When life is too much, roll with it baby....

28 Jul 2013

Those of you who know me best know I have a tendency to adapt to my environment – to go native. When we lived in West Texas, I adopted a drawl and started wearing boots and a cowboy hat. When I was on my mission in Japan, I couldn’t see any difference between me and the million people around me, although I was a foot taller than them, had whiter skin, lighter hair and a much bigger nose. When I worked with the Gila River Indian Community, again came out the boots and I considered growing my hair into a pony tail (I was much younger with more hair!). Anyway, now that we are in India, I know some of you are probably concerned the same thing will happen again. Based on this picture that was taken of me last week, I guess those concerns are justified.

Actually I took this picture at an assembly hall just before one of the most interesting experiences I have had in India. Our university is offering English classes in conjunction with Modicare, the MLM company owned by the Modi Group (our parent company). I was invited to one of their meetings to present the program to their representatives. It was an interesting amalgam of a Mary Kay rally and Indian culture: four hours of overly loud, driving music; awards; people being carried on to the stage; hundreds of orange chrysanthemum “leis” being placed around peoples necks and arms (an increasing number as the level of recognition increased; flower pedals being thrown over and at honorees; and overly enthusiastic speeches. I did pick up a great earworm: the song played on a loop while the representatives filed into the auditorium. Here is the link:  

 May it haunt your dreams as it has mine. You are welcome.

On a little more serious note, the arrangement with Modicare is only one of several arrangements for education and training. We are looking at arrangements in New Delhi, Mumbai, and Bangalore. I am using these activities as a beachhead strategy to expand the number of campuses we have. We start with training (English, critical thinking, strategic planning, etc.); move to onsite MBA programs with key corporations; finally, with that base of students in various cities we can launch campuses. The process of developing these arrangements with key corporations is starting to pick up speed and we have discussions going with several. Two related key challenges we are facing are shortage of resources and the expectation corporations have regarding timing. We are at that ragged point where we have too much work for the curriculum development people we have but not enough yet to justify hiring staff. This is related to the second problem since it is difficult with our current staff to modify even existing curriculum quickly enough to meet the timelines the corporations have. Developing new classes is even more difficult. Still, these are nice challenges to have.

Now, here’s Rae. 

Well, let’s see what I want to share about this last week. First I guess I should tell you that the Monsoons have arrived.  That means cooler temperatures, but also much higher humidity.  It is not unusual to have the windows totally fogged over.  That also happens to your glasses when you walk outside, or get out of the car, instant blindness.  I have to remind myself to put in my contacts if I’m going out.  Yesterday we went to a very large mall in Gurgaon, a city about 40 minutes away.  On the way home it was very hard for our driver to keep the windows in the car from fogging up.  Given how crazy traffic is here, having clear windows seems to me to be pretty important.  I however didn’t necessarily mind having my window fogged, because sometimes it’s better to not see just what chaos is going on around you. Cars pass so closely that it would be very easy to reach out and touch the car next to you.  Another thing that seems to be a part of Monsoons is power outages.  There have been a couple of days where the power has gone out 5 or 6 times.  There is a generator for our flat, but the guard has to turn it on.  I don’t think there is any electricity to his small, (about 3x3) guard stall, so I don’t think he is always aware of the stoppage.  So, sometimes you have to open the door and call out to him to please turn on the generator.

I think I’m getting closer to finally getting my phone set up.  Friday a young man from Airtel came by. He didn’t speak English, but did keep saying “sim card”, but when I brought him my phone he looked confused and finally said “never mind” and “come back in morning”.  He didn’t say what morning however and so far hasn’t come back.  I assumed that he was going to come back with someone who could speak a bit of English.  Well, you know what happens when you assume, in my case, it means I’m wrong and who knows when they will come back, and if we will ever really get things sorted out.

We also heard from the moving company about our shipment.  We are supposed to have to go to the customs office sometime in the next few days and then who knows how much longer it will be until the shipment is actually delivered.  Hopefully it won’t be too long.  It will be nice to have some of our things.  I’m thinking it will be nice to have more than the four plates, and minimum kitchen tools that I sent with Phil when he first came.  I’m sure that there will be some things I sent that I will wonder what I was thinking in sending it.  Anyway, looking forward to having our things.         

If the day should come that we get our shipment, I finally get a phone, and our oven gets repaired or replaced then I think we will finally feel a bit more settled and a part of things, and maybe not so much like we’re temporarily here and just camping.  One thing I’m learning is that things here take time and patience, something that I guess I still need to learn. One thing about India is it will give me plenty of opportunity to hone that skill.

Namaste