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Our Second Week in Mumbai- Week Two at NISM

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Saturday July 1st

Today we headed into Mumbai to do some sightseeing. It was super busy and with us being the only Western people there, literally a whole crowd of Indian people wanted selfies with us. We walked around looking at some amazing colonial architecture and saw the Gateway of India which did not disappoint…

…until the heavens opened and we ended up looking like drowned rats (Memo looked like he’d just won a wet t-shirt competition). But as it’s monsoon season, this is just the usual and after five minutes it stopped and we carried on like before. Walking around the markets, Arran and Max successfully tried their hands at bartering and bought some wavey shades. We then went to Leopold Cafe, an infamous traveller hotspot since 1871, for some dubious looking food and lukewarm Kingfishers.

From there, we went on to the Stock Exchange Bar, as recommended by the interns the year before us, where prices of drinks fluctuate throughout the afternoon. As true finance students, we hedged our risk by making friends with the bartender to ensure fixed prices for our Bombay Sapphires. We sipped G&Ts on the rooftop and people-watched the hustle and bustle of Mumbai city centre, before heading back in an Uber, in which Arran took over the stereo!

Sunday July 2nd

Sunday is meant for rest and that’s exactly what we did on this day. After our first full work-week in India and a fun weekend adapting to the time difference, food, and general way of life, we stayed home for the most part of the day – sleeping and watching TV shows. But most importantly, resting and preparing for the commencement of our research the following day.

Monday July 3rd

After an exciting weekend, the first few days back at work were rather uneventful. In the absence of our supervisor Sandeep, we were a bit rudderless and spent Monday mostly reading papers and narrowing down our research plan. This turned out to be an agonising endeavour, given the broad scope of our topics, and the limited time available to us. As this may not have been the most productive day so far, we’ll instead view it as a helpful exercise in self-reliance and determination. Luckily, we found comfort in our after-work routine of gym and Netflix, and enjoyed a wonderful meal, prepared by our wifi-scrounging friend Kartik.

Tuesday July 4th

Consulting with our other supervisor (Mr. Panda) and Professor Chari on Tuesday proved to be beneficial, as we were able to make incremental progress, although the quest for useable data is still ongoing. In the afternoon, we attended a presentation by several Thomson Reuters representatives, who came to NISM to outline the benefits of (and ultimately sell) their Eikon analytics software. While it was not immediately pertinent to our research project, it did offer us a glimpse into how business is conducted in India and the rep was able to give us a useful introduction to the possibilities of the Eikon software. In the evening we were delighted to receive an invitation to the annual SBI Banking and Economics Conclave, to be held on Thursday. 

Wednesday July 5th

Hump day arrived quickly. We had our regular breakfast around 9am and got ready for another day at the office. Our team met with Dr. Latha Chari, who provided guidance for our research. This day we started diving deeper into our project, and the workday flew by.

After the workday was over, we went over to Inorbit Mall to buy a couple necessary goods, such as underwear (because at this point we’re still figuring out what to do about laundry and toiletries). To reward ourselves for our accomplishments of the day, we made a quick stop at Tight Bar. The friendly manager gave us the iconic Tight shirt worn by the employees there as a gift, along with some shot glasses.  Afterwards, we headed back home to relax and enjoy another chill night before a big day on Thursday.

Thursday July 6th

Today was different. We woke up an hour earlier than usual (and even skipped breakfast) for an important event: the 4th SBI (State Bank of India) Banking & Economics Conclave, held at the beautiful Taj Mahal Palace Hotel, just next to the historic Gateway of India. Bankers, economists, business men and women, and journalists from top institutions in the country attended and formed panels where they debated their opinions and standpoints on issues including demonetisation, the new GST (single tax), and future growth opportunities for India.

Lunchtime finally came and we were starving. Today’s meal could be possibly called one of the best we’ve had in India. The best part was the table of desserts, which included ice cream, different small cakes, and rasgulla.

Friday July 7th

Friday morning has so far been another regular workday at the office. We are continuing our research papers and working on the approach papers that are soon-to-be delivered to our supervisor. We look forward to another fun weekend in India!

-Guillermo

Week One at the Bharti Foundation

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When we landed we were pleasantly surprised with the organization of Delhi airport. It was super easy to navigate around and we were picked up with no problems at all by the driver from the guesthouse. The roads in Delhi are chaotic to say the least-cows, dogs, people, rickshaws, motorcycles, lorries, funnily enough even cars, were squeezing themselves into any available space on the “road”. The people at the guesthouse are so hospitable and friendly and there is a wide variety of food choices- no Delhi belly yet!

The second day we decided to visit Ambience Mall due to Annie’s lack of everything (Air China lost her bag). We hailed a rickshaw which was an experience in itself. This is the first time we realized how foreigners get ripped off- make sure you agree the price before you get in the rickshaw! Security is very strict at the mall, there are metal detectors and men with intimidating rubber gloves… every brand name you could find in the UK and USA was there.

First day of work: Our office is at the headquarters of Airtel and it’s been considered one of the best places to work in Delhi. We would all agree- it’s very modern, well air-conned and has unlimited free tea, coffee and biscuits. The people here are so friendly and helpful and very keen to give us advice on the do’s and don’ts of Delhi. It’s a very chilled and stress free environment, whenever a meeting takes place, phones are always going off which helped to relax us when we gave our initial presentation.

The cafeteria is amazing, it has a huge variety of food, from Subway to an Indian buffet to a Costa Coffee-we are spoilt for choice. People come and go as they please to the office, mainly to avoid rush hour which we love because it means a lie in! This week we got our first taste of monsoon season which is great for bringing the temperature down however not so great if you get caught out in it…don’t think even an umbrella would have saved us.

We ventured out to CyberHub which is this huge fancy outdoor place with loads of bars and restaurants ranging from Nandos and Dunkin Donuts to Indian food- we went for Hard Rock Café to to mix it up a bit from the usual curry. Looking forward to getting out to explore Delhi this weekend.

-Annie

Acclimatising to Our New Home: Week One at RBI

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To acclimatise to our new unfamiliar home for the next few weeks, we (the Newcastle students) decided to arrive into Mumbai a couple of days  before our internship commenced. We flew out from Heathrow airport on 23 of June at 21:30, arriving into Mumbai at 11:00 local time after a more tolerable 9-hour flight than expected thanks to Fawlty Towers and Shrek on the in-board flight entertainment system.

Just as we thought the journey was almost over, we had to travel four hours by taxi to Pune, however, a long McDonald’s stop made it more bearable. It is fair to say that the urban and rural surroundings on the journey were rather overwhelming as it was nothing like anything we had experienced before-the busy highways, wildlife, inequality in wealth and the views.

Ways we occupied spare time before the internship commenced and in the evenings in the first week included exploring the city of Pune and playing sports such as table tennis, pool, football and cricket. It didn’t take long for a group of locals to challenge us to a competitive game of cricket! As well as this, we were put to shame with our table tennis skills as we challenged some of the RBI workers.

A favourite place to visit in the evenings is a bar called Agent Jacks, the people are extremely friendly and the drinks are very cheap!

In terms of the project, we had an initial meeting with all our supervisors on the first day and we were shown around the fascinating RBI campus which is to be our home for the following six weeks. The campus library seems very useful as it has a large range of textbooks relevant to our group projects. All the Newcastle students and their respective Boston University teammates spent the first week understanding and thinking about the project. We have also been given a couple lectures enlightening us about the Indian culture and the functions of the Reserve Bank of India.

– Jack and Benjamin