..introducing my "base-camp" ..

..So till now i havent shared to much about how i live here in India - i mean regarding our hotel rooms and stuff, so i decided to shot a couple of pictures just to show you around ... so i wanted to do it with style, welcome you in to my room, walk you through the living room, into the sitting area, then kitchen, shower, toilet and finally finish off with the bedroom..maybe even show you my wide-screen television, DVD player, leather furnitures, and so on.. however - this is more how it would be in reality, i open the door to my room, enter into what is my living room, bed room and office, and from here i step direct into toilet and shower .. - not a 5* but it is enough for me :-))

(so this here is my bedroom, living room, and office ... - all i need is right there)


Okay - to be honest i dont really need a lot from my base-camp, and after all the bed is pretty comfortable, and as my boiler is finally working proper, i can enjoy my warm showers which is needed as it is a bit "cold" outside right now, believe it or not ..

(please note the huge limitation of items in my bathroom ..)  

The only thing i miss in my room is a small little water boiler - as i have to go to ask the hotel staff for hot water, whenever i want to make tea or noodles, which i find a bit of a waste of their time .. but they seem to not mind it that much in the end ..

 
(the view from my window .. - cool right, gets a bit boring in the long run..)

Okay, so i am off to ask the staff for some water - i need a cup of tea to warm me..

...a Friday thought...

here is a statement that you would not here very often from me, but thank God it is friday - i am totally dead (after sleeping very little last night - it was raining very heavily, and as the windows here are pretty much made out of paper thin glass it gets noisy..- i finally managed to get up ..), wow what a week, what a day, and what a stay... not in my wildest imagination would i have believed that i would do what i am doing right now - how fun is life, you think you have it figured out, only for it to turn everything up-side-down on you..i think it was John Lennon that said "life is what happens to you, while you are busy making other plans".. - and isnt that just so true, have you ever been in the situation that you thought you had everything ready and prepared, only for life to stick its head out and change the rules of the game, well i have, if you havent had this feeling, watch it - because it might happen any time soon :-)

so here is a thought, and i will ask you to do something that i normally dont do, and that is to reflect and give me your opinions (if you feel like sharing..) a couple of days ago, i started a conversation / discussion on a forum (as i wanted to hear opinions from people i dont know..), my question that i raised was "can people change"? i have heard a lot of interesting comments, opinions, input, ideas etc - a lot of great stuff ... i cant however say i have heard "the" answer yet, but here is why i asked the question, long ago before coming to slovakia - i lived in Quito - Ecuador, i also lived in Serbia and Bosnia, with those experiences and exposures to a culture that was soo different from my own i believe i did change, i believe i matured a lot, started thinking in a different way.. Now i have lived in slovakia for 8 - 9 years, and i started feeling like i didnt change and / or evolve anymore, and i was starting to think that i all in all didnt change from the first point, that i merely matured .. - this caused a lot of internal debate on this "change" issue, i finally ended up leaving this topic for sometime, until the "impossible" happened - i get send to India ..

Now in India - i have been forced to "change" or adjust a lot of things i normally do in Slovakia, i have learned to accept a lot of different things - all in all i have started to consider once again, if we change or just become more "flexible", more adaptable, able to adjust faster .. - and once again i am not sure i know what i believe in.. of course i want to believe i can change, to become more, to become better, to become faster .. but is it realistic or merely a silly childish though... - whats your thoughts ? if any ..

p.s. sorry for the "tricky" post on a friday .. - i know you most likely will prefer to have weekend with your love ones, and that i understand, so go and enjoy your weekend, and when you are back, i will still be here.. 

..The one and only "Ra-One" ...

so tonight something happen to me that i have never tried before - i am really going all out here in Chennai, tonight the team decided to go to the cinema, needless to say that not to many movies here in Chennai are in English and the one we decided for, was for sure not .. we decided to go for one of the all time biggest films in the history of Bollywood, now for those of you that do not know what bollywood means to Indians, well i can tell you that this was a once in a life time experience.. Just to give you a bit of background on Ra-one, the pre-production started already in 2007, and the principal photography in 2009, with an estimated budget of 150 Crore (around 42 USD millions) it was officially the 2nd most expensive film in the history here in India. Prior to international release of 26 October 2011, Ra-one had multiple premieres in places like Dubai, London and Toronto..The film released across 5,000 screens worldwide, making it the largest Indian cinematic release in the world. However it wasnt indias 2nd biggest investment for nothing it went on to break multiple box-office records, including highest Diwali day collections, highest single-day collections and highest three-day collections. In a five day worldwide launch the film did 173 crore (USD 35 million) - needless to say that this film was and is BIG!!

(yes ladies - this is our Indian super hero, and he sings and dances as well..)

The film although in Tamil (mixed with English) was great - an Indian science fiction superhero film, featuring singing and dancing blew me away, the special effects makes the "matrix" films look like a cartoon, seriously it was incredible, i have to admit that i did not mind the singing and the dancing, the humor and the sci-fi all mixed in one of the most action packed films i have ever seen, and to make things even better - it all got served right in your face - in 3D ... what a blast, i can officially recommend this film for anybody that would like to try something a little bit different ..  

...a keyword or two..

so i find myself lying on the ground on my belly, sharing my experience with one of my work-groups, we are having a great conversation about time management - and as i have had yoga this morning, i am ashamed to say this but feel a bit soar in my legs, so need to be careful how i sit - in the end lying is the best position for me, our teams seems to take great interest in it, in the beginning and then it seems that they are just adding that to the list of having taught me, over the last couple of weeks ..

(one of our teams - talking about time management..) 

So today the whole day is really focused on Susanna and i coaching the teams, and ensuring that they will be able to preform the trainings to their colleagues once we head home, and to be honest how it looks right now - i feel very safe that they will do a fantastic job .. today was also a day of making the teams realize just how far they have come in the last couple of days, the exercise is very simple, we ask them to tell us what new things they have learned in the last couple of days - and as i start to write, the list grows longer and longer and longer .. at one point i, myself have to step back to realize just how much we have managed to cover, i am amazed..

(a list of a couple of keywords the group has learned so far... - pretty impressive..)

you need to keep in mind that not all of our team members are from universities, colleges, business schools - actually very few of them (i would say maybe 4 or 5 of them), keep in mind that some of them although they might be mature women, just learned how to read and write in their late 30s, and started to really be independent some years back.. Keep that in mind and you would also be amazed by the work and effort they have put into the last period of time, oh and by the way - these women has help hundreds of other women to become financial sustainable, they have help thousands and thousands of street child of the streets, they have helped thousands and thousands of children out of their poor child labour conditions and gotten them back into school, they have set up numerous self-help groups in Chennai for women, men and children to help and support their local communities ... - so for that alone they deserve and get ALL of my respect and admiration!

..Summarizing 3 days of training - next stop: coaching..

so after a late lunch, and my 5 min of fame, we are back in our training room, and now susanna is building up to a final end of a three day intensive workshop .. the team did a great job, they seem a bit more tired today than yesterday, but they also seem very excited, satisfied and motivated..So this is what we have managed to do till today - in the scope of 3 days (only), we delivered presentations, training and coaching on time management, give and receive feedback, effective decision making, and project management .. - WOW great achievement... so what is the agenda for the rest of this week, well starting from tomorrow we will start to split the group into smaller work-groups and have them prepare their own presentations, that they will share with their extended teams, all in all for an additional 100 people..so we have 2 day this week and a couple of days next week to prepare the material, coach them on how to deliver the material, assess their presentation skills, coach them on their presentation skills and material, and they also have to run through the trainings for us and each other .. - all in all a lot of work still ahead of us, but today was a great milestone for our stay here in India....so friends my apologies for being a bit short today in my postings, but i am a little bit tired right now, and still need to rationalize the rest of my energy for tomorrow and Friday ... 

..in the hot seat ..

fun fun and more fun today, and how was your day ? as you might guess from the first words of this post, my day was so much fun, now i thought i have seen it all, and tried a lot, but today was pushing the limited once again .. so we arrive on-site as any other day, but this time we are met outside by ... yes, a camera crew that are here to film us, and interview us about our experience here in India, so after a bit of talking back and forth and they move their equipment to the 3rd floor, and start to set it all up.

(Imagine having the light direct in your face, it gets very hot, very fast..)

So while they are all about setting up their equipment we kick start the session, today i have the introduction, and knowing me, i cant help making a bit fun out of the fact that we are being filmed, it takes me roughly 1 min to forget all about the cameras and i am back in my zone, so full of energy, passion and humor, i focus on summarizing what we learned during the last 2 days, and what we will work on today.. (i think that the camera people are having a bit of an issue following me around the floor like a headless chicken..but they seem to manage it).. and 45 min later i hand the session over to Susanna to do her part of the training.. Susanna takes over and fires away with questions, conversations and role plays and before we know it, we are moving to another site some 10 min walk from the office to be interviewed.. am i nervous, not really - am i excited - ABSOLUTELY!!

So we meet the interviewer once again, he seems much more relaxed this time around, now that the cameras are set, and the chairs are in place, so the first one up, is Susanna, and the conversation gets started and some 10 min later she is finished..

(Susanna in the cool chair - i was direct in the sun, so i definitely got the "hot" chair..)

So next up, Martin ... So the interviewer turns to me, smiles and says "martin you will get the hard questions"... and friends he wasnt kidding .. so not only do i get the hard questions, but i also get the doubtful honor of having my interview done outside (and knowing my luck, its not raining, but high sunshine, and it is TTTOOO HOT!!) So we are sitting outside on the balcony, and i am just realizing this fact, i am sweating, i am hot, most likely red in my face from the sun, i forgot to shave, my hair is a mess (seriously need a haircut), and for whatever reasons i could fall asleep last night so i look very tired, all in all ready for my shot - my 5 min of fame, this is it ... - and i look like a mess .. typically Martin, how typical...Ok, well nothing to do now, right, so 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, and we start, and as i already mentioned above he wasnt kidding, he throws some good and very challenging questions at me, "how have your leadership style changed?", "how do the community benefit from our stay here?", "what does our company get out of us staying here?", "how does this leadership program differentiate itself for any other program other companies are doing?", "how have my comfort zone changed?", "how do you prepare for a life changing experience like this?", "what's my favorite thing about India?", "how have i change?" and some 15 - 20 later, we are done, oh one last question pops up, "whats your favourite Indian food?" ... and here i ace it totally ... both the interviewer and the whole camera crew, including the producer are smiling and showing thumbs up.. - so what would you answer to this question ? what is your favourite Indian food ? .... i build my answer in the direction of liking rice, not being use to eating rice, liking spicy food.. and then it comes... "my favourite Indian food is, is the food i can eat with my right hand..." simple, funny, and silly maybe - but very true! - and this is India, here simple is enough.. here simple is great - so with that the interviewer looks at me, smiling and says - "martin you got India - you understand us.." and yeah i think i am getting India .. i hope i am getting it ..

(this almost looks like a scene from a Bollywood film..- one of our colleagues being interviewed)

so before we end this part of the day - some of our colleagues from the organization we work for, are interviewed as well, and i am proud of them, and i am proud of susanna and also a bit of myself for the work we have done in such a short period of time.. - and then we finally manage to get a very late lunch...  

..back where i belong ..

...We arrive on-site to set up logistics, and started on good time today, Susanna kicked-off todays session with a conclusion of what happened yesterday, and it was very evident that they had gotten a lot out of that session, so the bar was set for me for todays session (nothing like a bit of expectations..) So i put on my game face and of i set in a speedy pace, just fast enough to have prija translate everything (i really admire her ability to keep up with me, i mean i speak pretty fast - those of you that know you, knows that ..) we discussed feedback, went into groups, and then the noise level rose a level of two, as they were discussing and sharing feedback with each other, it really seemed like they enjoyed it.. i know we did..

(a man in his right element..)

After some further work with this topic, we had a short break for our daily caj - and then back to work, i have to admit they were consuming every little thing i threw at them, they absorbed it like a sponge with water, on and on and on .. and more exercises, conversations, discussions, and if i thought they had spend a lot of energy yesterday, it was nothing compared to the noise the brought today - incredible amount of passion and energy, it was amazing the level of energy, how the were taking energy from me, and from each other - only to give new energy back to the group, i hardly can remember when i experienced anything like this..

(great team work girls - well done ..) 

So after one last caj break (and today we brought cookies - and that is well appreciated..), we kill of the last topic, and they are still awake, they are still listening, still absorbing, i am seriously impressed, so by now it is time for us to summarize todays session, and while doing so, we look at what we have learned, and once again - i, myself have taken a couple of lessons out of todays session, it is amazing what you can get done with the right mind set, if you are open-minded, with the right focus and your heart in the right place .. - and once again i leave our team with the feeling of pride, team, once again proud to have worked with you - and cant wait for tomorrow to come by..

..Game on ...

3 ltrs of water, 2 bottle of pepsi, 1 biscuit, 2 portions of rice, 1 egg, 60 slides in PowerPoint, 6 group discussions, 2 individual exercises, loads of conversation and 8 hours later i finally arrive back to the hotel - what a day! the days i have had in Chennai till now, has been like the weather right now, sunny then rainy, the sunny and back to raining - but today was a perfect day! So today it was my turn to be standing in front of 3 guys and 24 ladies, working for this organization, todays topic was time management, effective decision making, give and receive feedback and goal setting - yes friends this in one day! and i can ensure you that we managed somehow to cover all of it.. - sitting on my bed writing out my day today, i am still a bit unsure how we managed to cover it all, but yes - we did cover it all, as i said it was a perfect day.

let me try and give you an insight into what exactly happened and you can judge for yourself if it was successful or not.. - once again susanna and i, didnt have the best beginning for our day when we left the hotel (we started at 7.00 with 60 min of yoga, the breakfast - and then off we went), as Kumar was fired last night (or resigned, not sure which one is the right one, doesnt matter) we had to catch a rickshaw to work, the guy that drove us yesterday morning met us, as i am sure he felt that we would need a ride again today, funny enough the price went up with 30 rupees today, the warm rain once again welcomed us outside..

(so this is what it looked like from the back of our rickshaw this morning..)

..as we take of, learning from yesterdays mistake i ensured that my leg(s) werent touching anything in the rickshaw - and for what it was worth i kinda remained dry, and then the drive pulls up in front of the office, only to have parked in what seems the biggest lake on a public road, so i literally have to fold my pants up.. and i am out for 30 sec, and my sandals and feet are soaked, its kinda nice, but still - come on, right from the morning .. (by far my sandals has been the best investment i have made for this trip..)

(so here is the proof of it being wet this morning ..) 

..Training, training and more traning..

give two people like susanne and i, a beamer and a notebook, and what do you get ? you get lightning, you get a buzzing atmosphere, you get pure energy - right from the beginning we are once again using our good old ping ponging trick, taking over from each other, feeding of each others energy.. i have to mention that today i have a slow day - susanne is taking the lead, i am just assisting - tomorrow i will get the whole day! susanne does a great job in capturing the interest and excitement of the group, you can see how they are shaking their heads, how they are nodding in recognition as she speaks through the first couple of slides, how they talk briefly with each other to ensure they dont loose any of her words - we split them in groups, they dance, they sing, we have games with them, we challenge them, we ask questions, we talk and discuss with them, we tease them, they tease us back, we laugh, we smile, all in all another great session today, and then all of a sudden its lunch time, time really does fly when you are having fun..

(lunch served on the floor - i am getting use to this..)

After lunch we try to "squeeze" the last drop of energy out of them with another group exercise, and they are enjoying themselves, and by now it seems that they have figured out our motivation strategy - so they ask if we brought candy for them, and of course we did, as they sit and eat the candy i brought from Slovakia, i cant help thinking about how nervous we were leading up till today, how much we prepared for today, how much stress we have had, if we would do a good enough job or not, seeing them sitting on the floor talking to each other, discussing and eating candy - they look like they are having fun, they look like they are learning some new things, they look excited, they look engaged, they look concentrated - but above all they look like what we have talked to them about today and last week is coming together in a beautiful presentation - a presentation about how to organize a Hindu marriage (we try to make our examples related to their traditions and customs so it would be easier applicable for our teams in the future..), how to build everything around this marriage as a project (and as todays session is about project management why not integrate two things at once) - the presentations are shared with each of the groups, and my God i have never thought there would be so many things to organize for a Hindu wedding.. you seriously do need a project manager - and a project team, wow ... and deep pockets.. i am impressed and very proud of the teams while they are presenting - great work team, really well done..

(Well done girls - we are proud of you...)

.. we summarize the session by asking them to mention one or two things they have learned from todays session - everybody has something to share, and personally i have to admit i learned a couple of things myself, as we head home i start to think that this prayer might have actually blessed out training - i hope tomorrow will be as successful as today..

..The time is finally here..

Monday morning, 9.30 and Kumar is nowhere to be found, a slight drizzle is what we are greeted with when we step out side the hotel, we get called by Prija that informs us that Kumar is a no-show today, and if we can figure a way out for ourselves to come to work, - we catch a ride with one of the many rickshaws that are standing and waiting for us, like hungry lions over its prey.. as we slide through traffic, i notice that somehow my knee was touching the cloth that the driver apparently was using as a window and now half of my leg is wet, what a day to start a monday on - i guess Garfield is right, i should have stayed in bed, oh and as this is the first day of a total of 8 training days, how great is it to come late, the session was to start at 10.00 but as we are still on the road at 10.05 that isnt going to happen... So how this normally works when you do trainings, (and i have done my fair share of trainings so i do know how important it is), is that you always arrive with at least a bit of, what we call "clearance time" - today our clearance time is in negative, red right from the beginning! We enter our training facility on 3rd floor - and i have this feeling of "home, sweet home" .. one of the ladies we training is just swiping the floor, another is placing the chairs and there is all in all some 6 - 8 women there, and here i was getting stressed because we were late .. - we are considered arriving early, oh well, we meet and greet, set up the logistics and another 30 min is spend on that..

(two of the guys setting up the projector - out of a group of 32, there are 3 guys only ..)

at last we are able to start - ventilators are spinning on full speed, the rain has increased its intensity, and so will we ... a day full of training is just about to start.. but before we start - there is something that has to happen first, the team asks us, if we mind if they do a prayer for our training, and so they start to do a prayer for all of us - asking for their gods to protect us and make our training successful ... WOW this is a first time for me with this ... 

..what a show ..what a convention..

..only some 25 min after we are suppose to have started the agenda do we actually seem to be taking off - i am not sure yet, the noise from the huge gathering of teenagers is just insane, you can barely hear what your next door neighbour is saying, let alone to think any thoughts on your own .. oh and it seems like i got placed in the corner of the real real teenagers (although one of them introduces himself as a HR officer in a IT company - he looks like he is 17 at most..), i guess teenager are teenagers wherever you go...The program set off and the group next to me continues to talk, listen to music, and snaps a couple of pictures of me, one of them starts to translate some of the tamil being said, on a rusty old loudspeaker, that seems to have everything wrong with it, "and now sir, she says...", "and now sir,...", and now sir...." and "now sir, the sentence is over" ... that made me crack up totally (Tamil or no Tamil, when a person gets of the stage i kindda can do the math myself .. )

(official welcoming speech..YES you guessed it - in Tamil..)

So on my right side i get introduced to our translator, her name is Vanitha, and through this organization - she just came back in August after spending some 14 months in the US, and now she is working as a system administrator in a large company here in Chennai, Vanitha is another true success story of how you can change with the right support and help, Vanitha tells me that she never could have done this, what she is doing without the learning experience as the one in the US, i ask her to clarify what she means with "this", she looks at me, smiles and tells me "talk to a foreign man" .. well Vanitha i am happy you went to the US and that i got to know you .. it was very much worth it.. So Vanitha tells me about their traditional dance "Parai" as it starts, and here is how i will describe it to you, loud, a ton of energy, a lot of rhythm, and incredible amount of power - seriously it was brilliant.. after some more dancing some role-plays are played - describing disruptive behaviour of parents, alcohol abuse of parents, and how group pressure is a big problem if you are not mentally strong enough, it is all in all summarised as, there are so many things that impacts children, and if you need help - seek counselling - and this is the message, we are here to help and support you, young and old! After these role-plays the Police inspector of Chennai is introduced to all of us, and is officially handing out some ID cards to the youngsters, i didnt catch why that was.. - anyways good of him to drop by.

(a bit of Parai being danced on stage)

Last but certainly not least a video followed up with a speech from "Madam" where a lot of questions are being asked, a lot of thought provoking points are being send to the kids, and a lot of ideas and suggestions to them, i feel the interest from the teenagers, even the one sitting next to me, having banged his chair against mine for the last 45 min, has stopped and has even turned his music on his mobile of .. (see how patient i am becoming, if this would have happen some three weeks ago - the outcome would have been very different...) - Madam, focuses a lot of her energy, and effort on education, self-development, self-reflection and finally asks the question that almost gets me standing - "can we change ourselves?", "can we change our society to something better?" - now i have the answers to these two questions, do you ? - let me know what you think... - and with those two questions in mind, we catch a rickshaw and head back, short by insightful day, "can i change myself?" and "can i change society to something better?" ... - i personally believe you need to add a last question - which will be ...."how?"

..who said loud? ..

after 30 min. in a rickshaw, with 4 people and the driver we manage to pull up in front of the hall where the youth convention is talking place, we are fast greeted by many of the people we have visited, talked to, had lunch with and even some of the ones from our trainings. We get our tradionanl welcoming pleasing with water and some colour in our forehead, and we are formally in the convention - a youth convention that will take some 300 - 400 people share ideas and thoughts over the next 3 hours or so. I have to admit i am no longer that uncomfortable with being looked at by all the people here - the true beauty of being tall (188 cm), blond and blue eyes, you do stand out a bit in a country like india... A lot of the youngsters comes up to me, to ask for my name, introduces themselves to me, and in general just want to chit chat - i feel my hand being taken, shaken and squeezed a couple of times more than before .. - but its fun, i am getting use to being a celebrity (i am kidding here, i wouldnt want to live a life like that ..)