Kicking off our CSC Project!

The past 3 days have been incredibly busy as we kicked off our projects!  My IBM team, including Peter from Hungary and Lukas from Czech Republic, met our clients, Rajeev and Jatin, from the Ludhiana Steel Rolling Mill on Monday.

Our CSC and Ludhiana Steel Rolling Mills team: Jatin, Rajeev, Lukas, me, and Peter

After our first meeting, we had a team debrief with the IBM team and Mamtha, our IBM India contact and Shruti, our Indian contact from Pyxera Global.

Team debrief meeting after the kickoff

On Tuesday, Peter, Lukas, and I went to the Ludhiana Steel Rolling Mills (LSRM) for our first day on the job.  We got a tour of the manufacturing area, which was really cool.  More pictures and info about the manufacturing processes in a future post.  I also gave Rajeev a Chicago Bulls hat so he can promote Chicago in Ludhiana :)

Rajeev wearing his new Chicago Bulls hat!

We also met with Mr. Jain, the partner/CEO of LSRM.  We discussed his vision for the girl's education CSR program and our planned methodology and approach.  More about our project and Mr. Jain coming soon.

On Wednesday, we went to another LSRM manufacturing facility focused on forging.  The forging facility forges steel, which is more dense and stronger, whereas the rolling mill facility uses rollers to create large steel rods which are lighter and less dense.  They also have the largest Chinese hammer in the state of Punjab, which is used for forging the steel and made the ground shake with every blow.  See below for some pictures from our visit!

Workers setting the hot steel to cool

View of the forging facility

Workers forging the hot steel

The company garden, where employees can take vegetables home for their families

Finished goods ready for transport

Forging the steel with the largest Chinese hammer in Punjab

Jagdish, the coolest Sindh
Transportation truck driver
for Ludhiana Steel Rolling Mills!

Peter and Lukas at the forging plant

We will be conducting a needs assessment with our stakeholders using focus groups, interviews, and an employee survey to understand the needs of girl children to help us shape our girl's education program.  We got to interview 5 employees to test out our survey questionnaire today and will continue the needs assessment through next week.

Interviewing an LSRM employee about girl's education

To cap off our day, we stopped to get sugar cane juice from a roadside stand.  So delicious and refreshing!

Drinking sugar cane juice from a roadside stand

Word of the day: dhanyavad/shukria - thank you

#ibmcsc #india22

Arrival and Chandigarh

Smith and I

I finally made it to Ludhiana!  After taking a train to Ludhiana from Delhi with my assigned travel buddy, Smitha, we were greeted at the hotel with a Punjabi blessing (flower necklace, drink, and red dot).  I also got to finally meet most of my team members before heading off to bed.

Fast Facts about Ludhiana:
Population: 1.6M
Language: Punjabi (it's located in the Punjab state, but most people also speak Hindi)
Religion: 60% Sikh,with the rest Hindu, Muslim, Christian, Buddhist, etc

Some of the team at Rock Garden

The next morning we piled into a 14 seater van and drove to to Chandigarh, an "idyllic" Indian city that has been recognized as the cleanest city in India.  Chandigarh is the capital of both the Punjab and Haryana states, and is in a "state dispute", which means both states try to claim it as their own.  There are also many other regions in India that are in "state disputes" and either want to become their own state or are claimed multiple states.

Chandigarh is known for its urban planning (it was the first planned city after independence) and architecture.  An architect named Le Corbusier built the Rock Garden, a large labyrinth-like park constructed of rock and recycled materials (porcelain, glass, concrete, etc).  The Rock Garden had lots of sculptures and various rock formations and was an interesting use of recyclable materials in urban space.

Sculptures in the Rock Garden

After the Rock Garden, we got some delicious street food, which were potato pancakes with chickpea and sauce topping.  We then went to the Rose Garden, which claims to be the largest rose garden in Asia.  It was full of families picnicking and enjoying their Sunday afternoon in the park.

Delicious street food

The driving here is definitely more intense and nerve-wracking that most countries I have been to.  Cars squeeze into seemingly nonexistent spaces, and there are often 3 lanes of cars on a 2 lane road.  Horns are used to communicate regularly (i'm passing you, watch out I'm coming, don't move left, speed up, etc).

Weighing some oranges

On the way back to the hotel, we stopped at a stand on the roadside and bought fresh-squeezed orange juice.  It was so delicious one team member bought some oranges to take home and got to weigh it on this awesome scale.

For anyone that wants to read our official Corporate Service Corps team blog, here is the link! 

Word of the day: chalta hai (hay) - it's all good

#ibmcsc #india22

Off to Ludhiana!

I started reading the book (and inspiration for my blog title), India Calling, by Anand Giridharadas, a couple weeks ago.  The author grew up in Cleveland, Ohio, and in his 20's, moved to India for a consulting position.  It has been really interesting as an American to read about India from the perspective of an Indian-American because he is experiencing India as both a familiar and foreign place.  In fact, I became so intrigued by the sights, smells, and cultural nuances described in the book that I stopped reading the book (and will pick it back up when I arrive) so that I can experience a direct connection to the author's words once I arrive in India.

As a Chinese and Business double major in college, my Asia experiences are limited to China, Korea, and Japan.  Most of my (limited) knowledge about India comes from my the families of my Indian and Indian-American classmates and Indian colleagues.  And, in such a large and diverse country, most of my classmates and colleagues are from all different regions, which have their own culture, language, food, etc. Thus, I'm excited to learn more about Ludhiana and India from the locals and my experiences.

I'm very grateful to IBM's Corporate Service Corps for sending me on this assignment to Ludhiana (in the Punjab state) and for giving us the opportunity to donate our consulting skills to very worthy organizations.  I'm excited to be working with 11 other IBMers from around the world to help four Ludhiana organizations improve their programs, establish CSR initiatives, and strengthen their organizations.  I will be working with the Steel Rolling Mills company to create a business plan for a more robust Corporate Social Responsibility department.  We will be focusing on initiatives that promote girl's education, a topic about which I am very passionate.

Finally, I'm prepared to be immersed, challenged, and most of all, blown away by the awesome and inspiring work of our clients in Ludhiana!  Stay tuned....