Bangalore
According to our travel guide, Bangalore is known as the:
Garden City
Tech City
Health City
I think he is very proud of his home!
Bangalore is a city of almost 9 million that is referred to as the "Silicon Valley" of India. Innovation, technology and entrepreneurship play a key role in the vitality of this growing stronghold.
Typical Indian traffic - note the 4-person family on the motorcycle!
After a 30 min near death experience of traveling from the airport to the hotel via taxi, we checked in at the Oberoi at 3:00am on Friday morning, Dec. 14. Suffice it to say that Mr. Toad's wild ride has nothing on an Indian Ricksha zooming down the freeway. I have seen bad roads before, but nothing prepared me for the bumps and swerves we encountered. It was a real eye opening experience! My foot only smashed into the floorboard looking for my imaginary passenger side footbrake like 90 times as we encountered cows, potholes the size of a car, unmarked gates in the middle of the road and all the other crazy drivers!
The Oberoi Hotel - Bangalore
After we checked in, Jen went to the room to unpack our suitcases and get settled in while I stayed in the lobby to greet each trip participant as they arrived. The next batch of students arrived at 5am, then the final batch arrived at 7:30am. After breakfast at the restaurant, I joined Jen for a quick power nap before heading out for the day.
Following a quick workout, we headed accross town to the Infosys campus...which was simply beautiful! It was like Cental Park meets Google.
Here we are at a replica of the Louvre pyramid, the Indians claim it is even more beautiful than the original!
According to head of business development at Infosys, India's future and path to reemergence depend on good corporate governance and continued technological innovation. In his words, the difference between the Silicon Valley of India, Bangalore, and the Silicon Valley of the US, is that while the US focuses on innovation and start ups, India focuses on technologies. This is an interesting idea considering India's IT history. Regarding corporate governance, he shared an example from when Infosys was a relatively small company. For ethical reasons, they walked away from their contract with GE which comprised 60% of their revenues. Although it was a potentially disastrous move, they were determined to stick to their ethical standards. Additionally, Infosys is one of the few Indian companies that overtly avoids nepotism. In fact, none of the sons of any of the founders work at Infosys.
After Infosys we did some shopping for souvenirs. We found a great little shop with handmade gifts: silk scarves, carpets, jewelry and beautifully hand carved wood pieces. After some pretty impressive bargaining on Kylans part, we ended up with a couple of really beautiful wood jewelry boxes for the girls. Now, whether or not we actually got a great deal remains to be seen, but it was a fun introduction to street shopping and bargaining! After just one day, it was clear that we had scored big time with the participants on our trip. (The group dynamic was unbeatable and sharing the trip with a group of such highly accomplished, kind and interesting people proved to be one of the real highlights of the trip!)
We followed our shopping trip with a big group dinner at Tandoor and enjoyed some of the best Indian food to date (I have a feeling this won't be the only time we say that!) We were divided into groups of four to order, which turned out to be a great way to work it. Kylan and I teamed up with Andy and Kristina and ordered a tomato based vegetable curry, a lamb roganosh, and a chicken biriyani. Everything was great, but the vegetable curry with the garlic naan was unbeatable! As dinner wound down, the jet lag hit with a vengeance! We had been feeling pretty good before this and had plenty of energy throughout the day, but right about 8:30, you could feel a tangible dip in the energy level of the whole group and almost everyone at our table was fighting to keep their eyes open!
The last of the group arrived on Saturday morning and Kylan was in charge of the official kick off meeting. It was an absolute hit! He planned the meeting well with fun activities, group bonding experiences and of course tons of energy and excitement. It was really the perfect way to officially begin the trip. Everyone was laughing and having fun, especially Kylan since it was the last thing he was officially in charge of! After the meeting, we boarded a bus and headed to the NH hospital in "Health City" (a collection of hospitals and specialty clinics all located on the same campus).
We enjoyed an incredibly inspiring visit with Dr. Devi Shetty, the founder of the NH Hospital group. Dr. Shetty is a pediatric cardiac surgeon who has a grand vision of how the healthcare industry can and should be one of the largest economic growth engines for India. His vision involves technology and the way it can unify and standardize the healthcare system in order to improve outcome and increase volume which drives down cost and makes healthcare more widely accessible. NH is responsible for doing the most cardiac surgeries of any hospital in India with much lower costs than the US better outcomes than the national average. Additionally, we especially enjoyed some of his theories, including a dedication to hire women as often as possible. He does this for a couple of reasons; he likes to empower women with work, success and confidence and he prefers to put money in the hand of a woman because they are most likely to invest in the well being of their families (rather than on selfish interests likes alcohol, etc.). His enthusiasm was infectious and is exciting to think of the good that he and his organization will bring to the world.
"Never doubt that a small group of committed people can change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that has."
"If you want to walk fast, walk alone. If you want to walk far, walk together".
-notes of inspiration from Dr. Shetty's office
As I was enjoying the rapture of the moment, I rolled my head to the right to see if Jen was having the same experience. When I looked at Jen, she was in total peace. Her silhouette was beautiful, each detail of her faced profiled by the morning glow of a rising sun around her. At that moment, an indescribable smile entered my face. It was a rare moment of pure bliss. I just laid there thinking about how lucky I was to be with Jen, and to be with Jen in such a beautiful place. For just a moment, nothing else mattered. My world was filled with purpose and comfort. I had Jen in my life, and as long as I was near her, I would always be safe, loved, and have the confidence to do anything. I love her so much, it was a moment of clarity that I am forever grateful for.
Immediately after the yoga session, we grabbed a quick shower, changed into our Sunday clothes, and then took a motorized ricksha to one of the three small LDS branches in Bangalore. Church was delightful. We pulled up to a small but nice chapel right in the Heart of the city. The rickshaw ride was a treat and I'm really glad that we had the chance to experience the speed, the bumps, the honking, the density of the people and all the sights, sounds and smells of being down on the streets rather than up in our big air conditioned buses! When we arrived at church we met and spoke with the missionaries for a few minutes then went up to the chapel for sacrament meeting. The Elders had both been in India for about 10 months and when we asked what we could do to help with the meeting they responded with an invitation to fellowship, to give the members an example of what it is and how they could be more involved and proactive. I'm so grateful that the Elders mentioned this because as we went into the chapel we all felt compelled to take our time finding a seat, introduce ourselves, and interact with the members. We spent about 15 minutes walking through the chapel introducing ourselves and talking with the members. There was one psrticularyoung man who had a nice suit on with a BYU pin on his lapel. We asked him about it and he informed us that he was in the process of applying to BYU! what an incredible opportunity thatwould be for a young boy from Bangalore! When sacrament meeting began, the branch appeared to be quite small. Maybe 35-40 members, although there were a handful of young men who were able to pass the sacrament! The meeting was really nice, although we noticeably missed having an accompanist for the hymns. It was a really powerful reminder of how I should resurrect those hidden piano skills, at least enough to be able to accompany a group with the hymns!
The first sacrament talk was phenomenal. It was given by a young woman in her mid-twenties. She was very well-spoken, well-versed in the scriptures and she ended her talk with a powerful testimony that was really touching. As sacrament meeting ended, we found ourselves really wishing that we could stay for all three meetings to interact with the members and share their spirit. Unfortunately, we had to rejoin the group and leave right after the meeting. As we were leaving, Kylan tried to give his tie to one of the young boys who was at church without a tie. It was really moving to see the missionary spirit in Kylan and I feel like I got just a little taste of what he must have been like as a mssionary! The whole experience served as a reminder for how amazing it will be to serve a mission with Kylan. He has such a love for missionary work and for people, and I would love to be able to share that with him. It was a wonderful start to the day and I'm so glad we were able to find the chapel and make that work!
The rest of Sunday was pretty low key. We had wanted to take the group to see a Bollywood film, but couldn't find a theater that had English subtitles. So instead we went and saw Life of Pi, an American-made movie about an Indian boy. The movie was very interesting, but because its something any of us could see in the US, I kind of wish we would have been able to coordinate the Bollywood movie!
Following the movie we took the bus out to Dr. Shetty's "farmhouse", his completely georgeous family home, for a catered lunch and a pool party. As we drove out to the farmhouse Kylan had the chance to stand up and share a mini talk. He shared some of his journal entries from the time Lili spent in the hospital as well as some if the learnings he and we had discovered throughout that painful experience. He got more emotional than either of us expected, especially considering that itls been almost three years! I guess theres just something about seeing and even remembering your child in pain that evokes powerful emotions. Kylan is such a sweet father to those girls and it was touching to see how deeply he was affected by our daughters pain. Those are two lucky girls!
Unfortunately it was a little cool when we arrived at the pool and only the bravest of souls dared to jump in the water, of course you can guess who the first one in the water was?! Even though it was a little cool to swim, the weather was beautiful and it was actually really nice to have some time to just relax and hang out together. The Shetty's home was incredibly beautiful and provided a stark contrast with all the poverty that could be seen as we drove from one place to the next.
Following the pool party we drove for about an hour through the outskirts of Bangalore to visit the Iskon Temple. This temple is part of the Hare Krishna movement, a sect of Hinduism that was founded in the 1960's. Truthfully it was kind of a bizarre experience. There were thousands of believers who were packed into a tight line being shuffled quickly from one part of the temple to the next, in order to worship their gods. Then there was us, a big group of westerners there as tourists, who were able to skip the line, given front row access, and then a presentation of the sect, their beliefs, and the causes they promote. After the tour they took us down to a conference room where we were shown a very energetic and expressive PowerPoint presentation about the sect and their founder. The one saving grace of the tour was the presentation of the school lunch program the group has created. They provide lunch to many government schools, which encourages children who otherwise wouldn't be able to attend school and gain an education. It is a pretty impressive operation with a very meaningful cause at its heart. So, although the tour was an interesting experience, I would say that the overall experience ended on a high note.
The leadership team with two founders of Inmobi, one of India's great startup success stories
Everything about Bangalore was amazing. From the very first day it was abundantly clear that our trip leaders had done a phenomenal job of planning and coordinating this trip. Every last detail from the content of the meetings to the menu at our meals was meticulously planned. We were off to a great start and eager to continue with our adventure!
2 comments:
Oh my gosh I love these entries! So amazing, and I find that the more I read, the more questions I have about your trip! Could you please just write a book about it?
and thanks for the Dr. Shetty quotes! I plan on quoting him often!
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