A Letter From Austin

Plus Global India - English

I translated my India trip diary into English to share my experience with those who spent time with me. Enjoy!

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March 3 2005 (Thu) Traveling to India Tomorrow

...By the way, I am going to India tomorrow. I have not prepared enough because I was busy for my exams and reports. I planned to check the websites of the companies to visit in the trip, but I have viewed that of only Infosys. I have not booked an air ticket from Kolkata to Mumbai. It will be cheaper to buy in India. I would like to update this diary during my travel. Well, this kind of diary is appropriate to keep record during the travel. I will describe what I will see and hear within the day. This is to keep record rather than to show. Without writing, I will forget what happened.

March 4 2005 (Fri) Already Left for India

Now I am in Paris for a transit. I will be on board in 30 minutes.

Yesterday, I had an exam up until 8pm. After that, I updated my diary, returned DVDs, cleaned my room, and packed my luggage. It was as late as 4am when I fell asleep. I woke up at 10am, confirmed my luggage, and left for the airport.

We will travel for the three weeks. Many of my classmates were surprised to see my small luggage. In this trip, I bring three days' cloths, a laptop, a camera, documents, and daily necessaries (combs, toothpastes, etc). Why do others pack so many materials to fulfill a large backpack? To them, however, I am the exception. They even asked me what I packed. Well, soon I found a person who had smaller luggage than I. He had only a McCombs bag [later it turned out to be my misunderstanding]. The smaller the luggage is, the more desirable.

March 5 2005 (Sat) Arrived in Mumbai

I arrived in Mumbai. Getting out of the airport, I found a crowd of people. As is often said, streets in Indian cities are full of people. Maybe it will be true. We headed for the hotel by taking its shuttle. Today, we will stay in Intercontinental Grand. I have never stayed in such a luxurious hotel. The hotel clerks were available 24/7. The building and the interior were clean. I felt somewhat uneasy at first but soon accustomed. It will be troublesome to get too accustomed to this kind of luxury, but I will not have such a trouble, maybe.

29 students (including a research assistant), one professor, one faculty, and one unknown person [later turned out to be Amit] will travel together in this trip. Two persons share a room. I will share rooms with Kay for the next two weeks.

I have not connected to the internet yet, so it may take time to upload this diary.

March 6 2005 (Sun) Sightseeing in Mumbai

It was as late as 2am to arrive in the hotel, so we went to sightseeing from afternoon. But as I did not like to waste the morning hours, I woke up at 8am and took the breakfast. I was really impressed with this breakfast. It was a usual biking meal but offered various kinds of foods including Miso soup. Trying many, I liked all of them. Even a cup of coffee was great. Surely it was much greater than Starbucks Coffee. I may be addicted to these hotels if I stay several times. I usually regard meals only as the method to take nutrition, but I feel really happy to be able to take these great meals. Well, probably I eat terrible foods every day. I was so impressed that I ate too much.

We had a bus tour in the afternoon. The hotel was far from the downtown and therefore inconvenient, but the bus tour solved this problem. We took the bus and went sightseeing. Before long I noticed that India was poor. Even in Mumbai, which boasts the richest economy in India, buildings were old and many of running cars were half broken. Many homeless people stayed in the road. We went through a slum. According to the professor, this is one of the biggest slums in Asia. We stopped in front of the large slum and saw the sight.

As the photos below shows, slum residents washed their cloths. Their houses were so shabby that I could not believe people actually live there. From the slum, one boy came out, so I took a photo of him. After the photo, he continuously asked me money, following me persistently. He followed me for more than ten minutes. Maybe I was wrong to take a photo. I went back to the bus and was seated, and then I heard the knocking from outside. Looking outside, I noticed that boy was still asking me the money. It was so amazing. I thought of giving some money once, but I did not do so because it was meaningless. I closed the curtain to keep the boy away.

Looking back, this was the first time to see the slum. I knew there were slums in many cities, but I did not go there because of the fear of crimes. And slums are not for sightseeing. But seeing the slum, I felt that even I could not live in that environment. I may do if it is unavoidable, but I will not be convinced to live there in my own decision.

We took the lunch and visited a museum. I was not interested in the museum itself and rather in children around there. I found so many children. I had no idea whether there existed a large number of children in Mumbai or the parents frequently took them out. This was a museum and was not appropriate to bring children. After that, we visited Indian Gate and visited Taj Mahal Hotel. This hotel, though I do not know ell, is one of the most luxurious hotels in the world. We all were tired by the time we reached the hotel.

Today I felt India was poor as is often said. But I could not see real India because we stayed in the five star hotel and went around by the bus tour. Whether I like it or not, I need to fight mosquitoes and fleas in small guesthouses and walk in small streets in order to feel real India. I will try so in the last week. Before then, I hope to know the business in India. This is the aim of this school trip.

March 7 2005 (Mon) First Company Visit

I woke up at 6am and went to the breakfast. I was impressed with the great meal again and ate too much. Looking back, I did not eat good foods recently. The belt I had used for a long time became apparently loose and my weight decreased by 2kg. I hope to take enough nutrition during this trip.

After the breakfast, I had free time. We were supposed to visit ICICI Bank before noon, but the management of the bank suddenly faced scheduling conflict and prolonged the meeting with us. So I walked outside the hotel. The hotel was far from the downtown so I expected the environment was quiet, but it was not so. I found real India out of the hotel. Many shabby houses were in line and residents washed their cloths and bathed. There was a completely sterilized hotel, surrounded with the poverty and dirtiness. Once you go into the hotel, the atmosphere completely differed. Prices were high as well. It would be more expensive than in Tokyo (The business center cost 250 Rupees ($6) for 30 minutes. How expensive!). This contrast may illustrate Indian society. And I purchased an air ticket. I will fly from Kolkata to Mumbai at March 26 14:00.

We left the hotel at 11am and took lunch at a usual Indian restaurant. I could not eat enough because I ate too much at breakfast. I regretted to have made my stomach full of the western style breakfast. I saw many Indian customers, who used both of their right and left hands. Some put their left hands below the table all the time, but the most did not. How do they usually eat? I asked an Indian guy [who later turned out Amit] about it and he said they often use both hands. He said he himself used both hands as well. I think the notion of purified right hands and unpurified left hands was formed in the historically bad sanitary condition in India. Is this notion changing as the sanitary condition improves?

We walked around the town and visited Reserve Bank of India. This is a formal and decent organization whose equivalent in Japan is Bank of Japan. I somewhat hesitated to visit this organization with my wrinkled business casual cloths. The atmosphere of the company was similar to the typical Japanese company. The management staff was suited with formal business suits. I listened carefully at first but was lost in the middle. I could easily know that they see their main rival was China. "Chinese working population is decreasing because of the one-child policy, but that of India will continue increasing." they said. Many of my classmates asked questions.

In the night, a party was organized by Kiran, a second year MBA student and Research Assistant of this tour. Though I heard Indian society was strict to alcohol drinks, they often have cocktail parties in India. One of Kiran's friend said, "India is not strict though US may be strict." Well, it means they are not strict at all. Of course, it will not be so loose as Japan, an alcohol heaven. And he said that Saree was the formal suits of women in business. Surely women in sarees walked in and out of Reserve Bank of India. Meanwhile, male formal cloths are business suits, which are common all over the world. I felt somewhat strange. Whmmm.

March 8 2005 (Tue) Two Company Visits

We visited Asian Cardiac Hospital, a hospital specializing in heart surgery. We walked around the inside of the hospital with the marketing representative. I felt somewhat bad to walk around, but I could grasp the image well by seeing the surgery rooms, medical equipment, and expressions of patients. The building was as new and clean as Japanese modern ones. This hospital is famous for heart surgery and attracts many patients from neighboring countries as well as from India. This hospital is a branch of a famous hospital headquartered in Ohio, US. Owing to its intense marketing effort, the hospital steadily increased its patients and enhanced its brand recognition. Surely medical facilities such as hospitals need marketing to attract patients, but I feel some sense of immorality to name the division marketing. The presenter said "Patients of heart diseases will drastically increase in ten years." Well, it can be translated that the market size of heart will grow by 15% annually and they can expect high margins from them.

They spent much effort to guide us in the hospital. I wondered why at first, but I soon got to the point. During the coffee time, I found a journalist coming. She talked to me and I answered to her questions. She asked me, "Do you want to work in India?" I answered, "Yes, but for a few years." The journalist took photos inside with the marketing representative and several students. Maybe the marketing representative called a journalist to promote the hospital at the same time as students visit.

We moved to another place for lunch. I may have never had eaten those great foods continuously. I would be happy to take those meals everyday, but actually I take them at every meal. Of course, I will miss great foods in two weeks.

In the afternoon, we visited Hindustrian Lever, which is Indian branch of Unilever and the leading consumer packaged goods manufacturer in India. It is very interesting to listen to the businesspersons who work in the industries highly affected by regional cultures. People in India are very poor. More than half the population lives with less than one dollar a day. If you market products in other countries, you can ignore those poor people, but you cannot do so in India; the absolute number of the poor is too large to ignore. For example, if 500 million people spend $1 per day per person, you can count $500 million per day. Most of those poor people live in the countryside, so Hindustrian Lever addresses them by Rural Marketing, which was the main theme of the presentation.

Most of regional poor people have no toilet. Children have no habit of washing their hands before eating. How do you sell soaps to them? Many of them are paid daily and do not save money or stock daily necessities. They go to retail stores every day. Therefore, you should minimize the volume of products (one-day use). Prices should be cheaper. What about promotion? They do not have televisions and many are illiterate. The presenter mentioned a point promotion. What about distribution? How do you cover a large number of small towns dispersed in India?

Feeling and luck will matter, I thought. But the most important would be to understand to what extent you can understand consumers. The presenter said they held several workshops and forums to see the needs of consumers. And all new recruits of Hindustrian Lever are transferred to the rural cities at first. This is not to annoy the newcomers, of course. The main customers are rural poor people and the key success factor is to understand their behaviors, so it is quite natural to post the new recruits to rural areas. Overall, I found this visit interesting.

After the company visit, I walked around the Mumbai downtown. As I saw quite places so far, I found the downtown really busy. The downtown was full of Indian atmosphere. The cars were making noises everywhere, vagrants were asking money, and shoppers were talking to me. A lot of people were around there. I was really pleased to feel real India. I went back to the hotel by taking auto rickshaw.

March 9 2005 (Wed) Moving to Bangalore

An Indian newspaper described our visit to the hospital yesterday. The article introduced the professor's answer about this trip. And several comments of us are introduced. Mine was like below.

...Shinji Nakagawa (30), a second-year student from Japan, longs for the visit in Varanasi. He said, "Ganges River washes dead bodies away, people bathe there, and wash their cloths. I want to see and experience all that."

We visited ICICI Bank before noon. This bank is one of the largest banks in India and strong in the long-term credit, similar to the former Industrial Bank of Japan. Company officials introduced us their office. We can imagine the culture from the office layout. Several big bosses (probably directors) were seated in large seats in the corners and the others (about 40 workers) were located in usual seats. Kiran, the Research Assistant of this tour, had worked at this office, so I asked him about it. They are divided by divisions and middle managers are seated in usual seats. We listened to two top managements. Women in sarees made speech and seemed somewhat elegant. They said that the strength of India was that they used English in daily business and social infrastructures such as legislative and judicial systems are well arranged. Surely, China is not democratic and its language is Mandarin. Students often made questions comparing with China. Some joked that we should form a tour of China-India next year.

After leaving ICICI Bank, we flew to Bangalore. We had free time in the evening, so I walked in the downtown. I will be frustrated without free time, so I was happy to walk alone. The new town seemed rich and similar to large cities in other developing countries. As was the case with Mumbai, many auto rickshaws drove and cars made large noises in Bangalore. But peoples differed. They were clean and many women wore pants. Above all, I saw fewer vagrants than in Mumbai.

I walked in to the movie theater to watch an Indian movie. The counter of the theater asked me whether I was OK for Indian movies, so I answered yes without hesitation. Maybe he confirmed I would be comfortable with non-English films. I will be satisfied with the atmosphere and do not expect high artistic value in Indian movies. But, after the movie show began, it turned out that the movie was highly Americanized. Maybe it would be a Hollywood movie but I was not confident. Most of actors and actresses were white but I saw a woman in saree and with orange sign on her forehead. They spoke English and another language. Actors and actresses spoke English but the narrator spoke non-English. The story-telling and filming was also Americanized. I saw no song or dance. The story was almost the same as the biography of Helen Keller. I was impressed with the horrible character of Helen when a child. Maybe the actress was a real handicapped child. It would destroy her character to force such an extreme action to a usual child. I found that the teacher Sullivan made extraordinary effort to raise Helen. She tried to achieve the extreme possibility of human being. The film showed the name of its producer, maybe Indian company, at the last.

This movie is "Black." This is of very high quality, so I think it will be imported to Japan (or already imported?) in the new future. Then I would like to watch it with subtitles.

March 10 2005 (Thu) Visiting Infosys

We visited Infosys from the morning to the early afternoon. Infosys is a major IT company headquartered in Bangalore. The company was founded in 1981 and started to grow rapidly after the economic liberalization in 1991. In its first stage, the company assumed simple tasks such as programming as an outsourcer, but now it assumes all the phases of IT implementation and maintenance and is going to enter consulting business.

Infosys now assumes all the IT tasks though it formerly did simple works. Infosys guys showed us the room of maintaining IT systems of Cisco. Cisco is responsible for business process and Infosys is for IT. That is, Cisco draws the business process diagram and submits it to Infosys, and then Infosys develop and maintain the IT system thereafter. Infosys has high degree of authority. For example, it has total responsibility for hardware configuration (for example, which of mainframe, office computers, or PC servers to adopt) and package software (for example, which of SAP or Oracle to use). Usually, system engineers for upstream phases both design business processes and implement IT systems, but those two phases are completely separated in the case of Cisco. In future, jobs of process engineers and IT engineers may become separated.

In my former diary, I described Infosys was a disruptive technology (new tech with lower performance and super-low cost). But as I heard Infosys guys talking, I found the company was of operation excellence. Operation excellence refers to realizing speed, low price, and high quality by optimizing business processes and minimizing redundancy in labor, lead-time, and inventories. Examples include Dell's BTO model, Toyota's Kanban, Wal-Mart, and Uniqlo [Japanese equivalent of GAP or Zara]. Infosys provide IT systems and its office (called campus) is like a factory of manufacturing IT systems. IT providers presides several developing processes with project management techniques, while manufacturers presides several manufacturing processes with manufacturing control techniques. IT providers transfer programming jobs to low waged countries, while manufacturers transfer manufacturing jobs to low waged countries. IT providers need know-how to optimize the total phases from coding in developing countries to cut-over in developed countries, while manufacturers need know-how to optimize the total business processes from manufacturing in developing countries to selling in developed countries.

Strength of Infosys lies in project management which includes development with low cost and high quality in India. Probably Infosys is not especially strong in project management, as other IT consulting firms and system integrators have certain level of know-how in project management. But I think they are facing troubles in managing projects with Indian programmers. Infosys and Wipro, which are headquartered in India, have advantages in this perspective. Here I found similarity with Uniqlo. Uniqlo adopts SPA model in which it manufactures apparels in China, transport to Japan, and sell them in many own retail shops. Similarly, Infosys develop IT systems in India and deliver them in US. Offshoring of IT industry is similar to that of manufacturers.

In general, companies with operations excellence have stingy and obsessive cultures. It may be natural because they are strong to eliminate redundancy. Wal-Mart is famous for squeezing employees (no, part-timers), Toyota obsessively repeats Kaizen [improvement], and Dell is strict for redundant processes and inventories. According to the presenter, Infosys values "Obsession to Quality" and "Frugality." Then, what about the luxurious campus? I wanted to mention it but did not of course.

Infosys campus was really great. It was clean and had a pool, a small golf course, a gym, and a cloths shop. Maybe life could be complete within this campus if it had a barber and a movie theater. I asked the Infosys employee and she said that this Bangalore campus had a supermarket but no haircut or theater. But the Mysore campus, which is larger, has a bowling facility, a movie theater, and a haircut. I have never heard such a great office in Japan, though there may be. Nissan Technical Center in Atsugi, Japan was very large and similar to campus but had no pool or bowling facility. My classmate said major high-tech companies such as Microsoft have large campuses.

After visiting Infosys, we returned to the hotel and went to High Court. This was boring. Next, we visited Dr. Konana's house for a home party. As I expected, the house was large and great. Most of Professor's brothers and sisters were present. Many of his relatives attended as well. More than 40 people were present, but one large room in the second floor could accommodate them. The house hired catering services for the party.

Most of Professor's relatives were educated in US and more than half of them work there. Professor's brother worked in US until recently and now works for Wipro. Many others work for US based high-tech companies. An Indian economy grew steadily since 1991 and is expected to grow for the long-term. 30 years ago, Bangalore was mid-sized city with one million populations and had no major IT companies. But the city had R&D bases of major manufacturers because abundant intellect was available owing to high level educational institutions. As IT industry grew, many IT companies entered Bangalore, and Infosys and Wipro emerged. Now Bangalore is a large city with about 6 million populations.

I enjoy parties almost everyday though I do not attend usually. I got much accustomed to having time with Americans. Traveling with them for the whole days, I had a sense of familiarity with them. I feel this program was really valuable.

By the way, the movie "Black" I watched yesterday was produced in India. It is now very popular. Well, I watched a great movie.

March 11 2005 (Fri) Visiting Biocon and GE

In the morning, we visited Biocon, a bio-tech firm. This company was founded 20 years ago as a venture and now enjoys high status in the bio-tech industry. Employees from the early stages earned a lot of money with stock options. The presenter brought one of them to the presentation room and said "he worked for 13 years and now a millionaire, of course in US dollars." Though I have little knowledge of the industry, I could easily understand the presentation because it was not so difficult. I was not interested in the company itself. Rather I was interested in recent achievement of Indians in various arenas. Several decades ago, when India was not spotlighted, many competent Indians moved to US. They succeeded in various industries. The presenter said the key success factor was that they had no safety net. Surely they were out of their countries and must live solely on their abilities, so they are highly motivated and committed. And also, the presenter said that competition is necessary among employees and that CEO of the company was visiting every field to see the facts by herself. After the presentation, he guided the campus.

In the afternoon, we visited R&D center of GE. The presenter talked about the general issue of GE's R&D, not specific issues in India. He earned PhD from Penn State University in 1991 and worked for GE thereafter. I asked a question to him "GE is highly competitive in US and Japan. Is it also true in this R&D center?" He answered that GE had the same culture in every country and in every division. The presenter, an R&D director in Bangalore, is compared with R&D directors in Germany and China. Evaluation will be severe.

As I was on the bus, I saw many companies such as Intel, Dell, Reuters, Bosch, Siemens, HP, and Oracle. In the hotel, about 10 Toyota people were in the lobby. I thought Bangalore was a hot business city. Many intelligent engineers gather in Bangalore and are waged 10%-20% of developed countries. Japanese companies cannot be complacent. As I found through company visits, those who works for major Indian companies have the same level of skills of businesspersons and engineers in US or Japan. So if they compete, Indians have advantages. That is why offshoring becomes popular and the jobs in US or Japan will decrease. I am not sure whether this labor arbitrage is sustainable. In my view, the wage level of Indian elites may increase and labor arbitrage may become difficult in the long-term.

After the company visit, we took the bus for 4 hours to move for Mysore. As I had heard from Aki, they played Karaoke in the bus in the US school trips. Some students became high and they started Karaoke. Will made an interesting speech. It was a nice bus ride.

March 12 2005 (Sat) Sightseeing in Mysore

We have no company visit on Saturday. So we moved to Mysore, a city close to Bangalore. We had a bus tour to see major sightseeing spots but this tour was not mandatory. So I walked around the town alone. I visited the vegetable market where local people gathered. I found the place dirty with many flies. I am usually comfortable with dirty environments and often claim that dirtiness just comes from subjective feelings and has no practical impact. But I understand what dirtiness means in India. Dirtiness means the condition where germs are likely to grow and cause illness. For example, if I take meals in seemingly dirty restaurants around there, I will probably suffer from stomachache.

Afternoon, I joined the classmates on the bus tour. I was not interested in Palace much, though the guidebook said it was the major sightseeing spot. Those who know Indian history will be interested. And we enjoyed elephant rides. Though I did not feel like riding, many of my classmates played the elephant rides. Is the elephant fine to carry 6 people at once?

Next, we visited a silk store. As I was bored here as well, I walked outside for a while. I found the scenery beautiful so I took a photo. Then a child came to me and asked me to take a photo of him. I took one. And he asked me to take photos of his friends. I went close to them and took a picture. They were interested in the photos because they could view them soon. As I took photos, I found about 15 children surrounding me. Children are innocent and cheerful. I tried to get off after taking about 6 photos but the children followed me. I took several additional photos and then escaped into the silk store. Later, when my classmates came out of the store to go into the bus, they faced similar situations.

We visited the house of Professor's brother and spent about half an hour. One large room could accommodate all 30+ visitors without any problem. Well, it was a great house as well. Is this the standard of Indian elites? And we moved to a party place of a hotel. We drank until 2am yesterday and had party today as well. I realized that I could enjoy relations with American people in this trip, though I always thought it difficult to be absorbed into US community.

I really enjoy this trip. I had very high expectation on this trip before and my actual experience was above that. If I participated in Plus Global last year, I would have hoped to participate the next year again. What is most interesting is to be in American school trip. And Professor Konana's hospitality is also remarkable. I would highly recommend this program to the current 1st years and incoming students.

March 13 2005 (Sun) Moving To Bangalore

We have no company visit on Sunday. During the way from Mysore to Bangalore, we dropped by several sightseeing spots. As I was in bad condition, I had a hard time in the bus. Some of my classmates said that I slept all the time.

We visited a sugar cane refinery in the morning. I was in good condition then and walked around vigorously.

The next was Shravanabelagola. I do not understand it well, but the guidebook says this is the largest Jain pilgrim center in South India. We climbed the very long stair to the top. As the photo below illustrates, we walked up for a long time. A statue was at the top. I was exhausted in the stair but it was not so dangerous because it was not steep.

We then moved to another temple. A guide introduced the temple and said something like Shiva or Lakshmi, but I could not be interested in what he said, so I walked around alone. I had little knowledge of Indian history, so I could not understand well. And Indian accent of English was difficult for me. I heard this was the same for US students and even they sometimes have trouble to understand. My condition became worse gradually.

The pictures below were the last visit. Though I was not interested in the historical meaning, I enjoyed the scenery well. I took many photos of people.

We went back to Bangalore after five hours' drive. Many made merry by playing ukulele and a drum. Maybe they bought them during sightseeing. They played many songs such as "The Eyes Of Texas Are Upon You." They played karaoke. They played impromptu but the rhythm of the drum and ukulele matched well. But my condition was becoming worse and just hoped to get to the destination as early as possible. I was much relieved to reach the hotel at 11:30pm.

March 14 2005 (Mon) Visiting Wipro

We visited Wipro in the morning. Wipro, as well as Infosys, is one of the most famous IT firm in India. I knew nothing about Wipro though I researched Infosys.

According to the presenter, Wipro is a company of business process outsourcing which include IT and other functions. Of course maintenance of IT infrastructure is one of its main businesses. Other businesses include product development and Wipro is top-tire outsourcer of R&D. As an example, the presenter explained Clinical Process Outsourcing. This is an outsourcing of technical operations of medical arenas and Wipro works for customers in developed countries by providing 3D-CAD design services. India has about 12 hours time difference from US, so the customers in US can ask some jobs in the evening and expect the output the next morning. Maybe Wipro offers other services such as call center operations and accounting, but the presenter did not mention it.

Wipro is an outsourcing company, not a company of IT itself. Then why is Wipro included in the IT industry? For one reason, its main business is still maintenance of IT systems. Though its service expands, IT maintenance is a big business. For another, Wipro's outsourcing is enabled by efficient communication through IT. Dr. Konana's article refers to it as "Software and IT Enabled Service." I do not know much about this arena, but recent CAD software has the function of concurrent engineering, a function to develop products simultaneously in multiple locations in the world by adopting TCP/IP network. This is just an example. Maybe other IT functions enable efficient communication between Wipro in India and customers in developed countries.

Outsourcing is often for non-core functions (such as IT infrastructure maintenance, accounting, and payrolls). But Wipro assume some mission critical functions such as product development. Surely, there are many highly educated engineers in Bangalore, so it is natural that they offer technical services as outsourcers. I often heard that low-value-adding jobs should be outsourced and in-house employees concentrate on high-value-adding jobs. But some core functions in-house employees assume may be outsourced as well. For example, business planning and finance can be outsourced if Indian outsourcers do these jobs in lower costs and in higher qualities.

But I find it doubtful whether this business model is sustainable. For example, how does Wipro respond to individual needs of different functions from different industries and companies. In other words, how does it recruit and train human resources that work for very various kinds of jobs? For example, take a case of CAD software. There are many sorts of CAD Software (Catia, Microcadam, Ideas, etc) and some are minor. Does Wipro train employees to use all those kinds of software? In addition, Indian wage levels will not necessary be low in the future. All of these factors considered, I find Wipro's strength lies in outsourcing management. That is, it proposes outsourcing to customers, sets service level agreement (SLA), practices efficient communications though IT, and recruits and trains human resources required.

Though Infosys and Wipro differ in their services (system integration and outsourcing), both aim at optimizing business processes. Infosys offers IT infrastructure that will enable the business processes defined by customers. Wipro directly assume a part of the business processes defined by customers. Let's think about the case of accounting. Infosys provide accounting IT system. Wipro may assume the jobs of accounting itself (of course it may maintain accounting IT system as well). So the business companies may further need the know-how of business process optimization. In extreme, they can be completely dependent on system integrators or outsourcers, once they define the processes.

We went back to the hotel. Then Justin and Kevin told me that their room had a scribble in Japanese and asked me to translate it. I got to the point when I saw it. The photo below means "Indians are foolish! I do not want to stay in this hotel!!" Who wrote this? I found about 10 Toyota guys everyday during my stay here, so probably they wrote. But there are other business customers from Japan, so I am not sure. Surely this hotel provides poor services so we would like to complain. Though it is not desirable, many people dissatisfied with hotel services complain in that way. I heard several times that some people destroyed facilities or stole goods from the hotel because they became mad of the hotel services. But, it is stupid to conclude that Indians are foolish in general. Probably, Indian elites are far more intelligent than the person who wrote this scribble.

Lili turned to be 30 years old today. We played ukulele, sang happy-birthday song, and ate cakes.

We visited Dell India in the night. I was in the bad condition at that time and could not concentrate on the presentation. The presenter, a Chicago MBA graduate, joined Dell after McKinsey and AT Kearney. He worked in Austin and Singapore before moving to India just half a year ago. So he did not talk much about India. We watched a promotion video, which told like "Cheer Dell!" Many smiled unnaturally saying "I am happy to work for Dell." The atmosphere of the office is similar to the Tokyo office of major US companies. Employees wore casual cloths. Few men wore business suits and many wore jeans or very casual "business casuals." Women wore jeans rather than sarees. Today's guide wore saree. Here, saree is the most popular and formal cloth.

March 15 2005 (Tue) Terrible Stomachache

Maybe the coconut I drank the day before yesterday was the cause. I had a diarrhea since last night and it became more serious this morning. I woke up 4am because of stomachache and fought against it until 6am. I could sleep after 6am as the pain gradually weakened. I planned to leave the hotel for IBM at 8:30, but I decided to skip the visit because I was in a serious condition. I hoped to compare IBM with Infosys and Wipro, but cannot do so.

I told Professor that I was in condition and he advised me to take medicine and be relaxed. By that time, the diarrhea was almost finished but stomachache sometimes attached me. Not only I but also Zachary were sick and skipped the IBM visit. We two stayed in the hotel and the other classmates went to the IBM tour. At first, I thought of consulting a doctor according to the advice of hotel clerks, but the professor arranged all the way to going to the hospital. At 10am, the professor's father was to come to the hotel to take us to the hospital. He treated us in the party before and helped me go to the hospital. I felt full of appreciation to him.

The professor's father came to the hotel at 10am. He came by something like an hourly taxi service and did not drive by himself. We went to a skin care clinic at first and Zach consulted a doctor there. It was a modern clinic. Next, we went to a physician and I consulted him. I was introduced to a clinical room, answered to his questions, and explained my troubles. Then I lay down on the bed and the doctor listened with a stethoscope. He said my stomach was in a bad condition. He asked me whether my pain was strong or not. I wanted to answer "I cannot stand this terrible pain" but contained saying so. He then added "Injection for strong pains, medicine for weak pains." I decided to take medicine because I hated injection. And also, he instructed me a diet restriction. I cannot eat spicy foods for three days. Spicy foods include chickens, let alone the foods with hot spices. I asked him whether I could drink coffee. He answered OK. My quality of life is secure if I can drink coffee. I was relieved.

My largest concern was the price. As I did not buy health insurance in India, I was prepared to pay very high prices. But unexpectedly, it was very cheap. Clinical consulting cost Rs50. And medicine, which includes two kinds for three days and one for one day, cost Rs77. I think this cheap, considering the local levels of wages and prices. For example, a sandwich of Subway costs Rs100 and one liter water costs Rs10, so the total clinical cost of Rs127 is very cheap. I was really happy to use clinical service in such a low price. We do not need the latest clinical technology for a simple cold or stomachache, so it will be much more desirable to use clinical services of a certain level by affordable prices.

After the clinic, we visited the house of professor's father again. There we drank water and something like butter yogurt. Butter yogurt, given for the protection of my stomach, had a unique taste. I naturally drank all of them, but Zachary did not like the taste. And the professor's father sent us to the hotel. He entertained us in the party a few days ago and helped us in the clinics today. I might have been squeezed by an unscrupulous clinic if I searched and visited a clinic according to the information of hotel clerks. I really appreciate the kindness of the professor's father.

Afternoon, I faced stomachache occasionally, but my condition improved. Taking medicine, I recovered and could work as usual. I ate nothing since last lunch and had a meal after 24 hours. I must not be careless, but now I am on the recovery. In the night, we left Bangalore for Delhi.

March 16 2005 (Wed) Last Company Visits

I am now at the midpoint of this travel, but today is the last day of company visits. We will go to Agra to see Taj Mahal tomorrow and the day after tomorrow and have a large party on 18(Fri). On 19(Sat), we will start individual travels and leave Delhi for different destinations.

In the morning, we visited National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC), the largest electricity company in India. As we mainly visited "hot" Indian companies or Indian branches of US headquarters companies, it is refreshing to see such very domestic companies as NTPC. Reserve Bank of India and ICICI Bank are also Indian traditional companies, but NTPC looked more old-fashioned. The building of NTPC was much older than the companies we had visited before.

Two presenters presented. The first explained NTPC's electricity business, but I could not grasp well because of lack of the background knowledge. I do not know even the value chain of the industry. Indian electricity mostly depends on coals and hydraulics. The second presenter explained the human resource policy. This was terribly boring and he just repeated superficial and politically correct contents. Listening to him, I recalled several managers in my former company who presented like him. But if you think about the human resource policy of Indian traditional company, you will have more critical issues. India has diverse races, religions, and languages. In addition, a caste system persistently remains. In such a social landscape, how do they recruit and promote employees? In US, the human resource policy based on diversity is becoming popular. But how about it in India? I read an article in the reading assignment mentioning Indian version of affirmative actions, the policy of recruiting so-called untouchables in some percentages. I made a question to the presenter, and unexpectedly non-presenter answered to my question. But I was not convinced. He said something like "Indian law obliges companies to recruit minorities and handicapped people in some percentages. Our company makes every effort to achieve social responsibility for that."

Next, we listened to Mindshare, an advertising firm. We visited a hotel, not the company. I wonder whether they chose a clean hotel because they emphasize images. Advertising business is highly affected by local cultures. In India, most of the advertising media are television and fliers, and this tendency has been stronger for these ten years. On the contrary, the ads of radios and movies are decreasing. Internet ads are still minor and expected to grow. They explained the marketing campaign in a cricket tournament. As the movie "Lagaan" showed as well, cricket is rooted to Indian culture since colonization by UK.

Last, we listened to GE Capital. Guys of consumer finance and commercial finance visited our hotel and presented their businesses. As I studied financial industries in the summer internship, I can understand them relatively easily. One was turbaned and looked like a typical Indian man Japanese people imagine. Though consumer finance is highly associated with consumer credit, credit cards and real estate credit are also their main business. Other businesses include credits for cars and motor bikes. I see motor bikes ubiquitously in India. They may constitute one large segment. But frankly, do Indian customers pay back the money they borrow? The presenters said many borrow money by falsely reporting their histories and do not pay back. But few skim the credit cards to use them falsely. The most remarkable is that those who earn $1000 monthly in India are segmented to "affluence." But monthly earnings of $1000 are not especially affluent, if you consider Indian low price of commodities. Folks earning $50,000 annually in Austin are much more affluent.

I had free time in the evening, so I went to the movie. The hotel was located in the far suburb, but as I heard there was a shopping mall two miles away, I went there by a cycle rickshaw. It cost me Rs40 back and force. It was cheap but I was afraid of traffic accidents. The movie theater was similar to those in developed countries and all visitors were allocated their distinct seats. I wanted to be seated in the front, but the clerk told me to be seated in the allotted seat. I do not remember the name of the movie, because I was bored and asleep. The language was maybe Hindi but sometimes they spoke English. Do they sometimes English in their daily conversations?

By the way, the professor noticed this diary when I was writing it at the airport. He seems much interested and asked me "What do you write?" and "Tell me the URL." Surely, I spend significant amount of efforts in writing the diary and it is becoming a good one. So after going back to Austin, I am thinking of translating the diary of the trip and share my experience with the professor and my classmates.

March 17 2005 (Thu) Taj Mahal

We left Delhi for Agra. Agra is the most important sightseeing city in India. It has Taj Mahal. I have known about Taj Mahal since a long time ago. When I was sick, I was worried whether I could visit Taj Mahal or not, but I was almost completely recovered and enjoyed it to full extents.

The guidebook says that Taj Mahal is a tomb of Mumtaz Mahal, the wife of the fifth Mugal Emperor Shah Jahan. Mumtaz got married at her age of 16, gave birth to 14 children, and died at 38. In order to show his eternal love to her, Emperor Jahan created Taj Mahal by spending astronomical amount of money and 22 years. It has no religious or practical meaning, just a tomb.

At 3pm, when we arrived, the sunshine was strong and Taj Mahal was white. The color changed gradually as time passed. A marble building was beautiful, shined by the setting sun. The sun set. We went back to the hotel. I took more than 50 photos today and kept them in my PC. As I cannot show all, I selected good photos below. Please see the gradual change of the color of Taj Mahal.

Going back to the hotel, I joined my classmates for dinner. We talked for about three hours.

March 18 2005 (Fri) Last Day of Group Trip

We visited Agra Castle. It was beautiful with red-brown colors. We stayed there for one hour and a half. Finishing sightseeing in Agra, we headed for Delhi.

We arrived in Delhi afternoon and had free time of about four hours, so I walked around the center of New Delhi alone. Streets in India were poor, dirty, and noisy. As to "poor," I saw many vagrants and others who suffered from terrible living spaces, foods, and cloths. As to "dirty," it stank strangely everywhere and many flies flew around there. And lastly as to "noisy," cars, motor bikes, and rickshaws made horns. I heard horns at any time and was often annoyed. So I said to my roommate Kay, "Dirtiness in India is annoying, isn't it?" But he seriously answered to me, "You liked dirtiness, didn't you?" Maybe he is kidding. They may well think that I like dirtiness if they consider my daily behavior and willingness to experience adventurous trip, but I do not like to make myself dirty. In addition, dirtiness in India is completely different from being unclean in developed countries.

We had a farewell party at night as today is the last day of our group trip. We had submitted questionnaires at the bus in the morning and Kiran released the results. And we voted for people for several themes such as "the person sleeping well during presentation" and "the quietest person." It was remarkable that a guy was celebrated for spending Rs700 for five minutes' ride of rickshaw. I was chosen as the most mysterious person. I think my behavior is normal. How do they think I am so mysterious? The results of the question are is below.

(Example)
The most interesting company -> ICICI Bank
The most beautiful campus -> Infosys
The most interesting presentation -> Biocon's presenter
Do you want to work in India? -> About half (doubtful whether they really think so)
If so, which company? -> ICICI Bank
The most interesting city -> Bangalore
The most interesting place to see -> Taj Mahal

Our drinking party continued in the hotel room after we finished the farewell party. More than 10 students gathered in a room and continued drinking. As it turned out, today is the birthday of Kay. If so, should we celebrate him? But he already fell asleep. I share the room with him and remember how sleepy he looked. Then what will we do? We were on the drinking party of the last day of the trip. We did not care. So we went into Kay's room, brought sleeping Kay to the drinking room, shouting "Kidnapping!" He was at a loss what happened and seemed confused in his sleepy mode. In the drinking room, everyone said to him "Happy Birthday!" Then, he understood what happened. We encouraged him to stay there and drink there, but he was so sleepy that he went back to the room saying thank you to us.

It was not until after 2am that I went back to the room and fell asleep.

March 19 2005 (Sat) Individual Travel Begins

I woke up after 10am and found my roommate Kay out. I had nothing to do in the room so I left soon. For these two weeks, I was in an organized tour. I may have lost the sense of my backpacking trip. Maybe I will regain it in one day or so. But unfortunately, I lost my travel guidebook. I searched for it in the room for a while but could not find it out. I was worried to travel without a map, but I can gain one in the destinations.

First, I moved to New Delhi station to buy a railway ticket from Delhi to Varanasi. Many strangers talked to me when I wandered around the station. One of them said, "I work here. A ticket office is at the building there." I walked toward that direction for one minute or so, but that building was completely separated from the station and would not sell tickets anyway. It finally took 15 minutes to find a ticketing office.

Ticketing office was clean. Many customers were in a line. It took me about 30 minutes to get to the counter, and I found the counter man arrogant, bureaucratic, and slow to process. I planned to buy the ticket of 1st class without air-conditioning for 3:45pm. I hate cold temperatures and am afraid of horribly cooled rooms in the train. In the current season, nights in Northern India are cool enough to be comfortable, so I can do without air conditioning. Well, but that railway ticket was sold out. The remaining tickets were very few and I finally bought the ticket of AC 3rd Class for 6:25pm. Sure. It matters whether I can go to Varanasi, not whether the seat is comfortable. But am I fine in the 3rd class seat? Fine for cold air-conditioning?

I had more than six hours before departure, so I saw the sights of Old Delhi. It was poor, dirty, and noisy. I thought I could get used soon, but actually I felt disgusted with the heavy traffic and dirty roads. Wandering around the main streets, I went into a castle (I forgot the name). It cost to go inside, so fewer people were there. It was quiet and comfortable. I felt relaxed there, but I felt somewhat it was not real India.

I walked toward south for 15 minutes and visited Mosque. Of course Muslims gathered there. Anyone could enter inside and I had to pay Rs150 for bringing my camera. Tired after a long walk, I took a rest in Mosque. Several mid-aged men lay in the sacred building. I joined them to sleep. In 30 minutes or so, however, one mid-aged visitor woke me up. This place is for Muslims and not for non-Muslims to sleep. Maybe I was rude. Relaxed enough, I walked in Mosque and went out.

I went further toward south for 20 minutes or so. I found these streets were for Muslim residents. Many signboards are written in Arabian scripts and women wore black veils. The atmosphere differed from that of Hindu residential areas, but both were noisy and dirty.

Getting out of Muslim residential areas, I caught an auto rickshaw to go to New Delhi station. I was afraid of my seat in the train but found it fine. Six people sat on one area of the train and three layered beds were on two opposite sides. All passengers can lie on the beds. Air conditioning is moderate and not intimidating. In addition, we were provided blankets. So I didn't have to be afraid of feeling cold.

I talked with many people in the train. First, Swedish traveler Chris. He was a wine specialist and made much money by selling a wine company he had established. He now travels with that money. He has been traveling for half a year at this moment and stayed in Tokyo for a month. He said that he wanted to move to Australia to establish a wine business there again. Next, Malaysian Anis. She was mostly educated in UK and spoke fluent British English. She was an accountant at a hotel and took a vacation for two weeks. And next, American Jessica. She came to India to study Hindi and Hindu culture and had stayed there for two years. I don't see such a people so frequently. And an Indian guy worked for an engineering consulting firm headquartered in Tokyo. We discussed technology outsourcing. Finally there was another Indian. But I did not talk with him much so I do not know what he was.

March 20 2005 (Sun) Arrived in Varanasi

Waking up, I found others chatting in the bed below. All the others were already awake and I was the last. I hurriedly folded my bed. In one hour, we got to Varanasi station.

Varanasi... What do you imagine about this city? In my high school days, a teacher of physical education often said, "In India, some dead bodies are afloat in the Ganges River. In front of them, children swim and people wash their cloths." I had no other idea at that time but later I knew the place was Varanasi. When a college student, I often read the books of backpacking and they mentioned India so frequently. For example, they said, "You cannot expect what happens here in India. He went to Varanasi, a Hindi sacred city, then he..." Therefore, Varanasi was indispensable in my trip as well as Agra (for Taj Mahal).

But maybe the perception differed between Japanese travelers and Western travelers. For example, Japanese guidebook spent significant amount of pages to introduce Varanasi, while English guidebook spent few pages. Walking in the town, I found so many Japanese travelers. I met one per 10 minutes. Of course I saw Western travelers frequently, but compared with other cities, Varanasi had more Japanese travelers. And, maybe as a result of it, many local people talked to me in Japanese. Signboards were often written in Japanese characters.

I needed to decide the hotel, so visited Kumiko House (famous as a Japanese hotel among Japanese backpackers). I found this hotel not so terrible as I had heard, though it was very narrow inside. The reputations such as "being extremely dirty" or "doing drugs from the morning" were not true. Pension Amigo in Mexico [a famous Japanese hotel for Japanese backpackers] was much dirtier. I had a short talk with a Japanese woman. She said that many students came in and out in every day because it was the traveling season for Japanese college students. Most of the long stayers who traveled more than one year had been out. Then I asked about her travel. She answered, "Me? I stay here not so long, just one month." I judged this hotel healthy enough. In the 3rd floor, I found a dormitory room composed of six beds for both of men and women. Behind the room, I saw stayers played card games. Maybe the room further behind would be another dormitory room. I saw several western travelers as well. But I left this Kumiko House to search another, because I hesitated to join the crowd of Japanese college students around 20.

Wandering for a while, I inquired another hotel Sita. It was a clean white building with a good view. I was introduced several rooms and decided to stay in an single room of Rs300. They introduced a room of Rs60 but I did not like it because it was dark. Darkly colored walls would make me depressed. Here, I saw Anis, a Malaysian woman who took the same train as I. She stayed here as well.

I wanted to see the sight early but my cash of rupees was running out. So I entered a foreign exchange for exchange. I submitted my travelers check of $50, signed on it, and filled out the designated form. I was supposed to receive about Rs2120 but the exchanger handed me rupees in Rs50 bills. He showed me two sets of 10 bills of Rs50 and two coins of Rs10 and said "Two sets of bills are Rs2000 and the coins are Rs20." No kidding. Ten bills of Rs50 deserve just Rs500. I pointed it out. He said he was sorry. And then he handed me 40 bills of Rs50. Counting the bills, I found several different bills which may be counterfeit. Those bills did not include the face of Mahatma Gandhi. I was not confident those bills were counterfeit but I was anxious. After receiving Rs2020, I told the exchanger that I lacked Rs100. He said that it was a commission. I was not convinced. I thought about for a while but went on the exchange. Then I asked for a receipt. But he answered to me, "I cannot make a receipt because you did not show your passport." Well, I realized that he was not appropriate to make a deal with. I asked him to return back the travelers check. The exchanger hurriedly made a receipt, but I ignored him and consistently asked him to return the check. Finally I did not exchange here and exchanged at the counter of the hotel. The most important was to deal with reliable people and receive a receipt, not to choose the lowest exchange rate. Without receipt, I cannot buy the tickets.

I walked around the streets. I saw people washing their cloths everywhere. Many people swam in Ganges River. Some jumped into the river and dived. Few people prayed. This is probably because it was noon. There was one crematory in the upstream and another in the downstream. I went to the downstream one. In front of the crematory, I found many woods. In this crematory, they could cremate six bodies simultaneously, and I saw four bodies being cremated at that time. They set up woods, carried bodies, prayed, lit fire, wait for the bodies to be cremated, and threw the bodies into the river. I could see the progress of cremation by viewing four bodies cremated. When one body was cremated, they set up woods there and cremated another body. I hoped to take photos but it was prohibited.

It was not true but wrong that "they wash cloths in front of the dead bodies" or "they wash in waters contaminated by a lot of garbage." Actually, bodies are thrown after being cremated (sometimes thrown without cremation but it is rare), garbage are in some riversides, not all around, and the waters are contaminated but similar to those in the sea in Enoshima, Japan [a major beach]. But, surely it was quite dirty. I planned to bathe in the river but did not. Not that I hated dirty water. Rather I did not feel like doing so. Maybe an excuse, but I just found no meaning to bathe there. I did not stay in Kumiko House either. Well, I am traveling in a healthier manner than I planned.

March 21 2005 (Mon) A Day in Varanasi

I was to take a boat from 6am with Anis, a Malaysian woman who stayed in the same hotel. I woke up at 5:50am and went down to the hotel lobby. A boat rower, Anis, and I took on the boat from 6am. The sky was becoming slightly bright, though the sun had not risen. The sky, which gradually became bright as the sun rose, was really beautiful. The hotel manager advised us to take from 6am, and I found it was right.

Looking to the ghats from the boat, I found many people praying there. I could not see that sight yesterday afternoon. Ghats were separated for men and women. I saw men in some ghats and women on other. They are Hindu. Muslims don't pray though they wash and swim.

I asked the boat rower several questions. Do small children become sick if they drink water in Ganges River? He said that they could be immunized gradually in their daily lives. Travelers can do so as well. But the travelers who have no immunization will become sick in high probability if they dive in the river. This tour continued for one hour and a half. I could enjoy the scenery of sunrise and ghats in the morning, but Anis seemed dissatisfied. She liked the scenery itself and what she heard from the boat rower, but she was frustrated because she could not get to the specific ghat. The boat rower failed to go there because he rowed so slowly. Anis apparently looked angry. The tour cost us two Rs100 in total.

I went to the railway station with Anis to buy a ticket. I was going to Kolkata this night, and she was going to Agra tomorrow night. It took us 45 minutes to walk to the station, and we could easily buy the tickets. We used a cycle rickshaw to return, and Anis purchased many of seemingly dirty fruits such as orange, papaya, and banana. I had eaten no fruit sold on the street as I was afraid. Many flies flew around the fruits and they were transported in rough manners with dirty hands. Some fruits looked rotten. I asked her, "Can you eat them?" She answered, "We can eat the fruits if they have skins." That is, no matter how the fruits are dirty, you can peal the skin to eat the clean insides. Then what if birds bite the fruits with soft skins? But I did not ask it. I will eat the fruits covered with hard skins.

We found coconuts to and from the station. I love them, and I remember the professor's father said the coconuts were safe. Anis, who loved coconuts more than I, was pleased to find them. We two drank three coconuts respectively. It was very good. Usually I just only drink the fluid, but today I ate the inside by pealing it.

Anis often used cheap restaurants. Cheap restaurants in India looked really dirty. I had thought usual foreign travelers could not eat there. I asked her, "Are you OK to eat there?" She answered, "It is OK if you see them cooking." Surely, germs will die out if you cook, so you can eat it. And she said to me, "how about eating the dosa restaurant in the neighbor?" I hesitated for a while, but maybe I would not go to those kinds of restaurants alone, so it would be a good chance. We went to the dosa restaurant. I ate two pieces of dosa (Rs6) and four cup of chai (Rs3). It was very, very good. But Aki had advised me to avoid cheap restaurants. Am I OK?

Anis, now 37 years old, had spent 20 years in UK. So she is a Malaysian Englishwoman rather than a Malaysian. She started backpacking traveling just four years ago, comparatively late. She said that she had traveled in groups and stayed in high-class hotels before. But she started to travel alone for some reasons and found it boring to stay in high-class hotels alone. So she started to travel in the backpacking style. Many backpackers start at their ages around 20 and finish by the age around 25. Thereafter, for example, they often travel in high-class hotels with groups or families. She was opposite to this popular pattern. "Backpacking is interesting because you cannot expect what will happen tomorrow," she said, "and it is important to open up our mind to all people you meet."

I updated the diary afternoon. As I took many photos, it took more time to write diary. Hotel clerks were interested in my updating the website in the laptop. He asked me to take photos several times and I did so. I walked on the street alone. As it was yesterday as well, many drug dealers talked to me in this city. Yesterday, four drug dealers talked to me and today two. In many cases, they will speak the words such as "marijuana," "leaves," and "chocolate." Today one spoke to me "buy something" and "LSD." I didn't walk on dangerous streets. I walked on the riverside of Ganges River and the main street. In those large streets, some guys talk to foreigners like me and sell drugs. Don't policemen crack down on drugs? I have never being spoken to by such a large number of drug dealers. And it was surprising that they tried to sell hard drugs such as LSD in addition to soft drugs such as Marijuana and hashish. I laughed to hear the word LSD.

I met Anis at 6pm again and took dinner together. There we exchanged our e-mail addresses and promised to send photos. After the dinner, we went to float the candles on the Ganges River. She had three small boats of candles and gave me one. Of the remaining two, one was for herself and the other was for her friend. Ganges River after the sunset was dark and quiet. It had different atmosphere than it was in early morning when many prayed in the ghats or in the noon when the sun was scorching. We walked along the river for a few minutes and sat on a ghat. I lit fire to the candle Anis had given me, and she lit fire to two candles as well. Then we floated three candles on the river and made wishes. I wished "all the four of my family will live happily." I hit upon no other appropriate wishes. Anis said she wished happiness of herself, her family, and her friends. Maybe human become simple in this kind of situation. Three candles shined in bright red on the dark river and gradually flew forward as time passed.

Then it came the time to leave. I was to take a rickshaw but could not because of the heavy traffic jam. So we walked to the station. Anis was annoyed with this traffic and noises. She accompanied with me for a while but returned back in the middle. We parted there. The streets of Varanasi at night were seriously troubled with heavy traffic and it took me about forty minutes to go to the station 3km away. I got to the Varanasi station and took the night train leaving for Kolkata at 9:20pm.

March 22 2005 (Tue) Arrived in Kolkata

Waking up, I noticed it was 8am. I took seat on AC 3rd class as I had done before, and I could sleep well. I was in a seat of the space for six people, but only two sisters from Korea and I sat there. They said they quit their companies in the same timing and traveled together. They would fly to Bangkok after staying in Kolkata. I wanted to take their pictures but they refused my request. An Indian family sat on the seats across the aisle. The father was intelligent and worked for a software development company affiliated with Siemens. He was pleased to know that I had visited Infosys and Wipro in Bangalore. The child was about three years old and played around all the time. As he talked to me, we played together. Probably I like children. We arrived in Kolkata after 1pm. We were on the train for about 16 hours.

Kolkata...This city is highly associated with poverty. I had a terrible image of Kolkata before I was interested in India. The sun scorches unpaved roads and shabby small buildings, clouds of dusts are in the air, vagrants lie on the roads everywhere, and small children cry "Baksheesh." I still remember a story introduced in the geography textbook in my junior high school days. In Kolkata many people live on the streets and they make living only by begging. They even give birth to their babies on the streets. And some travel books says you see vagrants every time you turn a corner. Finally, there is the word "Calcutta (Kolkata) shock." Some people who start traveling from Kolkata are so shocked by the noise and chaos that they cannot go out of the hotel rooms. For these reasons, I thought Kolkata was the city which would provide most Indian stimuli.

I got out of the station, went to Sudder Street, and walked around. Soon I noticed that the image above was wrong. Kolkata was not so different than other usual cities such as Delhi and Mumbai. You know, Delhi had terrible noise and dirtiness. In Kolkata, there were clean buildings and quiet places. Roads were paved though poorly.

I needed to look for a hotel. My conditions were (1) low price, (2) single room, and (3) able to exchange information among travelers. But Kolkata had few hotels that met all the three criteria, and they were full. No, I found one room that met all three. But some customers there did marijuana in the afternoon and I found them very strange. One said, "It is almost legal in India." Well, I hate to be involved with them so I left the hotel. Then, I had choices of a single room without information exchange or a dormitory room with information exchange. I planned to go to Mother House for volunteering. But as I had lost my guidebook, I had no idea how to get there or register. Finally I decided to stay in the dormitory room of the hotel Maria. Here, I asked several Japanese travelers about volunteering in Mother House. They offered me various kinds of information. I read their guidebook and got the point.

I must make my condition to prepare for volunteering works tomorrow. I am to go to "House of Dying Destitute," which accommodate patients of AIDS, hepatitis, tuberculosis, etc. The risk of infection will become high if I am in the bad condition. I was tired after I took two night trains recently. So I fell asleep at 8pm. I can sleep for 9 hours by 5am tomorrow. I just need to prepare for volunteering.

March 23 2005 (Wed) Volunteering in Mother House

Waking up at 5:30am, I left for Mother House. I used a rickshaw because I did know the place well. Rickshaws in Kolkata, different from those in other cities, are the human powered vehicles which are towed by walking men. It cost me Rs20 to go to Mother House from the hotel.

They hold Mass from 6am every morning in Mother House. Sisters in the entrance instructed me to go to the second floor. There many Sisters conducted the prayer ritual in a solemn mode. The ritual went on for 45 minutes. During this period, many volunteers entered the room. After Mass, we moved to a vacant space in the first floor and took breakfast. Bread, banana, and chai were served. A large number of volunteers, maybe 70 people or so, gathered there. Japanese are the largest majority, accounting for more than half. The ratio between men and women was about 4:6. A long-term volunteer who had already worked for three weeks said that she usually found Japanese most. In Japan, they form packaged tours such as "Volunteering Tour at Mother House in Kolkata," which include home-stays and driving. In other cases, travelers who stay in Kolkata often volunteer. So Mother House is like a sightseeing spot. She said that many other volunteers came from Latin America, Spain, and Italy. Maybe they come for religious reasons. Mother House is a Catholic Church, which attract volunteers from Catholic countries. For the same reason, she said, few volunteers came from US.

Mother House had seven volunteering facilities. I went to "House of Dying Destitute." This is the facility that accommodates patients infected by AIDS, Malaria, Tuberculosis, Hepatitis, etc, and regarded as the most demanding place among seven facilities of Mother House. As the name shows, House of Dying Destitute accommodates dying people, but recently many patients recover and leave the facility. Volunteers are required to ware masks and gloves in order to prevent infection through the air. You may be infected through injuries if you have. I tried to avoid exposing my skins by wearing long sleeves and long pants, though it was very hot. Actually, we don't have to be so nervous if we do not directly touch the patients.

I was late to arrive in "House of Dying Destitute" owing to the trouble of registration. By the time I arrived, volunteers already started to work. The facility was like an ambulance. Many thin people lay on small beds lined in the narrow space. I thought they were mostly old people at first, but actually not so. I found many young people in their teens or twenties. In front of the entrance, there were about 50 male beds. Behind, there were about 50 female beds. I stood in front of the male bed for a while, and soon another volunteer instructed me something. My first job was to bring patients to the shower room. Most could not walk by themselves, so two volunteers carried one patient. We helped patients walk by supporting them if they could. Carrying the patients in those ways, I often heard them groaning or shouting something. I could not understand what they said, but maybe they claimed, "I can walk alone," "I do not like to take shower," or "Don't hold me that way. It's too painful." Later, a volunteer who worked in the room next to the shower room said to me, "I heard patients groaning many times. What was that?"

I brought 10-15 patients to and from the shower room. Some volunteers washed the patients and wiped them, but I hesitated to do so. After completing the shower of all male patients, I helped washing the cloths. This was simple. I just squeezed the cloths other volunteers had washed. In the process of wash -> rinse -> squeeze -> dry, I worked at squeezing. Why don't they use washing machines? Is it because labor costs are zero for volunteers and very low for Indian full-time workers? I wondered. Later I asked a long-term volunteer about it. She said that it was the policy. This facility aims to help patients manually without machines since it was established, though I don't agree.

We had a break after the washing. We had chai and water. I talked with Japanese volunteers and they said that someone die almost everyday in this facility. After the break, we started to work again. I could work at the back office by preparing for meals, but I rather dared experience most demanding works. So I went in front of the patients. Walking around the beds, patients often called me. I gave them water and disposed excreta. I had much trouble in communication. Not only I did not know the language but also patients could not speak well. So we gestured for communication. I often made mistakes because I could not correctly understand requests of patients. The most demanding was to dispose their excreta. I carried urinals to the draining floor, around which there were excreta and the floor was full of stink. I felt nausea many times.

At noon, the time was come to finish volunteering. I had the option to work from 3pm today but I passed this chance because I was mentally exhausted by the work. My cloths were wet with sweat and I must clean them for the sanitary reason as early as possible.

I spent this afternoon drinking chai in the neighbor cafe and wandering in the street. Chai cafe was interesting. Drinking alone, I was talked to by many people. It is a kind of social place. Today, a strange white colored man with white hair approached me, shouting "Where is Osama bin Ladin?" He said, "We can get $50 million. You know where he is?" An Indian guy next to me was surprised at him and said that he was crazy.

And also, I moved the hotel. I don't need to gather information at the dormitory any more. My new accommodation was a single room of Rs200. It is very narrow but clean. There I washed my cloths and dried on the bed.

March 24 2005 (Thu) Sightseeing in Kolkata

I wanted to volunteer at Mother House but it is closed every Thursday. So I spent a whole day in sightseeing in Kolkata. But there is no special spot to see in Kolkata. This city is not well reputed among travelers. There is nothing but to volunteer.

I woke up at 8am and took breakfast in the neighbor booth. Though I did not like booths at first, their low prices and convenience attracted me. I ate kimchi rice by Rs18. Sitting on the chair, I found M, a Japanese man who had volunteered with me yesterday, approaching. I stayed with him in the same dormitory room the day before yesterday. He taught me about volunteering in Mother House. I talked with him today again and found he was a student as old as I. He graduated from the collage, worked, and attended another collage again to earn a medical degree [In Japan, they must attend undergraduate study to be a doctor.]. People who travel in India alone are mostly solitaries so I felt somewhat relieved to found a person like him.

I used metro and saw the sight of Kolkata. Yes, Kolkata has metro. I was surprised to know that. And this metro was very clean and convenient. I think Kolkata is not just a chaotic and poor city. Maybe Delhi is much dirtier and noisier. Main streets and vegetable markets in Kolkata are surely noisy and chaotic, but not more than other cities. In my walk I entered a movie theater. It cost me Rs15. But I found the screen coarse and did not understand the story. I went out in just 30 minutes.

I went back to the hotel at Sudder Street and dropped by a neighbor chai cafe. There, an Indian I had talked with yesterday sat next to me. He said to me, "You are always alone, aren't you?" Yes, because I travel alone. He talks with many Japanese travelers (Sudder Street has many hotels and therefore many foreigners.) He said that a Japanese guy paid $300 for a product he had purchased by Rs500 and that he had a Japanese girlfriend named Tomoko. I could not trust him though he was interesting to talk with.

I visited a hotel where M stayed in order to talk about volunteering tomorrow. Tomorrow is the day of Holi, one of the biggest festivals in India, and the city will be in the extreme chaos. Several people are killed every year, the traffic systems will stop, and strangers will paint us in the streets. Possibly the city will be paralyzed completely. For this reason, women are prohibited to volunteer tomorrow. It is dangerous to walk on the streets. Men are not encouraged but can do some volunteering works. So we discussed how we should get to Mother House and to House of Dying Destitute.

In discussion, I talked with a Japanese man just in front of us. He was a real backpacker and traveled for a year in South East Asia. He planned to travel for one more year to go across Eurasia. I think many travelers in India travel more than one year. They are seemingly unique. It is interesting to talk with these people in India. After discussion, we three went to a restaurant. One-year backpacker is used to the frugal life. For example, he felt the dinner of Rs40 expensive. Maybe his sense of money is similar to those of local people. This is the difference between travelers of weeks and travelers of years. It is not necessarily meaningful to spend such a long time in traveling.

I will wake up at 5:30am tomorrow and head for Mother House. I would like to avoid walking on the street in the noon time, so I plan to spend a whole day in the volunteering facility.

March 25 2005 (Fri) Holi

Today we have Holi, a Hindu festival. I woke up at 5:30am and found the outside quiet and peaceful, so left the hotel at 6:30am. I arrived in Mother House just before 7am. Today, we have Easter of Christianity as well as Holi of Hindu. Many Christians came to Mother House to pray. We are usually served breakfast of chai, bread, and banana, but not today. House was too busy for working with Christian visitors to serve for us. I did not see any other volunteer but M and me and learned we were in their ways. We went out of House and waited.

We waited for 40 minutes and asked Sisters about volunteering. They advised us to directly go to volunteering facilities. By that time I saw several volunteers. We needed to move to "House of Dying Destitute" but had few buses available owing to Holi. So I took a taxi with two Sisters and three volunteers to go to House of Dying Destitute. Unexpectedly, I found many long-term volunteers working there. Sisters had told that women must not volunteer, but those working were mostly women. They were from Italy, France, Australia, US, Korea, and Taiwan. M and I were the only Japanese.

My role was almost the same as the last time. But as I had a slight injury in my finger this morning, I wore two gloves and avoided direct contacts with patients. We carried patients to the shower room last time, but today we had no showering work itself, so our work was not heavy. My first task was washing. I squeezed cloths and hanged out them. Next was serving lunch. I distributed lunch to patients and served water. Last was to wash dishes. I washed dishes of about 100 patients.

We had a pray in the middle. Sisters and volunteers walked in the facility and prayed. Some volunteers carried a cross and candles and we sang hymns. Some Sisters and volunteers shook hands with or held patients. I felt the atmosphere of Christianity. Many photos or pictures of Mother Teresa were on the walls with such words "God Bless You." I saw many messages and most included the word "God." Is it a mission given by God for Sisters to help troubled people? But this facility is sometimes irrational if you analyze it in MBA perspective. What is the business domain of Mother House? Who are customers? What is their competitive advantage?

Finishing volunteering at noon, we went home. I took a rest at the hotel and joined Holi. I had heard various rumors about this festival, but actually I found it very enjoyable. Simply, many people painted each other. Changing my cloths and walking around the street, I soon was shot by a water pistol and my face was painted purple. Children attacked me with their hands full of paints. Please see how it was like in the photos below.

Holi was almost finished by 2am, so I took chai in the neighbor chai cafe. A turbaned man approached me and said he wanted to paint my face. "I will paint in a beautiful manner, so can I paint?" he said. Sure. I had my face painted. Soon I confirmed how it was like with a photo and liked it. I drank chai alone for a while, and Kumiko, a Japanese woman joined. She said she waited for Holi to finish in the hotel since the morning. She went out after the streets became quiet. She complained most of the shops were closed. We talked for a while and the turbaned man came to us again and said he wanted to paint Kumiko's face as well. Unexpectedly, she said yes without hesitation and was painted. The turbaned man then asked me to paint his face this time. I painted his face but could not paint his turban.

I walked around the neighbor after taking chai. Kolkata had fewer bulls or cows but more crows. Many crows gathered at around garbage and I felt a little nervous to walk around them. And when I take photos in interesting sceneries, many people approached me. For them, it was quite interesting to see the photos soon after they were taken. I took many photos according to their requests but cleared them soon.

I dropped by a chai cafe again and talked with Japanese volunteering colleagues, which include N, the man I had dinner with yesterday. I found a sense of a community of Japanese volunteers at Sudder Street in Kolkata. Travelers usually meet in dormitory beds or hotel lobbies, but here in Kolkata we meet through volunteering and talk in the neighbor chai cafes. I talked with many Japanese people, many of which were very unique people I cannot meet in my usual life. We talked for about an hour and went back to the hotels.

March 26 2005 (Sat) Last Day in India

I woke up at 6:30 in the morning and went to Mother House. I volunteered at "House of Dying Destitute" before, so I chose to volunteer at "House of Handicapped Children" this time for a change.

I arrived at "House of Handicapped Children" by bus and auto rickshaw. As the name shows, this house accommodates handicapped children. The house was divided into the upper floor for severely handicapped children and the lower floor for lightly handicapped children. I worked at the upper. The upper floor had 40 children, all of which you can know as handicapped at a glance. Not many children walked. Most sat or lay. But I have no idea of how many children can walk by themselves, because many voluntarily sat or lay. Many are deformed. The staff is composed of 5 Indian full-time workers and 10 volunteers. Volunteers are mostly foreigners including three Japanese.

At first, I played with children walking around vigorously. Some, not so many, ran around. And soon, an Indian worker instructed me to carry children to the shower room. Many of them stayed seated or lay, so I needed to hold them to the shower room. I took special attention to deformed children. I carried about 8 children back and force. Completing showers, I played in children's room. It was easy just to play with children, though I was not accustomed. A Spanish woman who had been working for three months seemed experienced. She played musical instrument and sang songs to children. And then, she shouted "P, P," pointing to the child I played with. I did not understood what she meant but soon found that pee-pee was on the floor. I hurriedly took towel and wiped out.

Tea break came and I took tea. The next job was to feed children. Some children ate by themselves and the others not. I needed to feed them by carrying food to their mouths by spoons. I fed two children and had trouble for the second because he did not eat. He did not open his mouth though I brought food to his mouth, saying "Eat" in Japanese. Soon, an Indian worker approached me, took my spoon, fixed the child's head with her arm, and opened his mouth forcefully. Well, I must feed forcefully in this way. But a Japanese woman who saw this said "It is not necessary desirable to feed that way. Children have their own paces of eating. So you should feed in their paces." Surely. It finally took about one hour to complete feeding this child. The time was just past 11:30 and I needed to finish my volunteering. I hurriedly went out of House and caught a taxi for the airport. And I flew to Mumbai from Calcutta. Thus this trip was almost finished.

I volunteered at Mother House for three days and noticed that there were two groups. One group is those who come to Kolkata solely for volunteering. Many of them are nurses and social workers and believe Catholic. They tend to work for two weeks to three months. Many western people and about one-third of Japanese are in this group. Another group is those who come to Kolkata in their ways of traveling. Many of them are students or unemployed. Most of them work for one day to 10 days. After volunteering for a few days, they move to another city. I think this group is specific to Japanese people. Of course, I belong to the latter group.

This night, I will leave Mumbai for Austin via New York. This trip was meaningful in every perspective. The contrast between the former two weeks and the latter one week was remarkable. I saw "Rich India" by visiting many companies with my classmates in the former, while I saw "Poor India" by walking around the town alone in the latter. I stayed at expensive hotels and ate at expensive restaurants in the former, while I stayed in cheap guest houses and ate at booths in the latter. I enjoyed talking with my classmates and the professor's family in the former, while I enjoyed meeting with unexpected people in the latter. I, though used to backpacking traveling, learned that group traveling is also enjoyable.

I am writing this diary at the airport in Mumbai at 7pm. I will meet my classmates in a few hours. How did they travel?

March 27 2005 (Sun) Arrived in Austin

I am in Paris now and waiting for the flight to New York. If there is flight scheduling trouble, I will be able to stay in either of Paris or New York. But that is not so frequent. Rather I should read the case for the tomorrow class.

...Now I am in New York. I wanted to buy "I Love NY" shirts, but did not because it cost $8, very expensive.

...Now I am in Cincinnati at 10:30pm. The flight was delayed about three hours because of maintenance troubles. Many classmates seem worn out and some sleep. I hope the delay will be compensated.

...I arrived in Austin. I was worn out after more than 36 hours of movement. I arrived at my apartment at 2am, took bath, and brushed my teeth. I am writing this diary, drinking tea. Soon after arriving, I felt Austin is peaceful and lacks stimuli...