So I reached Ahmedabad safely, my doubts about un-rest on the way to Delhi were mostly un-founded.
First impressions of Ahmedabad itself
1. Autorickshaw drivers are very friendly and honest,
2. According to the rick driver the city is secure enough for women to move about the town at 3 AM in the night, now thats a first for an Indian city.
2. Roads from Airport to IIM-A were wide and weren't clogged with traffic and weren't polluted.
3. The city is the heaven for vegetarians, most restaurant chains have removed non-vegetarian from their menu so as not to annoy their vegetarian clientèle.
4. Subway here has one vegetarian 'sub of the day' everyday as no one buys the regular high priced sandwich anyway. A lesson in free market for all those pricey MNC food chains ;-), which no other city in India could have taught them.
5. The city was promised 24 hours power by the government in power and it has been delivered, and now 24 hour municipal water supply has been promised and people are confident it shall be done.
6. The city has everything going for it except an high technology innovation scene.
Now to the real topic of this post, first impressions of the IAccelerator program at IIM-A
1. The CIIE is a remarkably autonomous organization within IIM-A and according to Aditi all the employees are basically entrepreneurs who have either done a startup of their own or intend to do one in future.
2. There is a complete understanding of startup/geek lifestyle and all attempts by CIIE are directed towards facilitating the same instead of opposing it as most IT companies end up doing when they grow big.
3. Startup Teams are a remarkable mix of people from those who have international exposure to technology business and college students who have just completed their 3rd year in college.
4. Freeman has been playing the role of an elderstatesman remarkably well, more than just another mentor, giving his insights into business as well as technology side for all the teams
5. Despite all my years in IT industry, I have learned quite a few things about technology from these young teams and their informed technology choices.
Photographs and more about this gig later.
