Our Final Week in India – Week 6 with the Bharti Foundation
Our final week here in Gurgaon started off with a hectic trip to Agra to see the Taj Mahal (it would be rude not to when in North India!). The train journey
was just as crazy as the bus journey to Rishikesh in week 5. A lack of understanding resulted in the team buying the wrong tickets and the first hour of the journey was spent playing musical chairs across nearly all the carriages. We arrived at the hostel Saturday evening but had an early night in preparation for viewing the Taj at sunrise on Sunday morning.
It was certainly worth the effort, for when we arrived we were part of only a handful of people in the complex. The monument itself was even more spectacular than we had been told, however the ongoing maintenance work prevented any of us getting new Facebook profile pictures! Another highlight of the trip was bumping into another Economics student from Newcastle who had just graduated… Small world!
An equally stressful journey back returned us to Delhi on Sunday where another quiet evening was needed to prepare us for work. The last week has been the most stressful with the report needing to be complete for Frida
y and the small matter of presenting our findings both to the Vice-President and CEO of the foundation. We quickly realised that presentations in India are very different from back home. There is no etiquette for waiting for questions till the end and a phone will be buzzing every 30 seconds, however these proved to be nice breaks when presenting and the feedback we got was incredibly positive.
We finally finished the report after a painfully slow process of making sure the formatting and grammar was perfect, this had to be done because there is a very large chance the report will be published!
It was extremely sad saying goodbye to everyone at the office, as we have had the opportunity to work with the most amazing, dedicated people who have gone above and beyond to make us feel welcomed. We have all learnt so much from the experience and the chance to work on such a meaningful project that will help the QSM team in the future is the best thing for all of us.
The 6 weeks has been full of ups (and maybe a couple of downs)… from Chris falling in a giant puddle to working with the amazing students during the field work. We’ve been so lucky to experience the most happening place in the world that is Delhi!
Over and out,
GEO Bharti Interns
d 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.
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.
we edged up the hill in our auto, every moment was so picturesque as the blue city slowly emerged beneath the towering fort. There we spent hours admiring the intricacy in the architecture, the history and the spectacular views of the blue city below us. We then had lunch at a restaurant called Real Taste, probably one of the best meals in India we’ve ever had (even the butter naan was so delicious). We then wandered through the blue city, checking out the clock tower, market place and stepwell. The city was much bigger than Udaipur so we relied heavily on autos that took us down narrow and pothole filled roads, that were very much like Boston.
l all be back home in the UK and US, not knowing if and when we’ll see each other again. But we are glad we’ve had the opportunity to work and travel in India together. We’ve learnt a lot about how different the work culture is in India and even our own cultural differences between us, such as in the way we speak, and the words we use. While we often tried correcting each other and debated about which was right, we’re appreciative of the differences we have and will cherish this opportunity we’ve been given to work in such a culturally diverse team. While it’s sad this internship is coming to an end, we’re also looking forward to our trip to Mumbai for our last weekend in India together.