May 06 - Cultural visits in Mysore

Today, the group started to Mysore early morning around 7:30 AM. The drive took approximately 3.5 hours. The group visited Chamundi Hills, Nandi Temple, Mysore Palace, and the Brindavan Gardens. The highlight of this trip was the group's visit to Mysore Palace. The Palace was built based on Hindu-Islamic style of architecture and was built using Teak wood, Ivory, Silver, Gold, and Rose wood. After quite a long day, the group reached back in Bangalore at around 10:00 PM.

May 06 - Business Visits in Bangalore

The study group left Chennai to Bangalore early morning. The flight started from Chennai at 7:50 AM. Though the flight time was only 45 minutes, the passengers were provided with a snack pack. The group reached Bangalore on time (8:45 AM) and was picked up by a "Mercury Travels - Bangalore" representative. The group went directly to AOL India and spent around 3.5 hours there. The group got to meet the General Manager (The top executive at AOL India) and three other vice presidents who directly reported to the General Manager. The presentations were very informative and the students asked great thought-provoking questions to these executives. After the meeting at AOL India, the group had lunch at a Chinese restaurant in the same office complex. After lunch, the group visited Intel India. Intel was located at the the next office complex. The group met with two executives working with the Intel Design Team. The discussion were kept more informal and revolved around the questions asked by students. Again, our students asked some intriguing questions that focused on Intel operation within the India context. The group reached the hotel "Royal Orchid Central" at around 6:30 PM and checked-in to the hotel.

May 05 - Cultural Visits

Today, the group started the tour with a visit to the Santhome Basilica which is built on the tomb of St. Thomas. After this, the group visited the Marina Beach, the second longest beach in the world. This was followed by a drive through the famous University of Madras and the memorials of past Tamil Nadu Chief Ministers. After this short sightseeing event, the group spent the next 3 hours shopping at arts and handicrafts store and other prominent shopping malls in Chennai. The group returned to the Residency Towers hotel at around 3:00 PM and the was given a free evening.

May 04 - Cultural Visits

This day was completely dedicated to cultural visits. The group started at around 8:00 AM from the Residency Towers hotel and went to Kancheepuram (The city of 1000 temples) which is around 90 kilometers from Chennai. In Kancheepuram, the group visited two famous and ancient temples of Lord Shiva. These temples were stand proof to the architectural prowess and affinity of ancient South Indian kings. After the visit to these temples, the group visited a handloom manufacturing unit. During the visit of this cottage based industry, one of the worker demonstrated the making of silk saree. After this demonstration, the group visited a silk store which had sarees, table cloth, scarfs, and other silk products. Almost everyone purchased at least one item at this store.

After this, the group proceeded to the city of Mahabalipuram, an ancient coastal port close to Chennai. Mahabalipuram is a fabulous open-air museum of sculptures in living rock, Monolithic shrines scooped out caverns magnificently sculpted. The group quickly visited the famous temples of the Rathas , the Penance of Bhagirath, and the eight Mandapams. Finally, the group went to covelong beach to take a look at the bay of bengal. The group returned to the hotel around 6:30 pm. After a short break, the group met to go for dinner at GRT Grand Hotel, which is walking distance from the Residency Towers Hotel.

May 03 - Evening

After the Ford factory visit, we reached the hotel at around 2:00 PM and the group was given a free afternoon. Most students went for a walk in the hotel neighborhood. Some of the rented car (along with a driver) and took a small tour of the city. We met again at around 7:30 PM for group dinner. The group dinner was within the hotel and was also attended by Dr. Paulraj's brother and sister. Since the group did not get to sleep the entire day after such a long flight, many of them opted to sleep early.

May 03 - Visit to Ford

After reaching the hotel at 5:00 on the 3rd, we got ready and left to visit Ford India Ltd. Before leaving to the factory, we had a breakfast breakfast at the hotel. The factory visit for wonderful except for the fact that it was extremely hot inside the factory floor. We visited the different departments such as stamping, body, painting, and finishing. We had the opportunity to see the entire process of putting a car together. In contrast to many manufacturing plants in the US, this plant was only semi-automated. So, the car was mostly put together manually. After the visit at Ford, we drove back to the hotel.

May 03 - Arrival in Chennai

We left Jacksonville, FL around 11:00 AM on May 1st and reached Miami airport around 5:45 PM. It so happened that our bus almost broke-down only 15 minutes from the airport. But, we had a tow team that helped us to get the bus back in action. So, this helped us to reach the Miami airport on time. And, we did not have any problem in catching our flights from Miami to London Heathrow and from London Heathrow. Except for the fact that the flights were long (Miami to London Heathrow - 7 hr 30 min, London Heathrow - Chennai 9 hr 15 min). We reached Chennai 15 minutes after scheduled arrival and went through all formalities (immigration, baggage claim) and boarded the bus to hotel around 5:o0 AM.