After last week's whirlwind--where we were taken out to dinner and given a tour of our high-tech office space--things fizzled. The day after we first went into the office, we got a cryptic email from our manager Awsan saying he would not be able to make it into the office on Thursday or Friday. He proposed starting fresh on Monday in the office. We agreed and set to planning with the few textbooks Awsan had given us.
We emailed a few times and called Awsan on both Friday and Saturday asking about the possibility of getting more books and double-checking about work on Monday. He told us he continued to be busy and would have to get back to us.
Monday came and we did not go into the office. Awsan said things were not quite ready. He asked if we could wait until Tuesday. A little cowed, we agreed. Tuesday came and it was the same thing, yet this time our visit was pushed back to Thursday. After that call on Tuesday, Jenna and I emailed our handlers at ATI in Kolkata (the people we had trained with and the ones who had set up this internship). They contacted Awsan and then also asked us about our experience so far. After hearing about the past week, they suggested we get a new internship...somewhere possibly in Kerala, a state directly southwest of Bangalore.
We agreed. We emailed Awsan telling him we could go no further. We met him Wednesday morning. He seemed resigned and downcast but also accepted our decision honorably. We had yet to see more textbooks or any students. He promised us things would be ready to go by November 1. Could we just wait two-and-a-half more weeks?
We told him no, we couldn't.
We are still in Bangalore and still living at the wonderful guesthouse Awsan originally set up for us. To his credit, Awsan volunteered to pay out the first month's rent here, though we feel obliged to pay it ourselves once we leave. We have made contact with ATI in Kerala and are waiting to hear back. We remain in limbo, maybe a little wiser and little more cynical than before. But our spirits are not dampened and we still find the next few months to be filled with promise.
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