Our 15 minutes of fame...

I think that every CSC assignment is pretty special and you are treated to experiences that you did not anticipate. In our case, we most definitely have gone up another level. IBM India has a focus on their local CSR work and through a film crew, have been showcasing the assignments of local India people who go abroad to complete their assignments. The website that you should check this out is called Desi Corps (desi means 'local'). As we were in India, we were asked to participate in a small documentary style video shoot given we were 'local' in India. Naturally we said yes.

Not really knowing what to expect, all we knew was that we would be given a briefing one night and then shooting would start the next day. Maria from our team was our communications representative and she did a great job in keeping us informed of the Desi Corps movements as well as creating a schedule for shooting that our IBM brains could take solace in (:P)

With my dad working in TV for many years of my childhood I was quite familiar with the type of gear that the crew would be carrying with them however I did have an assumption of the team before we met in that they would be middle-aged men (just like my dad). Now, those who know me know that I have tendency to liken grown men to 'cute little boys' or 'little babies' for what ever reason as it is viewed in my brain. I love seeing men be passionate about their work, doing things for the right reasons and having an air of niceness about them and somehow this translates them into being little boys. Why? I don't know, perhaps I should speak to a psychologist.....

First day of briefing- Enter the Desi Crew. They were a group of cute little babies, some complete with scruffy hair and jeans that drag on the ground as they walk (Sorry Jayant and Dev, if you are reading this- not you two specifically :P )...but that was my first impression. And to be honest, it gave me a great sense of relief. They were normal. They were young. They were keen.

And over the next 2 days they had to handle multiple personalities, many stakeholders, run to various schedules and work with a creative direction that sometimes differed amongst themselves. I imagine like any artist, being given full rein is desirable however in our corporate worlds and in real life- this can be a bit of a challenge. It was a very interesting process to watch and the boys work long hours, with many minutes spent waiting whilst something is being altered before the next shot can take place. Definitely not within my skill-set so I don't envy them but they seem to enjoy themselves and believe in the vision they can see even when the rest of us cannot. I thoroughly enjoyed observing their work practices.

On the second night we were asked to provide a few minutes of individual speaking time with the crew, covering our personal views on being accepted into the Corporate Service Corps and our expectations once we arrived. Well, for a group of 'talented' individuals, this still drove in shivers of fear. Nonetheless, with a bit of tough love 'self-talk' I decided it was now or never and I was the first one to speak with the crew that night. Here is a shot of our Concept Society sub-team (Tyler, Anika and I) speaking on camera about what it is like to work with one another:

Inside the Lemon Tree hotel

Our next experience with the film crew was done on a group basis. For us, this meant that the film crew accompanied us to the slums where we interviewed a family about their reason for migrating from a village to the city of Indore. The purpose behind this interview was because it directly relates to the work we are doing with Concept Society. To recap, Concept Society is an NGO in Indore, India that has strong relationships with women in villages, tribes and the slums.

Quite often there is an industry demand for skilled resources and the women have a need to work with the cost of living on the rise. There is however, a gap between these women having the necessary skills to be suitable for the employment on offer. This is where the Women's Resource Centre (a new future service line of Concept Society) plays a vital role. Using the existing relationships Concept Society has, the WRC can provide a platform which trains these women, whilst also providing them safe lodging facilities and preparing them to be 'work ready' as this will be the first job for many.

How does this family fit in? Well, the fact that they had to migrate from the village to Indore to gain better employment to allow for a more successful future for their son is directly the target group that the WRC can assist. Tyler, Anika and I had by this time spent 3 + weeks building a self-sustaining business model and a case management process with psychological considerations of our target group (these women coming in from rural areas) who are being subject to training and assessment for the first time in their lives. We now had a small chance to speak with a family who had already made this move, take the time to share the WRC concept and find out if a platform like that had existed at the time of their own stage of decision making- would it have made a difference? A great opportunity for the film crew to be present during our assignment.

I would like to share the story of how we met this family first though. Tyler's camera often runs out of batteries and on one of his 'find batteries' missions he went into a computer-like store whereby the man directed him to a nearby shop, sending his 13 year old helper to accompany Tyler down the dark alleyways. On the way there, Tyler struck up a conversation with this boy who turned out to have great English speaking skills. The boy, whose name is Rahul shared a little about his life which referenced the fact that his parents had migrated from a village to Indore for work. And when an opportunity like that presents itself, Tyler went with it.

Over the next week a relationship was built with the shop owner who is a bit of a Godfather figure to the boy who then in turn lisaised with the parents for us to get permission to conduct an interview with them (and explain what the cause was). Then there was the next step of getting permission for the interview to take place on film (again, explaining that purpose). Many translations between English and Hindi occurred and much thinking around logistics to ensure the comfort level of those involved.

So here are some photos of how we went on the day:

Sitting inside the house, preparing for the interview with the family

Sound adjustment part way through the interview

A good opportunity to check my reflection in my sunglasses

And here we are after the interview:

Here is me, Tyler, the boys father, Hemal (our NGO), the boy Rahul, his mother and Anika after the interview took place.

Some time was spent with the film crew after the interview to get our thoughts and feedback and you can see these shots in action below. It made for a pretty impressive visual (for us), with one of us talking and a group of people standing around with equipment to catch what you have to say:

Here I am saying my piece. I won't be a newsreader anytime soon, let's just say that.

Here is Anika, being ultra comfortable in front of the camera, she did great.

As did Tyler, sharing his experiences.

The crew discussing what thread of the story should go next

But there is time now for a group picture with Rahul and the film crew:

I love this picture. Here are the main boys- Second from the left is Jayant, Dev and our boy Rahul.

The Concept Society sub-team debriefing with our NGO, Hemal

One of the boys shared this picture with me that was on their camera, not actually a fan of me in it personally but I like the background and shades:

And later on that night, back in the hotel when further filming was being done- we were able to capture a few pictures of the crew in action... (An interesting cycle, they are here to take footage of us yet we are equally as interested in getting footage of them, taking footage of us, double vanity perhaps?).

Location - Tyler's room

Haha, cheeky.

So that was our 15 minutes of fame. When some of the clips are released, I will share them with you all here but I encourage you follow Desi Corps on your favourite social media platform as a lot of what they do is quite interesting. In fact, somewhat related- here is a great clip that some of them worked on with IBM India CSR teams becoming a 'flash mob'.

When all was done and the nerves were calmed, we all commented how professional this film crew was and it was evident that they knew what they were doing. In fact, we have kept in contact and some of us have realised a double benefit of doing so- who knows when you have an event that where you will need to hire a good documentary film crew?

Well done team. Thank you Rahul and his family for sharing a part of your lives with us and allowing us to intrude so personally into your home. We appreciate your openness.

#ibmcsc