January 17, 2008

India Trip Summary

At the majority of the meetings we have attended, we have been told that India is no longer a land of snake charmers and elephants. This comment moved from slightly humorous to an overdone cliche in no time. As a side note, I was slightly disappointed that we saw neither. While I think this perception of the outside world's view is inaccurate, I do believe that American business owners generally do not grasp the extent of what globalization means and need to reevaluate their strategies in order to compete successfully in the long term.
Some significant considerations include:

-There are many more similarities between business in India and the US than I anticipated.

-Managers talk about the same strategic concepts, value relationships similarly, and need to invest time to understand their target market's needs.

-The top two buzzwords were innovation and scalability. Innovation refers not to an R&D lab as part of a company, but a mindset whereby any and all strategies, products, and processes need to be constantly updated to meet changing market needs and competitive dynamics. In a market of 1 billion people, including a vast low-income consumer market, scalability means bringing solutions to the individual level through cost-effective technology and easily replicable delivery methods.

-Outsourced services have become very sophisticated. Call centers are just scratching the surface. To be competitive in the changing business environment, managers need to understand the opportunities and embrace them.

-Low average ages of 26-28 at Wipro and Infosys reflect the general shift of valuing KSAO's over experience. Learnability is a valued trait and popular buzzword.

-The IT infrastructure at top companies in India is on par with the top US companies. Sometimes Indian subsidiaries teach their foreign parents how to use IT.

-The pace of change is so fast that disruptive technologies need to be searched for and exploited quickly.

-India is very diverse, so generalities are meaningless, and local market research is key. Companies that learn this will likely also succeed in the next major growth region: Africa.

-Indians are ambitious and proud of their progress. Businesspeople tend to be resourceful and have a can-do attitude. Companies have become more acquisitive, but still prefer partnering with targets (ex. Tata Steel and Corus).

-Venture capital is flowing from all over the globe to support economic growth in India. Entrepreneurship is valued and respected. Still, the lackluster expected returns for developed economy equity markets has overheated Indian stocks.

-Possibly due to the obvious social needs, companies frequently undertake social causes and divert significant cash flows to charity.

-Bureacracy burdens many interactions from retail purchases to starting a business, but this is changing. "The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid" taught me that villages are riding the IT wave to improve efficiency of everyday transactions, boosting productivity one person at a time.

-High demand for talented labor means turnover and wage inflation of 50% are common. HR managers say it cannot continue, but global demand continues to stoke the fire.

The big question is "Can the growth continue?" We have heard multiple overwhelmingly bullish perspectives, but uncertainties about price and wage inflation, government intervention, and infrastructure constraints remain. Most major consultancies and research institutions are predicting Indian Real GDP Growth of 7-10% over the next several years. In order for this to materialize, educational institutions need to improve starting at the primary level to build the knowledge workers of tomorrow, the government needs to improve efficiency to promote business activity, the business landscape will need to decouple from developed economies to avoid following the US into recession, and companies will need to continue to innovate to improve productivity of existing human capital and infrastructure resources.

January 16, 2008

I woke and joined Dr. Mithas, Ali Cherry, and Anthony Cain for breakfast. The three of us stayed later than others due to an airline billing quirk whereby we saved a few hundred dollars to stay an extra day. Drs. Ritu Agarwal and Kislaya Prasad had provided a few sightseeing tips the night before, so we hired a driver for the day. We visited a few markets including Dalli Haat as well as a beautiful park filled with exotic plants and birds. At Raghomull's in Connaught Place I bought a T-shirt emblazoned with "Keep Walking," resembling the Johnny Walker logo, with an outline of Gandhi. I felt that the slogan was much more fitting to Gandhi's hike across the country to protest the salt tax, a passionate demonstration of purposeful revolution, than a brand of whiskey.

We were also treated as guests by one of Dr. Mithas' friends, who lived in a gorgeous and spacious home with huge marble tiled floors, stunning artwork, and a dance and music studio in the basement. The diminutive "helper" served us beverages, several dishes of hot and cold appetizers, and velvety spiced tea with milk. The two sons of our host family spoke of their ambitions to either work up to their father's position or go into an IT-related field. They were clearly bright, took their studies seriously, and planned to work in India based on their preference over the US lifestyle. We parted with an exchange of gifts; the hospitality would blow American Southerners away.

I was dropped off at the airport with three hours to spare; my first time alone in India. It took a while to navigate through crowds to find Continental, but the process was a breeze and I was through customs and security within an hour. I grabbed a quick paneer masala sandwich and settled in to read a spell. Boarding began an hour prior to takeoff, which took me by surprise. The preponderance of Americans meant that lines were orderly, but after having my boarding pass scanned I simply moved into another line for airline specific security. Some passengers moaned, but I appreciated the added measure.

As I sat down on the plane, I noticed that my TV screen was scrambled and asked a flight attendant if I could change seats. The fact that I had a middle seat directly in front of a bathroom served as additional motivation to raise a fuss. Meanwhile, I struck up a conversation with my neighbor, a Christian missionary from Puerto Rico working through Maranatha [1]. She reported that she had worked alongside Hindus, Moslems, and other Christians to build a school for villagers in Uttar Pradesh, and was humbled by the joy and hospitality of the impoverished villagers.

A flight attendant tapped my shoulder and showed me to an aisle seat with a functional TV screen (and no one in the middle seat, Hallelujah!). I noticed Praphul Kumar, a classmate, across the other aisle and shouted over jubilantly. The man that we were talking over entered our conversation; he turned out to be Dr. Gerald Zeitz, a professor of HRM at Temple University, who had coincidentally been staying at MDI as well. His trip had been focused on classroom learning with just a few company visits, and his greatest takeaways were that the theories discussed in US business schools are implemented rigorously in Indian companies, oftentimes better than in US companies and that the acceptance of rapid change and innovation is cutting edge in Indian companies.

The flight seemed quicker on the way home, likely due to a combination of longer in-flight sleep, less anxiety about the coming days, and accustomization to the long trip. I read the lion's share of 'The Fortune at the Bottom of the Period' by C. K. Prahalad on the way home, and ironically did not use the TV screen. The flight touched down at 4:30 AM and I was amazed that I was through security, customs, and immigration in about an hour, with three hours to spare before my final flight home. I grabbed a huge coffee and set down to plow through some more of the book.

January 15, 2008

Day Eleven: Course Wrap-up and Convergys
After breakfast our class joined at 9:30 to summarize our learnings and evaluate the course. The major learning points will be summarized in a separate section. We presented business plans that we had developed as a side project. I was impressed with the ingenuity despite limited preparation time.
After lunch we met with Sanjit Singh Bal, Director of Business Development for Convergys in India. We discussed the prospects of business process outsourcing (BPO) in India and competing countries and how companies are partnering with Convergys to improve efficiency. Click here for the Convergys transcript.
After our meeting, about eight students and our professor reconvened by the front gate to head to a local shopping mall featuring a store called Fabindia, reportedly a great place to get authentic Indian clothing for fair prices without bargaining. We were not able to secure a driver from MDI, taxis were occupied, and rickshaws seemed full. To our rescue came Rahul, a student at MDI that offered to drive us pro bono. He was a first year from Chandigarh and very friendly. We got to the large mall, plastered with advertisements, but I was amazed at how empty the mall was and how many stores were closed. We grabbed dinner at a Chinese restaurant to celebrate the trip with our professor.
A few interesting notes after a few days in Gurgaon, a suburb of Delhi: The power outages are so routine here that business as usual proceeds without interruption. Cars dodge cows but edge each other to near collisions. Poverty is everywhere, but taxi drivers will not pick us up for short trips because the standard payment is insufficient.
I wrote and packed until about 1 AM, attempting to push my circadian rhythms slowly back into US time zones.

January 14, 2008

Day Ten: MDI and Eli Lilly
No yoga this morning. I enjoyed sleeping until 7:15, having a cup of tea while writing briefly, and moved to the dining hall. We convened at 9:30 to discuss our upcoming schedule, followed by two presentations and interactions with MDI professors, one finance and one human resource management. Both were extremely informative and I was encouraged to know the vast similarities between the US systems and India's.

Following a quick dining hall lunch, we ventured to Eli Lilly's India office, which was located in arguably the most impoverished area I had seen, a campground of tarps and rags. Two girls greeted us off the bus with what looked like a petition, but we couldn't make sense of what they wanted. The Lilly office, a three-story building inside a guardhouse, was very nice. We met with a senior HR manager and training facilitator that had been with the company since its India presence began. Our discussion moved from the broad economy to the pharma industry to specific challenges and opportunities for Lilly India. Turnover of roughly 40% is the biggest HR issue, but the rising middle class offers huge opportunities for drug companies, especially given the proliferation of lifestyle ailments like diabetes and heart disease. Click here for the Eli Lilly notes.

After returning from Lilly, I met with two group members to prepare a business plan presentation for tomorrow morning. We then met as a class for a cultural presentation of traditional dance as performed by a regional expert. It was informative and fun to watch. We had dinner at a nearby country club, which was well appointed but dramatically different stylistically than American counterparts which tend to be classic in appearance. This club was more "New York chic" than "classy conservative," with a dance club downstairs cranking out bass that shook through our dinner. I couldn't imagine justifying a country club membership in India given the in-your-face poverty. We ended dinner with a toast to Hugo and Susan, our two classmates that will complete their degrees with the conclusion of this course. Cheers!
I need to add that while I miss my wife and home, the comraderie built on this trip has been very unique and has added a lot to the experience.

January 13, 2008

Day Nine: Agra and Lohri
At 8:30 we travelled to the Taj Mahal with our tour guide who provided a solid historical narrative. Upon reaching the Taj, we were read an extensive list of no-no's and frisked prior to entry. The first view was dramatic and upon closer inspection I was amazed at the intricacy of design and skilled craftsmanship not captured in most photographs. An interesting note is that the pillars by the main building are leaning slightly outwards by design, so that if they ever fall, they will not damage the primary structure. The Taj was built from 1631 to 1653 and required moving huge blocks of marble 400 miles from Rajasthan via camel cars. A Turkish architect developed the design of remarkable symmetry combining Moslem and Hindu influences. Inside the mausoleum visitors find a perfect replica of tombs, with the actual tombs in the floor below. This was done at the time of completion, anticipating the visitor demand. After leaving, we drove by the Red Fort, a 2.5 Km circumference fort built over a period of 80 years by the Mughals. The fort included a 30 foot outer wall and a 70 foot inner wall, each originally surrounded by a moat, one with crocodiles and one with wild land animals. Next we visited a specialty cottage industry shop where we saw skilled craftsmen shaping semi-precious stones for inlay into white marble. I was given three tiny pieces as a souvenir. The shopkeeper then led us into the store to see the finished goods, which were remarkably intricate and commensurately expensive. 3" by 5" jewelry boxes exceeded $100 and I was barely able to count the number of digits on the larger statues and tables. I passed.

On the way back we stopped just once to use restrooms and held a relay race to break the monotony. The farmland was remarkably lush, which we had missed in the darkness of our bus trip to Agra. Other sights included small villages of grass and mud huts, a group of five partially clothed children standing outside a set of tents by a railroad track, shepherds with sheep, and some of the ugliest dogs known to man.

The trip back was much faster due to a lack of traffic, and we arrived at the cultural celebration of Lohri just after the prescribed time of 7PM. Lohri is a traditional festival of great social significance that celebrates the winter crop with thanksgiving and a renunciation of poverty. Upon entry, I saw several Indian males in traditional festive garb as I ran to the restroom. When I took my seat, music was blaring as they were jumping, waving, and smiling in time on the dance floor. Dances were separated by drum solos. Following the dancing were two separate multi-religious groups performing traditional folk music. We were treated to an outstanding buffet and warmed our hands by several small wood fires and our bodies around a huge central bonfire. Towards the end of the night, our professor led the charge to get our group to dance. After three or four were on the floor, I joined other classmates, and a very Malcolm Gladwell-esque charge followed. Soon the area was filled and an older woman danced into our circle weaving her hands in rhythm. A middle-aged man in a turban jumped in the ring and began to perform as we did our best to mimick. The music was fast and lively and we had a blast. We returned to MDI full and exhausted, and I made tentative plans to join some classmates for on-campus yoga at 5:30 AM, but yearned for a full night's sleep. I hit the hay at 1 AM.

January 12, 2008

Day Eight: Delhi, Apollo Hospitals, & Journey to Agra
In the morning we left MDI at 8:30 to get to see Qutub Minar, the world's tallest brick minaret, where were greeted by the world's most excited schoolchildren. We stopped by the Bahai temple famous for its architecture resembling a lotus flower and India Gate, where we saw our first camel and our one millionth youngster trying to sell us trinkets.
Travelling to Apollo hospitals was a treat and a challenge, as we had sufficient time to scope the environs fighting traffic. We passed two ancient mausoleums with domed tops, both about the size of the presidential monuments in DC. We also passed some child beggars that had developed their own circus. Rather than stand at stoplights with a cardboard sign to invoke sympathy and guilt like the American homeless, these children put on a show worthy of compensation.
We pulled up to Apollo Hospital in Delhi, surrounded like most of urban India with congested traffic, the poor making do how they can, and dilapidated buildings, to see a busy scene of cars unloading and crowds moving through the lobby. A sign greeted us stating that Apollo Hospitals Group is the first Indian hospital to be accredited with international standards. Everything we saw reflected that fact, from the nurse/patient ratios, overall cleanliness, use of hi-tech equipment, and quality of caring employees. We learned about the hospital's structure from a senior manager and viewed a background video before interacting with the hospital's managing director, the equivalent of a CEO, the first white American we had visited. We then toured the modern facility, which included meeting the chief cardiologist. Notes on the meeting will follow, but the key takeaways are that I would be totally comfortable coming to Apollo for a major surgery, and I have mixed feelings about their profit strategy of serving the upper echelon of society. While they designate 100 out of 600 beds for charity, they operate a retail model whereby you pay in advance for all non-emergency services, and pricing puts most care out of reach for the bottom of the pyramid.
Our travel to Agra was slowed by the endemic traffic, but I did get to see a cornucopia of domesticated animals amongst grass huts neighbored by tall offices of large multi-national corporations. I saw my first peacock, along with pigs, dogs, mules, vultures, and of course cows. The trip, originally slated for four hours took about six and a half, including a stop to get beer and watch Steve get chased by a cow and use the restrooms of a motel where I bought a juice box of mango nectar. We arrived at Taj View in Agra at about 10PM, and after dropping our things in our rooms we chowed on the dinner buffet of Indian treats until we had gotten our 900 rupees worth of value. For me this included hot and sour soup, a salad of exotic fruits, a heaping plate of all of their vegetarian dishes, and three trips to the dessert table. It was healthy, mind you, because it was all vegetarian.

January 11, 2008

Day Seven: Avery Dennison and Cybermedia
Delhi is more pleasant than I had expected, based on what students that we met at the Infosys campus had to say. We are staying at the Management Development Institute (MDI) in Gurgaon, which after staying at the "Taj Paradise," a Freudian slip on Taj President, has been dubbed the "Monastery of Management" due to the comparative lack of amenities. The facility is excellent by Indian standards, and is warm, comfortable, and relatively clean, although the shower water temperature is a crap-shoot, there was a mosquito buzzing through the room, and the bed is three inches of foam on plywood. I truly enjoyed being awakened by a knock on the door letting me know that a pot of hot water was outside so I could make tea. Brilliant! Breakfast of oatmeal and two unidentified Indian dishes was quite good in my opinion.

Our meeting with Avery Dennison (AD) provided some great insight into the challenges of starting a company in India. We met with the plant manager and managing director (MD) of the Indian operation for a tour and interaction. The Indian subsidiary has a 57% growth plan, which reflects the reliance on developing markets noted in the 10-K. The equipment looked new and employees were polished and actively engaged. The company runs 24/7 producing roughly 150 products based on demand. AD is expanding manufacturing capacity with a new plant in Pune, with additional land to grow into in coming years. A transcript is attached here, but the major takeaways were that understanding a new market takes a lot of time and effort and that a lack of an existing market should mean a major opportunity rather than an impossible sales challenge. The MD spent a full year learning about market transactions and talking to potential customers before beginning any local operations. While previously no one used pressure sensitive labels, the MD decided that they were a better solution than existing options, and has secured a huge market share by moving first.

We travelled directly to CyberMedia, a division of IDC, who publishes several magazines about the IT sector and researches economic and business data. Included in this visit were guest appearances from the CIO's of Bharti/Airtel and Suzuki/Maruti, the largest cell phone service provider and the largest car manufacturer in India respectively. Airtel recently outsourced their entire IT process to IBM, and the CIO declared to us without a moment's hesitation that their core competencies are selling and branding. This is an interesting business model and it has a ton of potential applications to enhance profitability, but foreboding implications for high-cost unskilled labor (e.g. most American workers). The founder and MD of CyberMedia declared that the Indian entrepreneur is a valued commodity in society, which is a new phenomenon. The panel also mentioned that the economy is riding on the back of the IT revolution. I asked whether social entrepreneurs can use IT to impact the bottom of the pyramid (BOP) effectively and profitably. The answer was an emphatic yes. A transcript is found here.
At both offices, the hospitality of refreshments and generous time given to us was puzzlingly generous compared to American standards, but certainly appreciated.

In the evening, our class split in half, with one contingent traveling to downtown Delhi. I chose to accompany the professor to a local shopping mall for a South Indian restaurant. The mall itself was comparable to American quality, although the stores had a cultural flair. Dinner was excellent, cheap, and filling. My stomach and I have become sufficiently comfortable with Indian food to consume American quantities.

January 10, 2008

Day Six: IBM India, HP Labs, and Travel to Delhi
(As an impatient American, I will take the liberty to note that I am typing this entry for the second time, and will save every couple of minutes to avoid losing my work to a power outage like last time.)
I could not sleep last night, even after turning on my light to finish 'Banker to the Poor' at 4AM, so I went to the business center to reply to emails at 5:30. I ran with Scott at 6:30 this chilly Bangalaroo morning (apparently some locals say Bangalaroo rather than the British-given Bangalore) down MG Lane, the major shopping street; past some homeless sleeping in the streets; a park where an informal cricket match had broken out; and some palacial government buildings where we were greeted by unwelcoming guards with big guns.
Even after seeing the Infosys campus, the business park with IBM, Microsoft, and Yahoo was impressively modern and would fit in with its best American counterparts. Upon entering the IBM facility, we interacted with a government contract manager, a university liaison, a strategy guy, and the manager of the service science lab. The latter, a curly-haired PhD with extensive US business experience, at first seemed to be talking in circles until I realized that the problem was on my end. He was one of the "scary-smart" executives that I had been briefed on, and once I grasped the concepts that he weaved, I felt honored to be in the same room. Click here for the IBM interaction notes.
Upon returning to our hotel, I packed, checked out, and joined our group for lunch with Nidhi Mathur, a manager at HP Labs responsible for market research and product development. Nidhi was relatively young and was the first female to present to our group. My greatest takeaway is that you need to understand the local culture at a deep level to conduct market research and prepare a business plan. Her example was taking a leading technology product to an Indian to get feedback. Indians are very nice and respectful and would rather compliment your idea and indicate that they would most certainly buy it than provide honest criticism. As a result, HP took products to market in India and found consumers were not willing to step up to buy as they had previously indicated.
We moved to the airport, a cultural experience to be sure.
Our group arrived amidst a clogged artery of rickshaws, pedestrians, and cabs providing a cacophonous symphony. We moved to have our baggage to be checked scanned through security prior to getting in line to obtain our boarding passes. We then moved to the personal security checkpoint, where we had our carry-on bags x-rayed and walked through a metal detector. No plastic bins were available so I kept my pocket items as they were. The guard did not like my camera and required me to run it through the conveyor solo. The officer nodded approval and let me pass and I grabbed my personal effects and joined my colleagues to wait for our plane. I had my second experience of buying something at a counter, which is worth describing. In both instances, I had been waiting to catch the eye of the attendant while an Indian moved up beside me, held out money and garnered the purchase before me. In this case, all I could do was lean into him and stare a bit, to no response of course. This was a situation where I wanted to impose my American standards but was able to extricate my emotions and learn about how things are done here.
As we began our cattle call to board, I provided my boarding pass to the attendant, who entered my seat number (why?), and let me proceed to the officer waiting by the door. He brought it my attention that my name-tag had been partially torn off of my laptop case and would need to be replaced. I went back to the boarding pass-taker-guy and asked for a tag, to which he pointed me to the security clearance area. I sighed audibly and ran to the officer that had cleared me, who pointed to another officer, who then pointed me back to the first officer, who grunted and pointed that I would need a tag before they could provide the authoritative stamp. I took a deep breath and ran back to the boarding pass area, reached over and grabbed a tag that I saw (thanks buddy) and ran back to the officer that had originally cleared me, who pointed me again to another of his colleagues. After begging three times, he stamped my tag (without looking at my bag, mind you), I ran back through the boarding pass area with not a word to the attendant, showed my victory tag to the officer who finally allowed passage, only to see a bus pull away on the tarmac. My heart skipped a beat before I saw two last classmates boarding our plane about 40 meters away.
Bureaucracy and inefficiency are no longer cute.
The flight to Delhi included another meal, which I find makes the flight seem shorter. The lack of sleep caught up with me and I was able to read no more than five pages at a time before dozing off. I read a total of twenty pages, with four mini-naps interspersed.
The Delhi airport noted significant development was underway with several pictorials of the 2009 vision. We passed a few Hare Krishnas jamming on a guitar and a drum. The luggage conveyor was appropriately sized, and the chaos to which we had become accustomed did not ensue until leaving the baggage claim. I strategically snapped a photo of the best mustache ever, featuring tennis-ball-sized bushy barbels. We negotiated our way through oncoming traffic of motorized rickshaws to reach our bus. On to MDI.

January 9, 2008

Day Five: Wipro & Infosys
I woke to the automated wake-up call at 5:30 and prepared for the busy morning of checking emails and suiting up before our 6:45 departure. While the roads were reported to be abysmal, we arrived at Wipro an hour early. Small dwellings and dusty shops lined the road before we turned into a compound of well-appointed two-story buildings. A new office was being built to house an additional 8,000 employees. We waited in line to have our pictures taken for name badges and were questioned about our electronics: apparently laptops are a big no-no given the confidential nature of their client work. The presentation by Sailesh Menezez, Sr. Manager, covered the history and outlook of the Indian economy as well as the Wipro story. I took copious notes of the fascinating presenation and interaction. We were treated to coffee and snacks prior to departure. The stark contrast of the Wipro campus and the free-roaming pigs, cows, and dogs outside reminded me where I was. A transcript of the Wipro Technologies interaction is found here.

Driving to Infosys we passed beautiful and expansive offices of Intel, Accenture, AOL, CapGemini, Northern Trust, and Intuit, neighbored by tin roof huts, piles of rocks, and partially completed construction. This came as a surprise to me. When I had heard that "Bangalore is the Silicon Valley of India," I had expected to see the entire city planned and orderly. While the air seemed fresher, the lights seemed brighter, and many people were very well-dressed, there remained the poverty, pollution issues, and infrastructure challenges we had seen in Mumbai.
Driving into Electronics City, the home of Infosys, HP, and other big names, fit my predilection closely. The campus itself was unbelievable, with too many buildings to count spread over 80 acres. I found out later that this is one of their smaller campuses; Mysore has 350 acres! A classmate described the entire image as "sleek," with which I would agree. Everything from the tight security, electronic carts and bicycles for cross-campus travel, and spectacular appointments of the auditorium to the timely scheduling of each interaction developed the image that these guys really have it together. Notes from the Infosys interaction are found here.

From my cultural interactions, it has been fascinating to learn how inefficient a lot of processes are. For example, at a government store with several small sections that I went to yesterday, I bought a small item and the particular counter gave me two receipts. I took them downstairs to the counter where you pay and stood in line for a couple minutes. After I paid, I took the stamped receipt and stood in another line to pick up what I paid for. Could you get any more convoluted? Another example: I wanted to buy a cup of coffee from a coffee shop. No one was at the counter when I walked in, although five employees shuffled around preparing specialty drinks. Another guy walked in behind me and held up some money. I did the same and made sure I was waited on first. They took my order: a cup of black coffee. They told me to sit down and wait. I refrained from shouting, "just give me my coffee," as I so badly wanted to. About three minutes later they gave it to me. My first thought was that they should constantly be making coffee and be ready to get me out the door immediately. My second response was that I am incredibly impatient given that only 5 minutes had elapsed.

While I am learning a lot about the global economy, international business, and business in India, I still do not understand how the average middle class Indian lives. We are staying in excellent hotels, we see run-down apartment buildings and shacks. Where would our hosts shop for groceries? Where do they dine? What creature comforts do they have? I will post this when I learn.

January 8, 2008

Day Four: Wartsila & Travel to Bangalore
The ringing phone woke me at 6:15 and I met Scott Clark for a run: our last Mumbai morning. While still in twilight, the city was rising, with women stoking fires, men waiting for buses, and children running to their school bus stops. We caught up with another runner and started talking to him. He was in the navy, training for the Mumbai half-marathon coming up next week. We ran up to the Hilton hotel (recommended by the Taj President staff) and followed the sea along the Queen's Necklace, a long, curved street lined with lamps that sparkled through the smoggy sunrise. Traffic became more frantic as we returned; our timing was superb.

After another great breakfast and a continuation of my conversation with Ravi Iyer, the Berkeley professor/consultant, who just happened to be eating at the same time at the neighboring table, we met the Wartsila executives. We discussed the Indian economic outlook, the shipbuilding industry, the company's IT strategy, and the dynamics of business in India. A transcript of the interaction is found here.

After the meeting, we took a long bus ride through the crowded Mumbai roads. Calling the traffic a result of bottlenecks is an understatement. It is more like an hourglass.

The airport was small but modern, with wireless internet access and huge flat-screen TV's. Security was nominal, and no one asked to see my ID ever. We took a tram to the plane and saw the setting sun across the runways. The flight was short and pleasant, and included dinner, which was slightly different from the other Indian fare. Upon arrival, we crammed into a roughly 50 foot conveyor where people three or four deep scrambled to grab their bags.

Walking out of the airport was refreshing with noticeably cleaner air, well-lit streets, no beggars, minimal trash, and a more modern feel overall. Driving to our hotel in a bus, several fresh sights caught my eyes: no one sleeping in the streets, signs that matched the stores below, and a generally more casual pace of life. The hotel was remarkable and my room was much nicer than the prior location, with hardwood floors, a king-size bed, a single bird-of-paradise vased before a mirror, a large flat-screen TV, and attractive furniture. My request for an iron was fulfilled within a few minutes, and after preparing for the coming day I went to bed at about 11:30.

January 7, 2008

Day Three: Tata Sons & More Tourism
I reneged on the tentative arrangement to meet with a classmate to run at 6:30 AM since I had written until 1:30 AM the night before. I showered, dressed, and went to breakfast. I learned that bitterwort juice is absolutely awful, but the fresh figs, pomegranate seeds, and papaya made me happy. I met a gentleman named Ravi Iyer, an engineer, development consultant, and professor at Berkeley. He was Indian by ethnicity but this was his first time in India; he was visiting to help with a consulting project.

The Tata building looked very similar to many others in the commercial district, which was less congested and cleaner than most streets I had seen. The hospitality was outstanding and the opportunity to speak with top executives of such a huge and successful company was fascinating. Complete notes are found here, but the major takeaways were that Americans can be overwhelmingly ignorant, the US economy could very well fall behind India and China in my lifetime, and Tata is a socially-minded, forward-thinking company that is well-positioned to succeed in the global economy.

Upon leaving Tata, we moved down the street to Bombay Shop, an orderly and extensively stocked shop where I purchased a traditional Indian shirt, which I ended up wearing the rest of the day. My first cab ride in Mumbai brought us back to the hotel. I only burst out laughing twice because of the ridiculous driving. I still don’t understand the rules of the road, but it just seems to work.
We changed quickly and left for a mosque accessible only through a path cutting through the sea from the shore. We made our visit while the tide was out, which meant pungent smells of smoke, salt, waste and rotting fish. This was where the beggars hung out. Images of amputees and the crippled lying in circles of three to five, chanting “ya la” in time while a leader shouted above them haunt my mind. Children picked through abundant trash and held their hands out while blind young and old shouted repetitively. The mosque itself was aesthetically interesting, but I sensed no spirit of holiness. Unwelcoming glances from the presumed faithful were offset by other residents that asked us to take pictures with them. There was a food stall serving the multitude that just sat around. Periodically a prayer chant would come mournfully over the loudspeakers, to which I had expected some reaction from those present, but life went on as if we were watching a ballgame. Putting myself in the shoes of the Muslims I decided that the photography may have been getting excessive and pushed the group to head back.

From the mosque, we took another cab ride which included a screeching tire stop to avoid a collision to a street market where we were told we could test our bargaining skills. I had expected a busy area with stalls on both sides of a walkway, which was basically true. I did not expect to be pestered by guys selling Indian drums everywhere I went. The traffic was heavy, but Indian merchants know American chumps when they see them and focus inordinate attention on securing a high margin sale. I bought a pair of sandals for 90 rupees (roughly $2.25) that our professor said we would need for the bathrooms in Delhi, where our accommodations will be a “more authentic” Indian experience.

I also parted with some rupees to buy some milk and rice for a young girl. Once I bought into buying something, we went down a sidestreet to a small store where she pointed at a bulk can of dry milk and a huge bag of rice, which would have fed her family for a month and cost 1200 rupees ($40). I laughed, recognizing I didn't even have that much cash and pointed at smaller portions. In America I am more willing to buy food than just give money, but I think that she just recognized that this is a better way to get money than sticking your hand out like other beggars. I asked her to take a picture with me and she followed me back to our group, where she had a brief exchange in Hindi with a classmate. She ended the conversation asking my Indian classmate not to be angry with me and ran off, confirming the thought that I had been duped.

Back at the hotel, a classmate inquired about the amputees at the mosque to a concierge, who told us that organized groups cut off limbs to provoke sympathy, sometimes within people's will and other times against it. Regardless of the veracity of this atrocity, the sheer number of beggars meant that those in need would never gain a foothold above poverty.
Feeling too tired to wait for dinner and having no interest in joining comrades at a club, I went back to my room and ordered a delightful curry dinner, took a long hot shower, and took to writing. I planned to wake at 6:15 AM and run with a classmate through the streets of Mumbai.

January 6, 2008

Day 2: Mumbai Tour
I woke up at 7:15 AM and felt fully alert, despite having just 4 hours of sleep. I felt like I had a sty starting in my eye and became anxious and regretful for not bringing any eye drops. I decided to go to the gym and run, which felt awful, likely due to lack of proper rest and a despicable eating schedule while traveling. I listened to Chris Tomlin while running and a sermon by Rob Bell when I got back to the room, in lieu of hunting for a church. After I showered, I picked up a phone call from the front desk, following through on the 9:00 AM wake-up call I had requested. Breakfast was outstanding: fresh papaya, various Indian dishes, potatoes seasoned like I had never experienced, and starchy donuts. I had a glass of carrot juice, which was a tad risqué, but thought nothing of it at the time.

Our group met in the lobby at 11:00, and I was one of the first to meet our tour guide, Rusi Khambatta, a lifelong Mumbai resident and an officer with the Indo-American Society. We climbed aboard the bus and took off to our first stop, the Taj Mahal Hotel, a spectacular creation of one of the Tatas, spurred by his exclusion from another popular hotel. The architecture was phenomenally detailed and grand. Surprisingly, Christmas decorations outshined any other religiously affiliated items.

The India Gate was directly across the street, and after snapping a few photos from strategic vantage points in the hotel, we traversed the busy street a la Frogger. The Gate was under construction, which meant scaffolding marred the image and workers were chiseling tiles by hand for the courtyard, right before our eyes. Several young boys hawked postcards and trinkets, while older men competed for the ice cream popsicle trade. Beggars were few, but convincing, with eyes displaying pain and disappointment in humanity, while motioning toward their mouths to indicate hunger.

We moved up the street past a booth raising awareness for vaccinations to the Cottage Industries store, a government run market, seemingly targeting tourists, with quality-ensured goods from scarves to carvings to tea. I grabbed a bag of fine Darjeeling and delayed other purchases.

Next we drove a few minutes through comically narrow streets (passersby stopped, pointed, and laughed at the size of our bus) to a low-income street market area where I felt very uncomfortable. Not unsafe, but intrusive, evident from the stares we got. It was loud, dusty, and I could not for the life of me figure out who would buy all the old car parts and widgets that were presumably for sale. Obviously not a bunch of white kids in polo shirts. We stopped in a store to see a clock, a really big clock purportedly in the Guinness book, with about 12 smaller clocks on it. As we were waiting for our bus to pull around, I saw a man pushing an old wooden cart with four large sacks of potatoes who had trouble stopping his momentum and nearly plowed into a car that stopped ahead. The mix of old and new was striking. As I boarded the bus, I decided to take a picture of four young boys that I thought looked fascinating. Before the flash they were on me aggressively begging. I barely escaped.

The next market we stopped to see was much more civilized, and I only bought a SIM card in hopes of calling home cheaply. The store manager was highly adept, assertive, and would likely have held a solid middle class job if she were in the States.

Next we travelled to the Ghandi museum, a house were the Mahatma had lived, donated by rich philanthropists to the cause of commemorating his life. The photos, models, letters, and his old room were fascinating, especially with the Ghandi movie fresh in my mind.

Our next stop was the local produce market, a street with many small booths displaying colorful fruits, vegetables, and spices. The street was relatively calm because it was Sunday. Our guide ecstatically purchased a square of white goat cheese from a street vendor and offered to share. I glanced to our professor, whom I knew what not let us eat something (this early in the trip anyway) that could cause stomach problems. He seemed ok, so I ate it, and it was mild and delicious.

Next we moved to the laundry, where much of the cities clothes are washed by hand through a well-coordinated system. While seemingly unsanitary, our guide took pride in the fact that his grandfather, father, and himself all had their clothes washed in the same manner at the same place. There has got to be a better way. There was a family aggressively selling various bags, jewelry, maps, and postcards that moved as a team. I supposed that if someone showed any interest in buying something, they could cross-sell.

Next we visited a Jain temple, where shoeless worshipers bowed and prayed to the 24 statues of teachers. The bright colors, gold and marble, complexity of design, and various quotes and proverbs on the walls was a striking difference from Christianity, and I was not moved spiritually, other than regret that in my mind the followers were missing the boat.

Last we explored Kamala Nehru Park, a beautiful conglomeration of flowers, topiaries, red dirt paths, children flying kites, and brightly clothed families picnicking. The trashcans, shaped oddly like penguins, were some of the first I had seen all day. It seems like the waste management system is in dire need of help. Part of the park had wonderful views of Mumbai, displaying the Queen’s Necklace.

We then returned to the hotel, hungry and anxious to eat. The appetizers were plentiful and the buffet of traditional Indian fare was right on target. Dessert was a special treat, with fried goodness dipped in caramelized sugar and some kind of milk based pudding. Our visitors from Tata were swamped by classmates and I spent the meal conversing with other comrades. After dinner I got to see how much nicer the other rooms were as I borrowed a outlet converter and an iron, amenities I was not privy to.

January 5, 2008

Day 1: Travel
Boy, that’s a long flight. On the plane, I listened to some music and a Rob Bell sermon, read ¾ of “Banker to the Poor”, won a game of chess on the in-seat console, ate two meals and three snacks, slept one hour, went to the bathroom five times, and watched the movie “Gandhi” while the Indian next to me watched “Grease.” I’m not sure if he caught the irony.

The airport was remarkable easy until we got outside, where a crowd stood around to help with bags and provide transportation. I negotiated my bag carrier down from a $10 tip to $1, while other classmates gave various amounts to their helpers from 10 rupees (25 cents) to $20. What a lesson in assertiveness.

The drive to the hotel took about 30 minutes of fast and furious driving, dodging cars and pedestrians, which in my sleep deprived state I found both scary and humorous. Sights along the way include too many cabs to count, too many stray dogs to count, and more people sleeping on the streets than I had ever seen. I supposed they could not afford to cobble together a tarp over a handmade shelter like so many others. We also passed crowds of people out enjoying their Friday night, myriad Vodafone signs, a FedEx store, and a Porsche dealer. Overall, the flow of life seemed chaotic with no order.

We arrived at the hotel at 1:00 AM, had no trouble checking in and got a dot of red powder on our foreheads. The hotel room is nice, but not extravagant, and is missing an iron and an alarm clock.

January 4, 2008

I am packed and ready. Having learned as much as I could, here are my predictions:
- When we arrive, the airport will be circa 1950, and the baggage claim will be a zoo, with people clamoring to help me carry my bags, find a taxi, and wipe my nose.
- There will be vibrant colors, lively sounds, and despicable smells as I travel about. It will take a few days to become accustomed to it.
- People will be friendly and respectful everywhere I go. Beggars will be rampant, but not intrusive.
- Tips will be appreciated, even in very small denominations.
- The hotels will be on par with the finest in the world. The water is another story.
- Mumbai will be a clash of extreme poverty and extraordinary wealth. Both will seem satisfied with their lot. Everyone will be working hard.
- Bangalore will have more green than Mumbai, although traffic will be abysmal. Facilities will be very high-tech.
- Delhi will seem older and more stately, with a mix of styles between Mumbai and Bangalore.
- The managers we are meeting with will be so smart it is scary.
- Power outages will be frequent, although the hotels will have generators. Roads will be clogged with standard and creative means of transportation.
- Everything available in America will be available there, from toiletries to tailored suits. While prices are negotiable in most markets, high-end stores will hold fast to pricing.

Recommendations I have received:
- Eat only hot food; vegetarian food is excellent.
- Take a small (3" by 4") notebook to record news on the spot.
- Get a group and buy a few cheap cell phones with minutes. This will help us coordinate activities while we are there.
- Don't give money to the poor. It may be a well-orchestrated ring that barely benefits those in need.
- Take small denominations (10-20 rupees) for tips for minor tasks.
- Cheap jewelry is very cheap and makes great gifts for Americans.
- Go to church. Experience all you can.
- Do something you would not do otherwise. It may be a catalyst for new adventures.
- Ride in a rickshaw.
- Only take one carry-on bag. The airlines may frown upon my typical limit-pushing.

January 2, 2008

In 48 hours I will be on a plane to Mumbai. I have gotten my Indian visa, immunizations (which caused me to pass out - shots are my greatest fear in life), plane tickets, Immodium, a fully loaded iPod, and am ready to dive in head first. Still, the 15 hour flight and 10.5 hour time zone difference are imposing hurdles.

Outside of the administrative rigamarole, three things have helped to acclimatize my mind in advance. Reading "India Unbound," by Gurcharan Das, provided a rich perspective of the social and economic gyrations that have colored modern India's character, strategic advantages, and competitive challenges. The two class meetings in College Park were invaluable to understanding the economic virtues of modern India, provided an opportunity to hear first hand from an expat with outstanding Indian business experience, and facilitated a Cliff's Notes overview of the companies we will be visiting. Lastly, today I sat down to lunch with a friend, colleague, and U.S. business owner with extensive knowledge of Indian culture and business. My next post will include some of the wisdom that he shared, combined with other expectations and premonitions.