New Delhi : Once tasted, it’s difficult to resist the temptation of exploring rural India. Something, this group of four students would definitely vouch for. Visiting several villages in Bundelkhand region of North India they do not rule out the strong possibility of their coming back to work and stay in India!

For Chloe Abdessater (22) from Lebanon, Helene Evain (21) and Yolene Grosselin (21) from France, and Vasileios Theodorou (26) from Greece, a travel to India can’t be complete without visiting the villages. Though, on a research trip to India, it has come out to be an interesting opportunity for them to explore, experience and understand the country. The group has extensively travelled to Bundelkhand region of Northern India apart from Khajuraho, Agra and Delhi.

While Helen Evain has already visited India a couple of years ago, but for the rest of the members it is their first visit. “It is our first time in this beautiful country. It has been a very interesting and unique experience, a bit challenging at first but because people were so friendly and helpful we were able to adapt quickly,” says Chloe Abdessater. While Helen will stay for six weeks, Vasileios and Yolène will be here for seven and Chloe for almost two months.

These youngsters are studying at HEC Paris (école des Hautes Etudes Commerciales de Paris), one of Europe’s leading Business School located in Paris. They are in India to pursue their research and field work with support from global think tank Development Alternatives (DA), which runs several rural development projects in Bundelkhand region. “We are pursuing a Masters course in Management, Grande Ecole Programme. We have come to Development Alternatives in order to experience the field work and to perform a social impact assessment for their Tara Akshar program, an initiative to improve literacy rate among adult women. As part of our elective course called FACT IMPACT (field action for impact), we have to assess the impact of social enterprises,” shares Yolene Grosselin.

Over the years, Development Alternatives (DA) has seen growing numbers of students and young researchers visiting rural India. Sharing more about this trend, Dr. Alka Srivastava, (Senior Programme Director, Development Alternatives) said, “In response to the interest expressed by organisations abroad, Development Alternatives Group provides opportunities to foreign students to understand the rural scenario of India; the development initiatives by Government and Non-Government sector; its impact on lives of rural masses; and in turn bring‘their’ expertise in form of rigourous analysis and reporting. This also helps to build linkages with good academic and research institutions outside India, which strengthens networking and enhance opportunities for future collaboration.”

Sharing about their experience in the field, these youngsters say, “This rural exposure has been very useful and interesting, mostly because it was very challenging and we also had to adapt to the local customs of the country. We also got the chance to meet very interesting people that we would definitely stay in touch with. It also taught us autonomy, because we had to manage our own time schedule. Overall we believe it was very beneficial for our careers and it got us to consider potentially coming back to work in India.” They had several fun moments and will be taking back sweet memories from the field. “When we visited touristic areas we were asked to take a lot of pictures, something that made us feel famous. We also learnt how to eat Dushehri mangoes the Indian way. But most of all we got to experience the Indian culture which was very enriching,” they said.