Mumbai, the Hard Way

Monsoons, shacks and 9 percent growth: Reports from a subcontinent on the verge.

by Michael Ryan

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Published: Aug 21, 2007

Editor's note: Michael Ryan is a longtime Philadelphian who is taking part in the Temple Fox School of Business' International M.B.A. program. While studying in Mumbai, India, for the next semester, he'll be a cultural reporter for City Paper and its staff blog, The Clog.

WATER, WATER, EVERYWHERE: "The rain comes down so heavily that you can't see what's in front of you. It's calming at first, and a relief from the heat and humidity, but it never lets up."   : Michael Ryan (CLICK IMAGES FOR LARGER VERSIONS)   For more of Michael Ryan's photos, and for updates from Mumbai, visit Mumbai, The Hard Way on The Clog

Traffic signals in Mumbai mean very little. Intersections are crossed by the most aggressive drivers, and hesitation loses. Pedestrians must compete with taxis, private cars, trucks, moto-rickshaws and sometimes ox-driven carts. There is no empathy. There are only inches between cars going in opposite directions, on the wrong side of the road, with 10 near misses in every kilometer. A 35 rupee ride in a Mumbai taxi is better than a roller coaster.

There are 15 of us in the Temple Fox School of Business' International M.B.A. program — 11 from the U.S., two from Denmark and two from India. We are now in Mumbai (formerly Bombay) and will complete our first semester here. We'll continue with the spring semester back in Philly, and next summer spend a month in Tokyo and two weeks in Shanghai. 

We arrived in monsoon season and spent the first few days getting oriented and changing clothes. The rain comes down so heavily that you can't see what's in front of you. It's calming at first, and a relief from the heat and humidity, but it never lets up. Raincoats and umbrellas are useless. One just needs to reconnect with their inner fish. After two weeks, the rains taper off into periodic showers, once or twice, or maybe three times daily.

Between classes, we steal time to explore this incredible city on the Arabian Sea. Apart from the group, I'll also be visiting Rajasthan and Goa, when we have breaks. The entire class will fly to Delhi to visit some Indian companies. Corporate visits are an integral part of this program, and we will meet with executives from 20 Indian corporations, in a wide range of industries.

But B-school is only part of the reason I wanted to visit India. This is one of the world's oldest surviving civilizations, considered among the richest and most intellectually advanced for millennia, prior to European colonization. Today, it is among the largest and poorest nations, yet also among the fastest-growing economies in the world. To see India firsthand, in the context of the concepts we are learning in B-school, is an opportunity to consider what globalization really means.

India has become a major focus of attention in world markets because its economy is expanding at 9 percent per year. The retail sector is exploding at 22 percent, and this pace is expected to continue. The so-called "BRIC" countries of Brazil, Russia, India and China comprise nearly half of the world's population. Combined, their growth will fuel the United States' prosperity for the coming decades.

Mumbai is the financial capital of India, where 60 percent of India's tax revenue is generated. It is also the second most densely populated city in the world, home to some 18 million people. With India's current emergence as a global player, changes in Mumbai will be very interesting to watch. The infrastructure is broken from decades of national poverty. Since a relaxation of trade and investment policies in the early 1990s, India's reluctant and traditional leaders have opened their borders to partnerships. U.S. and European brands are visible everywhere, although usually partnered with an Indian company.

India is so vast that no story tells the whole story. And "progress" is still decades off for most of its people. Half of the city of Mumbai (9 million people!) live in shacks, shantytowns constructed from scraps of wood, cardboard, metal and plastic tarps. Sometimes they line forgotten avenues, and sometimes they spread like a sea across whole sections of landscape. I am told that people are forced to live in these conditions by virtue of a housing shortage and because of an archaic rent control act which limits new investment. I know that's not the whole story, but it is interesting to note that many of these shacks are permanent, and often equipped with refrigerators and cable television.

The entire country of India is still desperately poor. Most educated adults (those who could afford to pay for school) are able to earn an income which at least seems better than last year. But even "middle class" means earning between $7,500 and $12,500 per year. For many, even with a college degree, 20,000 rupees a month is the upper limit ($6,000 per year). The actual nationwide median is about $850 per year. That gives some idea of the disparities. India has a long way to go, but it's going there now, and it's going there with a passionate vengeance.

If you spend any time here at all, you will feel your heart quicken with excitement when you least expect it. There is something altogether surprising about the pulse one feels from so many people in one place. You might be walking down the street, on your way to buy some yogurt to settle your stomach from all the spicy food, and pass a school where children are singing. You might visit a Jain temple and listen to the rhythmic chants. You might happen across a group of Rajasthani women performing their traditional dance. Or you might just be trying to find your way out of an overcrowded street, squeezed out like toothpaste from no effort of one's own.

The streets of Mumbai are crowded and filthy; but there are sanctuaries of clean for anyone with enough rupees. Private spaces are coveted here, and clean enough for bare feet. On the outside, it is a different story. Streets, concrete buildings and broken sidewalks are coated with a slimy haze of dirt, piss and trash from the new modern era. Feet washing is a cottage industry. Indians also aren't inclined to use toilet paper or paper towels. It's hard to find a restroom where you can dry your hands. At first, I was embarrassed to walk with dripping wet hands and face. Then, I realized that everyone does that.

Still known as "Bombay" to locals, Mumbai is cram-packed with people in all shapes and sizes: Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, Christians and Zoroastrians. Young and old, rich and poor, cow and dog and man — all subsist elbow to elbow, with a level of tolerance we can only dream of at home. While the West may offer one path toward lifting the great multitudes out of poverty, we'd be foolish not to see what India has to offer the world in return. If the eagerness I can observe among Indian students at Welingkar (Temple's partner school here) is any indication, India may soon be ruling the world along with us.

(mikeryan@temple.edu)

Michael Ryan will provide updates and photographs from his experiences in Mumbai on City Paper's staff blog, The Clog. Please visit citypaper.net/mumbai for updates.

 

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