India Day 17: Visit to Christ University; Bangalore

Our lecture this morning was a little different as we had a guest lecturer come to campus.  He is Mr. Anil Kumar, Director of HR at Intel in Bangalore.  His lecture was less a lecture and more a conversation.  We asked questions about everything from religion and religion in the workplace, to gender inequality, to hiring/firing practices, and much in between!  He was easy to talk to and answered our questions openly.  Hindu by birth, he is now a Buddhist and referred to the Buddhist teachings a few times.  My questions were about choosing the right candidates for a position when there are thousands of applicants, and about the changing society here and its implications on the business world here and abroad.  It's interesting that I've asked similar questions to multiple people and I seem to get severely varying answers from each.  Each answer seems to come from one of two main types:  The "I love India/India is great,"  and the "we have a lot of room to grow, and if we do grow we will go great places" type.  I think I prefer the latter as it seems more realistic.  There are major issues here which are impressive in their scope.  The government is riddled with fraud and seems to do very little in way of supporting this country's massive population, social programs are nonexistent, gender discrimination is rampant, fair labor/work practices are nowhere to be found...I could make a list for days.  The citizens here are very excited to see what the new political party will do.  The new prime minister is being sworn in today, and the people are very excited to see what he will do for the country.  This will be the first total majority in the government in a very long time (if it has ever happened before, I'm not sure).  Everyone hopes and expects that this will be for the better.  I just hope that they are simply so thirsty for change that they've chosen the first person who they think will bring it.  We've learned in the U.S. that the change that is badly wanted may not come despite the promises.  Though obviously, the issue is far more complex that we can understand.

Moving on...We visited the Centre for Social Action at Christ University today.  They have a big recycling project going here and it's very impressive.  The recycle waste paper from around campus, and organic waste which is used to fertilize the plant nurseries on campus, and to fuel parts of the kitchens.  The paper products make recycled paper which is used to make journals, folders, and other paper based items which are sold on campus.  The program is fully self sustaining at this point.  It's really very neat.  I am continually amazed at the fact that despite the lack of modern equipment here, so many wonderful things are happening.  This recycling facility, construction...with all the technology coming out of Bangalore, you'd think they would be able to find/utilize modern construction equipment.  Photos will be included soon.  I may just do that after all the posts go up after I get home.  Sorry, guys.

We finished the evening, a few of us, with our professor while the other few made plans again without inviting some of us.  It's their loss, right?  I'm coming down with a cold and I feel awful.  My teacher wants me to stay with her tonight which I'll do and hopefully get some good rest.  I do NOT want to be sick for my week in Europe with Erik!!  I've been so looking forward to our trip!!  He should be leaving in less than 12 hours for the airport.  I just can't wait to see him--3 weeks is too long!

Keep on Burning...