Delegation for Diversity Diary 2006, India - Day 8

Chennai, India; Mumbai, India

July 31, 2006
Cameron Johnson

“A strong and assertive India is a stabilizing force in this world”

It’s early. Again. You think we’d be used to it by now.

We’ve got a 7:15 AM flight from Chennai to Mumbai, so we gather in the hotel lobby, packed and ready, at 5:30 AM.

The flight is uneventful, save for our choice of drinks. We’re offered orange juice, sweet lime juice, which is poorly named as it is quite salty, and masala lassi. Lassi is a traditional Indian yogurt drink that comes in many flavors, notably masala, sweet, and mango.

Most delegates opt for the juices, which riles me a bit. We’re in India, people! Do as the Indians do! So, high on my culturally immersed horse, I order the lassi.

Bad idea. There’s something in me that just can’t take salted yogurt with cumin, turmeric, and mustard seed as a breakfast beverage. Lime juice, please.

As we fly over Mumbai, we get a great view of the city. I notice three things: the geography, which is green, lush, and hilly; the tall buildings, which are everywhere and in every state of repair; and the slums, which are also everywhere and in only one state of disrepair. My view is drawn to the slums, as the districts are sprawling and the blue-tarp roofs are eye-catching.

A busy Mumbai intersection.

The plane lands, we collect our luggage and head for the coaches. The random-guys-helping-with-luggage scene occurs again, though it is a much less pushy scenario this time. A few men are loading the bags into the coach, though they don’t work for the tour company, so they ask for money from each of us. I hand over some rupees, as the bags that they were lifting seemed taller and heavier than the men themselves. We must have done a lot of shopping in Chennai.

The coach ride confirms what I saw from the air: the high-rises and slums are everywhere, sometimes right next to each other. It’s not a judgment; it’s just a fact of life. Mumbai is a city of 13 million to 20 million people (no one really knows, and it depends on whom you ask). By some estimates, as many as 400 families move to Mumbai per day. And they have to live somewhere. So, “somewhere” becomes shantytowns on the edges of highways, pressed up against the fences of the airport runway, and next to the Grand Hyatt (keep reading). For me, Mumbai is a portrait of India’s contrast, its successes, its failures, its potential, and its struggles.

One of the many Mumbai slums.

We get to the hotel, take a few hours to chill, then meet downstairs for a panel discussion about India’s economy. The discussion is an engaging one, addressed on the macro level by William Klein from the economic affairs office of the U.S. Consulate General in Mumbai, and on the micro level by Vaibhav N. Peshney, manager, Rural Microbanking and Agricultural Division, ICICI Bank Limited.

Mr. Klein begins the discussion with an overview of U.S.-Indo relations, which, he says, have never been better. The U.S. and India have the same goals: increasing bilateral trade, encouraging mutual investment, promoting Asian peace, containing nuclear proliferation, and combating terrorism.

He also gives us a rundown of the outsourcing phenomenon. It started out, he says, as simple back-office tasks.

Next came the call centers, with which many of us are familiar.

Then Y2K came along, which was to be the proving ground for India’s software industry. As Thomas Friedman says in The World Is Flat, the U.S. could not handle Y2K by itself; there was just too much code to alter. India’s volume of low-cost software programmers provided the ideal solution. The Indians’ success with Y2K helped move the industry from simple code writing to software analysis.

With the infrastructure in place and the industry proven, the banking industry was next, which has become a huge part of the Indian economy, especially in Mumbai. Beyond simple transactions, the Indians have taken on market research and analysis for many multi-national banks.

One of the newest outsourcing responsibilities given to the Indians is medical transcription. At the end of the day, a doctor in the U.S. will call a number and speak her notes into the phone. While the doctor sleeps, an Indian will transcribe that recording. When the U.S. doctor goes into to work the next day, her notes are waiting for her in data form. Some U.S. law firms are doing the same thing.

It’s not all wine and roses, though. Mr. Klein identifies a few problems facing India, which sometimes stifle foreign investment. The economy is growing faster than the physical infrastructure can handle, he says. Right now, Mumbai is the only big city in India with a 24/7 power supply. Not even Bangalore, the East Asian Silicon Valley, can make that claim.

India’s spread-out and fragmented bureaucracy is also an impediment. “Getting things done” requires commitment from many people at many levels, says Mr. Klein. Hence, corruption and wheel-greasing are still common.

Still, Mr. Klein is very optimistic, saying that "a strong and assertive India is a stabilizing force in this world."

Mr. Peshney gives us the micro view, literally. India’s economy is booming, yes, but there are those that are not taking, or cannot take, advantage of it. As much as 65 percent of India’s population is “unbanked.” So how does a produce vendor living day-to-day, with little or no knowledge of personal banking, reap the benefits of India’s success?

Vaibhav N. Peshney from ICICI Bank talks to the delegates.

That’s where Mr. Peshney comes in. His specialty at one of India’s largest banks is micro-banking, which is defined as tickets up to 5,000 rupees ($100) for savings, 10,000 rupees ($200) for credit, and 50,000 rupees ($1,000) for insurance. His bank provides small loans to the street vendors of the Mumbai slums for tickets as small as 500 rupees ($10), which is enough for a produce vendor to purchase his capital for the day.

It seems that Mr. Peshney and his employer are helping to address the question of, “What about those who are being left behind?” In a country of one billion people, Mr. Klein says, about 200,000 are much better off than they were 10 years go. But what about the other 800,000?

Tomorrow, we’ll see some of the “others” firsthand, as we’ll be going in to the Mumbai slums and speaking with the street vendors, some of whom are a part of ICICI Bank’s micro-loan program.

The panel discussion continues with a Q-and-A session, which covers lots of ground. We talk about the nuclear deal between the U.S. and India, the role of NGOs in Indian society, health care, unemployment (unofficially, 20 percent of 21-40 year olds are unemployed), income tax (no central system; honor system method of reporting), and the challenges of an open-market system in a country with socialist and populist roots.

Just before the panel ends, we are given a quick introduction from a member of the Sir Shapurji Billimoria Foundation about “integrated education.” As the website says, the foundation’s principle is: “A child is first and foremost a child and the ability, disability, or giftedness, secondary.” It’s a message that resonates well with the delegates, that’s for sure.

Guest speaker from Sir Shapurji Billimoria Foundation

It’s late afternoon and we’re left to our own devices. Many delegates head into Mumbai for culture, food, and shopping. But, as usual, I’ve got work to do, so I head to my room and start typing. I wish I could say I would be typing this diary entry, but I’m quite behind. So much for “daily."

Our day isn't quite over, yet. We're treated to a special evening at the Grand Hyatt Mumbai, hosted by the U.S. Consul General. It's a nice beer, wine, and appetizer reception for us and for the new teachers at the American International School of Bombay. It's great to meet all the new teachers, some of whom have moved to Mumbai in the past two days. They come from all over the world and they teach all different subjects.

The most striking thing about the evening, though, is the biggest "contrast moment" of the trip. As we drive up to the gated and guarded hotel, the streets are lined with slums. Looking up at the rooms, it's obvious that a business traveller staying in this "five-star, deluxe lifestyle complex" would have a view of the slums from her room.

There's a lot of internal conflict in me at that moment. And though it's not much of a consolation, I'm left with a phrase that a few people have said to me already on this trip: It is what it is.

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