Every good going has to come to an end. Every circle ends where it starts. Both statements are admittedly eternal clichés – but not surprisingly true. Certainly in this case.
The memorable long four-and-a-half week journey, which started with the touchdown at Boise on Apr 18, 2011, ended - also at Boise - as we bid adieu on May 18, 2011.
Our hosts Doug, Will, and Jon drove us to the airport. The Gilberts, Gloria & Kiel, Jeannine also were at the airport to see us off. During our 2-3 days at Boise Stan was extremely helpful in trying to organize our logistics post-Boise. I also had an opportunity to have a meaningful discussion with him for activities beyond GSE.
Even though we had 3 club meetings, a couple of evening dinners and a day planned for rafting [which had to be cancelled because of rough weather], overall the last few days were more of a countdown to the end. The send-offs and goodbyes were not just with our host Rotarians. It was also amongst our GSE Team, especially for me – as I was scheduled to part with the group and travel to Seattle, en-route to New York/Detroit.
Spending time with team members during those four 4 weeks was quite interesting. Besides the differences in professions and personalities, each one had expectedly different perspectives and outlooks to situations. It was both fun and a challenge to get everyone on board. Even though we had our share of disagreements and dis-satisfactions, we were well-aligned (most of the time) during the GSE programme.
Each one of us had a different take on the GSE. I felt as though each of us were playing his own unspoken role. The GSE team interestingly looked like a bunch of diverse individuals with a common goal, which echoed the theme of ‘unity in diversity, ‘ which we promoted for India in our presentations.
Pradip was very good in aligning the different team members to a common objective. He was very focused on the message we wanted to send as a team, while providing the necessary leash/breadth we needed to do the same. Alok, who never lost an opportunity for a photo ops or for getting to know new people, was probably the extrovert of the team – true to his profession [sports and HR]. It was Alok who led the Gayatri mantra recitals for the team during club presentations. Anil, the engineer/professor, was reticent in a group, but made significant strides in one-on-one discussions in technical aspects. His talents as Feng-shui expert came to the forefront at Hailey. Dipti was an out and out a team player. She quite sportively, took lot of efforts to make everyone comfortable. Her distribution of farewell gifts to all team members was a nice gesture. During the club presentations, she danced to the tune Vande Mataram. I was probably more of a gatherer, keen to accumulate experiences and network, while trying to understand a new country; focusing on the opportunities that could be leveraged from a work perspective. Pradip and Dipti were also the FB keepers of the team as they religiously uploaded pics from each leg of the trip. I also doubled as the log-keeper as I tried to blog on every destination.
Our differences in orientations add colour to the team. I learnt from every team member, finding worthy traits in each. Commendable were Pradip’s meticulous instincts, Alok’s focus to experience and record everything new, Anil’s solid background processing and clear thinking, and Dipti’s people skills. I really enjoyed working closely with them. I wish each of them great luck in their personal and professional lives.
I will recommend every non-Rotarian from 25 to 40 years of age, to try and be a part of a GSE team programme. This is certainly a lifetime opportunity and I am sure will be a memorable experience for any participant.
As I finish my notes on different stopovers, I know the messages that I have gathered during my GSE programme are yet to be articulated. I guess I will want to write a few more pieces, some to include: the education structure at USA, the surprises of the trip [which I have been asked about by many people during the trip] and USA / Idaho as a country / state respectively. Writing these blogs would mean digging into the layers of my sub-conscious. So I will not be in a hurry to finish them – even though I would like to write them in a reasonable timeframe.
Bhubaneswar
June 5, 2011
The memorable long four-and-a-half week journey, which started with the touchdown at Boise on Apr 18, 2011, ended - also at Boise - as we bid adieu on May 18, 2011.
Our hosts Doug, Will, and Jon drove us to the airport. The Gilberts, Gloria & Kiel, Jeannine also were at the airport to see us off. During our 2-3 days at Boise Stan was extremely helpful in trying to organize our logistics post-Boise. I also had an opportunity to have a meaningful discussion with him for activities beyond GSE.
Even though we had 3 club meetings, a couple of evening dinners and a day planned for rafting [which had to be cancelled because of rough weather], overall the last few days were more of a countdown to the end. The send-offs and goodbyes were not just with our host Rotarians. It was also amongst our GSE Team, especially for me – as I was scheduled to part with the group and travel to Seattle, en-route to New York/Detroit.
Spending time with team members during those four 4 weeks was quite interesting. Besides the differences in professions and personalities, each one had expectedly different perspectives and outlooks to situations. It was both fun and a challenge to get everyone on board. Even though we had our share of disagreements and dis-satisfactions, we were well-aligned (most of the time) during the GSE programme.
Each one of us had a different take on the GSE. I felt as though each of us were playing his own unspoken role. The GSE team interestingly looked like a bunch of diverse individuals with a common goal, which echoed the theme of ‘unity in diversity, ‘ which we promoted for India in our presentations.
Pradip was very good in aligning the different team members to a common objective. He was very focused on the message we wanted to send as a team, while providing the necessary leash/breadth we needed to do the same. Alok, who never lost an opportunity for a photo ops or for getting to know new people, was probably the extrovert of the team – true to his profession [sports and HR]. It was Alok who led the Gayatri mantra recitals for the team during club presentations. Anil, the engineer/professor, was reticent in a group, but made significant strides in one-on-one discussions in technical aspects. His talents as Feng-shui expert came to the forefront at Hailey. Dipti was an out and out a team player. She quite sportively, took lot of efforts to make everyone comfortable. Her distribution of farewell gifts to all team members was a nice gesture. During the club presentations, she danced to the tune Vande Mataram. I was probably more of a gatherer, keen to accumulate experiences and network, while trying to understand a new country; focusing on the opportunities that could be leveraged from a work perspective. Pradip and Dipti were also the FB keepers of the team as they religiously uploaded pics from each leg of the trip. I also doubled as the log-keeper as I tried to blog on every destination.
Our differences in orientations add colour to the team. I learnt from every team member, finding worthy traits in each. Commendable were Pradip’s meticulous instincts, Alok’s focus to experience and record everything new, Anil’s solid background processing and clear thinking, and Dipti’s people skills. I really enjoyed working closely with them. I wish each of them great luck in their personal and professional lives.
I will recommend every non-Rotarian from 25 to 40 years of age, to try and be a part of a GSE team programme. This is certainly a lifetime opportunity and I am sure will be a memorable experience for any participant.
As I finish my notes on different stopovers, I know the messages that I have gathered during my GSE programme are yet to be articulated. I guess I will want to write a few more pieces, some to include: the education structure at USA, the surprises of the trip [which I have been asked about by many people during the trip] and USA / Idaho as a country / state respectively. Writing these blogs would mean digging into the layers of my sub-conscious. So I will not be in a hurry to finish them – even though I would like to write them in a reasonable timeframe.
Bhubaneswar
June 5, 2011
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