A Dose of Perspective - The Goldman Sachs Trip and More

     Since Saturday, I’ve sat down to start this blog post eight times.  All eight times, I’ve stared at my computer screen, written a few words, and quickly come to the realization that some of the events of the past week simply cannot be done justice with words.  This really hit home when I was trying to explain why the visit to Goldman Sachs was so incredible to one of my closest friends – I wrote a long paragraph or so, and when I was done I sent the message and then re-read it, thinking that it didn’t even begin to capture what that day was really like.  So, if I can convey even a quarter of what I want to in my ninth attempt at completing this post, it will be an enormous success.

     Last Wednesday, the other volunteers and I went to several villages near SB to learn more about our surroundings.  Before stepping into the first village, we were warned that relations between SB and this village were not great – a while back, one of the village’s goats had wandered into SB land and one of the SB security guards cut its head off so that the kids could have mutton that night.  This infuriated the villagers, who declared that the next time anyone from SB came near their village, they would be beheaded in return.  Relations have improved since then, but it was still a little unsettling (although pretty funny looking back on it) to hear that as we walked into the village.

     The next two hours were sobering to say the least.  Even having seen rural poverty in India before, the conditions that we saw in some of the villages were incomprehensible to anyone that has ever lived in a place with a bathroom or space to walk around indoors.  The picture below shows one of the makeshift homes in these villages, which were populated mostly by people from backward or scheduled castes (the lowest designations in the caste system in India).  It housed a family of five in less space than a common room in the socials at Amherst.  It had no bathroom, and the facility that served as a bathroom is also pictured below.  Again, even though I had seen similar conditions before (maybe not quite as intense, but bleak nonetheless), knowing that many SB kids come from these kinds of villages made it much more powerful. 

Outdoor bathroom

Center of the village

     In the last village we visited, one of the women gave us flowers as we left her home, which really stuck with me.  Despite having almost nothing, this woman wanted to give something meaningful to these random outsiders that came into her home; the fact that she was showing us appreciation was extremely humbling and gave me plenty of food for thought, to say the least.

     Back at SB, the entire week was a hectic and exhausting blur.  On top of classes and news and everything in the normal schedule, we were holding nightly prep sessions for my business students to get them ready for Goldman.  We practiced interview skills, conversations, answers to common interview questions, posture, and general presentation tips, among other things. 

     When the big Goldman Sachs day finally came on Saturday, the kids were clearly both excited and nervous.  A bus from GS came to pick us up at 8 am, and we headed to Bangalore blasting music, dancing, and singing.  As we got to the GS business complex, however, the bus quieted and the butterflies the kids were having were apparent on their faces.  We received our security IDs after walking in and meeting the SB business graduates, who had arrived before us.  Together, we took the elevators up to the meeting room with the Goldman Sachs reps who were running the session.  Some of my business students had never been on an elevator before, so I’m sure that did nothing to calm them down.

On the way to Bangalore!

     After eating breakfast, we got started with a lengthy icebreaker and a presentation on Goldman’s business divisions.  Then we broke for lunch and came back together to do a series of workshops on leadership and interview skills before wrapping up the day.  Throughout the five plus hours we were there, the kids were simply amazing.  Both the grads and the current SB students blew the Goldman reps away with their confidence, ability to ask thoughtful questions, knowledge of the company, and advanced interview skills.  It’s really hard to convey just how incredible they were, but there were several points during the day when I was so proud of them that I couldn’t even hold it in.  One of the grads, Shashi, gave a better presentation on leadership than any of the Goldman reps could have, and then proceeded to thank them at the end of the day on behalf of all the students, invoking one of their business principles as he did so.  When he talked, I actually saw some of the Goldman people’s jaws drop a little bit. 

     Afterwards, the executive officer of the Bangalore office talked to Stella and Pushpa, the two SB grads who now work at Goldman, about how in her 12 years at the company she had never seen a more remarkable group of kids.  She actually offered her email address to a graduate and talked about how she wanted to visit SB because she was so impressed.  I have literally never been prouder of anyone than I was of my kids that day.  It’s hard to put into words, but going from the village tour to Goldman Sachs and seeing the kids do so well in a setting that they wouldn’t have been able to even conceive of without being at SB made the experience so much more profound and incredible.

All smiles after GS

Why wouldn't you dance on the bus?

     Of course, after we left GS, it was time for some fun.  We took the kids to a mall in Bangalore and roamed around with them for a while before treating them to McDonald’s.  It was a day of many firsts for most of them – first elevator ride, first time on an escalator, first McFlurry, and many others.  In fact, I was actually worried and had to hold on to some of them on the escalators because they weren’t sure how to get on and off!

In front of Forum Mall!

First time on an escalator! It's all smiles until you have to get on and off....

Group pic with the smurfs

Me and some of the grads!

SB graduates/superstars

Shashi and Pushpa!

     To top it off, Em and I decided to combine our special snacks (a volunteer tradition here is buying the kids some kind of snack before you leave) into providing Krispy Kreme donuts for the entire school, so when we got back to SB that night we surprised the kids with their first donuts.  It really was one of the most awesome days I can remember.  We were discussing it later that night with the kids, and one of the volunteers said that we should have the assembly to debrief everyone on GS sooner rather than later so that the details stay fresh in everyone’s mind.  One of my 11^th graders, Aravind, looked up and simply responded, “Do you really think I’m ever going to forget today?”  That really just says it all.

The donut sponsors!

He can blow the minds of people at Goldman Sachs but can't choose between identical donuts

  

Abuse.

Volunteers!

     Sunday passed pretty quickly on campus and this week is already going full force.  We had four volunteers leave over the weekend so everyone’s schedule is jam-packed this week.  I’m filling in for a bunch of seventh grade classes on top of my usual business schedule, which is cool because I’m getting to know them much better than I did before. 

     One last fun fact:  Ever since I was sick that one night, I’ve discovered that TUMS are freaking delicious.  I haven’t been sick since (knock on wood), but now I’m eating at least five TUMS every day just for fun.  Good times.  That’s it for now (if you’ve even managed to make it through the last 1,000 plus words), but here are some more pics!