IBM CSC India 42 Starting a Journey

I was recently chosen to work on a project for the Corporate Service Corps. It’s kind of like Peace Corps, but it’s sponsored by IBM and it’s only a month long instead of a year or two. The day I found out I was both scared and thrilled at the same time. Plagued by fears of “Am I good enough?” “Will the project I get assigned be in an area I know something about?” “What am I going to eat?”

Slowly but surely these fears were replaced with pure awe. How can I not be thrilled knowing I am going to go to Chadigarh, India for the entire month of March 2019! I feel I will be given a chance to make a real difference in people’s lives. This is something I am passionate about. I am also thrilled to be chosen out of thousands of applicants.

We will be there during Holi, a Hindu spring festival, also known as the “festival of colors” or the “festival of love”. We hope to immerse ourselves in the culture, give our all to the project, and get the most out of a wonderful and intriguing culture.

There is so much to prepare for, and yet, there is so little I can actually do to prepare at the same time. We still don’t know what our actual project is, so preparation for the actual assignment is limited. We are fully engaged in getting to know each other, how team dynamics work in general, Tuckman’s Stages of Development, and the culture where we will be going.

Wish me luck, and I will keep you posted :)