Delhi, Agra and Wanderlust

I spent last weekend exploring the monuments of Old Delhi and taking in the Taj Mahal. What did you do? I ask the question in part to be a jackass (sorry working stiffs of the world) but in part to make a point about travel.

First the review. Delhi and Agra were awesome. The two cities are incredibly rich in culture, history and architecture. Where else in the world can you comfortably see six UNESCO World Heritage Sites in two days. My basic itinerary was; Bain party on Friday, Old Delhi historical tour on Saturday, and New Delhi on Monday.

I got a warm reception from my future colleagues in Bain’s Delhi office, despite not yet having fully joined the family. I am happy to report that Bainies in India seem to share the same cultural values as in the U.S. They are work hard, play hard types with a solid appreciation for a few drinks and an entertaining India cover band. I am looking forward to the Bain experience (and a paycheck).

Delhi was more than I expected (complete post to come). My tour of old Delhi included the Red Fort, Humayun’s Tomb and Qutab Minar. Qutab Minar was by far my favorite. It is kind of an Indian version of the Roman forum with countless crumbling archways and palaces and one massive column (minaret) rising 70 meters from the ground, still standing after all this time. I would highly recommend it. I also visited Jama Masjid, India’s largest mosque, which was highly overrated in comparison to all the other sites and quite appropriately does not make the world heritage list.

My trip to Agra included Akbar’s Tomb, which I quite liked, the Agra Fort, which is too similar to the Red Fort to be exciting, and the Taj which was simply spectacular.

The weekend of exploring gave me some time to think about travel and why one rarely meets Americans on the road between the dusty places of the world. MBA’s are a rare breed, I think no other group appreciates travel to the extent that we do. On the cusp of achieving salaries that can support some extra spending and aware of the importance of globalization we are keen to explore the world. But what about the rest of America and what about, us later in life?

It seems to me that the US is conspicuously lacking in Wanderlust, the desire to travel and see the world that infects Canadians, Australians and Germans and must have at some point infected out ancestors who came to the U.S. from somewhere else. So what happened to the US and why don’t we have the intellectual curiosity or drive to explore other countries? I think a large part of it is a feeling of cultural or economic superiority and a second piece is complacency and desire to have a sense of place.

Let’s be honest, when we all grow up and achieve fabulous success and wealth (as we are all destined to do) we end up buying second homes in Tahoe or Nantucket or Jackson Hole and spend our vacations there out of a desire for convenience, routine and a sense of belonging. While this impulse is understandable it is also a shame. By staying only in one place we miss out on the learning and cultural exposure that comes from travel.

As Mark Twain wrote, “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.” Twain at his populist best is talking to the average American, who definitely needs to get out and see the world. And while I think most of us, my close friends and relatives, are already quite broad, wholesome and charitable, it couldn’t hurt to top up the tank. So next year make it Agra instead of Aspen, the skiing will be worse but the sites are better.

Tokey the Rickshaw Driver

As a short follow-up to the previous post, I should caveat that the taxi / rickshaw dynamic is not the same everywhere. For instance, Bangalore’s taxi fleet is new, metered and professionally run. Similarly, the auto-rickshaws in Delhi are of a different breed than those in Mumbai; far less inclined to use the meter and aggressive in invoking the commencement of “night rates”, essentially extracting double the daily meter rate if you bargain hard. I had by far my most interesting rick ride one evening in Delhi from Connaught Place to Prithviraj Road where I was staying. After negotiating an acceptable price I hopped in a rick driven by an older gentleman, with the characteristic betel stained teeth of the Indian street. Clearly a wizened veteran of the tourist transport business, he quizzed me in broken English on where I was from and how long I was staying in India. I answered him politely and our dialog continued. Moving beyond the formalities he asked me if I liked to smoke. Somewhat unsure about his exact meaning but sure that the answer was no regardless, I declined his invitation. Then sure enough he whips out a cigar-sized joint and lights it up as we whizzed along. I protested, but his English evidently did not extend to domain of things he didn’t want to hear. We were already well outside the tourist area, so with no prospect of finding another rick this late and an untenable walk, I was stuck with Tokey the ancient rickshaw driver. To his credit Tokey’s driving was not noticeably affected as we whirled around Sir Edwin Lutyen’s, maniacal maze of traffic circles. From his adept multitasking ballet of puff, cough, ash, steer one could discern that clearly this was not his first time mixing business and leisure. Fifteen minutes later we arrived at my destination, both a little light-headed but intact nonetheless, and with yet another interesting story for the folks back at home.

Rickshaws, Friend or Foe?

By now, you have all learned of my enmity to toward taxis and their driver’s unending efforts to cheat foreigners. Thankfully, there is an alternative to taxis in Mumbai, the mighty auto-rickshaw. Auto-rickshaws are three wheeled vehicles with a moped like cockpit and steering mechanism in the front and a bench for passengers in the rear. They are charmingly underpowered with a zero to thirty in about 5 minutes and significant risk of not being able to put-put their way up a highway overpass. Their open-sided design means that you are exposed to the world, for better or worse. Honking horns sound louder; putrid smells are more offensive; and when stopped at a light or in traffic you are fully at the mercy of the women and children beggars who will aggressive plead their case and paw at you until they figure out that you are not in fact the Rupee dispensing machine that they believe all foreigners to be.

Despite all their obvious shortcomings, I love these little underdogs of the road. They are cheap, space and fuel efficient, operate by an accurate meter and their drivers are for the most part honest and deal fairly with tourists and locals alike.

• Cheap: A 10km rickshaw ride will run you about 100 Rupees ($2USD). Except on my normal 10 rupee ride from train station to compound, I usually voluntarily over pay the guys by 25-50% making clear that I am tipping them for good service.


• Efficient: Rickshaws are very fuel efficient, similar to a moped a few gallons will last you a very long time. Rickshaws are also space efficient, you almost fit two ricks into a single lane, not that lanes really exist here or if the did that people would abide by them.


• Metered: Rickshaw drivers use a meter which displays the price of your ride minus one Rupee. This a far less complicated and transparent system than the taxis which use a “rate card” to translate the price on the meter, which has not been calibrated in 10 years, to an actual price.


• Honest: Rickshaw drivers, for the most part, accept the determination of the meter and don’t try to extract a tourist premium. While I am inclined to believe this stems from the goodness of their heart, an alternate theory is that it stems from the fact that they are less experienced in the tourist manipulation game. You see rickshaws are not allowed to operate south of the Mahim Creek in Mumbai, which prevents them from plying their trade in the major tourist areas of Colaba and Churchgate. Since they serve mostly a local population, fair dealing is their modus operandi and extends to foreign passengers as well.

All in all, rickshaws are without a doubt friends and allies in the everyday struggle to get around in Mumbai. Despite their humble appearance their fair dealing distinguishes them as truly titans of the road in an otherwise treacherous transportation landscape.

Bombay Nights

So far I have chosen to focus my ponderings on the cultural differences and consequential matters of economic development that I have in some way experienced I am afraid, though that the blog has failed to capture at least one key point --- Bombay is a lot of fun.

My first introduction to Bombay nightlife was three weeks ago when I attended an expat event at Henry Tham’s, a swanky Chinese restaurant and bar. As I walked through the restaurant’s stylish 15 foot doors, I was blown away. The place was packed with well-dressed people in their 20’s and 30’s drinking expensive cocktails, laughing and shouting over the incredibly loud Indo-house music. The scene could have been out of a bar in New York, London or LA (probably not Boston since I didn’t see any Red Sox gear).

I was taken aback by the whole experience. It was like stepping through a portal to the developed world. After the initial shock wore off, the house music proved to be too much so I joined a group of friends at another rooftop lounge, called Dome, on top of the Intercontinental Hotel. Dome was equally trendy and impressive but thankfully a little more mellow. I have since been to a few more bars and clubs in Mumbai and have yet to be disappointed. While the roads, sanitation, housing stock, public transportation and power infrastructure are all woefully inadequate, I am happy to report that the bars are up to international partying standards. For the wealthy Mumbaikers and expats that can afford spend $10 on a drink, Mumbai is ready to over-serve you in style.

A Well Caffeinated Country

India is the land of Tea. According to Wikipedia, tea was first grown in India in the early 1800’s, and by the 20th century India had grown to become the largest producer of tea in the world. The Brits, who adopted the whole tea thing from the Chinese in the 17th century, brought tea culture along with colonization. Indians were at first slow on the uptake. Despite being the world’s leading supplier by the early 1900’s, India proved to be a tougher consumer market. Determined not to be deprived of an opportunity to sell back their finished goods at tidy profit, the Brits launched a massive marketing campaign in the 1920’s, 30’s and 40’s which succeed in turning India into the largest tea consumers in the world.

Tea continues to be popular here, mostly in the form of sweet chais, which magically arrive at my desk every morning and afternoon courtesy of the office butler guy. Despite being served in these tiny thimble-sized cups the tea is quite tasty and helps somewhat in snapping me out of morning and post-lunch daze.

While tea is clearly the incumbent, coffee has definitely been making inroads. The most obvious manifestation of the emerging coffee culture are the two chains battling for Starbucks-like supremacy of the Indian coffee market, Barista and Café Coffee Day. Both Coffee Day and Barista clearly favor the European sitdown café experience. Even in off-peak hours a take-away order still requires a 5-10 minute wait post ordering, not including additional time to pay the bill after you have received your drink. The coffee is not too bad and they offer the pretty much the whole variety of drinks that you find at Starbucks. Quantity is a problem; grande and venti aren’t on the menu so you take what you can get, I recommend double ordering, it works for me. If I had to pick a winner I’d say it is going to be Coffee Day. With better locations, hip-colorful décor, slightly cheaper prices, and a far superior frappuccino; they are my pick to bring coffee to the masses.

India is Trying to Kill Me

I have long suspected it, but now I am sure. Until yesterday India had stuck to conventional tactics; the careening taxis, the Katyusha rockets of our undeclared war. But today India went nuclear….or should I say, biological.

Just about every developing country has its own nickname for food-borne illness; Montezuma’s Revenge, Bali Belly, and for India, Delhi Belly. I woke up this morning in severe distress. At first I thought it was a hangover. Like Washington at the Battle of Trenton, India had chosen to attack when my guard was down. I had gone out to dinner and drinks the night before with my Indian friends; Nikita, Saurab, Rahul and Shykar. Who would have thought that Indians liked Tequila shots? Crazy! Anyway, we had gone to an upscale bar that served food from the restaurant next door. I shared a non-veg appetizer spread of different meats and chicken dishes with Nikita and Shykar. It was tasty going down, but it turned out to be my undoing.

I lay in bed most of the day contemplating which of my bumbling housekeepers would find my body, before finally turning the corner around 4pm. I’ll live to fight another day, but it was a close one, certainly an experience that I am not eager to repeat.

Taxi Strike - Hallelujah!

Taxi and auto-rickshaw drivers went on strike today to protest a government plan to phase out taxis over 25 years old. While I think it is ridiculous that they are striking over the removal of cars that should be in museums, I must say the strike is the best thing that has ever happened to Bombay. With the 55,000 taxis and 150,000 rickshaws off the road, my morning commute was almost a half hour faster than normal. The streets in downtown are walkable, there is less honking and spitting, specialities of the taxi drivers, and I am fairly convinced that no tourists will be ripped off by taxi drivers today. Hallelujah! While I may feel differently after I hoof it the 2km each way to my party tonight, right now I am in a state of taxi-free Nirvana.


ADDENDUM: In another defeat for organized labor and another victory for Martin, I was able to find a taxi who was willing to cross the picket line and take me to my party for a slight "premium". He charged me 5x the normal fare, but it still amounted to only 150 rupees ($3USD) so I still win. The taxis resumed service at midnight and the roads are again crowded and chaotic; a short-lived victory I guess, but a victory nonetheless.

Mumbai is a Dump, Literally

Let’s just say that I did not have the best of homecomings… another day, another fight with a cabbie trying to rip me off. It also didn’t help that after two days of staying in a 5-star hotel I was resuming my ½-star existence.

Anyway, one of the things that I particularly liked about Bangalore was its relatively cleanliness. Sure, there was still some litter on the ground in the park, but there was a conspicuous absence of the huge mounds on garbage dumped on the side of the roads as is the case in Mumbai. I opened this morning’s Times of India to find an article on exactly this issue entitled, “Piling up: Mumbai’s debris problem”. The article goes on to say that 10,000 tonnes of solid waste are generated in Mumbai each day, but only 2,500 tonnes are dumped daily at dumping grounds, leaving 7,500 tonnes to litter Mumbai’s city streets. Much of the waste is from construction projects in the city and is surreptitiously dumped in the middle of the night along Mumbai’s highways. The article goes on to say that they are trying to put some sort of regulatory scheme in place whereby dump truck owners have to register their trucks and obtain approvals before dumping. Good luck with that one, I sure you are going to get lots of cooperation there…

I am usually willing to give India some slack for the challenges of development, but this is disgusting. The fact that there are educated people socially-aware enough to write about this topic and that nothing has been done for this long is unacceptable. In my opinion it’s totally garbage.

Bullish on Bangalore

I just returned from a two day trip to Bangalore where I gave a Tuck admissions presentation to 100 prospective applicants. The admissions presentation went well and I think we can count on another year of rising application volumes from Bangalore. The added bonus was that I got to spend a little time exploring the city, and I must say I am quite impressed.

In case you happen to live under a rock, Bangalore is the IT capital of India, and is at the center of the outsourcing movement that has propelled India’s economic development. The most common analogy is to Silicon Valley, and I think the comparison is quite appropriate. Bangalore has a more temperate climate with temperature about 5 to 10 degrees lower than the sweltering Mumbai temperatures that are consistently in the 90’s. Similar to the Bay Area, Bangalore’s landscape includes a large amount of green space with Cubbon Park and Ulsoor Lake located right in the city center and the huge botanical gardens located in the near suburbs. Similar to Silicon Valley, Bangalore is a relatively young city which has allowed it to develop the infrastructure required to keep pace with its growth with fewer historical impediments. The roads are wide and less congested than Mumbai and a new monorail system is coming up. Like San Jose and Santa Clara, Bangalore’s distinctive feature is the sprawling IT campuses that surround the city. These campuses are home to companies like Wipro, Infosys, and TCS (if you have never heard of these companies look them up because they are going to be the IBM’s of tomorrow) as well as multinationals. Overall, Bangalore presents the picture of a prosperous rapidly modernizing city with a high quality of life.

Bangalore is a glimpse into India’s future and if other cities can follow Bangalore’s lead it will be bright future indeed.

Kingfisher – Good Beer, Excellent Airline

I just got my Kingfisher Airlines flight from Mumbai to Bangalore and boy was I impressed. The airline was by far the most professional, efficient and pleasant consumer experience that I have had in India to date. The stewardesses were young, attractive, and well dressed. The seats were comfortable and reasonably spacious with a personal TV installed in the back of every seat. The flight departed on time with none of the mysterious queuing on the runway that happens in the U.S. And to top it all off they served a full meal on an hour and a half flight, and the food was some of the best food that I have had during my stay. The experience was like flying on classy, full service version of JetBlue. Amazing!

Kingfisher is perhaps more well-known for its beer. Kingfisher is the number one beer brand in India and approaches the ubiquity of Budweiser here. Unlike the “King of Beers”, Kingfisher is quite good. The beer is a light lager similar in taste to Stella Artois and compliments spicy Indian cuisine perfectly. In addition to being quite tasty it’s also a good deal, selling for a quite reasonable 100 Rs ($2USD) in cheap bars and restaurants and 150 Rs at the swanky joints in Colaba, where you will pay at least $10USD for a mixed drink. Beer penetration in India is low, as beer, even cheap beer, is a luxury good. As disposable incomes rise, Indian’s will increasing reach for a cold one. The Indian beer market is expected to grow by 17% CAGR through 2011 and with a 25% market share, Kingfisher beer like its mascot, should be flying high.

“India Is Very Cheating”

I didn’t say it, my driver did. In his charming broken English, he was warning me about cab drivers trying to rip me off (little too late for that). As I learned though, Vijay’s view is slightly more nuanced. He went on to say, “educated gentlemen – you believe, not educated – no believe.” This pretty much comports with my experience so far. Most Indians are helpful and friendly towards foreigners, but a few see dollars signs all over me and are unscrupulous about affecting the wealth transfer to which they feel entitled.

From a macro perspective India does have some significant problems with corruption, particularly in the public sector, with officials keen to extract their share of the development dividend. India was ranked 85th on Transparency International’s corruption rankings, slipping 13 places in the last two years. That puts them behind the likes of Cuba, China, Senegal, Ghana, and Thailand. Not exactly great company. India also ranked 122th in the ease of doing business survey, behind Russia and Pakistan. They were second to last, at 180th out of 181, in terms of enforcing contracts.

Fortunately, my dealings with government officials are limited to asking policemen for directions and I am not entering into any contracts. As for the cab drivers, I figure the Indian concept of Karma has their number and that they are destined to be reincarnated as gas station bathrooms.

Supercuts, Watch Out! – Hear Comes India!

This weekend I reached a fork in the road. Do I risk being mis-identified as the late Kurt Cobain or do I get a haircut? I was seriously tempted by the former, but in the end I decided on the latter course of action. But where to go? India does not have Supercuts. After extensive research (a few minutes on the local search engine called http://www.justdial.com/, looking for a place I could sneak off to during work) I settled on the AirCool Salon, and all I have to say is Supercuts better watch its back.

AirCool was great; the ambiance, the service, and particularly the price. I entered AirCool to find a dozen barbers dressed in white working on customers seated in antique wooden barber chairs. I was seated in a vacant chair and was presented with two options for my haircut; trim or short. I went with trim, erring on the side of caution. Despite my apprehension, the haircut turned out great and included a couple interesting extras that you won’t find in the US; a vigorous post-cut head rub/massage, and a water-bottle spritz in the face followed by a toweling off.

The most amazing part, though, was the price. My haircut cost $1.49 (70Rs) at today’s exchange rates. Compare that with the inferior experience at SuperCuts for $15 and you are talking a serious labor arbitrage. I spent a couple minutes thinking about whether I could somehow load these guys into a shipping container and send them to Boston before abandoning the thought. But my haircut experience is a good analogy for the labor cost arbitrage for more portable services that is at the center of the Indian Outsourcing boom. A top software engineer in India gets paid $20K a year while in the U.S. the going rate is over $100K. A call center employee makes around $3K a year while in the U.S. minimum wage laws make it impossible to pay even the most useless phone automatons less than $30K a year. The appeal of outsourcing is obvious and everyone in the U.S. providing services that are “outsourceable” better watch out. Thankfully, management talent, like haircuts, is still not easily transportable, yet. But it is only a matter of time before that metaphorical shipping crate arrives, and when it does you better not be holding the scissors.

Scheming Indians

I continue to be amused by the linguist differences between Indian English and American English, particularly when it comes to business terminology. I suppose we have the Brits to blame for this but I think the Indians have added to the linguistic diaspora.

Perhaps my favorite example is Indian’s use of the word “scheme” in place of the American English terms “business, company, or organization”. I suppose a business is a scheme of sorts, a scheme to provide a product or service and make money, but the word scheme in the US has a negative connotation, of course. A ‘business scheme’ in the American context has the implication of some sort of fraud being committed, e.g. a pyramid scheme, a ponzi scheme. Perhaps it is because of the etymological similarity to scam, don’t really know.

A similarly strange business expression is the use of the word “promoter” to describe a founder or entrepreneur. These two phrases come together beautifully on CNBC India every night with India’s captains of industry introduced as “promoters of a scheme”. It sounds strange, and definitely worth a chuckle, but perhaps they have it right. As an investor in the US equity markets I certainly feel like the victim of a scheme as I watch my net worth vanish in massive chunks every night. Perhaps the promoter should have told us that stocks can also go down. So, if you find that promoter guy, bring him to me, so I can throttle him for a while.

It’s Good to be the King

And the Godrej Group, the parent company that I work for, is the king or at least one of the kings of the Indian consumer market. The company was founded over a century ago as a manufacturer of locks and safes, expanding quickly into soaps. The company has since grown into a multi-billion dollar conglomerate with businesses in food-processing, consumer packaged goods, fertilizer, chemicals, machine tools, IT services, office equipment, furniture, appliances and white goods.

Given the breadth of the company’s portfolio its products are everywhere, think GE and P&G combined. Its legacy red logo or recently adopted multi-colored version can be seen on advertisements plastered on the back of buses, buildings and of course on its omnipresent products. The Godrej group was selected as the 4th best brand in India by the leading Indian business weekly. The company has very high salience and strong brand equity (shout-out to Keller) and Godrej Properties enjoys a level of trust and credibility this is unrivalled in the real estate development industry as a result of being part of the group.

Godrej’s other main asset, particularly relevant to the real estate division, is a huge expanse of land in the suburb of Vikrohli, where their factories and employee housing complex are located. This land skyrocketed in value along with all the land in an around Mumbai. A couple years ago when municipal laws were changed to allow additional development of the land, the company’s stock price doubled in value.

Of much greater near term benefit to me is the fact that this land provides a little bit of an oasis from the chaos of Mumbai. The guesthouse in which I am staying is located on the sprawling employee housing complex. The complex is a about a mile in circumference, affording me a pretty good running route, doing laps around the inside perimeter road and up and over the hill that dominates the middle of the campus. The campus also has a clubhouse with a descent gym by Mumbai standards and a nice 25 meter pool. While this is a far cry from running on the Dartmouth golf course or going for a long bike ride on near-deserted roads in Vermont, or going to the Dartmouth gym, it is enough to keep me sane and healthy for now.

In addition to its nice facilities for employees, Godrej also mandates a 5 day - 42 hour work week, rather than the 6 day work-week that is common among Indian companies. All in all it’s good to be a part of the Godrej family, and for them, it’s good to be the king.

Gandhi’s Birthday & Elephanta Caves

Yesterday was Gandhi’s birthday so I got the day off. Good work Mahatma, props to you. I used the day to go to Elephanta Island, an island in Mumbai harbor that is the site of a very impressive cave/temple complex. Elephanta is a UNESCO World Hertigate site so I was fairly confident it would be worth both the trip and the 500 rupees admission fee.

The hour ferry ride to the island was quite relaxing and the caves themselves were spectacular. The main cave was about 200 square meters in area with huge ornate columns supporting the ceiling. The cave contained a dozen or so massive panels of Hindu sculpture, highlighted by a huge head of Shiva. Very interesting stuff, the experience would have been even better had I known a little more about Hindu mythology, which I have resolved to do before my next temple visit. As it stands, I can’t really tell the God’s apart, they all look the same to me. I now see the appeal of monotheism…reduction in complexity.

I finished the day at Indigo Deli, a quite good sandwich shop and deli near the Gateway of India. I had a delicious pastrami reuben sandwich, very cosmopolitan, indeed. I’ll finish the post where I began, thanks Gandhi for the great day off.

The Maharaja Mac

One of Mumbai’s main tourist attractions is the Gateway of India, a majestic stone archway located right on the waterfront. Today, I went to an equally famous set of arches, the Golden Arches.

McDonald’s in Mumbai is quite an experience for a couple of reasons, the most important being that there is no beef on the menu. Hindus, of course, don’t eat beef because of the whole sacred cow thing, not quite sure how that works, something about reincarnation, but anyway I digress. In place of beef on the menu they have substituted other things like Chicken or Veggie burgers…you have never seen the fish filet sandwich advertised with so much fanfare as over here. Big Chicken McNuggets culture, obviously.


I decided to step up to the plate and ordered the Maharaja Mac, the equivalent of the Big Mac in India, except with Chicken patties rather than beef. The Chicken version was definitely not as good as the real thing. For one the special sauce has been Indianized, the have added to the Thousand Island base some Indian spices, kind of tasted like paprika. It was also missing the diced onions. Overall verdict, something was definitely lost in translation. But I am happy to report that the fries tasted just as salty and delicious as any Mickey D’s in the USA. The chocolate shake was also up to standards.

While not winning on food, one area in which McDonald’s India has distinguished itself is ambiance. The price point of McDonalds in India, 150 rupees for the Maharaja Mac meal ($3USD), ensures that only middle class and above frequent McDonalds. In place of sweat stained t-shirts and sagged pants, the patrons at the Mumbai restaurant were dressed in button downs and slacks. The décor was also reflective of a “finer” dining experience with granite tables, nice chairs and even a plasma TV on one wall. An interesting culinary experience, but I think I will stick with my “Mystery Masalas” served by the affable, but non-English speaking guesthouse staff.