On India

I just returned from a one week trip to India with two colleagues from the US.  We began the journey at our facility in Bangalore then travelled to Mumbai and finally ended up in Chennai.  India is a country of contrasts to say the least.  You can find some of the finest 5 star hotels situated next to shantytown slums.  India has some of the best IT infrastructure in the world but has some of the worst road infrastructure as well.  You can look out the car window and see Bollywood stars walking down a 5th Avenue style boulevard only to have your view suddenly blocked by a 11 or 12 year old slum dweller holding and infant and begging for food or money.  India is a vibrant country however that is in the midst of incredible growing pains.  There is activity everywhere as the country tries to keep pace with the huge amount of growth and investment that is flooding into the region from foreign companies.  Its like India is a teenager that has had a growth spurt over the summer but has yet to update its wardrobe so none of its clothes fit quite right.  To be sure, the Indians are a very industrious and hardworking people.  They pride themselves on their rich cultural heritage and are always more than eager to explain the multiple religions, gods and temples that you come across in the course of the day.  Temples and shrines are ubiquitous even to the point of them being set up in our factory.  They place incense and matches next to a statue of Ganesha (the elephant headed God who is a lessor god that handles all troubles in this world) for use whenever they feel a need to pray.  During our time in Mumbai there were two very much anticipated events taking place.  The first was an ominous one as the entire country was awaiting a verdict in a years old court case regarding the destruction of a Islamic mosque by the Hindus.  The judgement has been years in the making and the tensions were very high as the government closed schools for the day anticipating a violent reaction by the "losing" party in the case.  Fortunately, the judgement was postponed due to the Commonwealth Games and all the troubles they have been having there.  I guess the government wanted to limit their "crisis management" to one major issue at a time.  the second event we experienced in Mumbai was of a very different and festive nature - the annual Immersion of Ganesha ceremony.  For this tradition everyone in Mumbai (okay NOT everyone but literally hundreds of thousands) constructs or buys a clay or plaster of paris Ganesha statue and parades it through the streets until they reach either the ocean or lake then proceed to walk the statue into the water where it dissolves away.  This is symbolic of giving all of your troubles to Ganesha and he washes them away in the water - I think.  the statues come in all shapes and sizes with the largest being 20 to 30 feet tall!  Bands of people throng into the street and traffic is all but stopped for hours as the celebration moves toward the water.  The Times of India estimated that over 190,000 Ganesha statues were immersed on this particular occasion!  India's tourism board has coined a slogan that I find absolutely fitting - Incredible India!  I look forward to returning later this year - probably in December or early January.  I just hope they get the verdict settled before I return!  I have added a couple of web links on the blog that pertain to India if you are interested.