Continuing from the previous blog this blog will take you through our explorations of the city, New Orleans. The first week seemed hectic with all the 29 GMPians running from Tulane University to Idea Village, hogging sandwiches and burgers. At the Idea Village, we all worked on four different entrepreneurial projects, Body Evolution, Feelgoodz, NuMe & Schedulists.
BODY EVOLUTION – This team worked on the market research for a product to improve the body image.
FEELGOODZ - A flip flop slipper, the ethical green product made of rubber, yes this was the product of this team. They worked on the market analysis and planning strategy.
NUME – My team worked on the industry and market analysis of the Medical food for Breast Cancer patients.
SCHEDULISTS (the team awesome) – This awesome team worked on scheduling the shifts of the staff to improve retention and also on preparation of prospectus and pricing strategy
After the Idea Village, it was time for the fun evening with tons of places to visit, the Bourbon Street, the Harrah’s Casino, the French Quarters, St. Charles Avenue, Magazine Street and lots more. The week end began on Friday evening after the work at Idea Village. The evenings were mostly spent at the pubs which had brass bands performing live jazz music. Most of the day time was spent exploring the city on foot, taking in the beautiful architecture and also spent some time aboard the steam-driven river Paddlewheeler.
On completion of the first week, we all were virtually dying for Indian food and that is when we discovered a Pakistani restaurant at walking distance from our hotel. Now this became a daily dinner destination for most of the GMPians. Our classes at the Tulane University were successfully completed and we started working full time at the Idea Village. This week cannot end without the mention of Xavier Pires, the star of XLRI, who made it to the Garland Robinette radio talk that highlighted the Entrepreneurship in New Orleans. On that day, Xavier had an audience of approximately 6 million listeners and Xavier completely rocked the show. Without flinching even once, Xavier charmed others by his comments, viz. GMPians sharing expertise; pure determination and will power of the entrepreneurs and the best - Americans party better than Indians. Here is the link to the talk show:
http://audio.wwl.com/m/audio/27511276/11-20-09-garland-s-entrepreneur-challenge-10am.htm
For the following week end we went to the Smoky Mountains, Tennessee. A 600 mile drive one way was a cake walk for all of us, thanks to the infrastructure of US and the driving skills of the two GMPians.
Finally the last week at New Orleans began. Everyone was immersed in their respective projects. After the final presentation of the projects to the clients on Tuesday, Idea Village took all of us for an excellent dinner. The next day was the wrapping up and the debriefing session for the GMPians at the Idea Village and then the much awaited lunch at the Indian Restaurant, Nirvana.
After this it was only the party time for all of us, roaming, gaming, partying was all we did from Wednesday evening to the early hours of Friday. And finally the back home journey began, some (including me) were excited as they had an extended vacation to their respective home towns but the others were cheerless. How can I end this trip without the mention of my two Guardian Angels who made every possible effort to make my trip a memorable experience.
Yes now we all are back at XLRI and the grinding has begun, but let us all respect the past in the full measure of its desserts, but let us not make the mistake of confusing it with the present nor seek in it the ideals of the future.
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