Leaving at Short Notice

On Wednesday I got the phone call to say that I had been accepted on the work placement scheme in India. This came as a bit of a surprise because I had been expecting a phone call from another job that I’d had an interview for the day before and as the application process for the placement in India had dragged on a bit I did not expect to be accepted on to it. So on Wednesday I found out that I would be leaving home the following Monday and would not be returning for six months.

The work placement scheme is run by the University of Dundee in co-ordination with UKIERI, who I went to India with in 2011 on the Study Abroad programme, and their partners in India, Sannam S4. Initially I had an interview over Skype with Control Risks, but, having not got the job with them, was offered an interview with Sannam S4. As well as setting up work placements Sannam S4’s main role is as a consultancy company for organisations from the UK and the US trying to expand into India. My role will be as a research intern which, from the job description, is mainly to do with researching the Indian market that businesses from the UK are going to enter to find out how they need to alter their business model to succeed in India. Although I’ve done some research as part of my university course and have some experience in marketing a political party, this is an area that I do not know that much about. So I think I will learn a lot about market research, but it will allow me to gain experience working for a corporate business which is not something that I’ve done before. Even if that is not a line of work that I choose to go into when I get back into the UK I am confident that it will allow me to gain experience which will be transferable to many other jobs.

As the programme is run by the University of Dundee I have to go to Dundee for a two week course before flying to India from Scotland at the end of January. This does provide the challenge of packing for spending two weeks in Dundee, which is currently at about 2 degrees, and for spending potentially six months in Delhi which is clearly a lot warmer. Equally it also means that I am going to have to carry all my stuff up on a 9 hour train journey to Dundee. I’ve downloaded as many free e-books as I can find for my Kindle and I hope that will keep me entertained for the journey.

I am now in the middle of a hectic few days of getting everything ready, packing and saying goodbye to everyone. When I told my grandmother that I was going she asked me why I wanted to go to that horrible place. It is always nice to get a positive reaction. I went to the doctors to see if I needed vaccinations before I went. The nurse was horrified at the idea of sorting out all the vaccinations by Monday. Fortunately, having been to India 18 months ago, I was already covered and so did not need any injections.

I am hoping that it will not be all work while I am in India. When I visited in 2011 I was only there for three weeks and so felt that I have only scraped the surface of things to see. So I am hoping that I will be able to use the weekends to see as much of India as possible. I should also be in India during the Indian Premier League so I am looking forward to the possibility of seeing cricket in a completely different atmosphere to test matches at home. I am writing this blog so as to keep everyone at home updated as to what I am doing, but also because I thought it would be good for me to have a written record of what I have done to look back on when I’m older. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, my brother’s blog on his 6 months in Malawi attracted 1,921 hits and so that is the target for me to beat. I have every confidence that my loyal readers can help me reach that target.