WELCOME TO INDIA IV: MUMBAI( EXPECTATION SETTING)

Going on twitter on Christmas day made me miss home like mad, Chatting with my Sister did not help matter at all. Even though we are not Christians, we still make sure to enjoy Christmas in my house.

My number one problem right is that i do not have a mobile number, my BB has gone sick, and MTN is billing me like crazy to roam...500 Naira per min for calls and 100naira for a text.

The fun of Christmas did not start here till I went to the club with the other interns and I hooked up with my Naija people. Yesterday was the best part of the holiday, from eating tomato Ketchup sweetened stew and salt less rice prepared by the boys to the roof top farewell dinner for some of the interns going back to their Countries....
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His name is Mustafa and He is from Turkey.
He hates Mumbai right now.
His hatred for Mumbai started the moment he stepped out of the Airport
and took a breath of Mumbai.
He hates the traffic, the smell and the nonchalance of AIESEC Mumbai members
I heard he was crying at some point
He wanted to go back after one day.

Every one talked to him
They understood how he felt.
No one steps in Mumbai and not wish to could back back home.
I felt that way when I stepped into Mumbai.
The sight of Mumbai, made me think I had made the worse decision of my life
Berna from Uganda too wanted to go back.
Feyi, my friend and fellow Nigerian felt the same way too.

Later, they all got tired of talking to him.
I talked to him when I was in Mumbai.
I still talk to him now that I am here in Hyderabad.
I have stopped telling him about how beautiful Hyderabad is.
Because he started comparing cities and wished he was in Hyderabad.

But like the AIESECers we are, we keep an open mind
We do not pretend the craziness is not there,
We do not pretend like the poverty does not exist,
We do not pretend not to notice the ugliness,

Rather we take our mind off the poverty, the Ugliness
Rather we see the beauty and the potential
We keep an open mind and enjoy the opportunity to experience the world from a different point of view.

I do not blame Mustafa,
Neither do I judge him.
Rather I know,
It is either that he had an Unrealistic Expectation of India.
He might have heard of Chandigarh, which has an European feel and according to some is not Indian in anyway.
He might of have expected Mumbai to be like Hyderabad, the so called Silicon Valley of India.
He did not expect Mumbai to be dirty, crowded and with mad traffic.
He did not expect things to be expensive in Mumbai, the story says things are cheap in India.

I know for one thing, Mustafa did not read the AIESEC reception package which was sent to him.
If he had read it, he would not have been disappointed when he saw Mumbai.
He would not have had his hope dashed.
He would have readily accepted Mumbai for what it is.
He would never compare Mumbai to his home town in Turkey.

I just hope he would sit back, relax and enjoy the beauty of Mumbai.
Because even with its poverty and fast life.
Mumbai is beautiful.
Even though I did not get to explore Mumbai, I know it is beautiful.

It reminds me so much of Lagos.
The Lagos I knew before the days of Fashola.
The Lagos I grew up in and fell in love with.
I hope and pray that Mustafa would fall in love with Mumbai
Just like I am in love with Hyderabad.
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Happy Holidays people and may the new year bring us more joy, blessing and the best of this Life.
Happy New Year in Advance


♥ Lara  from Incredible India

WELCOME TO INDIA: Chaminar

Merry Christmas...wishing you all a love and fun filled Christmas...

Yesterday was work free day for us at TCS.
Like some people said, we were lucky to get a work free day, as India is not a Christian Nation.
So yesterday, Kristina, Sandra and I went out to tour Hyderabad.
The girls did not inform me that I was to take my resident permit, I actually thought Chaminar was a market. I was so mad when I was told to pay 100Rupees instead of 5Rupees the other girls and Indians payed.

Charminar (Telugu: చార్ మినార్, Hindi: चार मीनार)  meaning "Mosque of the Four Minarets" and "Four Towers" is the most famous mosque and monument in the city of Hyderabad, capital of the state of Andhra Pradesh, India.

Charminar is also home to Hyderabadi Pearls and Jewellery...If you are planning an Indian themed wedding, Charminar is the place to get the very best in Hyderabad. We did not get pictures of the Market, we were busy looking and forgot to take pictures.

Chaminar...home of De Chaminar van Haidrabad..."The Arc de triomphe of the East"

Chaminar...home of the Makkah Masjid...one of the oldest and biggest Mosques not only in Hyderabad, the whole of India.

Pictures of the Girls and I

This is all I can post for now...make sure to enjoy the holiday and make the best of it...Happy Holiday people.

♥ Lara  from Incredible India 

WELCOME TO INDIA III: MUMBAI

Before coming to India, most of what I knew about the country was what we watched on Bollywood and the beautiful accounts of Members who I sent to the country way back in 2006, when I was Vice President Responsible for Students going on Exchange/Internship. 

I remember one of the Interns coming to Mumbai and he arrived on the same week of the train bombing in 2006. He was in fact on the train but the compartment he was in and a few others where the few spared. Apart from the bomb scare, there was no complaint from him and He actually was interested in going on another internship. The other interns visited Delhi, Chandigarh and Pune and they all loved it. I had one who refused to come back and I had to practically beg the chick to come finish her study. She was in her finals but fell in love with Chandigarh and was ready to take the risk to start all over. 

If one is not open minded, you hate Mumbai, the moment you set sight on the airport, just before the Plane lands. I get it renovations are going on but the the exterior of the Mumbai airport is not welcoming at all. The beauty of the airport is inside, and better than Nigeria but the structure of the Nigeria airport alone is pride enough. 

The slums of Mumbai starts just outside the airport...welcome to Mumbai is welcome to the slums...Mumbai is overcrowded and crazy...This is not a post to paint Mumbai bad...I here there are some beautiful place in Mumbai...I just feel the airport is located at a wrong spot...The Airport to me is passing out the wrong message about Mumbai... stayed with my friends for two nights in at a district called Anderi West...Not really bad but not encouraging...A fellow Intern who arrived 2days before me and who is going to be working in Mumbai just cannot seem to adjust...right now the culture shock is too much for him and he just might not be here for too long.

Gist about him in my next post.

* I got my resident permit today

WELCOME TO INDIA II: First Day at Work

Today, I officially resumed work at Tata Consultancy Services.

Resumption time is 10am, so I can get enough sleep.

All I did was just fill out my resident permit registration form, get documents I would be taking with me to the FFRO and resolve issues with my data stored on the system. The person who created my employee id mixed up my name, wrote my surname as my first name and middle name as Surname. I had to wait for

There so much security and technology down in the office, Laptops and any other forms of electronic gadgets are not allowed, had to drop my laptop at the reception...Kristina did not tell me about this till we got to the front of the gate.Every employee has to swipe their ID to enter the building and offices. My log in details to use the computer is different from the log in details to use the company's system portal. My log in to the system portal was blocked because I typed in a wrong password thrice. All mails and social networking sites are blocked. Every one is so busy and I have to learn as fast as I can, because no body has the time to baby sit. Kristina has been so helpful, helping me out with all the registrations and following to about.

I was the only one in a suit, the Indian chicks were all in Saris, Kristina had on a jacket and a regular pant...some serious dressing down. I have to go lock my suit up and get myself some pants. It is too cold for the skirts I brought.

Tomorrow I have to go to downtown Hyderabad to the FFRO office to get my resident permit, I have been in India for 5days now and have less than 9day to get my permit. After getting my permit, then can I get a bank account and phone number. I hear the process of getting a number is so long and worse than applying for an american visa. I was expecting Tata telecoms would provide us with numbers but all subsidiaries are operated seperately so we must follow due process even though they share a parent.

Yesterday we attended a children event downtown Hyderabad. The name of the event is Balakalakaar and it is an art program organized by AIESEC Hyderabad for the public school children. Kristina, Sandra and I arrived at the end of the event, after almost getting lost...one thing with Rickshaw (Keke Marwa, as it is called in Lagos) drivers here is even though they do not know where you are going to them will tell you to enter and start doing roundabout till they find the place. Every one was staring at us as we entered the venue, I shake hand with them kids tire, I smiled till my mouth hurt. I said my name to so many time, I never stoped hearing, Hello, Miss what is your name? Your name is nice., Where are you from? Is this your real hair? My braids wa pulled so many times...I even signed autograph...my head was swelling.

Representing Naija: Dotun, I, OZ, Micheal, Anthony and Ib

Dotun and I are Teammates at TCS, the others are here in Hyderabad working in the schools with the kids. Iz is done with her internship and leaves for Nigeria on Thursday.

I have been eating them Indian dish, but I have been playing safe eating delicacies of rice...my best and the only one I know the name for now is Chicken Biryana. I ate it at some restaurant I and the other interns went to yesterday. It was some sort of send off for the some of the interns. In the last five days I have met and interacted people from all continents of the world. I am having fun and still very much overwhelmed. 

Right now I have sore throat and runny nose, Hyderabad is so cold...one of the reasons I decided to come down to India was because I believed it is hot and just like Nigeria, but I am wrong. People are wearing winter coats and Jackets here, even the Europeans find it cold.

Also there is a gym, tennis court, basket ball court at work...All work and no play makes a TCS staff dumb.

Good night people.

♥ Lara  from Incredible India

WELCOME TO INDIA I

I am supposed to start my gist from my arrival in India, but my experience in Hyderabad from yesterday took a very interesting turn.

I arrived Hyderabad on Friday after missing my flight on Thursday night, with my excess luggage and all *Mumbai gist later. I am staying at the Tata quarters till I get my own apartment.

I had to go to work yesterday, because a annual departmental training for my team was going on which I could not miss since they all knew I was in India. I got to meet my teammates, for now we are 3 ACE Interns in the team...two of us from Nigeria, the other has been here since last year, and might be leaving anytime soon and one lithuanian chick, Kristina, who is one hell of a character...the rest of the department people are Indians who all seem cool.

I find the city of Hyderabad overwhelming and intimidating, and it is a far cry from Mumbai...All major IT company's are represented here...Google, Amazon, Dell, to name a few and I guess that is why it is called the silicon valley of India.

I have always known that the Tata Group is a huge conglomerate and they practically own the whole of India as they have subsidiaries in every sector of the economy...but I did not expect the Tata Consultancy Services Limited to be a Corporation on its own...in Hyderabad, they have 3 different huge offices, just like in Mumbai and the security details is on another level...It brings back memories of visit to Exxon Mobil in Lagos.

Understanding the sessions was so hard, because the English spoken by this people is on another level...I would call it bastardized English, I hope I will be able to construct a correct sentence by the time I leave here. The presentation and quiz sessions by my team mates is the part I enjoyed in the whole session. During quiz one of the groups was asked the meaning of Job Description Title and dude said job...I could pick out the competitive, the intelligent and the *I am just lucky to be here* personalities.

Later that night, we decided to hang out with other   interns in Hyderabad and some other TCS interns from Mumbai and Chennai....I have to prepare myself for a lot of traveling with this people. Most of the other Interns are from Europe with a sprinkle from Latin America and just 2 of us from Africa. There was also this nerdy dude who works with Amazon and who seems to like Kristina with us.

Seems like there is a typical blood which runs through AIESECers around the world...drinks and partying...the drinks where already flowing by the time we got to the house of the other interns...after a while we set out to the club...by 12am on the dot the plug was pulled and we had to go...also typical of AIESECers they wanted to create a party of their own. We later ended in the house of some Brazilian dude who works for Novartis and there the party began and the trouble started.

At 2.30am, there was a knock on the door, and everyone was suddenly silent...the door was opened and we saw 2 residents and about six people who claimed to be police officers at the door. They said we were consistuiting a nuisance, asking what we were doing, what we were playing and all sorts of funny questions.
Brazilian guy told them to he would switch off the music and that they should leave his apartment, but they refused. Later they went out and some of us decided to leave...when we got to the lift, we were not allowed to leave and was told there was a procedure. One of Brazilian guy's friend had exchange words with the so-called police officers and they were claiming that he is an illegal immigrant, even after dude showed them his work ID.

The men came back to search the apartment after all the guys followed them downstairs, in their mind, we had to be doing drugs or something bad for us to be partying at night. Then Kazakhstan girl got up told them to leave the apartment, that they had no right to be searching the apartment. She requested for the so-called police man's ID card, which he could not produce and told them that anyone could be dressed in their so-called uniform and claim to be a policeman. One of the residents, who was the one spear-heading the search then asked her to stay out of the whole issue since she was not the owner of the apartment. I loved the way she talked back to the man who was obviously affluent and told them all to leave the apartment. Everyone kept telling me after, welcome to India, welcome to the craze of India.

At 3.45am, Kristina, Sandra and I walked in the freezing night to our apartment which was not really far...We would all find out about how the issue was resolved at work on Monday.

Today we are attending a children's event organized by AIESEC Hyderabad, we get to meet other non-TCS interns and I will be officially reporting to work on Monday.

Here is a view of the office where I would be working...

A wonderful week to you all, and Merry Christmas in advance, even though there is no feeling of Christmas here in Hyderabad.

♥ Lara  from Incredible India

Namaste...

Namaste...

Thank you guys for all your comments.

I left Nigeria yesterday and I arrived Mumbai at 4.00 am Naija Time which was 8.20am in India today safely.

I had a hours stop over at the Dubai airport and I must say just seeing the Airport alone, the Country is Beautiful.

I spent the better part of my 2hrs 15min flight of the Dubai to Mumbai time sleeping and I ate my first Indian Dish on the plane. The name of the food is Anda Bhurji which is a meal of scrambled eggs, with sauteed potatoes with mustard seeds, and lentils cooked with fresh spinach.

I spent the better part of the day sleeping as everyone was at work...it is 12.35am of which it is 8.05pm in Nigeria, everyone is asleep now, but my body is still doing Naija time.

Mumbai is just like Lagos, the traffic, slum and the gra gra of drivers...to me it the Lagos of India.
I leave for Hyderabad tomorrow by the Grace of God...getting a ticket is so expensive right now and I have a team training to attend on friday...so I have no choice but to be in Hyderabad tomorrow.

Till later.

♥ Lara 

Story of my life

Same time, last Sunday... I was not sure of anything. On Friday, the 3rd of December, I resigned from my job with immediate effect. I was jobless and angry with my mum, she was denying me the opportunity of a life time. I had planned to travel to Abeokuta and hang out with my Bestie till I was sure of the next step to take.

Thing is, I did not want to leave the country with out my parents permission or consent. I spoke to a friend on Saturday the 4th of Dec, and he told me to go back to my mum and make her understand how much this opportunity means to me.

I was selected for a one year Human Resources Internship with Tata Consultancy Services in India and for me this is a dream come through. Mum did not have any issue with it when I told her,then she spoke to my dad and she changed mouth. Now I know you never become an adult to your parent because they believe they still always make the best decision for you.

When I talked with mum last Sunday, she did not even allow me finish and just agreed. She was surprised I had gone ahead to apply for my visa after she had told me she wasn't allowing me go.

She is allowing me go on one condition that I come back at the end of my internship, no staying back or have any plan to settle in india.

The last one week has been crazy, my start date is Dec 1 so I am already as of today, 12 days behind schedule. Getting a ticket self was Wahala. I come from a pretty much close maternal family and I have had to practically visit almost every one to tell them of my intending trip.

I leave on Tues the 14th, and fly to Mumbai but my final destination is Hyderabad. I shall be spending a day or two with friends in Mumbai.

What the future holds I know not but I intend to trust in my God and utilize every opportunity.
A wonderful week to you all.

♥ Lara