An Inspirational and Spiritual Journey to East India
A real Yatra, meaning ‘Journey’ in English, to India came into my life from 18th August to 6th September 2013. A surprise that mapped out an extraordinary experience for this summer in 2013, which I could have never expected or guessed when I was still thinking about what I wanted to do for two months of summer time in May 2013. Suddenly, an email came that sent me to Singapore from the end of June, and suddenly another email came which sent me to India from mid August. Maybe this is life, maybe this is fate, never give up hope and never say never is something I have truly experienced and something I will keep to live into the future…
The email was extremely generous, extremely kind, extremely surprising to me, because I never thought I would win a position to get funded to visit India as an ‘International Passport Holder’ to UK/EU. I was fortunate, and I was grateful and hopeful to this new journey to the East.
Getting the visa in Singapore as an ‘International Passport Holder’ was a nerve racking experience with high speed heart beating…First of all, follow the procedure, wait until the confirmation from higher up decision maker, then endless phone calls to the High Commission trying to confirm the status of the application. Finally after 3 weeks, Luck came to me because of IndoGenius and problems solved at last minute. 3 hours and 30 minutes before my departure, first getting a taxi (45mins) to the India High Commission in Singapore to get my passport submitted, then wait for the visa to stamped and signed by the Ambassador (30mins), them another (15mins) taxi journey to the Changi airport, I made it! I made it to get onto my flight with the visa successfully in the end. Even though it was difficult, but it was worth it…
It was scheduled to be a 3 weeks programme in India, with the first week in Mumbai, then second week of internship in Lucknow and the final week in New Delhi. The entire experience is funded by BIS-Department For Business Innovation and Skills; UKIERI; Ministry of Human Resources Development; British Council and delivered by IndoGenius who has been so dedicated to take care of each one of us - 200 students coming from British Universities.
For me, there are only 2 persons from Imperial College London, and I felt even more privileged to be selected as one of the 200 from 4300 above applicants…The real data shows the success rate is even less than Harvard successful application rate… Thank you God for giving me this opportunity!
Everyone has a specific reason for coming to India. For me, maybe I’m a traveller, maybe I’m a thinker, maybe I’m a initiator…either of those, I would love to explore, meet, share and think and create…I collect experience and share them in order to improve each other’s desire and ambitions…possibly, that’s what I am looking for in India?!
Mumbai-
It is busy, hot and crowded in Mumbai. I feel like learning deeper into the culture, habit and ways of doing things to understand what locals think about foreigners. I feel like learning about local values, how they view the world and compare their own life and future. I’m so thirsty for their religious ties, beliefs and philosophy of origins. India is just so secretive and attractive…
South Mumbai has been the bustling heart of Mumbai since the 17th century. It was the major trading hub of the British raj and is now the financial centre of India. Our exploration of ‘British Bombay’ is a treasure hunt on foot and a bicycle ride. We visited several major Mumbai landmarks: Chhatrapati Shivaji Station, Sassoon Docks, Bombay Panjpole, the Mumba Devi Mandir temple and Marine Drive. There are an extraordinary range of buildings from Venetian Gothic Revival to Art Deco.
The city’s urban last and financial and technological future is completely revealed to us during the visit. From the Bombay Stock Exchange to the Bhau Daji Lad Museum, we witnessed the juxtaposition of historical and contemporary. No more so than in Khotachiwadi - a former Portuguese finishing village now surrounded by the towers of Modern Mumbai. The celebrated Indian institute of Technology, Bombay (IIT) is one of independent India’s greatest achievements and is home to the current cutting edge of Indian science and technology. IIT Bombay is well known as a launch - pad for Silicon Valley entrepreneurs. Because of the Technology Boom, more Indians are remain in India, setting up links with Cambridge, Imperial College London and King’s College London to collaborate and grow together.
The Mumbai metro area is home to over 20 million people. It is one of the world’s fastest growing mega cities and home to one of the world’s largest and most famous slums: Dharavi. Economic growth and urban migration are bringing about rapid transformation in Indian cities, where penthouses overlook vast slums. A visit to the real Dharavi provided us an encounter with opportunity, innovation and survival in a city within a city that is the centre of Mumbai’s small-scale industry.
Indians are entrepreneurs, they are so thirsty for knowledge , open to new ideas. Maybe more they need is knowledge management and idea management I order to compete in the global markets with other world giant nations.
Many believed India’s future prosperity lies in its demographic dividend - the advantage of a youthful population. But capitalizing on it, they argue, depends on the quality of intellectual capital and how to develop these young minds, a school visit is an opportunity that helped us to meet with students and understand their world: their routines, pressures and expectations, fears and dreams.
An experience of India is not complete without making a journey on Indian railways, built during the British raj, it is now a government-owned enterprise employing 1.4 million people. More than 25 million passengers travel daily on 10,000 trains, meaning a staggering 9 billion journeys are made annually. We took an overnight journey through five states over 1400Â km from Mumbai to New Delhi, we saw along the countryside and experienced the services and the crowd.
I was one of the lucky ‘Lucknow 21’ as we call it ourselves - the 21 people that have been fortunately sent to Lucknow City for the week of internship experience. There are 5 people located in Tata Motors, 5 in City Montessori School (world’s largest school) and 11 people in Tata Consultancy Services.
I was sent to Tata Consulting Services, and during the week we have been introduced with Tata CSR HR functions, Tata Motors tour, base, body parts, pain shop (chemicals), Lucknow excursion and a visit to Disadvantaged school, Lucknow history and heritage panel discussion together with an afternoon tea session with head of delivery, Lucknow. Impressively well organized!
After that, we flied back to New Delhi to join the rest of the 179 students from UK for the final week.
Modern India is a land with a long religious and spiritual history. It is home to all the world’s main faiths - Hinduism, Islam, Buddhism, Christianity, Jainism, Sikhism and Judaism - and is site of the world’s largest gathering of humans. Visits to temples, mosques and gurudwaras provided us a glimpse of this diversity and a chance to consider the profound impact of India’s religious vigour and plurality on everyday life.
In north India the empire that preceded the British raj was the Mughal empire, the remnants of which still proudly stand in cities like Agra and Delhi. A trip to old Delhi, former centre of the Mughal empire, takes one back into the heart of Mughal history, a time when Muslim emperors ruled over a majority Hindu populace. Today old Delhi sees trades-people of all varieties mingling in a bustling environment hard to find elsewhere. The sights, sounds, tastes and smells of old Delhi are best adsorbed in as leisurely manner as possible!
Students around the world have cm in priorities, routines and aspirations, through your glimpse of college life in India, and talking to fellow students, we explored the similarities and differences between student life in the two countries.
Opportunities are everywhere, resources are everywhere, I really discovered during this trip in India, that one needs a right person to figure out the right path in order to tailor a personality( history, culture, country and tradition)
There are so much to tell, there are so much more to experience, I will definitely come back to you, India. Thank you IndoGenius, you made my dream come true and you shaped a lot more dreams……
Good luck India, and take care before we next meet up!
Yaxin (13/10/2013 in Hong Kong)
