And our way is on the road again….

I don’t really feel the joy of traveling embedded in this song but it is apropos for the next few weeks. I write this entry sitting in a hotel room in Falls Church Virginia, half way back from half way around the world. I am here for a week of meetings with the folks from Stratford University. I get back just in time to head off again the following weekend to Dahej to speak to the management association there and to meet with our group of MBA students. I then am in Delhi for two weeks (well ten days) and then I am OFF TO PORTLAND, YEAH! The last trip is definitely one I am looking forward to.

This trip was one I was really dreading: coach without any upgrades – not even to economy plus with its delicious extra 4” of leg room. For those of you not 6’4”, in economy my knees are already flush against the seat in front of me prior to the person in front of me reclining. And of course with my unnecessary extra girth, I don’t have any room side to side either. To make it better, I had small kids in front, to the side, and behind me. To make it even more special, when I put on my noise cancelling headphones, the battery was dead. I was all set for a crap-tastic flight. In reality it wasn’t that bad. I took an Ambien and drifted off into some form of unconsciousness. I can’t really say I was comfortable but all in all I had about four or five hours which I don’t remember, so there’s that.

I am traveling on this trip with Deepak Mehta, our Admissions Manager (you may remember Deepak from such hits as his wedding [spoken in the voice of Troy McClure]). It is his first trip to the United States and it is interesting to see it through his eyes. Born and raised in India, the only other places he has been in the world are Dubai and Singapore. Both are nice places but as Deepak keeps mentioning, they are no United States. He comments about how clean everything is; how beautiful all the trees, grass, and blossoms are; and how controlled/organized the traffic is. I told him the traffic on the freeways in and around Washington DC can get bad, but the truth of that matter is compared to India, it may get slow (even stopped) but it never gets bad. Not India bad, anyway.

Last week at work our focus has been on totally redesigning our webpage. This has been a somewhat brutal process. The manager in charge of the process has not done a very good job of ensuring things get done. As a consequence we are three months into the remodel and about where we were at the beginning. Charu has now taken this on as a pet project and with that has come clarity of vision and lots of extra work. I have had to edit every page as well as writing several sections from scratch. This in addition to my regular work has added another level of pressure and time requirement. It will be worth it if we actually finish everything up this next week as our plan calls for. If I have to get involved in the details when I get back in addition to my other activities, I won’t be thrilled.

Speaking of what else I have to do, I won’t go into all of it A) because in order to understand it all, I would have to write more detail than you care to read; 2) I don’t want to sound like I am whining; and III) I know you really don’t care. I will discuss one of the hotter fires. At the strong recommendation/insistance of our US partner we created an International Student Office (ISO) two months ago. The vision (simplified) is the ISO will be a one stop shop that will so satisfy our international students that even more of them will come. They selected Mr Ramdas to head it. I hope you realize from previous comments the high esteem I hold for him. However he is not a salesman or a sales manager. ISO was designed as solid line to our VP for International Relations and dotted line to me. It became clear to me a couple of weeks ago, I needed to be more involved. He is just not getting the support he needs from the US to make the changes in behavior he needs to make to be successful. So one of my key tasks while I am here this week is to put together a plan/process to ensure he gets the support he needs.

Our success this year relies on three key initiatives. A quarter of the way through the year (now almost a third) we have not made the progress we need. Making the changes in processes, and more importantly the culture, needed to achieve our calls is more difficult than I had anticipated. And I had anticipated it would be hard. There are times I wonder if I have made any difference in my year here. It reminds me of the situation with career bureaucrats and elected/appointed officials. Career bureaucrats often ignore or give lip service to elected/appointed officials. They know in a few years the elected/appointed official will be gone along with their initiative and someone new will come in, but the bureaucrat will outlast them all. Two years from now will we have been able to make the changes we want or will we be essentially the same organization, just two years older? Hmm. I don’t think I should think too long about that. That way madness lies.

I do need to discuss two typical India experiences. We mentioned months ago about our half bath being out of commission because they found the drainage pipe from the sink had never been connected and the water was just pooling under the floor (at least the toilet seems to have been connected correctly. Well it has been weeks since the basic plumbing work was done, but we were left with a huge hole in the tile floor and no sink (they were going to replace the sink because the existing one had been cracked and kind of poorly mended). Every day or so we would ask when the flooring would be done and invariably we would be told it would be done "for sure in a few days." Well that finally actually happened and the floor looks great. However, the sink was not connected, so for the last three weeks we have been following the same process with it. "When will the sink be connected?" “Two days perhaps three days” but nothing got done. Finally this week I got a text from Christina. The workmen were there installing the sink. Huzzah! When I got home I rushed into see the new sink. Yup. There it was. The old sink. Gotta love it. What took so long?

The next thing is Thursday, Christina called and said, “They delivered the couch. Where shall they put it?” Wait, what? Apparently there was a chaise that was part of the living room set the landlord put in our flat. He had had all the pieces reupholstered but for some reason the chaise was not done until now. Over a year later, since all the other pieces were there when we first looked at our flat. We didn’t know it even existed but now it’s part of our living room. It’s not a bad thing, actually. It looks nice and is comfortable, but we had no idea it was coming and when they delivered it they seemed surprised that we were surprised. Anyway, just so you say we never include pictures anymore, here is our new chaise.

As Yakov Smirnoff used to say, "And I thought, ‘What a country!'"

Until next week….

Namaste.

Without your children down the line, oh the drum stays right in time, and life goes on…

I love this song by Marc Cohen. It’s a little melancholy but with hope; that sets a pretty appropriate tone for this blog entry. A few years ago, I remember that during the same week my uncle died, his grandson got married. They thought about delaying the wedding but ultimately went ahead because, you know, life goes on. During this week we were reminded at MAII-Stratford University that while we focus on the rewards of seeing young men and women launch their professional lives, you know, life goes on.

Story one: This week we had a police officer and an officer of the Foreign Resident Registrar Office (FRRO) showed up at the campus. He was there because the car registered to one of our students was identified as having been involved in car/pedestrian accident. The car had left the accident scene but someone had written down the license plate number. We contacted the student to whom the care was registered but he said he had sold the car to another student and didn’t know anything about the accident. That student was then contacted. He REALLY didn’t want to admit to anything. Facing police action in a foreign country (both students are from Nigeria) has to be daunting.

Ultimately Student 2 admitted that he had bought the car from Student 1 and had been driving. With that Student 1 was off the hook but Student 2 was now in deep yogurt. A court date was set and then India raised her head. Mr. Ramdas did some research and found out the head FRRO officer with whom we routinely work is a classmate of the chief inspector at the police station that was investigating the accident. Ramdas asked his help in resolving the situation. So our FRRO guy talked to his friend the police inspector to find out what had to happen to make the whole thing go away. So it turns out, about $500 to the victim and a little something-something on the side for the police and a near fatal hit and run just disappears because, you know, life goes on.

Story two: Monday morning I got an email from a student. He was in the hospital and needed help. The day before he had been badly beaten by “an unknown group of guys”. He had puncture wounds on his head; a gash on his arm, a broken bone in the same arm, and several broken bones in his hand. His wounds had been treated, his arm set, a steal rod inserted into one of the bones in his hand. He wasn’t healed but he was treated, was ready to be discharged, and then India raised her head.  

The problem was he didn’t have the money necessary to clear his bill. His family also did not have enough money available. They had some assets they were willing to sell but that would take a few days. The hospital would not release him until he cleared the bill. They would hold him, each day adding more to his bill. Again, Mr. Ramdas to the rescue. He and I went to the hospital to meet with the student and hospital management. While I visited with the student, Ramdas went to bat for the student arguing the hospital should discount the bill because he was a poor student and couldn’t clear the bill. They finally agreed to about a 25% discount and Mr. Ramdas paid them with cash we had brought from the campus (I don’t think there was anything extra on the side).

I had approved the payment; I’m sure the family will pay us back as they can. I just couldn’t see what was gained by having this young man sitting in the hospital, day after day, with the bill increasing each day. After we got John released, we helped get him relocated to the apartment of a friend who can help him and which should be safer than where he was living. He will miss school for a while and I am sure he will have to go through rehab, but he is alive. The police do not seem to be interested in finding those involved in John’s beating. Word on the street is they are known. The people in the “village” are pretty aware of an ongoing interaction between John and a group of men (I won’t call them gang, but it could be so called) that has been escalating. I suspect John may not be totally innocent in all of this but I am also suspect he did not do anything to justify his beating other than being an outsider, but, life goes on.

The visit to John also showed me that my hospital experience could have been much worse. John was in an economy wing of the hospital. Perhaps somewhat related to the fact that it was a post-surgery/orthopaedic ward, it reminded me a little of pictures I have seen of field hospitals during World War II. However, I am sure those field hospitals had better staffing than was evident in John’s case. I will say the bed did not seem that much different from the one I had. Mine might have been newer, with a few less coats of paint, but the style and size were identical.

Story three: There is an old wife’s tale that bad things happen in threes. That was true last week for us. On Thursday we found out that one of our recent graduates (last year) had died. This was a tragic situation. Eric was a good student and had a bright future professionally and in his country. Apparently he had an illness we didn’t know about. He had been sick for a while and shortly after the first of the year the pace of the disease’s progression accelerated. We had to tell the students, many of whom of course knew Eric. Our moment of silence and my phone call to his father seem like an inadequate response.

Life, may, in fact, go on. But it didn’t for Eric. I also think while it will go on for our students, I don’t think it will do so without at least a temporary deflection. I am sure the events of this week will cause at least some of them to stop and think about the fragility of life. Some of them may actually be a little more careful.

Finally, today is Easter. I don’t try to use this blog as a platform for espousing my religious beliefs but they are central to who I am. I can’t let a day with as much importance to me as Easter pass without comment. I believe that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world. I believe he willingly died and was resurrected, becoming a perfect immortal being, and in that process overcame death so that everyone who lives, or has lived and died, will live again. I believe that in ways we cannot totally understand, he atoned for our sins. Because of that we can truly change both our behavior and our essence. We can improve, grow, and overcome sin and mistakes. He opened the path so that in time we can become as He and our Father in Heaven are.

Here is a short video that captures my beliefs well.

http://easter.mormon.org/?cid=HPTU041514694

Because of Him, life, in deed, does go on.

Namaste.

May as well go home, As I did on my own, Alone again, naturally

Yup. That’s me. Alone again, naturally. Rae has gone to the US to help Becca and Ben with Isabel and to see all the family. I will be joining her in about six weeks but for now, I am back to where I was a year ago. In India. Alone. I am grateful we had frequent flyer miles so she could go be with and support family. I am looking forward to joining them also but for now: alone again, naturally.

We passed a milestone this week, one year in India. That’s hard to believe. As is often the case in such situations, it simultaneously seems much longer and shorter than that. Overall I am pleased with what we have accomplished at MAII/Stratford, although we haven’t reached the point I had hoped. I have enjoyed the service we have given in the Church and the relationships we have made. We have been able to see some amazing sights. I am learning more continually about the culture of India, and more clearly identifying the aspects I just don’t understand. I am disappointed I haven’t learned more Hindi than I have. I had hoped and assumed my understanding and ability to use Hindi would be much more by now that I have achieved. Overall, I would rate our impact a C+ or B- at this point. We still have time to raise that performance.

Well, moving from my report card to politics. Some of you will know I enjoy following politics. I am not political, per se, I haven’t actively campaigned for anyone in many years, but I enjoy observing the process and predicting what will happen. At one time in my life, I was excited about getting involved in politics and thought I might someday end up running for Congress. I am well passed that; I have no interest in the mud fest that typifies US politics. However, I still enjoy studying the process, the give and take, and policy debates. I guess I am somewhat like someone who enjoys football but isn’t a fan of a particular team.

So now here in India, we are in the middle of an election cycle (Thursday all businesses were closed for elections) and I have enjoyed watching this process as well. I don’t understand all the fine details of Indian politics by any means but I can identify and understand the broad strategies the different parties and Parties are using. In some ways I think I have the same relationship with Indian politics that I have with the great passion of India, cricket. I don’t know all of the teams and players; I don’t know the fine points of the game; but, I understand enough to generally understand what is going on. Here’s a very brief primer.

On a national level, India has a President who is the head of state and a Prime Minister, who is the head of the government. There are two houses of Parliament the upper house that is elected by the states and the lower house that is elected by the country as a whole. State and local governments probably have more impact on the day to day life of Indians than the national government. The relationship between the states and the national government (and ostensibly everything having to do with politics and governance for that matter) is controlled by a written constitution. The constitution does have a huge impact, but from my observation, it appears in this as in other matters that relationships are at least equally important. The great commonality of Indian politics at all level is corruption. There is an assumption (that I think is pretty well founded) that most politicians are corrupt.

There are more political parties here than we have in the US. There are six (I believe) national political parties including two formally recognized communist parties. The big hitter is the Congress party (formally Indian National Congress) which has been the dominant party since before independence. It is the party of the Gandhis and Nehrus. The largest counterweight, opposition party is BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party). In the years that India has been an independently governed country, as noted, Congress Party has primarily been in control. Periodically, BJP has been able to ride nationalistic trends into power but even when they have won enough seats to select the Prime Minister, they haven’t typically been able to hold power through the typical five year cycle.

This is one of those times that many observers believe BJP will break through. They have a very charismatic leader, Narendra Modi (no relationship with the Modi family with whom I work, or at least not closely related). He was able to lead a somewhat economically backward state into a vibrant powerhouse. Many people believe he can do the same for the country as a whole. There is baggage: Modi is accused of (take your pick) arranging, sanctioning, turning a blind eye to an attack by Hindus on Muslims in his state that led to the death of 2000 Muslims.

Given this last point, there are many Muslims, Christians, and other religious minorities who are concerned with the kind of protection they might enjoy in a BJP government. On the other hand, the economy in India has been bad enough, for long enough, there are many people who looking for a new approach and think that a Modi led government could be just that.

It takes over a month for the election process to roll out across the entire country. It will be interesting to see what the outcome will be and what impact, if any, the possible government change will have on what we are trying to accomplish. BJP is quite nationalist and in the past when they have been in power, outside investment and business has been discouraged if not banned.

Shifting from politics to religion (I know, I know; the two topics that should never be discussed). Last weekend was the semi-annual General Conference for our church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. For India, given the 11.5 hour time difference between here and Utah, Conference is shown the following weekend. This I knew from previous Conferences. I also knew that there were a small group of people here in India who translate the Conference addresses into Hindi so that those who do not understand English can hear the Conference in their own language.

This is what I did not know. This small group was online, real time with the Conference Center in Salt Lake. With copies of the talks in front of them, and listening to the speakers, they translate the addresses into Hindi. The translation is simultaneously relayed back to the Conference Center in Salt Lake into the headphones of Hindi speakers and recorded for future asynchronous listening and watching.  Somehow the idea of a small cell of people in India, being connected to a conference half way around the world, providing simultaneous translation for that conference blows my mind. Conference is available I over 80 languages. I have to assume this same process is being followed all over the world. Amazing.

So, let me end this blog entry with a little sugar. Here is the latest picture of the newest member of our family, Isabel. Too bad she's not beautiful.

  

Namaste.

Oh Sweet, sweet Isabel, Just believe it will be alright….

The title for this week’s entry comes from the musical stylings of Enrique Iglesias and of course in honor of the birth of Isabel Skye Brown. Clearly the most important, most exciting thing that happened this week. We can’t let the moment pass without comment.

We were among the first to know as Becca went into labor and headed to the hospital about 3:30 Tuesday afternoon, which is 3:00 in the morning in Oregon. Needless to say, we were on pins and needles throughout the afternoon and evening. We didn’t want to fall asleep – we were sure the phone would ring at any moment. Well physiology overcame excitement and we finally fell asleep a little before midnight.

About 2:00 AM, I woke up and then couldn’t fall asleep. Why hadn’t we heard? Certainly the baby had come by now? Was something wrong? So, I sat and stewed and worried until the phone rang. About twelve hours after the initial call we got the confirmation that Isabel had arrived and mom and baby were doing well. From then until about 5:00 we exchanged emails with family in the US and talked excitedly about our new family member. It ended up being a short night, but definitely worth it.

Here are some pictures of Isabel courtesy of Ben and Becca. Can’t wait to meet her in person!

Now back to India.

This week Rae and I were invited to a reception hosted by the Embassy of Senegal at the Taj Hotel (beautiful in and of itself, actually). It was the fifty-fourth anniversary of Senegal’s founding. We have quite a few students from Senegal, including the son of a former ambassador to India and some of the spouses and staff members of the embassy. The most important part of the evening was watching the mini-alumni meet as our graduates greeted and hugged each other. The second most enjoyable part of the evening was seeing all of the beautiful, colorful, West African dresses and headgear.

Here are two pictures of the evening.

The worst part of the evening was the food. Don’t get me wrong. All of the food was delicious but it was a combination of Indian, Chinese and salads. No Senegalese food. Not a bite. How disappointing.

Well, here’s Nana (interesting side note, in Hindi Nana means maternal grandfather, not grandmother. So Indians who have seen our family picture wall thinks it is funny we have a sign that says, “Some of greatest blessings call us “grandfather” and papa.”

I’m going to start by sharing a bit about church.  As I’ve mentioned earlier, I’m in the district Young Women presidency.  Our district is planning a youth conference April 18 & 19.  We are bussing the youth about 5 hours to the mountains north of Delhi.  The youth will spent one night camping.  They will river raft, hike, have some spiritual classes and end with a testimony meeting.  We are expecting around 100 youth.  The plan is to have the buses leave Delhi at 5am, make a couple of stops on the way and reach there about lunch time.  Getting people to arrive in time for the scheduled departure is pretty much impossible so a few of the expat families that live by the Visant Vihar building are hosting the youth the night before so we have them in our grips and can depart at the scheduled time.  I say we like I’m going to be part of this, but since I had booked my trip to the US prior to the scheduling of this event I will only be going “in spirit”.  Maybe my old bones will be happy about that. 

Here is an interesting thing that we have encountered in trying to get the youth registered and getting a count.  There are some of the youth that will not be going because their parents will not give their permission.  It is very difficult for parents to trust anyone else with the care of their children.  Some parents think that their 14, 15, 16, or 17 year old is not old enough to go off on an excursion like this.  Some parents are worried that their child’s studies may suffer if they let them take the time for this.  There is no school on Friday, Good Friday, but school and education are the TOP priority and nothing should interfere.  I had to have a meeting with one mother and her daughter where the daughter had to promise me and her mother that she would still make studies her top priority.  Two of our YW aren’t going (both 14), because their parents think they aren’t old enough.  One of these girls really wants to go, the other is a bit more timid about it so is okay with her parent’s decision.  This was an eye opener for me and another example of our cultural differences.

Now, on to house adventures.  We’ve mentioned earlier about the water in our basement and the mold that was a result of that.  For weeks they’ve been going to clean things up and repaint.  That has finally happened and so we have a basement again with the potential of being a useable space.  I took a few pictures of it in process and a few of the finished, not yet entirely cleaned up space.   I wish I had more confidence that we will not have a reoccurrence of  water and that I could actually use that space for exercising and art projects liked I’d originally planned.  I hesitate to put much down there only to have it get wet.  If we make it through the hot summer and no water then maybe I’ll feel more comfortable putting some actual furniture and other things down there.  Time will tell. 

Let me just finish by saying that having little Miss Isabel Skye Brown join our family was definitely the highlight of the week.  We are so grateful to have this new little addition to our family and that both Becca and Baby are doing well.   

  

Namaste.