In Dehli!

We're back in Dehli for a few days where we'll be spending some time visiting with students at the Fortune Institute of Business. We went to the university yesterday for a series of three lectures on a number of interesting topics (India's economy, eCommerce, Black Money, etc). And, today we'll be meeting up with FIIB students to get to know them because tomorrow we're doing an Amazing Race around Dehli!

To recap a few things from the past two days. I gave the Taj Mahal her very own entry, but we also visited Agra Fort that same afternoon, and yesterday we visited Qutub Minar:

 

An Islamic monument roughly 234 feet high built in the early 1300s.

My favorite factoid about this place is that there are also ruins located just to the left (if you're looking at the picture above) that were the first college and tomb combo.

Also, shout out to Michaela (sorry if I misspelled it...hm) for being the model in this photo!

After Qutub Minar we spent the rest of the day getting to know the students from Future International Institute of Business. We got to know one another by going to Chandi Chowk, a marketplace that makes Times Square on Saturday night look like child’s play. While we were there we ate lunch with the students in our groups. You’ll see a picture of the coolest group below: Me, Pratika, Nishant, Humayun, Darren, and Alexa.

Our assignment at Chandni Chowk was to pick out three shops and speak to the owners. We asked the owners questions such as, “How long have you had this shop?” “Did you inherit the business?” “What kind of customers do you attract?” “How long does one transaction usually last?” The results after collecting our information, was that most often it seemed that shop owners had inherited their business from the father and intended on keeping the shop in the family. In one instance we met a bookshop owner who presented his son as heir to the bookshop. We also noticed that the customer base was loyal and this relational aspect really created for a shopping ‘experience,’ rather than a ‘transactional’ one. All in all, it was a wonderful chance to see the chaos of the marketplace and get to know our group members, because whether they liked it or not, they were stuck with us for the better part of the next day… the amazing race. Which for our team, turned out to be not really so amazing when we realized we came in 5^th…. out of 7 places. Hm. But don’t let that fool anyone, because the race was fantastic, fun, and worth the Dehli heat. 

More details on the amazing race another time... internet access is limited in the Himalayas... yes, we're in the Himalayas.