Our 1st Jam-Packed Day

So after a very exciting first day, we started to enjoy more of the cool weather. Even in the day with the sun shining brightly, the nice weather was a pleasant throwback to Singapore's hot and humid weather.

Starting off this day were lectures by some guests specially invited by Prof. Ayer. Again, Theepan has mentioned in detailed the guest lecturers and their topics so I will not go in depth but I will mention a few key points I learnt from the talks on this day.

One of the key drivers of India's booming economy in recent time was the introduction of BPO (Business Process Outsourcing) and one of the more popular examples are call centers.

A good question was asked of whether China will pose as a tough competitor to India because of its similar low-cost labour. However, the fact that India is the largest English-speaking population in the world is a strong advantage over China. China has begun to introduce English as compulsory to their education, but until one can THINK in a particular language, they will never be fluent in it. Thus, until China can get the same level of proficiency of English as India, they will still be at the losing end of this competition.


Something else I will always remember from this day's lesson was from Ms Nandini Vaidyanathan. A great quote she mentioned was, "You can't step in the same river twice. You also can't even step in the same river ONCE!" What she meant was directed at entrepreneurship and opportunities. Take some time to think about it!


After lunch, we travelled to Mercedes Benz Research & Development Centre about an hour and a half away from our lodging. Just in that complex alone, there were many other big names located there. Unfortunately, we were not able to visit them. At the centre, we learnt more about what their current projects are and what other KPO (Knowledge Process Outsourcing) services they provide to Mercedes Benz. For example, creating mathematical models to test the technologies of the company.

This night we met up with some of the May batch NUS students who were interning in Bangalore. They brought us to some interesting places as well as their home to find out how they were coping in a foreign country and their companies.
When I said that travelling on the streets of India are never one and the same, I meant it. And each post I will show you how unique the streets of India are.