Saying Goodbye is Never Easy- Week Six with SEWA (RUDI)

We were welcome3d with open arms into India, IIM-Ahmedabad, SEWA and RUDI and it is with heavy hearts that we have slowly begun to say our goodbyes to this beautiful place. Keeping in mind that this was our final week in India, we all tried to make sure we to do all the things we want to do before we leave on Monday.

Josh, Shari, and I made it to Agra last weekend via a short flight to Delhi and a 3 hour train which departed from the incredibly busy Delhi Train Station. During our visit, we managed to hit all of the mainstays of Agra: the Taj Mahal, Agra Fort, and Baby Taj. However, our two additional, personal favorites, also included Akbar’s Tomb and Joney’s Place, a rather suspicious looking restaurant that served amazingly delicious food for cheap prices. With that, our time in Agra was up, and we headed back via train to Delhi. We had hoped to see some of Delhi during this visit, however, rain and train delays had different plans for us.

Back in Ahmedabad, we made our final touches to the 44 page document that we were to present on Tuesday to the officials of RUDI and SEWA. However, we showed up to our office to present and, in classic Indian fashion, we were told that the presentation would have to be delayed until Thursday. Though disappointing, this was good news for Sofia, since she had been running a fever all night and was miserably sick with an unknown illness that took 2 days to recover from.

When Thursday came around, Sofia’s health had improved and we were able to present our final report. They thoroughly enjoyed our presentation and were impressed by the recommendations that we provided. In fact, they were a bit shocked at the amount of time it required us to present our whole report. Despite this, you could tell how grateful they were by their engagement and questions. After this, it was time to say some our first goodbyes. We had built a close relationship with Mr. SS Patel and were sad to part ways. A few pictures later and we were taking our last rickshaw back to IIM-A from the office.

All in all, this has been an incredible experience that we both have enjoyed greatly. We have taken a lot away2 from this internship, including the numerous skills we have developed, the many friendships we have made, and the incredible memories of our visits around India. Not only was working with an Indian union and company an amazing opportunity, but so was working with people from the US, UK, and India and seeing how our different working styles and viewpoints came together to make a flawless group and a fantastic end product.

India has treated us so well, but all good things have to come to an end. We say goodbye to the IIM-A and international student friends we have made tonight and soon we will have to say goodbye to each other too. We have become a small family and made a small home in India and it will be hard to leave, but we will forever be grateful for the time we have gotten to spend here.

GEO SEWA Interns