My potential flat

I think Ahmedabad has changed quite a bit since I’ve been here. Overall it seems so much cleaner – far fewer cows, dogs, and wild pigs on the street. And it seems like there’s less trash too. They built a big new mall close to where our flat was before, and they’ve put in this big bus rapid transit line so there’s this big overpass. I’ll have to ride it at some point. Overall it just seems like there’s a lot more development. However unfortunately one of our favorite restaurants, Coconut Grove which had great South Indian food is closed! L Then Caryn went to see the flat of the girls I might be rooming with. The flat is really nice – I’d get my own bedroom and bathroom. It’s very similar to the one we stayed at when we were here before. The girls are really fun and interesting. Two are researchers at IIM and the other works doing financial stuff for a bank. They usually cook together and I think they were concerned about whether I could eat their food, so they cooked dinner for me – a Pulau – a kind of fried rice. We had been talking about how we liked chocolate, so Suman ran out and bought some chocolate cake for dessert.

First day in Ahmedabad

8.20.09

Ok so that whole diet soda addiction I had is going to be quickly gotten over. It’s just too hot here to drink anything but tons of water! Today Caryn and I left Hotel President to get our rooms we had arranged at the Indian Institute of Management dorms. That was quite an ordeal…We carted all of our heavy luggage to IIM in autorickshaws. When we got to the IIM gates they wanted letters showing what we were there for, but after a few minutes it was worked out. Then we couldn’t find the office where we were supposed to go to get checked in, everyone we asked seemed to tell us differently. We finally found it and then we had to go to the Doctor there to be checked for Swine flu! Our rooms were in the new campus of IIM. After I finally got everything settled in I went to meet the girls who were looking for a roommate. They were researchers at IIM, and they were very sweet. They seem like fun girls.

After that I went to CEPT which was really exciting to be going back there after 4 years! I had to use the bathroom and there was one in particular that had a western-style toilet, but I couldn't find it! I thought I was loosing my mind. When I went to find Ruchi she said they had made the bathroom into the work studio she and others were using! I felt so much better - I couldn't imagine I had forgotten where it was! But they even re-did the old bathrooms and are much nicer now. It seems much easier overall to find western style toilets which comes as a relief I must say. But it was great to see her! She was telling me about how everyone was married now, and showing me pictures from all the weddings. She was enjoying traveling all over the country for the weddings. Then I went to meet Shrawan - he's a professor in the planning department who was at Ball State last year on a Fulbright. He was really nice and welcoming. We talked for a good while and he had some interesting ideas for my research. When I pulled out my notebook to write some down though, he said, no put that away - this is your first day, you'll have time later! I also met with Utpal who is dean of the planning dept. and who is my actual advisor. He is so busy! Constantly on the phone, but he had some good ideas for my research too, and it was really interesting to hear from them some of the planning projects going on in Ahmedabad. They just recenlty put in a bus rapid transit line!

Ahmedabad seems to have changed quite a bit since I’ve been here. It seems a lot more cleaner, a lot less trash lying around. And fewer animals! Far fewer cows and dogs roaming the streets, and it smells a lot better…Maybe it’s just my perception has changed, but no I think it really has improved.

Ruchi and I had chai and I spoke with Harpreet on her phone. After she was done working, we went to get a snack at rajasthani snack shop - pani puri and samosa. Then we went to meet a friend at her apartnment, pick up some tailored clothes, and finally go to eat at Curries, a Punjabi place. It was nice because we met several other CEPT students from her class there, but I was sooooo exhausted after staying up so late talking to Karuna and Nihal! It was really fun though to see everyone and to talk to the professors!

The images are of IIM campus - Louis Kahn Plaza, the new campus addition, and the the dorm we are staying at there.

Here's a link to my pics on Flickr- I can't get Facebook to upload them right now...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/41723269@N06/

Delhi Orientation

So we had a busy day today! We went to see the new Indian foreign secretary this morning, Nirupama Rao. It was a really cool experience! She worked in Peru for awhile and studied literature before she was secretary. And she was really interested in everyone's different project; we actually went around and told what we were doing, and there were over 40 of us. She seemed really cool, like I wish I could have just sat and talked to her about literature and stuff. They gave us these big colorful bags from Indian tourism with this big box with some perfume, incense, pretty bags of silver candy ( we didn't know it was candy - we had to ask the bus driver!), a cd of music, pretty cool!

After that we went to the Fulbright House for orientation stuff. An american guy spoke - he had a consulting business in India to teach and help Indians adapt to American culture for work and such. And they had a doctor here come in and tell us about different illnesses and health concerns we should be careful of. She was so cute in her sari! Her presentation was pretty amusing, too!

Then we had some briefing about grant administration. It's weird though, I don't yet feel like I'm really in India. One speaker said everyone experiences their own little slice of India - and my slice had been Ahmedabad. Delhi seems so much more westernized than the first impressions I had of India from Ahmedabad. But I'll get to see A'bad again shortly!

We had lunch at the cafe there on the Fulbright house campus. Paratha, daal, fried lady fingers (some kind of green bean), other indian food.... I finally met the other girl who will be in Ahmedabad. She's also affiliated with CEPT and is studying the architecture of step wells around Ahmedabad. So it was really cool to meet someone else there who is in arch and planning and speaks the language and all!

We had a break so a few of us girls ran over to Connaught Circle to go shopping at FabIndia - I got one blue and one teal kurta (shirt). We had to book it to get back to the Fulbright House for our dinner reception. They had set up a big tent and had Christmas lights strung up everywhere. It was really nice! They had tons of servers walking around with appetizers, and they kept ambushing us to offer us food, ha. It was really nice, but you could tell everyone was feeling the jetlag and just running out of steam! So a very busy day, but exciting for the most part! I can't believe I'm still awake at this point!