Author: joondawgin

I’ve been lazy/busy and haven’t been writing this for a few days now, but figured I should get to this before I start traveling. I’ll be going to Kolkata, Taiwan, and Korea over the next couple weeks and am pretty excited for the prospects of being back at home. That being said, let’s run down my list of Top 10 Things I’ll Miss About India thus far:

10. Auto Rickshaws
9. American English vs. Indian English
8. Desserts
7. Animals everywhere!
6. Living in a developing country
5. Learning to communicate without words

Without further ado, my top 4!

4. CULTURAL IMMERSION

India is a country with such rich history and culture that has formed over so many years. In particular it amazed me the level of pride for country and yet regional individuality that pervades in society. Combined with the importance of religion in society and community, I found my time here to be extremely enriching. I feel blessed to have been included into this life and have been guided through the process by my friends. 

If I have a few takeaway about the culture that I’ve been lucky to be a part of the past few months, I’ll remember that it’s one where family extends beyond your household…

…things are made beautiful…

…and where this motley crew summons pride.

3. REAL INDIAN FOOD

No offense (actually yes offense) to Indian food in the U.S., but real Indian food totally beats what we get at home. I’ve enjoyed being exposed to other types of Indian cuisine from what I’ve learned is only Americanized North Indian food and am now sad that I will not be able to get the same quality when I go back. In particular, a few dishes have really stood out in comparison to their American counterparts. Now I know what they’re supposed to really taste like!

Mutton Biryani

Seekh Kebab

Gulab Jamun

2. CIIE and IIMA

I’ve been lucky to have worked at CIIE and lived at IIMA while I’ve been here. Being on a campus and having housing taken care of is a huge deal and it is a nice escape from the hustle and bustle of Indian streets. The campus is actually quite beautiful and has offered me a chance to walk around, thus allowing me to walk off calories I consume from all the eating out we did!

I forget sometimes that some of India’s best and brightest come to study here, and I’ve been told time an time again by people not living on campus how nice I have it here. Just one picture of the campus:

1. FRIENDS!!

Not to be too cliche or anything, but what I’ll miss most about my time here is the time I spent hanging out with my friends here. For someone who felt completely lost in a new country, they took me in with open arms, joked around with me, and explained India to me with patience and a smile on their faces. I can say that I worked with some great people and I will definitely miss them when I return home. Without them, I would not have traveled as much, tried as many (and good) foods, have had as much fun in the office, or felt like that (at least for a short while) that I was living the Indian life.

Alas it is time for me to go home, but I hope to see everyone again in the future. Good things the world is becoming smaller though, yeah? 

Being a foreigner here, I realized for the first time how difficult things must be for anyone who decides to make the leap and immigrate to a new place. Things don’t quite make sense, and it’s honestly easier to simply fade away and stick with the one or two things you know. In particular, the inability to fully communicate yourself verbally can lead to a sense of helplessness and feeling a bit like you will never fully be a part of that world.

This definitely was the case with me. Armed with 8 words outside of names of food (counting 1-5, “more”, “stop”, and “okay”), I face an uphill battle when attempting to communicate with locals. What I realized is that without language, I found that I was still able to connect with people on a different level and communicate after all.

It’s pretty easy to start distrusting people who you can’t understand, but there is a certain basic humanity that I found I was tapping into when I was communicating. Making eye contact and giving a genuine smile, I was able to connect with people and know that the guy who I don’t know and can’t speak a word to has still got my back. Pointing, grunting, intonation, and perfecting the infamous Indian head bobble also served as huge helpers.

This really isn’t anything new — communicating through things outside of spoken language. However, with limited effectiveness in speaking, I enjoyed a sort of “speaking without speaking”. It made me feel more included and in touch with the culture, and while I can’t really ask them to be sure, I’m pretty sure the local shop owners kind of like “talking to me” too. 

Still far from perfect, but it’s been nice to tap back into that and realize that I can still connect with someone who comes from the other side of the world. My conversations with the chai-wala is limited to “Wassup Joony,” “Not much,” “Issa nice shirt,” “Thanks,” but I still feel like the guy is my buddy. The guy who runs the small snack Nescafe stand on campus doesn’t speak English to me, but the guy still chuckles when I deviate from my normal chicken puff order. It’s a connection that goes beyond words and reminds me that we’re all essentially the same species after all!

This one’s a little different but is nonetheless a very important part of my experience in India, and the primary reason I ended up coming here in the first place. It’s something I both will and won’t miss at the same time, but hear me out.

In my pursuit of trying to do good and help people with my life, I realized that my privileged life in the U.S., for all of the wonderful blessings it provided me, also made it more difficult to understand what it meant to truly be in need. In order to serve people, I’m a believer that you need to be involved in that world. While I can’t say if having India-specific knowledge will necessarily help me in my career, it has been eye-opening to live in a country that is in a very different economic situation from what I am used to.

In terms of infrastructure, it just became apparent to me how much can happen before planning does. City planners would love to be able to map everything out and ensure that things are built properly, but when there are so many people with so much to do, it seems that sometimes it doesn’t always work out the way you hoped it would. Even in a planned business park area like Gurgaon outside of Delhi (seems a bit like Los Altos, CA), there are very nice office buildings but also a bunch of small shacks and slums that have sprung up around them. Surely this was not a part of the designer’s plans, but what can you do?

Slums do seem to spring up in random places, and sometimes how they’re dealt with can get iffy. This is an issue that isn’t as in your face in the U.S., though it does happen sometimes. From efforts like setting aside affordable housing for young professionals in historically dodgier neighborhoods to the gentrification that occurs around places like Nationals Park in DC, it’s a seemingly less messy “upscaling” that occurs in American cities (though I realize it’s probably still kind of messy..). In India, the poor are always around and continuously remind you that that segment of the population exists. To me at least, this forces you to think about how society and policy handles people who are lower on the economic food chain.

As much as I look forward to getting back Hulu+, access to Thai food, and a house with no ants, I am thankful for the exposure, as brief as it was, to a world where there are a whole different set of challenges that affect such a huge part of the world’s population. I’m hoping that this helps me be a more sympathetic person and have a better understanding of what a bit more of the world actually looks like.

Doing two again since I was out and traveling yesterday. Without further ado…

8. DESSERTS!!

So I really am not a dessert guy and more often than not find it to be a waste of money. I would much rather save the $5 that could be used on a dessert for a future $5 footlong at Subway.

But that was before India. Then it happened. Or more specifcally, The Chocolate Room happened. This place was our staple and we’d go there as our nightcap probably about every other night, consuming items like the “Chocolate Avalanche,” pictured here.

Then by a stroke of horrible luck, the Chocolate Room near campus closed down and got replaced with a subpar coffeeshop. Any ordinary person may have thrown in the towel and given up — but we are not just ordinary people! We took the change in stride, broadening our scope to ice cream, kulfi (indian ice cream), jalebi, gulab jamun, ladoo….you name it. Before I knew it I, Joony “dessert is a waste of time” Moon, found myself suggesting dessert after meals.

While I’ll probably go back to my old ways when I get back home, I will now have a soft spot for Indian treats and desserts. So heads up kulfi places in the U.S., I will find you!

7. ANIMALS

One of the most striking things for me when I first arrived in India was the number of animals that share the city with people. Stray dogs and cows make any road an obstacle course and help add to the distinct scent that makes Ahmedabad Ahmedabad.

Although I’m still wary of dogs on the street since they could still bite me, I’ve grown fond of the cows that essentially own these streets. There’s something about large lumbering mammals that make them so intriguing to watch and to poke (still working my courage up to do this). They get up, walk around, eat random stuff, walk home, sleep. Awesome life. You can honk all you want, but if a cow walks at you, you better dodge. 

I’ve also grown attached to the dog that used to live at CIIE. He was a weird dog, but he loved us. He now lives on the other side of campus, owning his corner of the school like a boss, but he still comes by to give us love once in a while. Here is Mohsin rubbing the dog’s belly with his foot / using the dog as a shoe cleaner:

Sleepy cat napping under our chairs at a restaurant in old city:

Looking forward to hanging out with my brother’s new cat when I get back home, but these guys have been keeping me company in the meantime. Gonna miss these fools!

Doing two again since I was out and traveling yesterday. Without further ado…

8. DESSERTS!!

So I really am not a dessert guy and more often than not find it to be a waste of money. I would much rather save the $5 that could be used on a dessert for a future $5 footlong at Subway.

But that was before India. Then it happened. Or more specifcally, The Chocolate Room happened. This place was our staple and we’d go there as our nightcap probably about every other night, consuming items like the “Chocolate Avalanche,” pictured here.

Then by a stroke of horrible luck, the Chocolate Room near campus closed down and got replaced with a subpar coffeeshop. Any ordinary person may have thrown in the towel and given up — but we are not just ordinary people! We took the change in stride, broadening our scope to ice cream, kulfi (indian ice cream), jalebi, gulab jamun, ladoo….you name it. Before I knew it I, Joony “dessert is a waste of time” Moon, found myself suggesting dessert after meals.

While I’ll probably go back to my old ways when I get back home, I will now have a soft spot for Indian treats and desserts. So heads up kulfi places in the U.S., I will find you!

7. ANIMALS

One of the most striking things for me when I first arrived in India was the number of animals that share the city with people. Stray dogs and cows make any road an obstacle course and help add to the distinct scent that makes Ahmedabad Ahmedabad.

Although I’m still wary of dogs on the street since they could still bite me, I’ve grown fond of the cows that essentially own these streets. There’s something about large lumbering mammals that make them so intriguing to watch and to poke (still working my courage up to do this). They get up, walk around, eat random stuff, walk home, sleep. Awesome life. You can honk all you want, but if a cow walks at you, you better dodge. 

I’ve also grown attached to the dog that used to live at CIIE. He was a weird dog, but he loved us. He now lives on the other side of campus, owning his corner of the school like a boss, but he still comes by to give us love once in a while. Here is Mohsin rubbing the dog’s belly with his foot / using the dog as a shoe cleaner:

Sleepy cat napping under our chairs at a restaurant in old city:

Looking forward to hanging out with my brother’s new cat when I get back home, but these guys have been keeping me company in the meantime. Gonna miss these fools!

Ten Things I'll Miss About India: #10 & #9:

joonymoon11:

So it’s gotten down to my last 10 days of being in India and while I’m obviously excited to return home to friends, family, and the lifestyle I’ve grown accustomed to, I’m feeling a little sad to leave after my time here. I think I’m going to do a countdown of sorts to commemorate what I’ll miss…

So it’s gotten down to my last 10 days of being in India and while I’m obviously excited to return home to friends, family, and the lifestyle I’ve grown accustomed to, I’m feeling a little sad to leave after my time here. I think I’m going to do a countdown of sorts to commemorate what I’ll miss most about India, and since I’m traveling a little this weekend, I’l start with the first two today.

10. AUTO RICKSHAWS

For those who aren’t familiar with auto rickshaws, they’re these small three-wheeled vehicles that are nearly as ubiquitous as cars and essentially serve as my transportation everywhere. Most places I go to range anywhere from 20-50 rupees ($0.30-$0.80) and the fee is divided amongst the three people that it typically can carry (though I think I’ve done up to 6 “illegally”).

Despite the near death experiences I have with traffic every other day, these guys get the job done. Luckily in Ahmedabad, they don’t try to cheat you as often and are pretty flexible with your requests, e.g. waiting for you run inside a cupcake shop and come out with your afternoon snack. 

You end up enjoying the wind in your face and a chance to explore the city outside of just the neighborhood of the office, and I’ve learned to enjoy these times. Yes, they’re dinky and dangerous by Western standards, but I’ll miss them.

9. AMERICAN ENGLISH VS. INDIAN ENGLISH

The British colonized both the US and India, and the form of English that is used in the countries has diverged as a result. Although India keeps pace with American culture through movies and TV shows, there are definitely still some differences in the language that took some while getting used to. Now that I’m accustomed to them, I chuckle a little bit to myself every time I hear some of these differences highlighted.

Pronunciation: It’s well known that Americans created the harsh “A” sound that we use for words like “cat,” and that vowel has been picked up in only certain circumstances here. This one never ceases to make me stop laughing:

Me: Naaaasty….

Indian: You mean naaahhhhsty?

Same words, different usage:

Example 1 -
Me: Man that food was really good!
Indian: That food was yum!

Example 2 -
Me: I have a couple questions about your program.
Indian: I have some doubts about your program 

Example 3 -
Me: There were a bunch of old ladies at the gym today. Not a pretty sight.
Indian: There were a bunch of aunties at the gym today. It was yuck.

In case you were wondering what work I actually do here, pay close attention! Over the past couple of months, I’ve been on a team here at CIIE working to set up the foundation and events for Global Entrepreneurship Week in India, serving as the event partnership coordinator. It’s involved calling and emailing any and everyone in India who runs events focused on entrepreneurship and getting them to join with us by holding their events under the banner of GEW. 

I’m excited to say that after the late nights and stressful times, GEW is just one day away! India is still relatively new to the game when talking about entrepreneurship and is miles behind the startup culture we have in Silicon Valley, but I’ve been encouraged with some of the response we’ve received so far. This country just has a LOT of people and there are bound to be countless entrepreneurs amongst them. Sometimes we leave out the small fruit vendor or the restaurant owner when we talk about entrepreneurship, but entrepreneurship is alive and well wherever you look. What lags behind in India is the culture and structure around these enterprising individuals that can help people express their ideas and push them to the next level.

GEW isn’t exactly what I came to India to do, but it’s opened my eyes to the role of ecosystem development and the sheer power of people sharing common goals. I had a chance during my last trip to Delhi to sit in on a meeting where grassroot leaders of the entrepreneurship community sat down together on the rooftop of a coworking space and discussed ways they could hold a series of events to train a new generation of leaders for their entrepreneur communities. While there may be some commercial benefit as well, ultimately these guys were giving up their free time because they believed in a goal and wanted to see what they could do as active members in their communities to make it come to life. Just a couple weeks later, their efforts attracted the attention of a large government-affiliated organization, who has offered full support of their events and is helping to grow it to new levels.

While GEW may not be a solution to the gap in the system, I’m excited to see what ends up coming out of it. Funding, useful connections, empowerment, corporate buy-in…these are all things that I can say that at the end of the day I was able to support and help actualize. If you want to find out more about GEW, I would encourage you to check out the GEW Global page or the GEW India page to see what we’ve been up to. Next time I’ll post about some of the awesome events that happened throughout the week!

Diwali in Delhi

Random shenanigans 

The second half of my trip through South India a couple weeks ago took me to Dandeli, a small but increasingly tourism-based town in the mountains, and Goa, one of India’s best beach regions.

DANDELI

It was quite the adventure to get to Dandeli, and for as fun as jumping from one local bus to another between random towns was, it was not a journey I would recommend doing unless you have your own car. I did find some enjoyment in being in part of the world where my ability was limited but still being able to get around by relying on the kindness and directions of locals. 

Dandeli was a perfect respite from the hustle and bustle of Indian cities. In fact, we even got to stay in this pretty awesome treehouse right over the river.

From boating to bamboo pole fishing to going on a guided late night nature walk, it was a very nice escape into the wild. Another one of the activities we did was go to what they called a “natural jacuzzi.” This involved taking a boat over to a nearby island where there were some rapids that flow into a quiet pool. We would sit up against the rocks so the rushing water would massage (read “destroy”) our backs and then chill in the pool afterwards. I could see myself totally doing it again, but then before we knew it, it was off to Goa!

One last view from the boat on the river

GOA

Finally made it to our destination — Goa! The beaches of Goa are a popular destination for foreigners, and I am not lying when I say that the majority of people on the beaches were white. We purposely picked a nice, quiet beach and relaxed for a couple glorious days. 

As I looked out onto the ocean, I thought about how European sailors used to navigate around the coast and tip of India and probably looked at the same beaches I was lounging on. It still sometimes gets me that I’m on the other side of the world right now from everything I knew in life.

The local culture in Goa is interesting, as it was a part that was settled by the Portuguese. A good number of locals are Christian here — one of the taxi drivers I had was actually named Jesus Christian, no joke. They also have this local cashew liquor which might be the most subtle and smooth liquor I have ever tasted. But no trip to Goa would be complete without trying the seafood.

Tandoori Kingfish — Amazing stuff.

So that was essentially my trip in a nutshell. Got to see a lot, hang out with FMS friends, and enjoy local culture. It was relaxing but was definitely a momentary escape in the greater picture of what I’m doing here in India. I totally believe my friends here when they say that even they haven’t seen all of India — there’s just so much going on and so much history! Definitely would like to explore some more, but for now I’m pretty happy with the sampling I’ve been blessed to experience while I’ve been here

Vittala Temple


Queen's Summer Palace


So Hanuman was a monkey. Of course all the monkeys hang out near Hanuman Temple.


Huge Ganesha statue that people used to pray to on their way into the city.


The Vittala temple has these columns that are tuned chromatically, like chimes. If done properly, they make real music!


Our hotel in Hampi






Elephant stalls because, you know, it's India

Hampi - the ancient Hindu capital

I had the opportunity last week to take a little bit of time away from work to vacation and explore South India, specifically the states of Karnataka and Goa. I’ll break up the trip into three parts to make sure to not overload on one particular post. First stop, Bangalore!

BANGALORE

For those who don’t know, Bangalore is one of the major cities in India and may be one of the more Americanized parts of the country. It’s essentially the Silicon Valley of India — a new city with lots of tech-related jobs and startups and even similar weather to boot. Of course part of what comes with it is that Bangalore doesn’t quite have the same level of history that some of the other cities here do, but no matter because it’s a pretty awesome place as it is.

I met up with several other members of my FMS cohort there, and we got to share our experiences at our individual placements and catch up over drinks and food. I was surprised to see how many expats (specifically Americans) I ran into and quickly realized that I was leading a much more “Indian life” than some of my counterparts in other cities. We visited some nice spots for food and took a trip to Nandi Hills, which was a short drive away from the city and offered some great views.

A shot of a very Americanized bar in Bangalore. Could’ve sworn I was hanging out in SF…

The bull at Bull Temple on Nandi Hills. It was kind of tucked into the side of the mountain. Why must they make it so hard to get to the temples?

HAMPI

Next stop was Hampi, one of the ancient capitals of India. To get there, we ended up taking a sleeper bus, which as fun and cool as that sounds, wasn’t quite that comfortable when you’re in the back seat. Turns out there was a reason the back seats were the only ones left available.

Unassuming and unprepared for the 20 or so times I’d go airborne throughout the night due to the bumpy road.

Hampi is now mostly ruins, but I was told that it was a place you just had to see. It did not disappoint! As soon as we got off the auto rickshaw in Hampi, we were greeted by Laxshmi the Elephant, who gave each of us a blessing (i.e. wonked on he head) for the small price of 10 rupees.

We ended up staying at cute little place with hammocks, rented scooters to drive around the mountains, took a coracle ride (round half shell-like boat rowed by a local), and got to see some historical sites.

View from Hanuman Temple. The mountains around Hampi all have those weird boulder things going on.

Another temple

I actually have a bunch of other picture from Hampi I’ll upload in a bit as a separate post. Stay tuned!

Exciting week over here! I’m actually in Bangalore right now as a part of a weeklong vacation through Southern India and will be posting lots of stuff about my travels. 

Earlier this week, I had an opportunity to spend an evening at a slum nearby and found it to be such a rewarding and interesting experience. The slum was made up of migrant workers from Rajasthan and Kolkata, and you could see the visible difference between the two groups that were living there. The residents were extremely kind and were excited to be receiving guests like us. I think we often come into these communities thinking that we will save them, but who really likes being told that their way of life is not good? I just felt blessed to have been received so warmly by these people who could not even communicate with me (very few of them could speak any English). 

So now about how they received me…I was essentially a celebrity! Regardless of what I communicated to them through my Indian friends, they kept asking me to perform kung fu (I faked some “moves” after maybe the 5th request) and asked me if I had trouble seeing because I had small eyes. I guess we’re all racist hahaha. But nevertheless, they loved us, and particularly the foreigners. The boys continuously grabbed at me and introduced themselves over and over, and the girls kept blushing when I looked their way. Perhaps one of the most interesting interactions I had was with this one elderly man who I shook hands with, thinking that it was the appropriate way to greet him. After shaking my hand, he turned away from me shyly and said “you’re so beautiful.” I really think that might be the first time in my life someone has actually called me “beautiful,” you know, apart from when you hear it at one of those super emotional church youth group retreats.

Here’s a guy who was my friend and main guide throughout the night. He would hold my hand and lead me around, which I think made the other kids a little jealous haha

And…I made it into the local newspaper! That’s me in the red circle :)

View of the lake most of the city is built next to from an outlook on top of a mountain.


View from the rooftop restaurant at our guest house


Donkeys in the market




The Taj -- this was used in the James Bond Movie "Octopussy"


Locals taking a dip


One of the many courtyards in the Lake Palace. The torrential downpour kept us stuck here for a while.


So apparently Udaipur is a popular destination for Korean tourists!


Chilling with beer while overlooking the water. Guess it'll be a little while before we can drink legally like this again.


Beautiful drive through the mountains of Rajasthan.

Weekend in Udaipur, the City of Lakes!