India Study Trip
David Carmel, MBA2
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Some flew east and some flew west as 18 students and 2 professors from the GSB traveled halfway around the globe to explore India, the world's second most populous country. The timing of the trip proved historic as tensions between India and Pakistan mounted over the December 13 bombing of India's parliament by Pakistani terrorists. These tumultuous events did not overshadow the profound and lasting impression left by a country with an interesting duality. On one hand, India has long-held traditions and customs, a complex and ancient history, and fatalism shared by many of the society's different castes. On the other hand, we encountered burgeoning entrepreneurship driven by a technologically savvy younger generation. We owed this extraordinary journey to the amazing leadership team of Bharathi Ramavarjula, Ajay Singh, Jo Pattabiraman, Peter deWeerdt, and Victoria Dimitrakopoulos, all MBA2s.
     From the moment we stepped off the plane in Delhi, India overwhelmed our senses. The beautiful saris worn by women, the roadside stands piled high with fresh vegetables, the highly decorated trucks and taxis with the exclamation "Horn Please" filled the streets with fantastic colors. The horns drown out most of the roadside conversations amongst groups of people (often drinking tea) and the songs stream over the radio in many different languages. While the smells in the streets and train stations leave much to be desired, Indian homes are filled with wonderful aromas of spicy food, sandalwood, and aromatic oils. Finally, we rarely went two hours without tasting some of India's fantastic cuisine, from the biryanis of the north to the dosas of the south. All of these sights, sounds, smells and tastes guided us through Rajasthan, Delhi, Bangalore, and Mumbai.
Rajasthan
     Ajay Singh led 10 second-year students on an initial "pre-trip" to explore the beautiful palaces of this desert state, located on the Pakistani border south of the disputed region of Kashmir. We flew from Delhi to Udaipur to tour the Lake palaces (setting for the James Bond movie "Octopussy") and to shop for the regions beautiful handy crafts (textiles, miniature paintings, jewelry, etc.). Jake Moskowitz, MBA2, joined the group after attending the wedding of Vivek Singh's, MBA2, cousin in Jaipur and reportedly looked "hot" in traditional Rajasthani turban and garb. MBA2s Molly Wood, Allison Broker, and Alisha Morgan, besieged by throngs of admirers repeatedly during the trip, found that their light hair dazzled Indian schoolchildren in the streets as easily as Stanford freshmen in the Quad. The pre-trip ended with a memorable night train ride from Mount Abu to Delhi -- during which David Carmel, MBA2, (and brother Jason) explored the link between Indian philosophy and business with an ice cream plant manager.
New Delhi
     The official trip began when everyone, including then Delhi-veteran Kristin Canavan, MBA2, and weary but resilient first years Elaine Wong, Julia Lay, Jennifer Hiltunen, and Craig Yee, convened for dinner on December 16th at Bukhara Restaurant. Deepti Jaggi, MBA2, and professor Seenu Srinivasan deftly rearranged visits for the following day (after the attacks on Parliament) to include meetings with a minister of disinvestments, a retired Army general, and Deepti's husband, Inder, who is responsible for Oracle's R&D operations in India. Inder later opened his house to the entire group who gorged themselves on his family's fantastic food and bought copious Pashmina scarves from a family friend. The following day, we took another of India's famous trains to Agra to see the famous Taj Mahal, built by Moghul emperor Shah Jahan in 1632 to enshrine the body of his favorite wife, Noorjehan, who died after giving birth to their 14th child.
Bangalore
     India's Silicon Valley is located in the laid-back, southern city of Bangalore. We had a phenomenal airport welcome from Jo's family replete with sandalwood garlands, chanting Hindu priests, and holy water. Not surprisingly, our visits focused on the growing IT sector with stops at the impressive and established Infosys and start-up Talisma. We also met with a venture capitalist from the Carlysle group, who was peppered with questions from the likes of Roberto d'Alimonte, visiting professor at the GSB and an always-enthusiastic participant. Much of the discussion focused on how India can "move up the IT value chain" by transitioning from call centers and data entry to professional services. We also got to eat at the famous MTR restaurant where we were joined by the families of Nandini Venkatesh, MBA2, and Jo.
Mumbai
     Our final destination was the cosmopolitan "gateway to India" formerly known as Bombay. Our first visit, and possibly the most interesting of the trip, was to the National Stock Exchange (NSE), which has consolidated trading from 21 other exchanges to become the largest in India. The NSE leadership showed us their impressive online trading platform that makes securities trading more universal and reliable. Although an improvement from its paper predecessor, the exchange is vulnerable to insider trading which is difficult to prosecute in India. Other notable visits in Delhi included a conversation with a Hindi filmmaker and a meeting with Reliance Industries, the largest privately owned company in India, which has successfully backward integrated in the petrochemical industries.
     Overall, India's promise is not eclipsed by the poverty that we so often hear about in this country. We invite you to learn more about our trip and to see the beautiful images from trip photographer Andrew Hui, MBA2, at the upcoming BBL.