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?

Munnar weekend - part 2

The elephant rides...

Munnar weekend - part 1

I had another great weekend of tourist adventures with the whole team. Our trusty driver Narayan and his 12 seat traveler safely transported us on the 4+ hours trip from Kochi into the hill town of Munnar. Cooler temperatures, green valleys and masses of tea plantations made for a great escape from the city.

Our accommodation was a lovely spot deep in the woods at the end of a quiet road. India continues to surprise, as a campfire was set and songs were sung (or listened to with great enjoyment in my case). If there was an "India 16's Got Talent" competition I wouldn't envy the judges, but for mine there was a standout contribution... great work Rick "Willie Julio Benny Bjorn Lennon McCartney" Power.

There is no better way to round out such a pleasant experience then to witness the Jeckyll and Hyde transformation of our once pleasant host into a drunken, gibbering, farting and (thankfully) eventually passed out mess of a man. I guess that answers the question of what happened to the second half of Rick's whiskey bottle.

First part of video highlights... more to come later.

Outwit, outplay, outlast

I'm wondering whether my contribution to the team blog will see me voted off the island.

http://ibmindia16.blogspot.com/2012/03/through-thick-and-thin.html

Actually, I know I'm pretty safe.... it only makes sense to me.

So what exactly are you doing?

Let me try to explain a little about our project and what we are trying to achieve. 

One of the initiatives of the Navabharath Foundation (NBF) is to support the development of micro enterprises. These micro enterprises are typically made up of groups of 5 women from low income families who are seeking to improve their standard of living. For example, one of the groups we visited are making jewellery, which currently they are selling to their family and friends. However, in order to make it a sustainable business, they need to identify other ways in which they can provide their custom made jewellery to more customers. 

Our job is not to help this specific group, but to develop a framework in which similar micro enterprises will get the access they need to:

1. Seeding finance (ie to buy the raw materials they need to make jewellery, breed fish, propagate plants, make handicrafts, etc)
2. Technical skills training (ie education in jewellery making techniques)
3. Mentors to assist them in management and marketing processes. 

NBF and partner organisations will incubate these micro enterprises by providing them the support they need to transform their business ideas into self sustaining micro enterprises. Our job is to develop an incubation model and supporting toolkits for NBF to use with these micro enterprises.

Hotel work day

Due to a strike involving autorick drivers, we were advised to stay at the hotel today. I have obviously acclimatised to India, as it was strangely eerie to observe the quiet traffic on the street outside our hotel. All four IBM CSC teams worked in the club lounge for the day. Our team had quite a productive day, and we are making steady progress in creating our deliverables for the Navabharath Foundation.

As an aside, the story of my lunch captured on video…

Backwaters trip video

Unexpected highlight of my time in India

There have been many amazing experiences, but I really didn't expect that one of my highlights would be playing on the floor with my kids.

A great weekend of backwaters and beach

I'm just back from a great weekend of house boating on the backwaters and playing cricket at the beach. I'm ready for some sleep, so will have to let the pictures do the talking...

Who's who in the zoo

The skipper

The deck hands

A tree begging to be photographed

Ready.... aim....

Fire!

The early starters watching the sunrise

Umm... the sunrise?

It's a dog's life when people photograph you yawning

Seen by the side of the road... getting ready for a festival

One week down

The first week of my assignment with the Navabharath Foundation is over. Our team achievements this week have been:

1. Met face to face for the first time with Santhosh, C.J., Harsha, Prathiba and Rani. Rafael, Cat and I are all visual thinkers, so there was great value in being able to draw diagrams together to clarify our understanding.
2. Conducted brainstorming sessions on how to successfully incubate grass roots micro enterprises.
3. Completed field visit to see first hand the work being done by some of the micro enterprises.
4. Researched incubation models.
5. Revised the scope of our project and agreed the objectives and deliverables.

There is a lot to be done in the next three weeks, but it is a challenge to be relished.

It has been nice to touch base with the broader IBM CSC India 16 team (comprised of 12 people from 9 countries) over breakfast in the hotel, or dinner at a local restaurant. The noise and chaos of the India traffic is reflective of the pace at which most of us seem to be moving. There always seems to be something happening such as trying to avoid our usual day jobs, keep in touch with home, updating blogs, reviewing photos or just trying to find a regular sleeping pattern.

This weekend we are doing an overnight boat trip on the backwaters. I will have to report back later whether this is a leisurely, relaxing boat cruise, or, as I expect to be more likely, something akin to Gillian's Island meets Maverick. The poker game being discussed sounds of Olympic standards relative to the beach cricket game I have organised for Sunday when we will meet up with the IBM CSC India 15 team who are visiting Kochi for the weekend.
#ibmcsc india

Field trip Thursday

#ibmcsc india

I'm getting paid to do this!?

I am having a great time. For me, it is a great pleasure to be applying the analytical side of my mind to understanding and solving problems while working with an amazing team of people.
Navabharath Foundation supports small groups of low income entrepreneurs to establish and run businesses. There are many issues that can impact the success of these groups, but we are focusing on:

1. Access to money to establish and grow the business
2. Lack of management skills
3. Lack of marketing skills

The objective of our 4 week assignment is to develop a micro-enterprise incubation model that will include private participation in mentoring of management, marketing and soft skills, seed capital and on-going support.
We are at the early stage of understanding the issues, defining the problem and planning our approach for the limited time we have. Rafael, Cat and I had our first day in the Navabharath Foundation offices where we had workshops with Santosh, C.J. and Harsha. It was fascinating to hear specifics about the grass roots projects that are being run to improve the livelihoods of the disadvantaged. I'm looking forward to our field trip planned for Thursday when we will get to met with the people involved in some of the projects.

We went to a local mall for lunch...

Highlights of sightseeing Sunday

I was up early again, so I decided to go for a walk down to the harbour to have a Captain Cook. It was just after 7am, and it was very quiet (by Indian standards), but there was some sort of concert going on which provided a soundtrack.

It is hot here, so I gave this ice transport guy about another 30 seconds before all he had was a wet bike.

I had a cricket bat and a ball with me, and an elderly street vendor with a wicked smile and no English punished my bowling. I decided to call it stumps after fielding my ball from the middle of the street in the face of a large red bus.


After lunch our local coordinator, Dr Hatha, arrange a mini bus tour of Fort Cochin. It was Cat's birthday, and she got renditions of happy birthday in more languages then I could keep track of, which included a stirring encore performance of the French national anthem by the Jack Sparrow and Michel duo.

Those of you who know that my singing sounds worse than a kitten being sucked up a vacuum cleaner, will be pleased to here my involvement was kept to a minimum.

We visited the popular historic synagogue, and while waiting outside we mingled with a group of local tourists. Hugo, from Brazil, despite being crook still had the energy to act as photographer.

Some shopping was done and bargains negotiated.

All I can say about this one is.... IT LOOKS NOTHING LIKE BASEBALL!!!

Sunset was enjoyed with many local families at the fishing nets at Fort Cochin.

Do I really speak to Fuston this transaction?

I must still be on Australian time, since I woke at 10 am Sydney time, which is 4:30 am local time. I can't get back to sleep as my brain is buzzing with thoughts of yesterday. It was great to finally meet all my teammates face-to-face after spending three months talking with them on weekly conference calls. Over the course of the afternoon at our kick off meeting a special bond was formed as we shared our personal stories. It is hard to describe, but simplest to say there was something of deep personal meaning for me in the words and feelings shared in the room and I know it is a day that will remain clear in my memory forever.

I learned that elements of my story where lost to some of the team. Do I really speak too fast and with a strange accent? The unbiased opinion of my phone's voice recognition system is confirmed in the title of this post. Cultural learning lesson #1: speak slower / clearer / simpler.

Right then... back to cafe doona to study the back of my eyelids.

Today I said goodbye to my usual life

It isn't everyday I embark on a four week journey to a foreign country to do work outside my normal career with a team of relative strangers. Excited? Yes, and then some.

However, a month away from my family is going to be challenging for all of us - but particularly for my wife as she temporarily becomes a single parent. Thank you very much Meg for supporting me on this adventure... and start building up my IOU list!

It was, therefore, a case of mixed emotions as I said goodbye to my kids at the school gate this morning. It was nice, however, to see their happy, smiling faces and I'll treasure this image over the coming weeks.

Some twenty or so hours later... I've arrived safely at my hotel in Kochi.

The path to my destination

Will this be a theme for my trip?

Obviously a little busy on the approach into Singapore for my stopover before flying on to Kochi... or perhaps the pilot never had an etch-a-sketch as a kid.

G’day… I’m Mike

About me

Let me introduce myself with some basic details:

• I’m 40 years old
• I live in Sydney, Australia
• I’m married with two children
• I work for IBM as a consultant. My role involves managing client projects to implement information technology systems

I’m also a fan of the television documentary series 7-Up. This show started in 1964 and has followed the lives of 14 British children at 7 year intervals. The premise of the series is taken from the motto:

“Give me a child until he is seven and I will give you the man”.

In keeping with that idea, let me paint a picture of my life as a seven year old.
At age 7, I was attending a small one teacher school in the foothills of the Blue Mountains about an hour west of Sydney.

By that age, my parents had already been divorced for several years, and as a result I grow up splitting my time between two quite different lifestyles.
My father was a founding director in software development company formed in the 1960s. Through this I developed an early interest in technology and its applications.

My mother was a community worker in low socio-economic suburbs. She had many jobs, including developing training programs for unemployed and establishing community housing for those in need. This instilled in me a desire to make a positive contribution to society.

About this blog

I will be blogging here about my 4 weeks of community work in India as part of IBM’s Corporate Service Corps. I’ll be working with 11 other IBM’ers from around the world in Kochi in the state of Kerala in India’s south west.

Specifically, I will be working with Cat from the USA and Rafael from Brazil, and we will be working with the Navabharath Foundation. The foundation is a non-profitable charitable trust committed to improving the living standards of the underprivileged by:

• Improving the quality of learning
• Empowering the youth
• Protecting the environment
• Developing innovative income generation opportunities 

#ibmcsc india