First month!

Namaste! Time sure does fly. It's surprising that one month has passed already.

Here’s a quick rundown on what’s happened since my last post 

Life in India:

• Being in a new place can be intimidating at first, but once you become familiar with your surroundings and know the how-to's, the "scary" place becomes home. I do admit that I'm thankful that most people understand and speak English here :) 
• It takes about a week or two to overcome the jetlag, situate yourself, be confident and know where you're going, and even start to do what the locals do
• Sunscreen is a MUST
• Delhi belly: 1 Jen: 0

Internship with Start Up!:

• Client project: According to the latest Intellecap Study of India's Social Enterprise Landscape, the education sector in India faces "a huge gap between the supply and demand of quality education for India’s youth, and the nation’s continued growth depends in large part upon filling this chasm."  I'm working with a Delhi-based not-for-profit organization that strives to enhance the quality of educational curriculum through heritage walks. The organization conducts study tours and walks through monuments and other hubs of Delhi’s culture and history in order for children to experience live heritage education. The walks are meant to be interactive, using storytelling and other materials, to inform children about their city in a creative and interactive manner. They've walked several hundreds of children from more than 45 schools in Delhi and is today a sustainable organization. In the remaining two months, I’ll be conducting a market assessment (interviewing key stakeholders and competitors) and working closely with the entrepreneur to develop an operational plan, business plan and financial model in order to scale the organization over the next three years, and hopefully lessen that gap between supply and demand of quality education.   
• Two new interns from other graduate schools in the US have joined me here. We will also be joining forces to work on an internal project together.
• Note: For those of you who read my previous post, I had talked about advising an organization focused on women empowerment. That project didn't pan out, however when working in the social sector, flexibility is KEY.

Excursions: India is a country rich with culture and history. Every part of this nation is unique in some way be it food, entertainment, dress, infrastructure, language, and historical sights.

• Delhi: Red Fort, India Gate, National Museum



View of Udaipur from City Palace



Samosa

• Udaipur: Udaipur, known as the City of Lakes, is a 10 - 12 hour bus/train ride away from Delhi. Another Start Up! intern and I decided to make this trip in a day. We left work early on Friday afternoon to catch a bus that departed at 4:30 PM and arrived in Udaipur the following morning at 6:30 AM. Upon arrival, I was able to compare Delhi to Udaipur -  different colored auto rickshaws and the prevalence of stray dogs and cows in Udaipur. We took the auto rickshaw to the area surrounding the City Palace. Since the Palace wasn't open before 10 AM in India, we had some time to kill so we walked around the areas, started our “window shopping” and even had the courage to try some samosas from a street vendor. 

• Agra: Went to see the magnificent Taj Mahal this past weekend with other WDI Fellows in India. We wore our WDI shirts and posed for the camera in hopes that our photo will make it into a newsletter ;)