say the Infosys campus on its own, is nothing like I've seen before. It's a training center for the entry level computer engineering employees. Every year the company takes in 1000 new grads, sends them to the training center in Mysore for six months and then adds them to the workforce upon completion. Here there's a pool, movie theatre that shows movies before they are released in theaters, several cafeterias, Dominos pizza, gym, bowling alley, hair salon, medical center, pharmacy, store, track, lake and much much more. The campus is beautiful. If you think you know India, see this place first.

Mysore Palace was next after checking in and is one of the many sites to see in the Mysore district. Poor Darrell, he ended up having to pay the foreigner price.

The whole foreigner thing is a conversation all on it's own. The palace was very pretty but so crowded! It's like going to some place like George Washington's Mount Vernon where you see the place in a cattle like way. Still seeing the illumination at night was worth it for seeing a once in a lifetime thing like that.

Also elephants!

So far one of my favorite foods here is Upma.  Upma is basically flavored Cream of Wheat. 

Day 9- Bangalore University

Day 9-  Bangalore University

100,000- 1 lakh
 100,000,000- 1 crore


Today we went to Bangalore University. At BU we got a tour of the Bangalore University Library. This is the first school we've seen that has subjects such as history and social work. I've been told by many that "soft" subjects such as these aren't valued as highly as more lucrative jobs in engineering or medicine.

The library had so many books but only three people on staff, so that was pretty impressive. The school and library were a little more rundown than, say Infosys' library but still very nice.

When then went to the outskirts of town, into the villages, to see the 400 year old Banyan Tree at Dodda Alada Mara. There are quite a bit of monkeys living in the tree which was just fantastic to see. Someone gave one of the monkeys peanuts and we got to see the power struggles between this monkey and all the other ones who wanted some peanuts too. These two baby monkeys had no chance but tried anyway.

After the tree and the monkeys it was time for some food, of course. We talked the professor into letting us go to Dominos as Parakh insisted that the Indian version would be amazing. But we all settled on trying 3 medium pizzas; a spicy chicken pizza, a peppy paneer pizza and a spicy delight pizza. It was delicious!

We drove the 45 minutes (traffic here makes everything take forever!) back go XIME, ate again (don't ask lol), then went off to see a comedy adaption of Macbeth at Ranga Shankara theater. The play is entitled "The Tragedy of MadBeth."  It was performed by Rupesh Tillu. I enjoyed it a lot as it was really funny but not sure how much the others did. To be fair, this interpretation of Shakespeare probably has the playwright rolling in his grave.

I'll include something different from India in the US from one of my classmates' blog posts. He states: "The majority of the people in India are vegetarians.  In order to clarify if a pre-packaged item is "veg" or "non-veg", there is a mandatory marking system. The green dot means the food is vegetarian & the brown dot means it is not.

Even some of my bottled water has a green dot on it. When the food is already prepared the cooks or wait staff will inform you us which dishes are "veg" & which are "non veg." "

Apologies for any spelling or grammar issues in my posts. As I mentioned, my computer died so it's hard to edit properly on a tablet. Will edit and add pics when I get home :)

Day 8- Infosys

Day 8- Infosys

If I thought TATA was impressive, I was completely blown away by Infosys. Not only does their knowledge management system integrate just about everything other companies we've seen have been lacking, but the campus is fantastic! The company is listed in Forbes and from what I saw there it's comparable to Google. Gym, restaurants, games, a pool, flexible hours, bikes to get around campus, Infosys just looks like a great place to work. We'll be staying at their main campus in Mysore.

After Infosys we participated in a meet and greet with some other students in XIME. They had all finished their placements (companies come to schools to interview and hire students) so they're all set for jobs after graduation. I wish the US did that! In India, grad schools have to place every student in a job. We talked about a range of things, the snow back in the northeast, different parts of India, TV shows, and literature. It was fun and interesting but as an introvert all these lunches and meet and greets can be a bit tiring. I'll be an expert at small talk when I get back! Which is probably good, certainly getting out of my shell a bit.

I will say that it's odd to be aligned with a school I've never even been to. I'm completely online at SUNY Buffalo and part time as well so it's hard to talk about a school that I go to that I've never even stepped foot in. People keep thinking I live in Buffalo!

Here's an example of some of the awesome food we've been having:

 

Day 7- TATA

Day 7 TATA



Today we visited the top consulting company in India called TATA.  TATA Group is a huge multi-company conglomerate with business interests all around the globe. One of the divsions of TATA is TATA Consultancy Services.    This video gives a brief look at what they do.  They are involved in just about everything, including the world's cheapest car. We learned about their information resource center (library) and the company itself. I was pretty impressed with all the amenities that their corporation has for their employees (gym, pool, movie theatre etc.)

Then we went back to XIME with "Sam" (Prof. S.D. Tyagara) from XIME to finish the leadership lecture on the film, 12 High Noon. It's a great movie from 1949 starring Gregory Peck.

We skipped dinner at XIME and went out to see Bangalore at night instead. Parakh wanted to show us a Chinese buffet - Indian style. Like all the food here, the buffet was awesome. I'm not sure if I mentioned it yet but it's customary to get several snacks during the day. Usually it's coffee or tea with cookies every few hours then a big breakfast, lunch, and dinner. So much food! Good, but so much!

After the restaurant to went to UB City again (the upscale mall) to see this sky view bar/restaurant. After that we checked out this 6 star hotel. Bangalore's nice at night. Comparable to Times Square.

Day 6- Microsoft

We went to  Microsoft Research India today (sorry Nicole) and despite my love of all things Apple it was pretty cool. Our hosts for the day, Ed Cutrell, Kalika Bali, & Indrani Medhi, are part of the Technology for Emerging Markets. We specifically went to the research and development department and they are doing some innovative things to help this part of the world. Specifically, they  are working on technology for emerging markets. Microsoft showed us two projects that they're working on. One was about getting the computer to recognize code mixing. For example, Spanglish would be code mixing. VideoKheti is the project that Microsoft worked on.The other was an app for illiterate people but since they're currently working on it, I'm not sure how much I can go into it. The person we spoke with at Microsoft is an American so it was insightful to hear about living in Bangalore from an expat.

We finished pretty early, so we decided to kill some time by going back to the Times Square-like market places again. Watching Dr. Kanti negotiate with the street vendors on prices is pretty interesting.

I like Bangalore but I'm looking forward to mixing things up and heading the 2/3 hours away to Mysore this weekend. There we'll do some site seeing and visit a few more schools/ companies.

In India, the national language is English first, then Hindi but each state also speaks its own language. In but in the Bangalore area, most speak and write in a language called Kannada.

School notes:

See handwritten notes.

Day 5- Abbott

Day 5- Abbott

Today we had the chance to visit Abbott India .  Abbott India is a division of the huge pharmaceutical company Abbott Pharmaceuticals. We spoke to two doctors about their company's knowledge management systems. One of our presenters was very forthright about the conflicts between the branches of the company here in Bangalore and in Columbus, OH back in the states. He had us laughing about the over polite nature of Americans and how it can be hard to get a sense of what we really mean.

After Abbott we headed to a department store comparable to JC Penny. It's basically JC Penny as I mentioned so Lou Anne and I walked across the street to the food bazaar  to get something I needed. This store had everything! I wished we'd gone here the first day. Speaking of which, next time I travel I need to remember to bring sheets, blanket, pillow case and the correct charger for my electronics! My laptop died and I didn't bring the correct charger. Luckily two prong plugs work in Indian outlets but not three prong one's. The department store is different from Penny's in the sense that there's a electronic section so I bought what I thought was a Indian lap top charger there. Get back to the dorm to find that it's the UK one. So a little disappointing since we just got the details of our final paper for the class and it'll be a bit challenging typing that up on a tablet but I digress.

Needing a few items allowed us to go out into the market place for a bit. We went into a housewares store and some other local shops on the street. It was a bit like a mix between a farmer's market and gas lamp quarter in San Diego.

Back to XIME and dinner. We had a interesting discussion about Indian and Indian American culture. I'm again finding similarities with Jamaican culture. For example it's common for people in both countries to hire house keepers/ baby sitters/ cooks for the home. Or for those working in certain industries to have drivers.

Notes for class

Issues:
1. losing people because they think they're working for Abbott but due to the partnership between Abbott and S--- they have low retention rates.

2. Problem competing with older products that have been in the market for years.

3. Issues between different branches of the company.

4. Lay people don't have easy access to who does what in the company.

Recommendations:

1. Work with S--- to more close match the administrative/ HR practices of Abbott
2. Outreach with the community. Fund events let them know and like the company.
3. Training on understanding and respecting each nation's cultural differences.
4. Create and maintain database. 

Day 4- IIMB

Indian Institute of Management-Bangalore has one of the most beautiful campuses I've ever seen. It's like a whole world unto itself!  IIMB serves as a movie location for a very popular international film entitled 3 Idiots. We also stopped at the Art of Living Foundation  because Dr. Kanti wanted us to see the spiritual side to Indian culture. So he arranged for us to visit a Ravi Shankar Ashram. I don't think any of us in the group is interested in following this type of spirituality but it was good to see this side of India.

Class notes

Today we went to visit India's version of Harvard's MBA program which is IIMB or the Indian Institute of Managment in Bangalore. It's one impressive program and campus! We met with several individuals from the school. One works in the public policy department and she noted that the school has  begun to embrace research. The other professor works with the alumni association in addition to his teaching / writing responsibilities. This association is India's only professionally managed association. He noted that the school has shifted from public policy to corporate.


We also looked at their library. It's a large and active library but one issue was that there didn't appear to be much interaction between the library staff and the facility.

We also went to a mediation center just to gain some exposure to this popular attraction in Bangalore.

Day 3 - Sightseeing

Day three was all about sightseeing! One difference between India and the US is that the work week is usually Monday- Saturday. We went to Lal bagh or Lal Bagh Botanical Gardens., Cubbon Park, and some shopping at commercial street. This day of fun did still tie into what we've been learning so far. Labagh is Bangalore's version of Central Park. The locals come here to relax, read, and take in the sights.

The public library at Cubbon Park was beautiful. It's built in the old colonial style with pretty flowers out front. I enjoyed the periodical section the best as it was a whole room filled with people sitting and reading.

I liked shopping in the commercial area. It's like Times Square with how it's packed with people and vendors in every corner. Lou Anne and I got a decent deal on some scarfs. It was fun interacting with the store clerk as he tried to make us laugh.

The guys ( Darrell, Omeed and Parakh) were with Dr. Kanti negotiating with a street vendor about some belts. Dr. Kanti got the price down 100 rupees. The guys said Omeed was able to get two belts for $4.00!

I'm really learning a lot about the differences between north and south India, between the states, and the different languages between all the states.

Class notes 

At Cubbon Park we went into the public library. The main library was as C.S. Shobha said, a space that is used to house books and also serves as a reading room. However, the children's library nearby was more just a reading room. Here we learned that the children's library has workshops in story telling, theater, painting etc. so in a way it's transferring knowledge beyond the scope of the regular public library.

The public library does have a mobile library van which is a great and fascinating way to knowledge to the public as well as making the books accessible.

We also got to see how the top 10% live in India through our visits to the high end mall and the shopping area. It was like stepping into another world.

Lastly, I got to see first hand how popular the bookstores are through our visits to a bookstore today and at the bookstore at the middle class mall on Saturday.

Day 2 - Artis

This was the first full day in India. Breakfast is at 8:00am and we have a wide variety of choices. We're staying in hostel like rooms.

Professor Kanti arranged a van to take us to Artis Academy.

From left to right: Dr. Manish Mokshagundam,Darrell,Omeed, Parakh, Me, C.S. Shobha, and Dr. Kanti

Traveling is where I see Jamaica the most in India. Both countries don't do the seat belt thing and over take other cars. However, now in my first full day I notice the differences between the two and how pretty India is on it's own. The music, culture, and food is just so much fun to take in.

At Artis we had two very interesting lectures. I especially enjoyed Ms. Shobha's discussion on India's film industry. Of note, Ms. Shobha is married to a famous award winning Indian film director, named Nagathihalli Chandrasekhar . He even has a IMDB page As a history fan ,I loved the discussion of India's history.  I'd taken a Modern Asia class at Marist that I loved but it didn't go much beyond the colonial period so it was great to hear about India post 1947. Again I find it fascinating to think about the modern day differences between Jamaica and India as two countries who received independence from Britain only in the last century. India seems be more independent and focused. Through Jamaica's size and the fact it's an island may have to do with that.

All the site visits consist of lunch which always includes all kinds of fantastic food!

After Artis we went to the Forum Mall which is comparable to the galleria I'd say. Then back in the van and to XIME for dinner at 8pm.


Class Notes

On Saturday we went to visit Artis Academy. Artis Academy owned by C.S. Shobha. She gave a presentation on knowledge management and the Indian film industry then  her colleague, Dr. Manish Mokshagundam, gave a in depth overview of Indian history and culture.

India approaches knowledge management in a broader sense compared to other countries such as the U.S. According to Ms. Shobha, IT companies are required to get certification. She stated that U.S. Companies tend to start at 1 or 2 out of 5 levels when in India they start instantly at 4 or 5. She noted that culturally it might be easier to "make things happen" in India.

However, through the Artis lectures I learned that the transfer of knowledge through libraries and books is a complicated process in India. There was an Indian library movement to give everyone access to public libraries but it didn't quite catch on except at institutes and academic libraries. She mentioned that bookstores are however popular.

It's interesting because in the U.S.  many public libraries are more like community centers and have expanded beyond just traditionally handing out books or as a space for reading. In India it was suggested that this is not the case.

We also went to the the Forum Mall  to expand on the lower class shopping area we walked around on Friday. This correlated nicely to the presentations at XIME and Artis about the many contradictions of India. The professors at XIME mentioned that 10% of the population is in a higher bracket while 20-30% are middle class yet 25% of Indians are illiterate. Manish also noted that some major issues that India needs to address is the poverty and inequality. Yet, based on the first two days it appears that many Indian know issues facing their country and are trying to find a way to address it in order to meet their goal of increasing their GDP. This ties into Sr. Dean Tyagaraj's lecture from the first day about leadership and the challenges that leaders have to face such as:
-coping with technology change
- coping with change in people's aspirations
- meeting increase in demands for customers
- adhering to increases in environmental and safety regulations
- ensuring continuous improvement