They paved paradise and put up a parking lot

Don't it always seem to go

That you don't know what you got till it's gone

 

And so it was today. I won’t win any self analysis awards for stating that my head rules my heart, but was that a speck of dust in my eye last night during the first of the team goodbyes?

The moment when I really felt it, however, was when I stepped alone into Dinoop’s autorick this morning. The fraction of a second of joy at the thought of being able to sit anywhere rather than my usual right hand flank was soon replaced by the reality.

The fellowship of the autorick had been disbanded. 

Pieces of my heart were traveling to the US and Brazil, leaving an emotional gap as big as the physical gap. I’m not going to attempt to describe Cat and Rafael. Those of you lucky enough to call them friends will already know what makes them wonderful people, and those of you who don’t know would only be jealous.

I’m going to attempt to describe how I have benefited from being fortunate enough to have shared this special time with them. (Hey - just call me self-centred, ok?).

I’m going to channel Rafael when I fear speaking up in a social setting. The Mike that sits and reflects and analyses and shares himself in measured doses via carefully constructed blog statements has found a new personal confidence coach. Rafael is now forever in my heart and head, booming encouragement to not be afraid to give voice to what I think and feel. Speak up little lizard. 

Rafa – what can I say? I’ve made my decision – I’m a Corinthians fan.

One of my favourite memories that relates to Rafael was when we presented to a group of volunteers interested in becoming mentors to micro-enterprises. Seeing Rafael, who taught himself English, delivering his message and connecting with his audience was inspiring for me. 

Rafael is a hard act to follow, but I think Cat may have pulled it off. When I need a bit more zest in my life, there is a wealth of memories to recall as Cat’s showed her love for life in India. The most recent example being of Cat with Jana at the final dinner:  Bollywood dancing in vibrant saris and laughing outrageously - a wonderful reminder of the importance of fun, friendships and a sense of adventure. More than this, Cat reminded me of the importance of balance. There was laughter from the short chats during the autorick rides, but there was comfort in the silent observation of the world passing by also. 

I loved the camaraderie that resulted from working together with Cat and Rafael to deliver the incubation model for NBF. Having pieces of my heart now dispersed around the globe hasn’t damaged my heart. 

My heart has grown bigger, and I’m the better person for it.

[The music in the hotel foyer right now as I'm about to click publish and head to the airport for my trip home is.... "In my heart, forever"... the beat's a bit odd, but the sentiment is noted]

 

Well my mama told me, there'll be days like this

Van Morrison said it best...

When all the parts of the puzzle start to look like they fit
Then I must remember there'll be days like this

Today was the culmination of our four weeks of work developing an incubation model for our client, the Navabharath Foundation. We gave our final presentation to the Foundation’s chairman and staff, and I was proud of the results we delivered. In our presentation we described a micro-enterprise incubation model that transforms business ideas into self-sustaining micro-enterprises using a structured four-phased approach. Our model includes supporting materials for feasibility assessments, business plans, financial reporting and identifying success indicators. A key element of our proposed approach is partnering with sponsor organisations to provide mentoring to the micro-enterprises in management, marketing, financial and technical skills.

Undoubtedly there is more work to be done by others, but I believe we have started a ball rolling that will result in improvements to the living standard of underprivileged in Kerala.

A very special and sincere thank you to my team mates - Cat and Rafael. It was a privilege and joy to work alongside such talented individuals. Y'all are legends!

#IBMCSC India 16

The morning commute and the breakfast buffet

With only a handful of days remaining, I'm trying to capture some of the things I'm going to miss once I get home. The morning commute is always colourful, but difficult to capture on film - especially the heat. I took this video this morning to capture a little taste of our daily 20 minute autorick ride from the hotel to the NBF offices. I'll have to watch this video on my phone next week when sitting in a quiet, air conditioned Sydney train...

I'm also going to miss the food. By my estimate, I've eaten dinner at no fewer than 14 different restaurants in the last 3 weeks, and with the exception of our local favourite (Arabian Fiesta's shawarma rolls) I've yet to order the same meal twice, and everything I have eaten has been great.

I've been less adventurous when it comes to breakfast. Three pieces of toast, a croissant and some banana bread are my daily staples.  Really boring when you consider the options available, as explained here by my Canadian buddy Rick on his guided tour of the breakfast buffet. He suggested this needs to come with a warning for future IBM CSC participants - your results may vary :)
(This is way above the normal standard for IBM CSC teams).

#ibmcsc india

My last full weekend in Kochi

My last full weekend in Kochi has come to an end - and what a great weekend it was.

Saturday morning I caught up with my family via facetime and then had a lazy morning in my hotel room. In the afternoon I joined with Jana, Cat, Christophe, Hugo and Rafael to travel to Fort Kochi from some shopping and a late lunch. Thanks to Christophe for taking this great photo of me with my mates Cat and Rafael. 

We met up with the rest of the team to see a local cultural show. Jana and Anne have captured this perfectly in the team blog here http://ibmindia16.blogspot.in/2012/03/back-to-classics-kathakali-traditional.html

On Sunday, Rick, Elke and I explored Kochi in some more detail as we went on a photo safari to try to capture the colour and life of the city. Jennifer joined us for the walk along the water front, before heading off to meet up with a local colleague. We did some shopping along the way, and stopped for an unusual drink break - I had a peanut shake, which was pretty weird but I liked it. 

We caught the local ferry across to Fort Kochi. There were two queues for tickets – a men’s queue with over 100 people in it and a women’s queue with maybe 2 people.

Approx. a third of the men's ferry queue

Rick and I joined the end of the men’s queue, but fortunately Elke managed to get three tickets and we were straight on to the next ferry. We spent some time at a shop I had visited the day before with the others. Rick, Elke and I all enjoyed the complimentary tea, chatting with the sales people and making some purchases. We got an autorick back across to the main part of town and Rick, Elke and I toasted a great day with cold beer and a lovely dinner at the Grand Hotel.

It was then back home to the hotel for a night time swim in the pool to fresh after a long day of walking around in the heat.

P.S my Canadian buddy Rick has a great write up of Sunday in Kochi, India. http://rickpower.blogspot.in/2012/03/do-not-spit-here.html

 #ibmcsc india

Bollywood night

Discovered that Cat, Rafael and I are going to be useless should we have any sort of emergency. We have a common bond over a dislike of anything to do with blood or needles, and it seems likely one or all of us will be passed out on the floor should we find ourselves in an unfortunate situation. Of course, having discovered this bond, we then proceeded to spend half an hour describing the stories that lay evidence to our claims, the gory details of which I will spare you from.

As usual, there was an upside to all this. It reaffirmed for me the knowledge that life is precious and we need to make the most of the moments we have. Despite feeling a bit weary after consecutive late nights, I was lifted by the reminder of how lucky I am to be living this experience right now, and I decided to join the majority of the group for Bollywood night at a local cinema.

What a surprise it was. My concerns about sitting through a 2 hour film in Hindi with no subtitles were soon dashed. It was everything I’d heard about Bollywood films: colour, music, dancing, over the top characters, action, beautiful people and humour. The fact that it was not in English made it more interesting to watch. Who is that character? What does that look or tone of voice mean? There was even an intermission in the movie which gave us 5 minutes to quickly exchange our thoughts on who was related to who, who was getting married and which characters knew what. This caused some amusement to one of the handful of locals also in the cinema, since apparently we had it completely wrong. (The one disappointment was the lack of people in the cinema – it would have been nice to have some cues as to which jokes we were meant to laugh at).

American night

My reflections on American night are captured in the team blog here: http://ibmindia16.blogspot.com/2012/03/tico-ive-feeling-were-not-in-kansas.html

Anne-Catrin's birthday

Have I mentioned this is a talented team?