Lemon & Ice

Has Facebook killed the joy of blogging?

I am back to blogging after a seriously long hiatus of 2 years. Lets just say that this blog's loss has been FB's gain. Somewhere along the way, FB morphed from a way to connect with old friends to a lazy person's blog of one liner's and pics. Could FB's rise be the death knell of blogs? Granted, its a lot easier to post on FB than on any blog. However, some of the personal information being shared by seemingly sane folks on FB borders on freakish! Why is FB a safe environment to spontaneously express too much personal information, when a roomful of friends at a house party is not? I gave this some thought during the boring part of my cardio-workout today, having run out of more exciting things to focus on. 

Here's my take on it:

Its that relentlessly blinking cursor on the FB status line! It seems to have a hypnotic effect on even the sanest and steady sorts. The compulsion to 'update' one's status has taken on addictive proportions for some of us. Pray tell me why would anyone care if you overloaded on sweets over the weekend or for that matter if you are stuck in a line at some consulate. Totally pointless to advertise that kind of information, isn't it? However, we would be totally incorrect in this assumption. We do give a damn and that's the beauty of FB. The clever folks at FB figured out that humans are essentially social animals who are hopelessly addicted to voyeurism. FB has become a medium for humans to send out 'breaking news' alerts on their private lives to their tribe members, who dutifully respond with wisecracks and comments. Dr Eric Berne, the late Canadian psychiatrist would have described FB as a giant cyber-factory of 'transaction and strokes' within the context of his psychological framework. But let me not get distracted by Dr Berne's psychonalytical framework, which by the way is brilliant in its simplicity and everyday application. 

FB in its current avatar is a platform to convert all our 'friends' into a giant peanut gallery with a voracious appetite for titbits of each other lives. We feed periodically them with 'updates' consisting of snippets of the relentless inner dialog coursing through our minds, in the vain hope that they would at least be mildly amusing to evince a response. The 'attention exchange' makes all of us feel like minor celebrities for a few fleeting moments or hours, and therein lies the users' payoff, and the key to FB's profitability.

For those of you FB regulars who are now shifting uncomfortably in your chairs reading this, I have a small confession. I too have fallen victim to the FB addiction over the last few weekends, wasting away precious hours staring at 'updates' in my FB page, instead of being out and about. When I caught myself checking my FB page today before breakfast, I realized that I was developing a facebook problem, which is why I am back to blogging as a way to wean off Facebook. If this doesn't work, I am deleting my FB profile!

Update on schools

We have unfortunately had to change our kids' school from Pathways World School to American Embassy School.

When we started there , our son who has some distractibility issues, had a very sympathetic teacher who included him in the class in a very proactive manner. This resulted in him having a fairly gentle introduction to a new country. When he moved up a grade it appeared that his new teacher was not going to be able to provide similar support. Over an 8 month period, we tried in vain, to get the school administration and teacher/s concerned to make some commitment to helping him maintain better focus in the classroom. His work started to deteriorate and soon he completely stopped bringing homework, without any alarm or penalty from his teacher. There were also a few instances of bullying on the school bus which the school did not want to deal with and before I knew it he had stopped communicating with us at home. During this unhappy time, I heard of the possiblity of places being available at the American Embassy School in the boys' grade levels.

Long story short, we managed to get both the boys into AES. The Elementary school support team has, since March, been working to repair the backward slide that our son experienced at Pathways. He is now more communicative at home than he has ever been....sometimes its difficult to shut him up! The work in school is constantly monitored and he is learning to deliver better quality and quantity! Our other son has slipped seamlessly into AES, though he was flourishing at Pathways too.

Weekend breaks from Delhi/Gurgaon

Its been a while since my last post. So here goes....

Since arriving in India last year, we have taken weekend breaks to cooler climes like Shimla and Rishikesh as well as the tourist trail to Jaipur, and even fled to Kerela for a quick overnight without the kids! Our latest trip was to the Neemrana Fort Palace which is halfway between Delhi and Jaipur.

In general the distances involved with getting somewhere cool and relaxing are daunting because of the time it takes to get from A to B. A 300km road trip can take anything from 8 hours driving upwards. Having travelled 1000 km in 12 hours in Australia, its a bit trying. Still we were positively luxuriating in our Innova compared to the pilgrims heading to Haridwar and Rishikesh in the State-run buses and they definitely had the higher purpose. Having your own vehicle does add to your convenience factor also as you can then choose to carry on or make leg-stretching stops.

Both Rishikesh and Shimla enjoy a section of really good highway travel from Delhi, but once you pass Ambala you are crawling at 10kmph for 30-40 mins at a stretch.

Rishikesh: Having said that I would whole heartedly recommend Rishikesh as a fantastic break especially if you have children. The Ganga which travels through Rishikesh is at its most user -friendly. Not yet filthy, it is just wild enough to give you a few very enjoyable thrills in an inflated rubber dinghy! We went in November 2007 and it was chilly body surfing but so very pleasant that we didn't care that we were slowly turning a truly strange shade of blue.Our boys loved everything about the stay. We stayed at the Himalayan Hideaway http://www.nivalink.com/himalayanhideaway/index.html which also has a camp on the riverside called Himalayan River Runners www.hrrindia.com. The meals at the Hideaway were basic and hearty, the service was really good and the room was rustic and lovely. All in all perfect for a short break. We took a local guide for a 2 hour walk in the area and he was full of fairytales and mythological stories about the Ganga and all the Hindu gods. I had to play translator for my husband and kids which resulted in some unintentional hilarity, but it was all good fun. The white water rafting was really enjoyable and not too hairy and the best part was seeing our boys faces light up at the sight of frothing whitewater. We were quite sad to leave as it had been really peaceful and the weather had been perfect.

High Tea, India Style (Great NY Times article on Tea Tourism)

High Tea, India Style

Jehad Nga for The New York Times, Tea pickers at the Glenburn estate

By MATT GROSS

Published: October 14, 2007

THE Himalayas rose almost out of nowhere. One minute the Maruti Suzuki hatchback was cruising the humid plains of West Bengal, palm trees and clouds obscuring the hills to come; the next it was navigating a decrepit road that squiggled up through forests of cypress and bamboo. The taxi wheezed with the strain of the slopes, and the driver honked to alert unseen vehicles to our presence — one miscalculation, one near miss, could send the little car over the edge and down thousands of feet, returning us to the plains below in a matter of seconds. Read complete article here

Moving to India: Four Stages of Cultural Adjustment

The Stages of Cultural Adjustment

When moving from one "culture" to another, individuals pass through definite stages of cultural adjustment.  This adjustment is an ongoing process as demanded by each new situation. The following discussion is based on a four-stage model as identified by Gregory Trifonovitch:

The Honeymoon Stage

Characterized by exhilaration, anticipation and excitement, the person is fascinated with everything that is new. An individual in this stage will often demonstrate an eagerness to please, a spirit of cooperation, and an active interest as you speak. These individuals are delightful to work with and to work for, BUT, in their enthusiasm to please they frequently nod and smile to indicate that they understand, when in fact, they have not understood.

When their misunderstandings mount up, they are likely to experience the second stage of cultural adjustment.

My honeymoon with India lasted about three months! See these posts Hello again, hometown! Gurgaon: A vision of the future, Random meetings with old friends

The Hostility Stage

This stage is characterized by frustration, anger, anxiety, and sometimes depression. Following the initial excitement is frustration with the bureaucracy. Sleep patterns may be disrupted and the individual may suffer from indigestion and be unable to eat. Sometimes these individuals react to this frustration by rejecting the new or predominant environment in which they feel discomfort. The internal reasoning might be, "If I feel bad it's because of them," thus blaming the external environment for the bad feelings.  Some of these hostilities are translated into fits of anger over minor frustrations, excessive fear and worse, complete withdrawal.

Moving to India: Making peace with the system

Its been a while since I posted here. Its been a busy summer. Over the last year and a half, I am slowly morphing into a Mumbaikar from a New Yorker, although the transformation is not yet complete. Coming from NYC, where the city's  streets make for a giant playground for its residents, the transition to Mumbai is tough. Mumbai's streets are overcrowded, the traffic is gnarly and the noise levels put the Who's decibel records to shame everyday. Mumbai's chaos is such is that the only way to cope with it is to embrace it and go with the flow. The city guarantees nothing, yet miraculously delivers most times while following no rational process! My first few months in India were exciting and euphoric at times as I savored my new life, discovered great new restaurants and clubs every week and caught up with friends.

As I moved out of my five star hotel and shifted to a residential apartment and began the task of setting up shop here, I hit a wall. In the west, we profit from squeezing out inefficiencies and show our intolerance for ambiguity by devaluing any situation or process where the outcome is uncertain. In India, inertia and uncertainty is a way of life. I found it really difficult to get stuff done initially as I was so polite about follow-up. Finally, I realized that everyone is operating on fire-fighting mode and I need to create 'crises' if I wanted anything to happen on time!! I also developed a system to 'check, re-check and cross-check; to ensure my work is done on time and efficiently. I will write more on that in a separate post.

For now, I seem to have made peace with the system here. I question less and accept more. I have learnt to endorse the 'Hindu' way of accepting disasters: 'There must be some good that will come out of this'!! Also, I have taken my local doctor's advice to heart: 'If you want to live long in India, don't bother to try and achieve perfection'! He's right. I have found that if you can hit 80-85% of your desired target, you should be happy. The system is not designed to deliver anything above that. Breaking your head for an additional 5-10% will cost you more than it cost you to get to the first 80%!!

If you are planning a move here, it's worth reading  Gregory Trifonovitch's four stage theory of cultural adjustment, which is my next post.

Correction and apology!!

Hi everyone!!

My first experience in publishing only started a few months ago with this blog and now I have reached another publishing milestone...the retraction/correction and apology.

For those of you who are following this blog with an eye towards moving to India with school age children, I apologise for scaring you with the fees for the American Embassy School in New Delhi. The figure I previously quoted was an error made due to the fact that I was calculating fees for 2 children not one!! (To all my blonde girlfriends - you get a bad rap but we are all blonde at different times) The real fees for a year at this school, including the one-time registration fees and application fees, for Primary school is USD21,310. Exactly half of what I wrote before!!

I am really sorry about the confusion caused by this. I went back and did the calculations again after all the comments that post received.

On a happier note its now 2 days since team India won the T20 trophy and I am as proud of our Jharkhandi Dhoni as anyone else. It is truly amazing to think Ranchi produced him!! I'm convinced he snuck into Jamshedpur for most of that time!! ;-)

Between Tata Steel (No.5 in the world steel industry) and him there is a fantastic opportunity to cash in on the Celebrity fragrance trend with a Jharkhand flavour. Think of 'Steel No.5' along the lines of Chanel No.5 with a shirtless Dhoni smirking at the camera. Add some slo-mo splashing water/waterfall even Dushum Falls. I believe there is huge market, in Jharkhand at least!!

Enough joking, Hope the above clarification puts your minds to rest.

Take care.

Geet

The Joys of an Indian Monsoon

The Joys of an Indian Monsoon

Hello All!

I am back after a lengthy and hectic, travel-wise, hiatus from this blog. The 2 months of summer holidays allowed by the school to escape the Delhi heat is not quite sufficient as the heat doesn’t follow the same calendar!! Instead we returned to the Northern Monsoon, slightly lower than 45 Celsius temperatures but high humidity and a complete lack of breeze. The threat of rain gives you constant hope for some relief but doesn’t deliver very often. This is particularly true in the NCR, where the construction boom has added to the dust levels in an already dry region. A word of advise to those coming to live here…….if it rains steadily for 30 minutes don’t bother venturing out into the streets unless it is absolutely unavoidable. The lack of drainage on the roads turns them into canals of murky sludge, and you have no idea how deep the ruts are as previously level ground collapses into insufficiently filled areas where pipes etc. have been laid. I saw a number of 2-wheelers suddenly disappear till only their handles were visible, pedestrians stranded on the kerb/pavement unsure of where to step onto the roads. Cars don’t fare much better, with the occasional BMW and Merc looking woeful in their new personas of partial submarines alongside the local cheaper models.

Growing up in Jamshedpur, I have nostalgic memories of the monsoons. The perfume of fresh rain on parched earth and taking hour long walks through empty streets in balmy downpours. Most commuters had sheltered under trees and watched in disbelief as my sisters and I enacted our version of Singing in the Rain.

The Sweet Life

Being born in Jamshedpur makes one a near Bengali and so one ‘sweet’ positive of moving back to India was the easy access to the best that Indian ‘mithaiwalas’ have to offer.

Having said that I’ve had to up the gym attendance so as to keep fitting into my wardrobe.

But the occasional Rashogullla binge is just too wonderful to give up!! At times like that the Swiss can keep their chocolates, the Americans can keep their cheesecakes and the Aussies can keep their pavlovas. There is nothing quite as satisfying as the sensory (and sugary) overload of a ‘Mouchak’, not available in any non-bengali sweet shops, exploding in your mouth with the power to bestow at least 32 cavities!

  An ‘immarti’, ‘jalebi’ or ‘halwa’ has its own joy, and I am really enjoying introducing these treats to my firangi kids.

Ganne ka ras evokes memories of innocent and idyllic days growing up in a much simpler time.

Aloo tikki chaat, Paani poori, Papri chaat, Rajkachori, Bhel poori………..the list goes on and on. All with extra green chilli chutney and extra imli / khatta! The hotter and more sour the better!! Haldiram and Bikanerwala both offer hygienic options for the recently returned prodigals. But watch out for the Dahi wada with sweet Dahi!! In fact watch out all the chaat with dahi in it coz it comes with sweet dahi.

Moving to India - Gurgaon Perspective

My family and I have recently moved to Gurgaon in India. This is a return for me after 17 years away but the first time for the rest of my family, my kids being 10 and 8. To say that this has been challenging is an understatement. Despite the advantages of fluency in language and similarity in appearance to the locals I have discovered that I am not the same 'Indian' that I was. I have managed to train myself and my children to look past the immediate chaos, squalor and civic mayhem that passes for urban living in this part of India but I am still struggling with the feeling that the affluent people in our nation display an apathetic attitude to any sense of civic or social responsibility. Certainly I am amazed at the continuing feudal structure between the haves and have-nots but also within the struggling have-nots who seem to have unwritten rules about who will deign to do what. Having said all this, I could ramble on with no thought to giving any positive ideas for any one who might find this post useful in preparing to return to India.

Rising rates are beginning to pinch

Inflation in India has been hovering around 5.5% to 6% mark for a couple of years and it's been giving Mr Y.V. Reddy (RBI Governor) some very sleepless nights. While we have been crowing about our amazing 9.5% GDP growth rate in recent months, the flip side has been rising inflation, which can become chronic if not attacked vigorously. Mr Reddy has been raising interest rates steadily over the last year and half, and now they have reached levels that are beginning to hurt the common man. The RBI is pursuing a medium term inflationary target of 4% to 4.5% and a sustainable GDP growth rate of 7% to 7.5%.Somehow, this reality has not registered with investors and corporates alike who still religiously believe we will continue to grow at 8.5-10% for the next few decades. Let me share a sampling of borrowing rates in India to drive home my point.

When I arrived here last year, I looked at financing options for buying a home and a car. I found that the rates were a bit rich at 8.5% for a home loan and 10.5% for a car. Since then, rates have gone up by almost 25%-30%! The cost of home loans in India has shot up from a low of 7.5% in Sep 2004 to 11.5%-12% now (on 20 year loans). Car loans now cost 15% (for 5 year loans).

Cost of Living: Banagalore (contributed by reader Paddy)

Lemon & Ice reader Paddy has provided estimate of the cost of living in Bangalore via a comment to this Cost of Living post. My thanks to Paddy and I would encourage others readers as well to share how they are budgeting for life in their respective cities:

Hi,

Living expenses in Bangalore is something I would like to share for the benefit of those planning a return. This will be the cost for a small to medium NRI trying to live a middle class life style. This is cost per month for a family of 2 Adults and upto 2 children:

Rentals 3 Bedroom apartment Rs.30000
This would include your maintenance, cable TV,maid working 2 hours per day, laundry and electricity , gas and water.

Delhi expat Blogger on Lemon & Ice

Lemon & Ice recently completed it's first year of existence. During this time, I have used this blog as a sounding board to express the highs and lows of my life in Mumbai. The feedback from the readers have been very encouraging and the blog's traffic has been rising primarily through word of mouth. I also noticed that the most popular posts have been those pertaining to my experiences in 'Moving to India'.Many of you have written to me with queries about kid's schooling, healthcare, as well as moving to cities like Delhi and Bangalore. As a single person, I am not qualified to answer family related queries. Hence, I have been decided to add a co-blogger who can add a family perspective on moving to a major city in India.Her name is Geet and she has recently re-located from Australia with her family. Geet and I are high school friends and we have stayed in touch over the years, often exchanging notes on how our lives had changed since our carefree teenage years. According to her, mine hasn't changed much as I am mentally stuck at 19! Geet has evolved from high-school rebel to an accomplished home-maker, wife and mother. I must admit she has done a far better job in adapting to Gurgaon than I have done with my move to Mumbai. I feel she can add a lot of value to this blog by sharing her thoughts here. After some persuasion, Geet agreed to join me as a co-blogger and she will start posting here soon.

Moving to India: Long Term Pay-Off vs. Current Reality

'As much as I can psyche myself into relocating after reading progress reports in the popular press, every monthly trip is consistently a buzz-killer when I'm physically there'. Writes Jay Gupta, a Lemon & Ice reader, who is seriously contemplating a move to India from the US to start a new venture. His position perfectly describes the dilemma faced by many overseas Indians seduced by the tantalizing opportunities in India's growth story. Today, a senior level posting in India is a 'no-brainer' for any aspiring corporate chieftain (especially those of Indian origin). The salaries in India at senior levels are just as good, the opportunity to spend time with family is a great sweetener and the chance to be in a position of influence in an emerging super-power (and one's homeland), all add up to an irresistible package. During exploratory trips to India, many expats stay in five star hotels where it's impossible to develop a sense of daily life in India as a resident. Besides, the perpetual self-congratulatory prose adopted by the Indian media can be quite misleading. When I moved here initially, I was staying at a five stat hotel in Mumbai and partying every night like a rock star. I'd wake up happily hung-over after a night of revelry and the first channel I'd hit on TV was CNBC. The anchorman was a sunny young fellow with a perpetually upbeat tone on the economy. He's what I would call a 'bull market broadcaster'. According to CNBC, every new days heralded a day of new milestones and possibilities that brought India closer to super-powerdom.

Is India's Property Market in Trouble?

The Finance Ministry and the RBI (India's Central Bank) have been on a war path against inflation here, with specific focus on the real estate market. Interest rates have shot up by over 25% in the last one year. Home loans now cost an average of 11%-11.5% on 20 year mortgages, up from 7.5% a couple of years ago. Car loans are at 15% and the auto sector is crying for mercy as vehicle sales are at their lowest in the last 12 months. Till just a few weeks ago, the real estate market was headed north with a teflon like quality. It continued to shrug off the impact of rising rates, even as genuine buyers continues to shake their heads in disbelief. Just two weeks ago, I sold off an apartment I owned in Pune as soon as I received delivery from the builder. I managed the sale without lifting a finger to look for a buyer. However, when I put my second investment in a pre-construction apartment in Pune up for sale last week, there were no buyers at all. All the brokers tell me the local real estate market seems to have suddenly rolled over and died overnight!

All the bids seem to have disappeared overnight. Welcome to real estate investing in India!

Vietnamese War Art

I spent much of my weekend in Hanoi walking through the city's streets and getting a sense of the pace of life here. I tried a couple of local restaurants that were recommended in local blogs written by expats posted here. On Sunday evening, I found myself browsing hand-painted propaganda posters from the Ho Chi Minh era, with colorful inspiring images and slogans from the revolution. Then I chanced upon a collection of 61 sketches and water colors done by a Vietnamese soldier capturing his perspective of the Vietnam war. As I flipped through the images, I was struck by the circumstances within which these were created. We read and hear so much about the horrors of this war from the American side and now I was gazing at art being created by a soldier who chose to escape his reality by paradoxically capturing it on canvas. All the pictures were meticulously signed and dated with the location mentioned and occasionally a comment or two in the sidelines. I bought the whole lot (see link to entire collection here) as it reflects an important era in this emerging nation's history. I plan to meet the artist before I leave Hanoi. His name is Traan Huu Chaat and he's a well known local artist here with some of his works on display at the fine arts museum.

What do you think? Love to hear your comments.

Bon Jour Hanoi!

I arrived in Hanoi from Mumbai, yesterday morning. I am here for an investor conference on the Vietnamese economy. This communist nation is considered by Asia experts as a mini-China in it's sunrise stage. I got in a few days early to take get some much needed R & R and enjoy this exotic French Colonial era town, with a 1000 year history. The Hanoi airport is a small relatively modern airport (compared to many Indian airports). I had to wait for about an hour to get my visa on arrival. After that, I was off on a cab heading to my hotel in the city ($10 for a 45 minute ride). Hanoi's facade reminds me a bit of small towns in India, except Hanoi is cleaner. The traffic is just as chaotic with lots of Honda mopeds and scooters weaving in and out of traffic. There is a lot of vehicular pollution and many bikers wear masks to cover their mouths. Luckily, the French quarter is not as crowded and the traffic is bit lighter. The driver spoke no English and in the end tried to charge me twice as much but I was firm and paid him the $10 bill I had shown while negotiating.

I was exhausted from the overnight flight and crashed for a few hours before heading out in the evening. I started my evening at a local cafe near my hotel, which is conveniently located in the old French quarter of Hanoi. As I gazed out out on the streets, sipping local mint tea, I was feeling pretty relaxed and started flipping through my lonely planet guide to plan the evening.

Moving to India: Reflections on my first year

I just finished my first year back in the motherland. Looking back, it feels like I have been back forever now. In fact, it feels I have been here so long that I may be ready to leave already! Just kidding!! It's too premature to take any firm conclusion about living here for good. I am still discovering India in bits and pieces by traveling to new locations on my free weekends.

My advice to anyone moving to India from the first world is to try and move to Singapore or Hong Kong on a Pan-Asia role first. Moving to India full time is a big transition and you may be under-estimating your tolerance for ambiguity and inefficiency if you have been away for a while. Singapore and HK are both a few hours away from India and you will have the opportunity to be close to the family and India geographically. If you have already made up your mind to move to India, try and avoid Mumbai if you can. Mumbai is the worst big city in India to live in. It's filthy, smelly, over-crowded and over-priced. In my book, Mumbai has a huge 'sell' rating! Delhi is better but you may find the locals a bit provincial unless you are a hard core North Indian.

I have found the best quality of life in India is in the smaller towns like Cochin and Jamshedpur, not in the big cities. The big cities are bursting at the seams and the infrastructure is just not able to cope up with the relentless expansion and population growth. There are millions of poor people in Mumbai who literally eat, sleep and live on pavements all over the city. As the big cities get saturated, high growth sectors like the IT and BPO sectors are migrating to smaller towns, triggering localized real estate bubbles in their wake. It's only a matter of time before the infrastructure in many small towns gets over-burdened as the government is not investing enough in power, water and transport sectors.

No matter where you go, I believe that the quality of life in India (from an infrastructure perspective) is going to get worse before it gets better.

My two pence on moving to India: Invest aggressively in India, but live elsewhere for the next decade. You should move here only if you are going to have an incredible opportunity to grow personally or career wise. Many Indians are returning home due to loneliness, isolation and other emotional reasons, which are all important but could potentially be mitigated by a few months sabbatical in the homeland.

Kerala Backwaters

The official Indian calendar is like a box of bitter sweet candies. Just when you feel you have had it with the Indian bureaucracy, a government holiday pops ups on the calendar, thanks to India's secular and multi-cultural constitution. Of course, the lost days also cause much anguish when you are running on strict deadlines, but a bit of proactive planning provides you with plenty of long weekends to enjoy India's many vacation spots. India's cities are fairly well connected by air now. Flights to most Indian cities take less than 2 hours and cost less than $150 each way (even if you book a day or two in advance). The end of January brought a long weekend thanks to Republic Day.  I had little desire to waste it hanging out in Mumbai. The perfect weekend, I thought, would be to float around Kerala serene backwaters on a house boat. I dialed my good buddy Ranga (college nickname inspired by a bad bollywood song) in Cochin and asked him if he could use his good offices to book a houseboat for me. Good old Ranga is so wired in Cochin, he can even find you a wild Kangaroo as a sparring partner if you are up to it. He found one that belonged to a friend (the boat, not the Kangaroo) in less than 2 hours.

Visit to Sri Lanka

After concluding our trip to Munnar, we headed off to Sri Lanka for the 2nd leg of our vacation. The flight to Colombo from Kochi takes less than 45 minutes. The Colombo airport is relatively modern (compared to India's international airports). We cleared customs, met our driver and were soon speeding off to Colombo to meet with our travel agent who had organized a 4 point tour of Sri Lanka, starting with a couple of beach resorts, New Years's at Colombo and a last stop at the Heritance Ahungalla resort up in the hills near Kandy (ancient capital of Sri Lanka). We paid the travel agent, picked up our travel itinerary and began the drive down the coastline to our hotel Heritance Kandalama. We drove down one of Sri Lanka's primary arteries that links the capital Colombo to the international port town of Galle in the South West. We stopped on the way at the Pinnewala elephant orphanage at lunchtime when the elephants come to bathe in the river.

Jew Town, Cochin

Jew Town in Cochin (a.k.a Kochi) is one of the oldest Jewish settlements in the world, dating back to 700 BC when Jewish traders came to India seeking spices during the reign of King Solomon in Israel. Today, there are only a handful of Jews in Jew Town and only the name of the neighborhood reminds us of its ancient legacy. It continues to be an important center for the local spice Trade. Jew Town is next to Fort Cochin, an erstwhile Portuguese colony with heritage colonial architecture. There's an old world charm to these neighborhoods. I have been going to back to Cochin over a few weekends now just to soak in to the lazy atmosphere and enjoy the Kerala cuisine. Unlike most Indian cities, I found Cochin to be clean although the traffic is a bit congested. Cochin is on the banks of an estuary which connects to a series of inter-connecting canals called the backwaters. One of my favorite things to do here to get on a boat on the backwaters before sunset and ride out into the wider parts of the river to enjoy the spectacular sunset. I top off the evening with some excellent Kerala sea food and beer at one of the local restaurants by the water at Fort Cochin.

Visit to Munar-Kerala

I took a couple of weeks off during the X'mas vacations to spend a few days in Kerala and the balance in Sri Lanka (separate post on that). I also invited my lady friend from NYC to spend the holidays with us as she was off from grad school for a month. We flew to Cochin (2.5 hrs) from Mumbai and stayed in the city for a couple of nights to explore Cochin before driving up to the Munnar hills. My college buddy Ranga in cochin is a tea veteran of over 15 years and knows Munnar really well. He booked us at the Yellapatty Tea Bungalow for a few days and joined us on this vacation. He loves the mountains and uses every opportunity to be up in the hills.

Munnar is a four hour drive from Cochin at an elevation of about 5000 ft above sea level.  You drive through various small towns and villages along the way and there are plenty of relatively clean rest stops.

Doing Business in India: Dealing with the inertia of the legal system

In my years as a deal maker, I have developed some simple rules in business that have served me well no matter which part of the world I am conducting my business:

1. Do business with people who have a reputation of honoring their commitments.

2. Don't skimp on a good lawyer.

3. There is no permanent arbitrage, i.e. there is no sustainable unfair advantage that you can bank on in a business relationship, even if you have a contract that says you have the right to do so.

Finally, pick business partners you like and trust so can resolve your disagreements without legal recourse. However, we are all human and susceptible to making errors in judgment and that's where a good contract comes in handy. However, the legal system can protect your rights only if it works like it's supposed to. This is a fact that is often lost on the majority of western investors who are piling into emerging market assets these days. While the citizens of developed economies have grown to expect fair and speedy justice as a basic right, they err in extending that assumption to emerging economies. India inherited a legal framework based on British common law so it's largely predictable. However, we cannot say the same about it's reliability. Legal cases in India can easily get stuck for more than a decade! Indian civil lawyers are cheap and even the common man can afford to appeal for justice here. The flip side of this commendable aspect of our democracy is that we have become a notoriously litigious society.

Moving to India: Cost of Living

'How much will it cost me to live well in Mumbai or Delhi?' This was the question I posed to many of my friends in India prior to my move. Since the definition of 'living well' varies from person to person, the range of numbers I received was fairly wide. My dear old mother who lives in Jamshedpur was not of much help either as she's still living in the seventies as far as the price index is concerned. Just ask the local vegetable grocer who has to haggle with her to recover his cost price. If you are a native of India returning home after a while, you are going to face some sticker shock till you convert back into your home currency for reference. Here's a quick primer to help you with your budgeting:

1. Cost of Real Estate: This is likely to be the biggest cost factor in your cost of living in India. I will cite price points for the two cities I am familiar with-Mumbai and Delhi/Gurgaon.

Mumbai is one of the most over-priced cities in the world in terms of value for money. South Mumbai real estate costs about $500-$700 per sq ft in a high rise condo building and about $250-$300 per sq ft in crappy buildings that would qualify as a ghettos anywhere else. When you think ghetto quality, keep in mind that even the good quality condo buildings in South Mumbai are so bad that you would find dirty staircases, crumbling exteriors, leaky windows (rainwater floods in) and poor plumbing when you pay $500 per sq ft. Prices in upcoming areas like Parel and Bandra are about $250-$300 for new construction which is superior to anything you will find in South Mumbai. However, living in a Parel condo building is like living in an oasis in the middle of a giant smelly slum. Also, the streets in Bandra and Parel get flooded with knee deep water paralysing traffic in the area during the monsoons. It becomes a nightmare to enter or leave home. Bandra prices are somewhere between Parel and South Mumbai and the location is popular with yuppies due to its nightlife and shopping choices. However, it takes more than an hour to enter and exit Bandra due to horrendous traffic conditions on the main artery linking Bandra to the rest of Mumbai. The rental yield in Mumbai is about 5-6% and landlords here try to push up rents in tandem with rising prices. Mumbai landlords insist on a 12 month advance rent and a large security deposit unless the renter has a large well known corporation's name on the lease. As a rule of thumb, expect to pay Rs 100,000 per month for a 2 BR apartment (about 1000 sq ft) and Rs 150,000 per month for a 3 BR apartment. If you choose to buy instead on renting, expect your monthly loan repayment to be about 2 X your rent in Mumbai and about 3 X the rent in Delhi/Gurgaon. The cost of home loans in India is fairly high at the current rate of 10.5%. The rule of the thumb to calculate your monthly loan installment would be Rs 1000 ($22) for every Rs 100k ($2200) you borrow, on a 20 year loan. If you choose to finance a $500k house with a 10% deposit, expect to pay about Rs 200k ($4350) per month.

2. Cost of Domestic Staff: Domestic help is cheap. A full time maid in Mumbai who cooks and cleans costs about Rs 2500 ($55) a month and a good driver costs around Rs 5k-7k ($110-$155) a month. For Delhi, you can assume approximately 60% of Mumbai salaries, however, I may be slightly off the mark here.

Mumbai Diwali: My Bang is bigger than yours!

I celebrated my first Diwali in India after a long time. I was planning to be home in Jamshedpur with my folks but I busted my knee last week so I was grounded in Mumbai. Luckily, I recovered enough by Diwali to step out into the streets and enjoy the festivities. I drove through Marine Drive where local Mumbaikars had taken their Diwali celebrations to the streets. The entire length of Marine Drive had turned into a street party with fireworks going off everywhere amidst loud bangs and explosions. The skyline was lit with spectacular fireworks funded with millions of hoarded rupees normally lying hidden under the mattress in rich Mumbai homes. Diwali is a competitive celebration amongst the rich in Mumbai where the message to the joneses is clearly 'My bang is bigger than yours'!

Goa Sojourn

For the party circuit in Mumbai, Goa is what Miami is to New Yorkers, sans the hard bodies.  When my friends found out that I had never been to Goa, they promptly declared that my life was incomplete without a pilgrimage to the party capital of India. Now, I am at that age where I am a bit jaded with the whole party scene. Naturally, I had mixed feelings about visiting Goa when people talked about it with reference to its famous rave parties. Nevertheless, my curiosity had been piqued and the opportunity to visit Goa presented itself at the long weekend at the end of September. There's no fun taking a vacation alone so I invited a few friends and a party loving cousin and his girlfriend to join me for a long weekend at Goa. I was pleasantly surprised when all of them promptly agreed without the usual excuses about too much work and mission critical projects. Vacations in India are not held sacred by the professional and business community here and last minute vacation cancellations to satisfy demanding clients are sadly frequent.

It took me less than an hour to fly into Goa from Mumbai. I arrived at the airport along with a buddy who joined me in the last minute. His wife had decamped to Chennai for a family wedding leaving him alone in Mumbai so he decided to run away to Goa to enjoy his freedom. I am told his wife was not too happy to hear he was going to Goa alone, especially after he tried to justify it on the basis of 'willful abandonment' by his wife. We were joined at Goa airport by an old friend and his family at the airport. They had flown in an hour before us from Bangalore. We found a local cabbie who agreed to drive us to our resort in North Goa (for about $18) and sped away. It was an hour long drive through some of the most green and lush scenery I have encountered in India. As we drove through small towns and villages, we saw quaint Mediterranean looking old villas and cathedrals reflecting the Portuguese legacy of Goa.

Moving to India: Things to consider

Many overseas Indians are considering a move back to the homeland at this time. While the professional reasons appear attractive, the desire to return home can be compelling. For me, a key driver to re-locate to India was my India focused venture, which requires me to be here. Also, I was responding to an urge to re-connect with the motherland, friends and family.

Whatever be your reasons for packing your bags and heading to India, I hope you find the following advice useful:

1. When to move: If you plan to move here and then find your home, avoid the monsoon season at any cost if you are looking to move to Mumbai, Kolkata, Hyderabad or any other city city that experiences heavy rainfall. The drainage systems in most major Indian cities are woefully inadequate and the streets get heavily flooded after heavy rains. Your house hunt will easily get delayed by a couple of months, especially in Mumbai.

2. What to move: Your relatives in India will tell you that you get 'everything' here in India. They are right. You will be able to replace everything you owned in your home overseas, however, you should be prepared for living with lower quality stuff. I am not much of a domestic person and shopping is one of my least favorite activities. However, I like to cook and prefer high quality kitchenware and fine china, both of which are highly scarce commodities here. In general, you are well advised to re-locate your kitchen, linen, children's toys at the very least. If you like antique furniture, then dump your old couch before you come. There are plenty of lovely antiques to be found here in the chor bazaars.

3. Where to move: I can only comment for New Delhi and Mumbai.

Moving to India- The thrill is gone

I wanted to write this post in September to coincide with the date I completed my six month anniversary in India. However, I was in an exceptionally dark mood at the time and deemed it unwise to put my vitriolic thoughts into the written word. My giddy romance with India ended like a deflating balloon as I began to encounter the 'hidden inertia' of daily life in India. In a previous post, I wrote that it's essential to create BUFUs (Back up for F***k up) while operating in India. Unfortunately, I did not choose to practice what I preached before I moved into my rental apartment, otherwise I would have gone over every aspect of the property in great detail before signing the lease.

In the last  month and a half, I have experienced a seemingly endless series of 'mishaps' with the infrastructure in my house (plumbing, electricals, appliances, water leaks). I feel like I have bought the proverbial used car that falls apart soon after you pull out of the used car lot! Things had gotten so bad at a point that I had taken to referring my apartment as 'Ground Zero' in a fit of dark humor. I have managed to fix most of the problems in my apartment over the last month but it's been a painful experience as the repairmen in India are typically under skilled and underpaid and can often mess up more than they can fix. This was the case with my plumber who is now AWOL with the hot water boiler!! Yes, it is funny now that I write about it. If I wasn't the affected party, I would be laughing too. 

Barring the mishaps, life in Mumbai hasn't been too exciting. I feel very much the outsider who really doesn't want to be an insider either. I find it hard to identify with the folks I bump into at parties here, with the exception of old college and high school friends. This is highly unusual for me since I usually befriend people quite easily no matter which part of the world I am. There have been obvious changes in society here, yet they are not so deep that I should feel so alienated. I am slowly realizing that I have changed much more so than my homeland and now I find it hard to fit back in.

I am now in the second stage of cultural adjustment in India. The first being a euphoric stage where I found everything to be exotic and heartwarming. Now, I tend to pay more attention to the aspects of life that don't live up to my pre-set expectations. The final stage will be mixed bag of adjusted expectations, depending on how empty or full I see my glass.

In my next post, I will be sharing the lessons I have learnt about moving to India and how I could have it planned it better.

Nathula Pass reopens Indo-China Trade

As I approached the barbed wire between Indian and China, I noticed a sign with Chinese phrases to facilate dialogue between the Indians and Chinese. I said 'Ni Hao' to the Chinese border guard in his sentry post and he came out to shook hands with me. Then he interacted with a few Indian tourists most of whom have never met a Chinese person before. This kind of interaction is historic given the border hositility the two nations have shared in the last four decades. The red doorway with the orange lettering is the Nathula Pass entrance on the Chinese side, where an Indian and Chinese soldier chat and exchange pleasantries. I wondered what they were talking about..

Nathula Pass-Indo China Border

We finally arrived at Nathula pass via the highest motorized roadway in the world. The pass was shrouded in fog and visibility was low. On clear days, one can get a clear view of the Tibetan plateau across the border in Chinese territory. We had to climb up a few hudred steps top get to the actual border where a barbed wire separates India and China. Oxygen levels are low at 14,450 feet and I found myself gasping for breath as I ran up the steps excitedly. There were several war memorials at the Nathula border pass site and an army post with the Indian tricolor fluttering proudly. As I read about the brave sacrifices by Indian soldeirs on this remote border post in the 1962 war, I realized how much we take our freedom for granted. I felt truly proud to be an Indian.

Road to Nathula-Chai shop with a view (11,000 feet)

Scenic drive to Nathula

It took me a day in Gangtok to organize all the requisite permits to visit Nathula through a local tourism agency. Gangtok is located at about 6,000 feet and the drive to Nathula is 2-3 hours long depending on traffic and weather conditions. While in Gangtok, I stayed at the guest house of the Indian Reserve Battalion, courtesy the local commandant who knows my friend in Darjeeling. On the appointed day, we set off sharp at 7 a.m. and began the steep climb to Nathula. On our way, we found many locals hitchhiking their way up to the villages along the road to Nathula. We picked up a couple of school kids who were walking to Tchangu lake to get to class. The school house is located at 12,000 feet! 

We made our first stop at Changu lake, one of the highest lakes in the world at 12,000 feet. Tchangu lake had an ethereal serene quality to it with a mist haning over it. It is considered holy by the locals. There we met this 80 year old grandma at a tea stall. As I approached her to request to pose for a pic, she gestured that she was hard of hearing. So I leaned over and shouted in her ear in Hindi for a picture. She went livid and started yelling at me in Nepalese. I felt deeply embarassed that I had offended her. Then she just cracked up laughing loudly pointing at my startled expression. The villagers surrounding us were in splits as they explained to me I had just experienced Grandma's special sense of humor. Apparently, she has perfect hearing.

Road to Nathula-Second stop at Gangtok

Scenic view of the Teesta River on the Darjeeling-Gangtok Road

The 110 km journey from Darjeeling to Gangtok is very scenic as you drive along the river Teesta. The local authorities have posted many signs along the roads to warn drivers to drive carefully and slow down. I snapped the one below just we turned the corner at high speed on a winding mountain road.

Photos from various Buddhist monasteries in and around Gangtok, Sikkim

(Left) A monk walks alongside a row of prayer wheels. As you rotate a prayer wheel, it says a prayer on your behalf. They must be spun clockwise to say 'Om Mani Padme Hum', the most powerful mantra in Buddhism. I tried to look up the meaning of this mantra on the net but couldn't quite grasp the real essence of it. You can refer to this link link if you are interested.

The head lama of a monastery lights holy lamps in preparation for prayers (below)

Rumtek Monastery

Rumtek monastery is the largest and one of the most important Buddhist monasteries in Sikkim. It was initially built in 1740 and was reconstructed in 1959 by the spiritual guru of a Buddhist sect who was on exile from Tibet. I stopped here on my way to Gangtok from Darjeeling. The monastery is about 26 kms from Gagtok and is a must see if you are in the area. The monastery is housed in a beautiful building with ornate carvings and pictures. Buddhist student monks study and live in the dorms from age seven. They start their prayer lessons at 4 am in the morning and continue all day long with breaks in the middle. I had once contemplated living in a monastery for six months to explore my spiritual self. But I don't think I would survive here beyond a week. There is just too much studying involved here..

The Mountain Gods send their blessings

Morning rays filtered through the clouds

 

Fields of Prayers

The mountain roads along Darjeeling and Sikkim were dotted with colorful Tibetan prayer flags. Sometimes, I spotted entire fields of them fluttering in the wind, whispering silent prayers to the heavens and bestoying blessings on the lands around them. There is a strong Buddhist influence in the region as Tibet is no more than a day's drive. Ever since China annexed Tibet and began to stifle Buddhism, many Tibetans have crossed the border over to the North Eastern parts of India to practise their religion. There are many Buddhist monasteries in this area-more on that later.

Tea Tasting in Darjeeling

No visit to Darjeeling is complete without a visit to Nathmull's, the best tea shop in the city. I learnt that the family that owned Nathmull had split up and the two brothers were both selling tea under the same name. I strolled into this store which had in stock a nice variety of the 2nd flush (2nd picking ) from the neighboring tea estates. Darjeeling tea is considered to be the finest tea in the world by tea connosieurs and I decided to spend the afternoon to find out exactly why. I spent the next three hours on a memorable tea tasting journey. The store clerk started me off with the low end Darjeeling teas which were so much better than the gravel I had been drinking all these years. By the time, I got to their finest teas, I had already had 10 cups of teas and was literally bouncing off the walls! Instead of just sipping and sampling each individual tea, I had been drinking entire cups since the teas were so good. The thing about Darjeeling tea is that it begins to taste better as it cools down so it's hard to leave a cup half empty!

I also learnt for the first time the real technique to preparing Darjeeling tea, which is also outlined on their website. I bought 100gm to 250 gm samples of three different types of  tea that I liked the most to see how they would taste with the water in Mumbai. I must say that I like all of them!! If you are into fine Darjeeling tea, you can order them online from the website above and they will deliver anywhere in the world. My picks: Gumtee 2nd flush 2006 & Castleton 2nd flush 2006.

Scotch and songs under a starry night

The long weekend at Darjeeling turned out to be a renunion of sorts for some of the Stephanians who were also visiting the S.P. As they reminisced about old college days over bottles of whiskey, someone brought a guitar and a dholak and before we knew it we were all singing old college songs late into the nights..

Darjeeling's Colonial Charm

Darjeeling Gymkhana Club-A charming legacy legacy of the British Raj

I spent 4 days in Darjeeling over the long Independence day weekend. On my second morning at the S.P's house, he invited me join him for a game of badminton at the Darjeeling Gymkhana club. The Gymkhana club used to be the country club for the British babus who would retire to Darjeeling to escape the Indian summer heat. The clubhouse is a charming old place constructed entirely out of wood but it's badly in need for a makeover.  I hadn't played badminton in years and was a lousy player even when I did. The S.P. and the regulars easily destroyed me on the court. After losing five straight games to them in pathetically low single digit scores, I humbly etired to the sidelines to nurse my bruised ego with a soothing cup of fine Darjeeling tea.

After a hearty brunch, I spent most of the afternoon exploring the town on my own. There were hardly any tourists since it's not peak season in August.  It was a beautiful day with the sun streaming in through a canopy of trees hanging over the streets. I visited the Himalayan Mountaineering Insititute where there was an entire museum devoted to the first few expeditions to climb Mt Everest. The museum had an impressive collection of equipment used by Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay to climb Mt Everest. There were also archives of original newspaper clippings relating to their conquest.

Darjeeling traffice police resplendent in new togs on Independence Day

The S.P. lobbied hard to get the traffic police new uniforms for his traffic regiment in time for Independence Day. He figured it would give them a boost of morale as their uniforms had grown old. Darjeeling is a tourist town and it doesn't hurt to have spiffy looking traffic cops as part of the scenery.

Road to Nathula-First stop at Darjeeling

The Majestic Kanchenchanga at 6 a.m.                  Bright Blue Skies over Darjeeling

The easiest way to get to Darjeeling is to fly into Bagdogra airport in North Bengal. There are daily direct flights from Kolkata and Delhi, but none from Mumbai. I landed in Bagdogra with my high school buddy on a steamy Saturday afternoon after a short flight from Kolkata. The S.P. had sent his private jeep to pick us up at Bagdogra and we were soon on our way to Darjeeling. The drive from the plains to Darjeeling is about 95 kms and we climbed 6,500 feet up the mountain roads. It took us about 3 hours including a half hour hour pit stop for tea and momos on the way. The celsius began to drop within 20 minutes of our climb and the flaura and fauna took on an alpine look. As we drove through winding mountain roads, I could see the plains rapidly receding away below along with its heat and dust and chaos. The sky was an azure blue and the mountain air was fresh and cool. For the first time since I had arrived in Mumbai, I began to feel a sense of peace and calm come over me.  The ride was uneventful and we reached Darjeeling early evening. The S.P.'s office is in a beautiful old Colonial cottage overlooking the valley below. It was good to see my old friend after all these years. Despite his years in the police, he had certainly not lost his sense of humor and wore his authority well. We drove to his house and caught up with each other on the last 15 years over some scotch and pakoras. I was tired and turned in early that night.

I woke up unusually early on my first morning in Darjeeling, just before sunrise. I stepped out into the lawn and took a deep breath of the cool morning air. The S.P.'s cottage is set on the top of a hill with a spectacular view of the Darjeeling valley on all sides of the house.  I sat down with a cup of tea on the lawn to savor the freshness of my surroundings. I conciously blocked the flurry of thoughts that usually flood my mind when I wake up each morning and emptied my mind of its preoccupations, feeling nature with all my senses. It was a good start to a much needed vacation.

Road to Nathula

As I approached the sixth month anniversary of my return to India, I realized that I hadn't taken a proper vacation yet. I had patiently survived four months of summer and monsoon rains in Mumbai but I had just about had it with the chaos and crowds here. I needed a break, somewhere serene and calming, with fresh air that didn't smell like yesterday's exhaust and garbage. Yep, that's what Mumbai smells like most of the time when it does not rain. I was pondering on my vacation choices in India, which looked rather limited given the onset of monsoons here. Then inspiration came to me in the form of a TV newsfeature about the re-opening of the strategic Nathula Pass. Nathula is the ancient Himalayan gateway into India from Tibet (now part of China ) on the Silk Road trade route. It had been closed since the 1962 war between India and China and had recently been re-opened to facilitate trade between the two nations. At 14,420 feet, the Nathula pass in the border state of Sikkim has one of the highest motorized roadway in the world and also one of the highest ATM location (UTI bank) at about 13,000 feet.

Mumbai-Pune Road Trip

Mumbai's traffic can be horrendously slow. I have often wondered how much of India's GDP is actually stuck in traffic jams on streets and highways across the country. On a recent trip to Pune, I was pleasantly surprised by the (relatively) new Mumbai-Pune Highway. The 95 km stretch used to take over 3 hours and now the journey can be completed in less than an hour and half. We cruised down to Pune on a six lane highway at 100 km an hour, passing by scenic mountains and valleys. The traff ic is light on the highway since the Rs 680 toll (almost $15) is considered too high by many commercial transportation companies who prefer to use the old slower route. For cars, the toll is Rs 118 (approx $2.50) which is more reasonable.  I believe we are in early stages of the adoption curve for toll roads in India. Over the next decade, these toll roads will be a huge revenue generator for the BOT (Build, Operate and Transfer) operators in India.

After many delays, India is making real progress in creating a world class national highway system connecting four major cities (Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata and Chennai). It's called the Golden Quadrilateral and is scheduled for completion in December 2006. Here's a good entry on it in wikipedia.

Walking hat in Kurnool

This is my favorite picture from my week long visit to Hyderabad. We were driving through a small town called Kurnool* when I spotted the strange sight of an oversized hat walking down on the street. I stopped the car immediately and hopped out to capture this image for the blog. The driver was amused that I thought it looked like a hat. He explained that the 'hat' was actually a portable home where baby lambs are kept by goatherds to protect them from foxes and wild dogs at night.

* Kurnool is an ancient rural town about 200 kms from Hyderabad, off the national highway.

Reliance Dhabas on the Highway

There's a new competitor on the block for the traditional dhaba* (truck stops) on India's highways. Reliance Industries has launched 'Reliance Dhabas' along side Reliance gas stations as the group's initial step towards their giant retail plans. I went to Kurnool for a day trip and we stopped at a Reliance Dhaba on the way. This was my first experience at a Reliance Dhaba, although I had heard about them via online Indian newspapers, while I was in NYC. We pulled into a clean well-maintained parking lot. The Dhaba itself was large and clean, like an Indian Mc Donalds. The menu was surprisingly extensive complete with traditional south Indian fare like Idlis, Dosas, Vadas as well as kebabs, curries and Biryani. We ordered idlis and coffee for breakfast. The service was prompt and courteous and we didn’t have to wait longer than 5 minutes for our order. I must say the idlis were top notch. The rest-rooms were surprisingly clean by Indian standards. I will definitely be keeping an eye out for Reliance Dhabas on my road trips in India.

* See previous post in dhabas.

Visit to Hyderabad

I spent the last week of July in Hyderabad on a business trip. This was my first trip to Hyderabad after 30 years. I went there once as a six year old with my parents and have faint memories of the Golconda fort. Hyderabad is a dynamic city and is evolving as a major IT hub in India. Over the week I spent here, the city really grew on me. The people are nice and courteous and the food while a bit spicy, is to die for. The quality of life in Hyderabad is probably amongst the top cities in India now, with its improved infrastructure and relatively low cost of living. Mr. Chandrabab Naidu, the previous Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh transformed this sleepy town into one of the fastest growing cities India in less than a decade by pushing through key infrastructure changes and laying the foundation for a major IT township called Hitec city. Mr. Naidu opened up the congested arteries of Hyderabad by forcibly widening major streets against political and civilian opposition. It's a pleasure to drive down these streets, especially around the Husain Sagar Lake and through the tony locales of Banjara Hills and Jubilee Hills. Real estate prices here have run up a lot in the last few years, although they are still reasonably priced in most parts of the city.

Home with a view

180 degree view of Mumbai from my new home in Colaba.

On the left I can see Nariman Point facing Cuffe Parade, in the middle is Mumbai's cityscape growing north and on the right is a view of the Arabian Sea.

Writing this blog is a therape utic experience for me, especially when I feel frustrated with the challenges of setting up a new life here. It allows me to take a step back from my life and examine it objectively. I was reading some of my previous entries here and I could sense my own transition from an outsider to a local in the last few months. As I spend more time here, the thrill of being back home in India has begun to fade away. The mundane aspects of daily domestic life in India are coming to the fore now. When I lived in NYC, my speed dial list was always reserved for hotties. Now, they have been replaced by mission-critical contacts like the electrician, plumber, cable guy, A/C repair guy, washerman, v egetable delivery guy, grocery delivery guy, maid, watchman.. the list is exhaustive. How my life has changed! Anything can go wrong anytime. I am beginning to believe that every device in my house has a temperament of it's own. Yesterday, I was a bit hungover and forgot to wish my shower head a very good morning before I turned it on. Like a woman scorned, it got upset and taught me a lesson by turning off the water just when I had soap all over my eyes. Sheesh, that's a low down trick if you ask me! Afer a couple more such inexplicable 'accidents' in my new house, I have become rather wary of the devices I live with. Today morning, I took the extra precaution of politely requesting my tea kettle if I could put it's bottom on fire to make my tea. It didn't seem to mind and made me a an excellent cuppa to start the day. I think I am getting the hang of living in Mumbai now. But I am getting ahead of myself. Let me first tell you how I found my new home.

Mumbai's teflon spirit

It's been a really rough July for Mumbai's working class. The month started with heavy showers that flooded the streets and partially crippled the city. Many office goers who live in the suburbs and work in 'town' (South Mumbai) got stranded after work and couldn't go home. However, absenteeism was surprisingly low during the weeklong floods in the city. Last weekend, some mischief makers had the bright idea of decorating the statue of a local politico's wife (Shiv Sena leader Bal Thackeray), with a garland of slippers. Shiv Sena supporters were quite upset and protested by burning a few buses and shutting down stores. The city was on edge all Saturday as memories of previous riots kept people at home.

When I learnt about the bomb blasts on Tuesday evening, I thought this would be a body blow on the city's teflon like spirit. I expected Mumbai to be semi-closed on Wednesday. As I rode in my taxi-cab to work, I observed that life had already sprung back to normal in Mumbai. All the local corner stores were open. The silver haired lady who has been selling bananas outside my apartment building for the last 15 years was at her usual place plying her trade. Little kids were running around the streets chasing imaginary balls and dodging traffic. It was as if the tragedy had never happened. Intrigued, I turned to the cabbie and asked him how he felt about the bomb blasts. He pondered for a second and then he explained, 'Sir, if your time comes, you can do nothing to avoid it'. There was no anger, just a resigned acceptance how powerless man can be against his destiny. At work, I met a couple of colleagues who are regulars on the affected trains and usually travel at the same hour when the blasts took place. They had been working late that fateful evening and inadvertently escaped the tragedy. Next morning, they were back on those very same trains commuting to work. One of them explained that he has no choice but to take the train since buses take forever and cabs are way to expensive at Rs 400 ($8.70) per trip. Not surprisingly, the trains were running packed as soon as they resumed their normal schedules.

Religion & Inequality

It's been more than a 100 days since I moved to India. Its been fairly easy to acclimatize to the working environment here. I have no complaints on the social life either. I have even reconciled (at least for now) to the amount of dirt and filth on the streets. What's hard to get used to is the widespread poverty evident in every street corner in Mumbai. If you walk down the crowded streets of Mumbai, you will never imagine that the very spot you stand on scuffing the dirt off your shoes is likely to be somebody's bed come nightfall. Driving through the streets of Mumbai at night is like passing through an open dormitory for the poor and forgotten. There are millions of poor people sleeping outside in every conceivable open spot on the pavements. Meanwhile, there are people living in Condo complexes on the same street that cost as much as Manhattan real estate. Here I found myself facing one of India's more difficult puzzles.

Doing business in India

A few of my readers have asked me to write more about my experiences in doing business here. I must admit that I have not been in India long enough to speak with any authority on that topic. However, I can provide some obvious tips that would help a returnee or any foreign professional doing business here. My interaction has been restricted to senior professionals in the legal, financial services sectors here in Mumbai, and corporate executives in small to mid-cap companies across the country. I share some of my observations here:

Circle of Trust: If the rest of the business world is operating on six degrees of separation, India Inc. operates at one degree of separation or two at best. Everyone is somehow acquainted with or knows or everyone else in the game. We implicitly operate in circles of trust more so than any other nation I have done business in. If you come with a reference from a common friend, you will automatically be included in the circle of trust till you screw up. Having said this, we are open to outsiders as long as they present decent credentials that are acceptable to our deeply entrenched middle class values. If you are the alumnus of a top school or a blue chip corporate in India, US or Europe, you have almost automatic acceptability here. The corporation you work for is an automatic extension of your identity, whether you like it or not.