Infosys InStep Week Eight

As one of my friends would say it, your final week in school is your "Victory Lap." But that term also describes my final week in the Infosys InStep Internship program.

My eighth and final week was probably the busiest week in my whole stay. Why? Because I had to finish my project, do the knowledge transfer and training to the person inheriting it, taking care of administrative requirements like the exit interview and getting cleared by Infosys and the Final Project Presentation all interns have to do. This is also the only week where I had to work extra hours to meet my deadlines. Sheesh.

And there's the "Regnard Raquedan Farewell Tour"-- a string of farewell activities in and out the Bangalore campus. The farewell activities started with my farewell dinner in a restaurant called Opus. Then there was the dinner hosted by my project mentor and the head of the Innovation Lab at Infosys. And finally on my last day, our little group went around the city for some shopping and lunch. Speaking shopping, I dropped by the food mart in the campus and guess what I found? Nissin Cup Noodles.(If that sounded weird, read my post about cup noodles).

The final farewells happened after dinner in La Terrace, the restaurant in the campus hostel. I realized how people emotional can get in farewells, and mine was no exception. If you're leaving very good friends, Shakespeare's "Parting is such sweet sorrow" line would come to mind. My plane left five hours after that and I was back in Manila fifteen hours later.

I don't know how my friend came up with the term "Victory Lap," but after my final week in Infosys, I do feel like a winner.

My Farewell Dinner: Karaoke Night in Bangalore!

After a couple of my friends in the Infosys InStep Internship program said their farewells, it was my turn to host a farewell dinner for my co-interns since I would be flying back to Manila on Sunday midnight.

I really wanted to make the evening more than just good food so I decided to look for a place that's not very common in Bangalore-- a Karaoke place. For a guy from Manila, I just find it weird that there are virtually no regular karaoke/videoke venues in a city. (Well, I've been told that the Indian folk prefer to dance than to sing). I asked for referrals and the place that's most known for Karaoke in the city is a restaurant called Opus.

Opus has Karaoke Nights every Wednesdays and Sundays, so I decided to book our group to go there on the Wednesday of my last week in Bangalore. I also made sure I set the expectation that the majority of the people going there wold be singing. Fortunately, a lot of my co-interns obliged even though the karaoke area is a public stage where everyone in the restaurant will hear your "golden" voice. (Most of the people in the group are used to the Karaoke rooms similar to Red Box Karaoke).

We arrived in the restaurant a little early and we had our dinner. Food there is described as Goan cuisine, and people were generally happy with the food. The drinks, which I guess is a requirement for gaining confidence in that stage, was pretty pricey. As soon as the sign-ups for the songs was announced, people in our table trooped the host and gave the songs we wanted to sing on stage. The singing started after that, and then we just rocked the house.

Thanks to everyone who came and sang (and tried to sing :P), it made the evening fun and memorable.

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Asian Institute of Management Update: I got emails that case packs are now available. Sheesh. Normal world, here I come!

Trip to Agra and Delhi

As promised in my post about my seventh week in Infosys InStep, I'm posting something about the interns' trip to Agra and Delhi.

Thirty of us went to the Delhi and Agra last June 20-22. We took a leave on the Friday of that weekend since the travel times are long: it takes around two hours to travel to the new Bengaluru International Airport, which by the way, is a major upgrade over the old and beat-up Hindustan Airport. Then the flight to Delhi is 2.5 hours and the bus ride to Agra from Delhi is 5-6 hours. That meant we spent almost one full day for the transit alone.

Delhi is a very big city compared to Bangalore. It also very urban-- big buildings and wider roads. I like the fact that the city still has some green in it. We dropped by Qutub Minar, an old tower situated near the city. We then proceeded to Agra after that.

Agra was great-- the Taj Mahal is majestic and everything I expected. The other sites we went to, the Agra Fort and Fatehpur Sikri, were good but just pales in comparison to the the Taj Mahal. (All three places are UNESCO World Heritage sites, by the way).

The trip to Agra and Delhi was the perfect conclusion to my Indian sightseeing trips. If you look at the progression of my travels-- from sites within Bangalore, then to Mysore, then to Chennai and Pondicherry and then to Agra and Delhi-- it was going to a farther and more interesting place. I'm sure there are more good places to visit in India and I'm quite sure I'll be seeing them when I get a chance to go back.

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What's next? My Farewell Party and going back to the Asian Institute of Management.

Infosys InStep Week Seven

Bittersweet. That's how I would describe my seventh and penultimate week here in Infosys.

The thing about the InStep internship is that you meet a lot of friends and connect with a lot of people. I remember what Prof. Ricky Lim, my Action Consultancy (AC) mentor, told me just before I left for Bangalore: " What's important for you is you learn and make networks with the people there." So far, so good.

However, with new friends you make and bonds you build, the other side of it is the farewells. Similar to three weeks ago, one of my buddies here finished his internship and went back to school. His departure reminded that my stint in my internship is almost over and made me more appreciative of my time here. It also reminded me to be more productive at work since my deadlines are fast approaching.

Speaking of work, my work week was cut short by a day because I took the Friday off to travel to the destination I've set my eyes on from the beginning-- the Taj Mahal in Agra. (I'll blog about this in a different post).

My last week will surely be a blast with the deadlines, requirements and of course, my own farewell dinner and my final presentation.

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Found a couple of nice links:

• Cheska's reflections on the MBA and life at the Asian Institute of Management.
• AIM Profs go to Ateneo? The saga continues.
  

Electives Season Coming Up

The surest sign that the Action Consultancy (AC) season in the Asian Institute of Management is about to come to a close is the amount of emails my Google-powered AIM Mailbox has been getting the last couple of days. And those emails have been primarily about the registration for the electives the upcoming term.

Electives registration has got to be one of the more empowering aspects of the program. Unlike the electives registration in my undergrad days, the school leaves all the decision-making to the MBA student. Of course, the subjects offered are all geared towards entrepreneurship, marketing, finance, or interdisciplinary studies-- all of which are very much related to the MBA program. We're required to take at least 10 units of elective subjects of our own choosing this coming term.

I've spent the last few days looking at the offered electives and I'm towards getting 6 units of marketing and 4 units of interdisciplinary studies (notice I did not mention Finance). I was originally looking at one subject but feedback from one of the newly minted MBA's of Class 2008 made me change my mind.

In our end, there was a little confusion because there's one very in demand subject that was only accepting 30 students. In a class of 100 people, that meant that the MBA program folks had to implement a cut-off for the first 30 people who signed up for that subject. I was one of the people to get in that subject, not because I was lucky, but I was decisive and I knew what I wanted even before the registration began. I guess that diligence paid off. (I don't know about the other people in our class though)

The new term starts June 30. My AC officially ends on June 27. A few more days and I'll be back home to the real world.

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What really happened in India?

Infosys InStep Week Six

Week Six at the Infosys InStep Internship Program for my Action Consultancy (AC) is a return to normalcy after a bumpy detour the previous weeks.

The most notable event for Week Six was the completion of my registration at Bangalore's Foreigner Registration Office (FRO). If you have not been following this saga for the last two weeks, the issue stemmed from the perceived mismatch the local FRO saw with my visa. I stressed over it for over two weeks, from worrying about not getting home in time to setting the record for most visit to the FRO in InStep's history. I can see only two good things from the whole experience: My issues have given the InStep coordinators the game plan for subsequent registrations similar to my case and for me, it taught me lessons on how to trust in others and seek help from all places.

I was also able work better for my project. A lot of progress was made and I've been preparing the turnover to the Infosys folks who will be taking over the project that I started. It's nice to know that the project that I've been working on will be expanded and improved for future services and/or products. However, I'm still not completely done with it-- I'd say my project is 70% complete.

With a lot of interns that just came on board, a lot of them went to sites like Mysore and Chennai, but us "old fogeys" (interns who came last month), just stayed in the city. We, along with a few June interns, had a quickly-planned dinner last Friday and I was able to take photos. If you'll notice from the slideshow, I've been dabbling around with black and white shots. :)

What's next in Week Seven? This coming week is definitely a big one-- this is the week I'll be spending to finalize my project and it's also the week we'll go to Agra and Delhi to visit the majestic Taj Mahal.

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News from the our program at the Asian Institute of Management: The registration for electives for the upcoming term will be this June 17-20, 2008. I'm still over the fence on a couple of electives. More on the electives in the next post.

Foreigner Registration in Bangalore Finally Over

Finally, my saga with the Foreigner Registration Office in Bangalore is done. I was able to receive the document I need to get the Exit Pass, something required to leave India when my Action Consultancy (AC) ends at the end of the month. I've been stressing about my Indian visa situation for the last two weeks and I'm very glad it's done. I had a little scare when I thought I wouldn't be able to leave India for another three months-- I imagined how that will affect my school and personal life.

One lesson I think about is how the bureaucracy can really stifle productivity. I realized there's one thing worse than the bureaucracy in your own country-- and that's the red tape and bureaucracy in another country. I say it's worse because of the unfamiliarity and the having the feeling of helplessness because you're in a foreign place. I'm not saying the bureaucracy in the Philippines is perfectly efficient (it's very far from that) but at least you can tip the odds in your favor because of local ties.

Right now, I'm just relishing the fact that my initial experience with Indian bureaucracy is finished. Ironically, I'm now eligible to apply for an Exit Pass since I'll be leaving India in a couple of weeks.

Infosys InStep Week Five

Oh I get by with a little help from my friends

- Billy Shears, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

I picked out a line from "With A Little Help from My Friends" to start the racap of my fifth week here in India because I feel it captures what happened the past week.

My recent problems with my visa ushered in a wave of support from a number of people, ranging from classmates, alumni and even readers of this blog. I'd like to thank the support people extended during the past couple of weeks. I've briefly mentioned in my last post that the resolution to my issues is almost here and hopefully I'll be able to hurdle my visa issues this week. Heck, I've been told that I've set the Infosys InStep record for most visit to the Foreigner Registration Office (FRO) in Bangalore.

But apart from the issues, the week also gave a chance to connect to more people as over 40 new interns mostly from US schools came in. The new group is diverse and I'm practically re-adjusting to the new size of the people in the internship program because that means more names, more conversations and, of course, new friends to interact with. Good thing I've kinda developed my memory for remembering names and faces because I think I can recall around 75%-80% of the new interns' names and a little background about them. This should be pretty useful in the future.

As my stint here in India will be done in less than a month, I've been more conscious of going out to new places and sites here. The last week, I was part of a group of 12 people went to Chennai and Puducherry:

The group that went were a mix of "old" and new interns: Me, Ha Hong Dinh (Vietnam), Vitaliy Rapp (Germany), Anouar Kiassi (Morocco), Antoine Boulenger (France), Brian Carroll (USA), Angelina Clarke (USA), Karina Flores (Mexico), Margaret Moscoe (Canada), Ece Kizil (Turkey), Yi He (China) and Mingfei Yan (China). As you could see, the group is a culturally diverse bunch and the experience of interacting with people of different cultures is something I've grown to like. By the way, half of the people who went were MBA's, the other from IT programs, so the symmetry in that perspective gave the trip a better flavor.

Chennai was very hot, as if we went in the middle of the summer. Good thing we were able to hit the beach and enjoy the breeze. Another fun part of the trip was watching Bollywood movies in the mini-bus we were in-- I guess we found a lot of humor from stuff we don't fully understand. (We watched Om Shanti Om by the way).

Week Five marked the final half of my Action Consultancy and things only would be winding down soon. Only three more weeks of work and weekend trips left.

New Guys

New interns arrived the start of the week and they're a very big bunch. Lat month, we were only 12 InStep interns here in Infosys, but the new batch is around 40 people, quarupling the number of people from all over the world in the Bangalore campus.

If I'm not mistaken, almost all of the new interns are from schools from the United States, with a good mix of undergrads and graduate students. There's also a few MBA's, like from Columbia, Darden, Fuqua, Rotman and Bocconi and we have some nice chats about MBA life. I also get to know how they have their classes there and how some business schools, like Darden, apply the Case Method. (AIM uses the Case Method as well).

A couple of days ago, the new groups and the ones who came last month had little get together in one of Bangalore's pubs and we virtually were enough to fill up a good portion of the place. The dinner was good and it was a great time to meet and connect with the new people.

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Last month, a new batch of MBA students came to AIM and they were the first batch of students to be taken in May. This group is just one section (less than 40 people) and I have not met the new people who joined in. I'm looking forward to meeting all of them once I get back home. (Quick update: My visa situation is getting resolved gradually, thank goodness!)

Infosys InStep Week Four

If my Action Consultancy (AC) in Infosys were a movie, I'm at the part when the hero faces a lot of tough challenges. My fourth week in the InStep Internship program was full of challenges both at work and outside of work.

For the first time, I've faced some serious roadblocks to my project's completion. I'm currently building a prototype of a software application that's related to Infosys' Innovation Management and it is based on a collaborative marketing framework and Web 2.0 components. The work I've done for the past week has led me to a solution that needs customization of Open Source software. So I'm relatively stuck in some parts of my required functionalities and I've consulted several resources within the company and over the web, but to no avail. Darn.

But my biggest concern last week was my visa situation. It really took my mind off of work and stressed me out a lot. Worst case, I may seek the help of the Philippine Embassy in India to sort this matter out if the Infosys folks are not able to fix it. Here's the absolute worst case: I may be held here in India for at least two months more to straighten out the visa issue. Why two months? I'll have to "thank" the Indian bureaucracy for that. I do hope the worst does not happen.

If my AC were a movie, it's starting to look like a tragedy where the hero fails miserably in the end. I hope there's a happy ending somewhere.

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UPDATE: I'm posting some pics from one of my friend's farewell dinner.