The Last 48 Hours are Catching Up with Me

FIRST...Please accept my apologies for the slopping posting. I have had approximately 4 hours of sleep in the last 48 hours (I wish I was joking).

India Trip Journal

05/18/08

We flew into Mumbai (aka Bombay) at approximately 8:45pm, after an exhausting, but smooth, 15 hour flight (and of course we were delayed leaving the USA). Once we collected our luggage (which was the equivalent of running the gauntlet with no pads) we meet our tour guide, Anup, who will be flying with us to all of our destinations. Anup shared his insights on the India, the culture, and the explosive growth of the country.

Some interesting facts I learned about Mumbai is that it produces more films than another other place in the world (Yes, even more than L.A.). The film industry is called “Bollywood”, and many people travel from all over India to be the next big movie star. However, as in L.A., very few make it and have to work medial jobs are move back to their home.

From the moment I stepped off the plane, the heat hits you like a ton of bricks. The smell is equivalent to NYC, but much more pungent. There is trash and people everywhere. Mumbai has over twice as many people as NYC (Approx. 20 million) in roughly the same area as Manhattan. The real estate growth has been exhausted, which led to sharp inclines in the prices of homes. Small homes in Mumbai are sold for millions of dollars (U.S. Dollars).

The bus ride took approximately one hour. Within that time we witness first hand the poverty that plagues this beautiful country. Taxis and scooters littered the streets, as well as small children playing and stray dogs. On the way to the Hotel (which is phenomenal), I witnessed and mother, father, and three kids on ONE scooter (talk about maximizing capacity).

Once we arrived at the hotel we were greeted with open arms (either because we were “rich” America’s or because it was customary in India to do so…I like to think it is the later of the two). We were initiated as “guest” in the society and the workers at the hotel greeted us, placed lays over our heads, and placed a red dot on our foreheads. This was a way of the Indian society to welcome us and visitors to their great land. We were honored and treated as “gods” in this new country (my ego enjoyed this very muchJ).

From there, I was able to mingle with some of my other classmates from the various programs at Wake Forest. I was really impressed with the hospitality of the Indian community, and even more impressed with the camaraderie and intelligence of my fellow classmates.

At the hotel, I and two other classmates ventured to the hotel waterhole (I know…big shocker there). After 15 hours of flying, three cardboard meals, and one to two liters of perspiration, we figured we owed ourselves a beer or two. The hotel bar had a band that played all American music (I even heard some old school Blackstreet and H-Town). We finished off the night with a great conversation on the state of the American Economy (many of you already know my opinion here, so I will not elaborate) and other MBA types of conversations. I am sure we all sound like complete nerds to the outside spectator and the onlooker may be correctJ.



05/19/08

Our 7:30am wake up call came very early; especially after closing the hotel bar down at 1:30am and having very little sleep in the past 30 hours. However, we toughed it out and made it to breakfast in the hotel. The hotel served predominately American style breakfast, with several different Indian dishes. However, I am not a picky eater and whatever I grabbed I devoured in a few short minutes.

From breakfast we took cars to The Saathi Group (www.saathi.org) for our morning meetings. Saathi is a non-profit organization that helps young men and woman in despair. Every day, hundreds of young men and woman take the train in the Mumbai (Bombay) in search of opportunity or because of trouble at home (i.e. abusive family member, no direction at home, or they are afraid to face their parents because of their poor grades in school). These young boys and girls range in age from 5 – 17. It is sad to see these young boys and girls travel alone to get away from home or search for new opportunity. However, these young children (called fresh children) become pray to sexual predators and con-men/woman. The Saathi Group was established to intercept the children and bring them somewhere safe before predators approached them and either made them slaves (physical and sexual). Some of these young girls were 8 years old and were forced into become prostitutes because they had no other alternative (My temper flared up a littler here and I would have loved to beat the crap out of one of these inhuman jokers).

The Saathi Group approaches the children and starts a casual conversation, much like any sales conversation in the U.S. They talk about sports, the weather, what they are doing in Mumbai, etc… to find out if they are a “fresh child” and have no where to go. The Saathi Group stated they had 15 minutes after the “fresh child” exited the train to identify them, approach them, and bring them to safety, before a predator would approach and lead to the child to a life of drug addition, sexual slavery, crime, and/or abuse. The train station is crawling with predators and many members of the Saathi Group. These members work in shifts around the clock to identify “fresh children” and get them out of harms way before it is too late.

Once the children and the Saathi member establish rapport and build trust, the child is taken to the police station, where the police find out where the child is from and who their parents are. From there, the child is taken to The Saathi Group headquarters and has the opportunity to build skills and eventually return home. If the home life is bad (i.e. the reason the child ran away to begin with), there will be free counseling to the families for one year. The result is just over a 50% success rate that the child remains at home and away from predators. All in all, there life at home, no matter how bad, is not nearly as bad as some of the alternatives.

I went with Rumpta Gupta (A Saathi member) to one of the six Mumbai train stations to meet some of the other members and to witness firsthand what occurs. The members are specifically trained to identify a “fresh child”. In fact, about 30 minutes after we arrived at the train station, one of the Saathi members identified a “fresh child”, approached him and offered him help. In was from New Delhi and had no money and looked liked he had not eaten in a week. He was likely 14 years old and looked very sad and lonely. It is amazing how much we take little things for granted in the U.S. (like traveling back home, or having a bed to sleep on, or even having a roof over your head). There are people that sleep in train stations and call one corned of the station home. These locals also help with The Saathi Groups mission.

Each of four groups went to separate areas. I was fortunate enough to see the tip of the iceberg (i.e. where is all starts). These young children are placed in programs (some for girls and some for boys) to help them develop some new skills.

We all reconvened at The Saatchi Group headquarters (sorry, there were no pictures allowed during our entire visit) and share our experiences. However, without being there it was hard to describe our individual experiences.

From the Saatchi Group, we went Kotak Bank, which is the third largest Private Equity firm in India. They discuss what they did and what their business model was. However, at this point the last 48 hours started to catch up with the group and we were all very tired. We discussed the current growth and future of the Indian economy (which will almost certainly exceed America within the next 15 years).

From Kotak we went back to the hotel. However, one of our tour guides said he would take us to get tailor maid suites. I and 4 others went with him to the tailor and I ended up getting two tailor maid Armani suites and two shirts for $650 U.S. Dollars. I wanted to test my negotiation skills and after 1 hour, I got the price I wanted. However, I do think I could have gotten lower. They will deliver to suits to our hotel tomorrow at 9pm.

Everyone else in the group went back to the hotel to take a 1.5 hour nap. The five of us did not have that luxury and as soon as we returned to the hotel we had to get ready for dinner. We went to dinner at a very nice restaurant and all shared stories, got to know each other better, and partook in the tasting of Kingfish beer (SUPERB Beverage).

It is now almost 1am and I am getting delirious and am ready for a good night sleep and a warm meal.

See you all later.
GB