Ginger from Goa, Curry from Madras and Belgian chocolate

These days I went with a friend to a chocolate exhibition on Radio Hall in Bucharest. There was chocolate and sweets from different European parts. Till now, the best chocolate I had is the Belgian one, so let’s go to the Belgian chocolate stand.

What do we have here? Belgian chocolate with Ginger from Goa?! Ginger from Goa?! Maybe you want to say tan from Goa, or sand, beach, but for sure Goa is not famous for ginger.

Then… What else do we have here? Belgian chocolate with Curry from Madras?! Spice and chocolate… It is more masala on chocolate shape than chocolate.

Belgian chocolate with Indian species. It can be an interesting combination I thought, but these ones were just pathetic. It had nothing to do with the real and delicious Belgian chocolate and they were insane expensive.

The saddest part was that people bought them just because the seller said is a great Belgian chocolate with something that then don’t even know what it is.

That’s why I love to travel!

I will be back

This is another draft I found in my laptop these days. It is from the same period as the previous one, when I was leaving India.

I think India was the challenge of my life and it’s now when I start having contact with my world when I notice how much this experience change me. I remember I use to cry because the life is unfair, because the things are not as I want them to be. I was always fine after maximum one – two days, I was always keeping the head up and go on, but I always had that bad feeling about the unfair thing happen to me.

A lot of the trainees get very frustrated in India and one here always has ups and downs. Almost all my internship I loved India, but I know I had days when I hated it, when I couldn’t understand it, when I didn’t want to accept what is going on around me, there were days when I was 100% convinced I want to go back to my pink world and days when I was truly sure that I can live here for longer and enjoy being here.

Now, when I see my luggage already done, I know I want to go back home, I want to stop blaming India for all the bad things are happening to us here, I want to remember how is at home, which things are really underdeveloped here and which ones are our frustrated invention. I want to see how the western world is.

Happy Independence Day, India!

For the one that has been my home country for more than a year and for those who have been my guides and made my Indian experience unforgettable:

Happy Independence Day, India!

Happy Independence Day India!!!

India, love and hate relationship

Last night I was checking the Facebook updates and I found Alexandra Birladeanu’s post: India and I, which inspire me to write this reply post.

My Indian experience is over since 3-4 weeks already, I lost the count long time back.

It’s been more than a year in which lots of things happened: legislation, hospitals, police, borders, new holidays, traditions, rules, new friends, old friends, babies, weddings, love stories, life stories, dirt, rats, pollution, monsoon, heat, beaches, faith, love, fights. Some of them can happen being at home as well, some of them are normal for an internship abroad, but after reading Alex and Romeo’s blogs, I think there are things which can be lived only in India.

We all come to India with lots of enthusiasm and adventure spirit. We expect it to be harsh; we expect the bugs, heat, monsoon, illnesses, uncomfortable bed, crowd, mosquitoes to be there; and we come with enough open heart to go beyond this, or at least that’s what we think. Therefore at the beginning, we are fascinated about the traditions, festivals, cloths, jewelleries, relationships, myths. We really love India. I did it! I was happy there. I was excited to play Holi, draw rangoli, decorate the house for Diwali, eat sweets, wear a salvar kameez, saari and so on and so forth. But somehow something happens on the way.

It’s like passionate love, or a love at a very young age: you live it too intensely and it consumes faster. If you don’t learn to live it with the right persons and in the right way, it goes away or even worse, it’s becoming suffocating and you start hating it. We experience too many extreme things that we’d never done in our countries: living in a very bad neighbourhood, travelling with “Personalul” (slow train, cheap and unsafe for girls in the night) from Iasi to Bucharest to save money (I don’t think anyone of us ever thought about it), or eat from unhygienic places; just to give some few examples. And after living a couple of months like this, and adding some new elements as heat, pollution, climate, friends who are far away, one doesn’t have the same open mind to bear with bureaucracy, crowd, new people, and even worse, starts being rude in situations in which normally is not.

And we want to live everything. At least I did: I wanted to see everything was to be seen travel all across India without caring how – I was sure, I will not be back to this land soon. But after being everywhere I wanted to, after doing everything I wanted to, eating, trying everything crossed my mind in a year, living in cheap rooms with bed bugs, getting allergy, I think I learn to listen and understand why my colleagues in office were always telling me: “we don’t do that, we don’t travel like this”. Every country will have good and bad things, beautiful and ugly places, and if we want to love a place, live there (for a year internship one needs his/her own Indian home) and enjoy it, it has to be a nice one, and now, I found it unfair to blame Indians for the frustrations we get due to the way we decide to live.

I also think we are too young, immature and ignorant when we come to India. After I came back from my South-East Asia trip I think we should do that before living in India. We should have a live preparation about Asia culture and lifestyle of a month or so, and afterwards going to Incredible India. Most of the times we have no idea how different can be this continent, or that Europe is a pink and wonderful world, but the only one and it is just a very small part of the world. Therefore me and others to don’t say all of us (those who stay for a year especially), come to India and when we get tired, start blaming India for a lot of things. Don’t know if higher salary is the solution, guess a better and more open AIESEC India will mean less frustration too.

All in all, I haven’t heard stories so intensely lived as in India. As Indians like to say: “India has everything!”, and it can’t be just love, it is love – hate relationship.

Guess how long I’ve been in India according with Indian emigration authorities

Responsibility? Quality? Efficiency?

These are words which are unknown for the big Indian mass. The intention of this post is not to criticize, nor raise a question mark for the Indian citizens who use their brains.

This week I’ve been once again to FRRO (Foreigner Regional Registration Office) to extend my visa and first of all my visa application was rejected because: “the AIESEC logo is black and white instead blue, and even if it has the stamp and the signature in original it is not an original, it is a fax”. Excuse me!!!??? Who told you it has to be blue?! Who are you to certify that a document is brand aligned or not? How it matters for you if it is brand aligned or not if it has the signature and stamp in original? And what do you know about the brand AIESEC to say how it supposes to be?

Finally I succeed to convince the ladies from FRRO Mumbai that it can be black and white as well and I promise next time I go I will gift them the page from the AIESEC Brand Toolkit which says how can be the logo in a document. Well, if they insist, then will teach them about the brand AIESEC.

In India the security is a very high concern because of objective reasons, so the authorities need more information about everyone is in India than in my country for example. Very reasonable and understood able. And now guess something:

What is the information that Indian Emigration Office has about me?

According with The Indian Emigration Office I have been in India for 3 years!!!! My visa was issued in 2007 and it expires in 2010, but my passport was issued in 2008.

Me to the lady from FRRO: “This is a mistake! How can this be possible?!”

The lady: “Ah, it is just a typo, you must be inserted wrong, it is fine, and we will modify it”.

For sure I didn’t write that my visa was issued in 2007!!! And even if that will be true, you have to verify it. It’s insane!! It is an official document! How can you make such kind of mistake??!!! It is not your personal diary where you can make mistakes, it is about people, immigration documents, legal documents, lives!

I will never stop to be amazed about how some Indians can justify everything; absolutely everything can be forgiven and justified. They don’t think: “oh, uh, i made a mistake I should be more careful”. No! Excuses, excuses and excuses! I’m sorry guys, but there is no excuse for a mistake as saying that I’m an Indian citizen in an official exam record, or write in a visa application of a Canadian citizen that is Indian and because of it her visa gets rejected and after she needs visa to enter in UK, or saying that I’ve been in India for the last 3 years.

All this is called incompetency, irresponsibility, not using the brain!

What if the Indian authorities have the same wrong records about those who are involved in illegal things?!

It is possible! Good customer service in India

I never could believe it can happen, or at least to live the moment in which it will happen to meet a nice guy who can tell such kind of things, and it happened!! It happened last night!!

We don’t have internet at home any more, should it be because we never paid it in the last half a year? Maybe. And Burcu, our resource finder found internet for free in Oberoi Mall, therefore we grab our laptops and went there last night. After providing all identity proof, finally we got our passwords and tam tam we went to enjoy the half an hour of free internet in the food court.

And we start the investigation: plugs? Ah ui.. no… wait, I don’t have the adapter with me, but my plug should work as well. Good! It worked, what’s next? Connect to internet.. Uiiii… this is a real challenge! My computer shows: Local only. Where is the internet???

Burcu, as usual, finding the way to success very easy and sometimes less knowledge about computers really helps, so she helped me with the steps, but if she was not there with me, what do I do? Some steps to connect to the internet written on the same paper as the password? Or is too much to ask? Ah to don’t say that the application works only for Internet Explorer. Uiii!!! And if I have a MAC what do I do? Or Linux? AI no!!! This is discrimination!!! Racism!!!

Yeah, well… so Burcu was connected and had Internet, but wait… they have access points only on ground, 1^st and 2^nd floor and the food court is at the 3^rd, uiii.. yeah, that must be why the internet is sooooo slooooow… Ok, let’s go down and have a better network, maybe I will get connected too. Down.. oh uh… plugs? near benches or benches near plugs to can connect my old laptop whose battery doesn’t work anymore? No way, ok ok, I really need internet, I really need to tell my mom: Mom!!! I’m coming home!!! Make sure you finish all the constructions before I come. 😀

I’m seeting near the plug, on the floor, in a mall, hoping I will get internet, but… of course… no chance L I cannot connect because the application fails after I press login. What is this? Are you offer me a service or not? I lost one hour trying to connect without success and I have no idea why.

Very angry, and hungry too, I’m going to the reception to complain: where is my internet? The service you promise me. The guys are looking lost at my laptop because of course they have no idea about computers, networks and other related things, so one of them has the brilliant idea of apologizing and asking me for my negative feedback and how can they improve their services. Ai, well, honestly I prefer internet than this, but well, let’s be nice and cooperate coz at the end, it’s not their fault.

Well congrats to the Oberoi mall reception guys! Good job!

11:20 PM, no internet, the stomach is crying, we are in the mall, the food court is still open, then, let’s have momos at least. Too late, the momos counter is closed, frankies? Nope, closed. Ok ok!! KFC!

Hello!! Anybody there? I can see you? If you don’t show up I go to McDonalds.

The KFC guy: sorry madam, we closed already.

Me: Aiiii, no!! You can’t close, you still have food (they had a full grill with chicken), what do you do with it?

The guy looks at the chicken and after at me and gives me my tray with food and.. uii… the change. Hmm.. aa?? Uu?? No wait, something is wrong, I gave you 100 Rps, how can you give me 100 back, you have to give me 50 back.

The KFC guy’s boss: I’m sorry madam, we cannot generate you a bill, so we can’t get the money.

Well, congrats to KFC guys too! It is possible to be a nice front desk and take care of your customers.

Talent management in India

Raise your hand those who have seen The Secret!

I always been fascinated about the unwritten and inexplicable law of attraction, about how some things can attract other things, how can someone attract you and someone else let you completely indifferent, how can you be so close of something and nothing happens or so far away of achieving something and suddenly everything starts adjusting in such a good way.

But, this post is not about the law of attraction, I was just remembering that movie and I was thinking to use it as introduction for my serious post.

On Friday we (my team) had a discussion with our managers about multiple things. One of points touched during the conversation was about the employees’ motivation and long term perspectives offered by the company.

I’m looking around and it is quite sad what do I see: after 2-3 years in an project, people want to move out, want to do something different, a lot of them don’t know what they want, where to go, they just know they want something different or an opportunity of being transferred abroad for a period of time. I don’t know if I’m an idealistic because on the last 3 years of my life I’ve been working in an NGO or as a trainee, but I think we should have an HR person who should help the employees to find out their role in the company.

Too many people just don’t know what to do with their career; they grumble and complain because their managers don’t want to give them permission to try out another project, or they jump from a company to another because the new one offers them 40-50% higher salary.

But the topic is not about what should be done in TCS in order to have employees more motivated, more productive or happier, it is just about a different reality, or the problems faced by Indian companies in this moment.

Coming back from work, on Friday, when I checked my personal email I’ve seen I got a new newsletter from Gallup and one topic attract my attention:  Creating a Talent Pipeline in India.

It is like the continuation of the discussion we started in office, but with researched information and solutions. I wanted such kind of article since long time ago and it came exactly on the right day (that’s why I was mentioning about the law of attraction on the start of my post). The article reveals the root cause of the consequences related before in the post.

While in Europe the recession fronses everything making almost impossible getting a good and well paid job because almost nobody is hiring people, in India there are a lot of recruitment processes going on because all companies have to cut costs, and how can you do that better than getting cheaper labor? India is an enormous pool of choices for the western companies because of the huge amount of people.

Therefore, in times of recession, big companies are coming here and run recruitment campaigns for masses. Some companies have a certain daily schedule for interviews and one has to go there with her/his CV and wait on the line. It may be good for a recent graduate because you can get very easy in a big company, but I cannot say the same about those who have some experience and knowledge about their career aims. Personally I will never go to an interview when the interviewer didn’t have the courtesy of reading my CV before, and is sending me a mass invitation to an interview.

Personally, I totally disagree with this way of recruiting; I found it less of respect for my person and for my professional preparation, and for sure such kind of companies don’t deserve people who prepare for an interview and who work later for the growth of the company.

All in all, the companies still recruit masses of people to can make more money, more projects, but the truth is that if you don’t give attention and importance to the individual, she/he will not do it either to you. What all this big empires seems to don’t understand is that sometimes, less might mean more.

I’m looking at my team and after almost one year I believe it is the perfect example of my affirmation. Why to have 100 people who don’t do too many things, when you can have 20 and do a great jobs, have higher salaries and the managers can have more time to allocate to individuals not only to masses.

A big mistake that the companies do in their race of making more and more money, is recruiting all kind of engineers (mechanics, electronics, etc) for IT jobs and freshers join projects without having the minimum knowledge about programming and they are expected to deliver a complex and qualitative project, but they finish losing countless time in preparation and mistakes, without ever reaching the performing stage.

In their article Shakun Khanna and Vikas Chaturvedi from Gallup, reveal the current problem faced by India and solutions to it. Here you can find the article: Creating a Talent Pipeline in India.

Being Indian: Inside the real India

It’s been a couple of months since I heard about this book and after reading the reviews and listening the recommendations I was eager to read it. I found it very easy on the office’s library and finally I started reading it.

It supposed to provide some answers to the questions about Indians and Indian culture. I said suppose because I didn’t finish reading it. Personally, I expected a different kind of book, a book which says more things and talks less, but it is full of details and names which don’t say anything to me. I found it very difficult to digest because of the multitude of very detailed historical stories which I don’t understand, and that I tend to skip, so I think at the end I finish missing the whole point of the book.

I guess for an Indian it will be more meaningful because a national will can understand more from those names and facts and the author of the book is also an Indian.

Here you can find more details about the book: Being Indian: Inside the real India.

If you finish reading it, please tell if I should make another intend in reading it.

Let’s talk about trips! – South India

Living in India I discovered a new passion: planning trips. I think I will be a good trip advisor, or working in a travel agency. No, no I’m not praising myself.

Let’s take south India, the most recent place where I’ve been. South India is amazing. One can make several trips here depending what you want.

In my case… well, it has to be a crazy trip with lots of things to see. Here is my personalized trip:

Hampi: The impressing city made of stone!! The landscape is absolutely impressing! IF you go to the River Restaurant you can have the best view and enjoy your food, food which has only the names of the Indian items just enough to fool informants of Indian cuisines.

Being a very attractive touristic spot, the locals have transformed their houses in guess houses, so it is very easy to find a nice, cheap and welcoming accommodation.

Everything is on walk able distance but if you hire a bicycle will give you more mobility.

Bangalore – the city of gardens. They say it is not a nice city, I say it is beautiful. Half day city tour is more than enough to love the city and without discover the bad things they say about it.  You can choose a travel agency or the private rickshaws that will show you the entire city for free, just visiting some shops. You get your city tour with guide included (most of them speak a basic English – enough to understand the story behind the city walls) and he gets petrol coupons from each store just for bringing people, and more for foreigners. I think it is a win to win situation, more if you are 2-3 persons, who means 400-600 Rps for the half day city tour with a travel agency … and free full day city tour with a rickshaw.

They have an amazing palace – Bangalore Palace and very beautiful botanic garden!

Mysore. Honestly I expected more beautiful palaces, but it was good… If there not been thousands of kinds visiting the touristic spots in the same time as us, staring at the foreigners, shouting and pushing, for sure I would have enjoyed more Mysore.

The Zoological Garden was the most entertaining part because the animals were very beautiful, most of them had a special arranged  zone which reproduce their natural habitat and it was the first time I’ve seen several species like giraffes. The bears which are unfailing in our Romanian zoos didn’t show up.

Ooty! Nice hill station. Lots of tea plantations. You can visit almost everything by your own, walking a lot, enjoying the nature, a city tour will make sure you transportation and nothing else. If you don’t have enough time to walk a lot, a travel agent is a good option.

YWCA is definitely the best deal you can get in terms of accommodation and delicious food.

Munnar – another hill station, very famous for tea. I feel more educated after visiting Munnar. I didn’t know all we call tea is actually infusion and there is only one tea plant and what makes us having so many tea selections is actually the process, and much more, the market strategies.  You shouldn’t miss the Tata Tea Museum and the tea tasting.

Cochin – nice, quiet and very humid, so be ready to sweat a loooot! The travel agencies make very nice backwaters tours: half day on a house boat, and discovering the delicious mussels and the coconut flower water which becomes alcoholic drink after 6 hours, homemade food and on the second part of the day going on the small canals in a canoe enjoying the silence and seeing the Kerala life village.

You cannot miss the Khatakali (one of the oldest theater forms in the world) and Kalaripayat (it is considered to be the father of the martial arts) representations.

Kerala is a very good destination for honey moon, especially for the house boating which allows you to enjoy the silence and the beautiful nature.

Madurai – is hosting the most beautiful temple I ever seen. The city itself is very small, fact which makes it ideal for a short transit visit.

If you want to see more pictures, here you have: Anca’s pics from South India trip!!!

Pictures from my trip to the North of India

And after 3 months… here it goes:

Anca’s photos from Anca’s crazy trip to the North of India!!!

Mumbai -> Varanasi -> Agra -> Jaipur -> Delhi -> MCleodGanj -> Amritsar -> Haridwar -> Delhi -> Mumbai

http://picasaweb.google.com/anca.onuta/NorthIndiaTrip#

Enjooooooooy!!!! 🙂

PS: If you like them, let a comment here!

For curious this picture is made by an amazing nice and cheap guide at Taj Mahal. If you want the contacts just ask me.