A Thing About India

Live India with every heartbeat.

Live it and Love it. But only when you are Open for India.

These lessons I learnt throughout my 1 year of living and working in India.

On July 25th 2010 I landed at Mumbai airport at 3am hoping there would be somebody to pick me up.

I still remember that night with every tiny detail: loud crowds of short men,women and children staring at an Asian girl looking confused and frightened with her one luggage suit and a backpack. I remember the smell which Mumbai had welcomed me with : the same smell I sensed in summer 2008 in Delhi on my first arrival to India. I remember how I kept on asking locals to help me make a call to AIESEC Mumbai guys and find out where the taxi driver was. I remember that 6 hours later I met one of my future best friends, Ola, who has been so generous and helpful! I just could not understand why she had been so helpful to a stranger - just another intern in India. She would lend me money (I forgot to exchange US Dollars to Indian Rupees in the Mumbai airport), give all her Mumbai maps, encourage to take her cell phone and make necessary calls (in our first weeks of Mumbai madness). I remember I met with Dina on the same day and she had been a great guide and friend sharing hew viewpoints on India, the internship experience and Mumbai as such. I remember my fears, my tears, old and new friends, discoveries, small achievements I'd been proud of, monsoons (Oh My God! Mumbai!), love and hatred...

My inner body and mind remember every single beat of my Hyderabadi life. Meeting so many close friends at AIESEC International Congress 2010, regular travels, cultural cooking evenings, parties, latino dances, my guitar lessons and Toastmaster classes, my awesome colleagues and a big job dissatisfaction, strong support and encouragement of my Kondapur family - Carlos, Areli, Fadel(ina), Kasia, Veronica, ACE family... Lots of things ...

I remember and appreciate the times I had in working with amazing passionate and creative minds in the Global Support Team in AIESEC. We have walked with the team a beautiful leadership path, we have lived our lives being in so many places at the same time: Moldova, Denmark, Turkey, Serbia, Slovakia, Cambodia, Bulgaria, India. The talks we had carry a lot of vital essence: do we really impact ourselves and our organisation? How do we create impact? What is a change and how to manage it?

Change management has been the key thought and action in India so far. I changed Hyderabad for Chennai, I changed Hyderabadi friends for Chennai folks, I changed charming Nizam city for enchanting beaches of the Bay of Bengal and hills of Tamil Nadu, I changed enlightening Kondapur family for a "silent" Canopy family, I changed my first project- Competency Development- to come to Training and HR Deployment and continue working with Competency Development area.

I changed a lot of things and places within one year but I have not changed one core thing yet: Love and Passion for a Great Living.

Closing my first year in India and opening another chapter I am celebrating my FIRST ( or ONE? ) YEAR in India with new friends and I am happy I can be a part of their lives.

I am also asking myself a simple question after this amazingly !ncredible year -

M(a)Y

Time runs. It does not fly anymore for me here. It marches and sprints with a 'Champion!' spirit.

My May 2011 was a peak of Intern's Cycle Life: last farewells to ACE family members: Naldo, Erik, Agus, Ola, Mohamed Adel, Vincent. My dear Naldo, my soulmate and my brother; it was Naldo, Elizabeth's and my journey in India we cherished, shared and cared about. My dear Erik whose positive attitude softened all the challenges I had encountered in Chennai and whose firm hand was always there to reach. Beautiful Ola that showed me her wisdom, who was constantly seeking for the best and learning to enjoy simple beauties in the world. Agus, Latino, guapo, whose salsas and merengues I will always miss! Mohamed Adel, the passionate Egyptian friend, his friendship is as silent as a mouse. Vincent, a big big African brother with a wide friendly smile and kind eyes.

...May was as crazy as any other month here in India. I was twice seriously sick: these temperature differences of indoor and outdoor checkmate me with no option but be treated with MEDICINE. Of course, I go to the Doc in a very rare case: I just simply do not believe to whatever they prescribe. However, here in India I already had gone twice to the Doc: dealing with infections and abnormal fevers made me re-look at my skeptical views of the Medicine in general.

Then, there was an intensive week of parties. It started with my pre Birthday party. My flatmates- Pamela, Erik and Tom- together with my first flatmates and close friends from Hyderabad - Carlos, Areli, Jose and Fernando - gifted me with a huge touching surprise: the Hyderabadis just arrived here at Chennai on Saturday noon. Devoted friends spent about 20 hours on the train, on a bus, in a rickshaw instead of traditional 12 hours! Exhausted and sweating, the Latino friends made a loud noise in our Chennai flat! It was totally unexpected: I was having a lazy noon nap when all of a sudden somebody was whistling, and then I saw faces of Fernando and Carlos in my room! Firstly I thought I was having a dream and I smiled looking at both of them: God knows how much I missed both of them! But then the noise grew louder and louder, and Areli and Jose's laughs woke me up completely! Had I had a camera nearby I could've captured those moments: all of us together embracing each other and tears come down my face... All my flatmates and close friends in Chennai knew about the surprise and were awaiting for the evening party to start. It was a priceless Bday gift! I am hundred times grateful to Pamela and my dear Chennai friends for keeping the fire burning that night!

So the Party week continued. We had farewells for Tina, Agus, Erik, Edward ( who actually left 3 weeks after because of the inefficiency and weirdness of the Immigration office of Chennai ), we had Bday party for Tanya, a true Damn Soviet compatriot. With Erik leave we welcomed Sergio and Angela to Chennai ACE family, and the parties went on and on ...

Meanwhile, my body got weaker and weaker. The heat of Chennai had been ruining all my hopes for a chilly weather at least for a day. I had this crazy thought to crack the eggs on the heated cemented road or rock and fry them. Guess, I thought too long that I actually never did it. Now the sun is not that strong and the experiment has more chances to be just a hypothetical thought of mine . . .

However, even if I was staying in bed with high temperature and terribly sounding cough I was still hoping to run a Marathon in June in Bangalore. By the way, my former office mate Juan, hearing my cough, said to me, 'Even I with a long Smoker experience do not cough like you do. Go visit the Doc': said-forgotten. I was worried of a more important stuff:

a) How long it takes me to run 5 km

b) When I am travelling to Malaysia

Divine moment

Understanding of the right place, the right time and the right step in life is a powerful self-motivation for me. It hit me today: I was spending an evening in one of the parks of Hyderabad, I wanted to find a peaceful place and simply enjoy the scenery and harmony. The Lumbini Park next to the Hussain Sagar lake is one of the options, though it is an amusement park and is quite noisy one. My friend and I went by boat to see the statue of Buddha- that statue we heard of and read in online guides a lot.

A grandiose high stone masterpiece welcomed visitors along with a harmonious silent music. The warmest wind and pink purple yellow cloudless sky juiced the divine moment! Throughout the time we spent at the lake, next to the statue, in the park, watching a laser show with a thorough digital history of Hyderabad, listening to Indian music .... ah, I just felt it with all my heart - Hyderabad is my Indian hometown. It is my home for this year, it is my country for this year, and I am responsible for everything that happens to me this year. Let it be the good. Let it be a disappointment. Let it be happiness. Let it be discoveries. A-ha moments. Love. Harmony. Peace.