Update: Ruined temples, monkeys and a conference

A few weeks ago I flew to Bangalore in the south of India for a 5 day conference hosted for the Artemisia Social Business interns currently in India. Amazing time, met the other interns from Argentina, Russia, Portugal and Canada, and got put up in a hotel (with AC!), while also managing to get sick from the restaurant food. 

Heading to the airport- off to Bangalore!

It was an incredible learning experience- sharing ideas, hearing about the social businesses in India using innovative technology, and discussing the potential for social business to drive social change in a profitable way both in India and around the world. I came away from it with so many ideas spinning in my head and inspired by all the developments going on in India!

Rooftop meeting at the shared office of Babajob and mDhil. Got to meet the founders, ask Q's and discuss the social space in India

Hammocks and couches - such stressful meetings

L to R: Caroline, Diego, Mutembei, Vinay, Katia, Celina, Ricardo -
Tomorrow's social entrepreneurs!

After the conference a fellow Canadian intern and I boarded an overnight bus with bunk beds (surprisingly comfy) and hit the bumpy road to Hampi. Hampi is a village surrounded by temple ruins from when it was the capital of the Vijayanagara Empire between 1336 - 1565 (thank you wikipedia). The landscape is mindblowing, made up of massive piles of stones (think Bedrock from the Flinstones), which were used to make the temples and statues of Hindu deities. It's now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. 

Booted around on for a few days

It was incredibly hot, but delicious fresh fruit drinks were readily available and awesomely cheap. 

lots of these

Saw this guy getting a bath - loved it!

Climbed up the Monkey Temple for a jawdropping panoramic view

Bedrock?

Great trip.

Recent Articles on Canada's Reputation

I'm working on a blog post about a conference I recently attended as well as travel to see temple ruins, elephants and monkeys! In the meantime to evoke voting spirit, here are two recent articles regarding Canada's international reputation. Results: a mixed bag. Bad news first should be a great motivator to go out and vote on May 2nd.

Canada's international reputation taking a hit: International Human Rights: Canada's Role Dwindling

"There was a time when the world turned to Canada for inspiration and leadership on human rights. Today, it’s inclined to look away. That’s the troubling conclusion of a report by Amnesty International highlighting this country’s dwindling role as a human rights champion. It should worry everyone interested in maintaining Canada’s global reputation.
Misguided policies of the federal Conservative government are responsible for most of the slippage — but not all of it. Canadians would do well to consider which political party, vying for seats in the current federal election, is best positioned to reverse this damaging trend."

At the UN Copenhagen summit Canada received the "Fossil award" for doing the most to delay and disrupt negotiations on coming to an agreement on a global reduction in carbon emissions. This is pretty embarrassing considering we initiated the Kyoto Protocol...and then bailed because it was really just a "socialist scheme" according to Harper. 
A nice review of his work: Shit Harper Did
In my mind Canada is still a pretty rad country...
We're apparently the World's Friendliest Country which is rated based on how welcoming we are and ease of which people are able to befriend locals, learn the language, integrate themselves into the community and fit into the new culture. I have a soft spot for New Zealand and am surprised they didn't make the list, some of the friendliest people I've met while travelling by far. 
Rankings Top 10 Friendliest Countries:

2. Bermuda
3. South Africa
4. United States
5. Australia
6. Spain
7. France
8. United Kingdom
9. Malaysia
10. Germany

Peer pressure- You should vote cause all the cool kids are doing it.

Crazy cricket celebrations, sickness, more village visits!

Lots been going on recently:
Went out for a drive to witness the absolutely wild celebration in the streets of Kolkata after India's World Cup win against Sri Lanka. Fireworks that sounded like explosions, jam packed streets, cabs with over 10 people hanging off, motorcars, cars flying around honking, flags waving, hanging out of the sunroof, cheering (didn't bring a camera), but was absolutely amazing to be in the country for.

A few weeks ago we went to one of our centers in a super remote area (took a 2 hour train, 45min rickshaw ride with 10 of us jammed into one, a 20 minute autopan ride, short boat ride across a river, then another 15 minute rickshaw). We stayed at the center which is a local hospital, and trained a group of women from the villages local self-help group how to become microentrepreneurs for ONergy, where they make commissions for selling our products.

We then visited local villages to conduct surveys with customers to get feedback on their experiences with their product so far, while I was in charge of getting photos of people using their product. It was awesome because everyone loved posing for the camera then getting to see the photo, so we were mobbed by groups of kids and got lots of fun shots.

Getting sick in a very rural area- I've narrowed the source to: eating way too much (they served me heaps of food and I felt it was insulting to leave any on my plate), walking around in the sun all day, or drinking untreated well water (I think it was a combination of all three), ended with me puking out the side of a rickshaw on the way to the train station. Not very fun. It took me 6 weeks but I finally managed to get sick here, about time!

Luckily I had a quick recovery which I attribute to coconut water (guy chops off the top of a coconut and hands you a straw to drink the water from inside- magical cure, its a kind of salty water). The next morning I went for a bike ride with the local cycling club to the Japanese embassy to donate as a group. There was a film car following us, we then got interviewed (possible made the news?) and also made the front page of the 'Calcutta Times' the next morning!

Last weekend I had both the first meat AND alcohol I've had in the 6 weeks I've been here, woh! It wasn't for any particular reason, the family I'm living with is vegetarian and I actually haven't missed meat at all because the food here is so tasty with yummy spices.

I'm currently in Bangalore for a conference with fellow Artemisia interns working for social business in India. We're hear to brainstorm, share ideas, and discuss the social business space. It's the end of day 2, lots of great ideas being thrown around so many thoughts running through my head!

I'll likely be posting quite a bit on the topic of social business in the next few months, as its the industry I've jumped into here, very exiting and so many innovative ideas and companies happening. It's been inspiring hearing about all the ventures fellow interns are working for here in India and the amazing technologies and business models they've developed. Social business- people and profits! woo, cool stuff.