Contradictions Abound: Dharavi to Vegas

Mumbai, India

Bombay is such an intriguing city and the reoccurring theme here is: Clash of New and Old. I keep trying to understand why in this massive, metropolitan city where rickshaws drive on the sidewalks and people spend gobs of money on clothes, electronics, etc., there are still cows and elephants strolling down major roads.

I’ve now crossed the one week mark in India and by the amount of information I’ve taken in and adjustments I’ve made, it feels like I’ve been here for months. Ric drivers do NOT speak English, hell most people here don’t understand my English. The accent and the speed with which I’m talking I think really throws people off. As a result I’ve now gotten to the point where I will just start talking in Hindi to make it less painful for the other person and myself. Aside from talking to ric drivers, my first visit to an artisan group here in Mumbai has really necessitated and helped my grasp of Hindi.

I commenced my wage research in Asia’s largest slum ‘Dharavi’. I realized that I was in Dharavi after the fact, but at the time I did pick up the fact that I wasn’t in Kansas by the worse than normal conditions – dirt, large number of half dressed kids hanging out, Diwali lanterns still hanging (pictured), etc. Patwa, who is a jewelry maker pictured at left and the first artisan I visited, didn’t live in a ‘typical’ shack – he used to live in one of those shacks, but with the growth of his jewelry business and the help of Asha, he moved into an apartment within Dharavi.

When I got there, Patwa and four of his salaried artisans were conducting their day as usual. I broke the ice by speaking in Hindi – yeah, we all had a good laugh after that. As Patwa was my first producer group to visit, it was as expected a bit rocky. Patwa was well versed in his product costing, but had never considered the labor cost component of his craft. Language was a barrier, but I am so grateful for having grown up watching Hindi movies b/c I could understand most of what he was saying. I collected costing information on nearly 10 of his products, after which I just started asking him questions about the handicraft sector and fair trade environments. It was gratifying to learn that Patwa does receive a monetary benefit (in addition to receiving social services) from his fair trade sales – meaning his fair trade profit margins are indeed higher than his non-FT sales.

Having visited a slum in Bombay, highlighted one of the most interesting things about the city - the level of development taking place and how it is taking place. A significantly large portion of Mumbai is occupied by slums – these aren’t necessarily shacks on a roadside, rather they can be much more sophisticated in their architecture and social culture. It is not abnormal to see two-story slum housing with running water, electricity, TV’s, cell phones, etc. though they may take bathes and use open gutters facilities. These structures are semi-permanent b/c Indian regulations have practically encouraged slum development. According to Indian law, after a certain number of years (2-5 years) a squatter is permitted to legally stay upon his/her land, meaning rent-free.

India’s economic boom has tremendously increased property values and real estate development is seizing the city. Many of the areas that are being developed are former slum lands due to two reasons – slums sprawl over a LOT of undeveloped land and slum lands are cheaper. Interestingly, a slum relocation phenomena is occurring in the city as private developers have begun to purchase slum lands from the government for all kinds of uses, but predominantly for residential buildings (pictured at right: residential building in Hiranandani, which reminds me of Vegas' Belagio) the government in turn is requiring of the developers to construct apartment buildings (think inner city projects) to relocate the slum residents. What's really funny to me, is that Indians are so protective of the abudnant cheap labor surrounding them (average middle class families at the very least have a maid come to the house to clean the dishes, laundry, etc. and some afford a cook and driver), that these slum relocation projects most of the time are being built right next to the newly constructed luxury apartment buildings. So imagine a project in River Oaks or in Highland Park!

This developement is transforming Bombay rather rapidly and I think it is for the good. There definitely a lot of negative points to this development - a fair amount of fraud is occurring, the permitting process like most processes in India is ridden with corruption, and many people have told me that rapid construction of these buildings is occurring with the use of cheap materials. However infrastructure construction is necessary and it's good to know that major infrastructure construction projects are currently on-going such as: (1) a subway system in Delhi, (2) bridge linking two sides of the bay (Bandra to Worli, pictured below), and (2) above ground tram in Bombay (in fact one of these tram stations is being built very close to Suvida, my grandparent's place.)

Asha House

Mumbai, India (Andheri East)

If you think driving in Houston traffic is horrendous, try sitting in that traffic with no air conditioning, engulfing exhaust fumes, while the vehicle next to you is so close, barely extending your arm, you can touch it. In this city of 25+ million people, business hours start between 9-10:30am…yes, people don’t start work until 11AM b/c the transportation system cannot support the sheer number of people living here. Lucky for me, I had a really nice and friendly colleague (Mr. Joquim pictured at right) pick me up on my first day of ‘work’, and off we went in a ‘ric’ (Bombay lingo for “rickshaw”).

Let me pick up where I left off with my first project in India. As a summer intern with World of Good, I will predominantly be working in the 'field', as a marketing intern, gathering product costing information for various handicraft products that are sold under fair trade principles. So I will be interacting with the artisans themselves to collect this data. My primary objective is to investigate weather the individual artists are indeed being paid a ‘fair’ wage - the greater of $2/day (WoG’s adopted minimum standard) or the regional ‘minimum’ wage. The purpose is not to audit these artists (aka producer groups), rather it is to: (i) populate a worldwide wage database to enhance the fair trade movement and (ii) provide feedback to producer groups about their profitability and costing structures.

To conduct my research, I selected to work with a non-profit organization – Asha Handicrafts (http://www.ashahandicrafts.org/) and they enthusiastically accepted my selection. Asha was created in 1975 with the mission of preserving traditional Indian art crafts. In addition, in the past 10 years, the organization has expanded its mission to also include providing social services (medical camps, education facilities, microfinancing, business development workshops, etc.) to their artisan groups to enhance their livelihood and craft/business sustainability.

My first day was great! Though I knew the people were very friendly, their genuine drive and motivation gave me this ‘feel good’ that set a great tone for my work. I can’t speak about the corporate environment in India, but the working environment here is very laid back, which I have to get used to, and the people treat each other with a warmth – almost like a family. Like everywhere else in India, music is constantly playing and it is not so much playing in the background. As a new comer they’ve really made me feel comfortable and are very open to answering all my questions.

My first meeting was with Mr. Addidas, who is Director of Operations. We commenced our relationship by sipping chai. I spent the rest of the day meeting various team members getting oriented with Asha’s operations, people and philosophies. I basically got a crash course into the fashion retail industry, non-profit operations in India as well as the export market in India. Tons of information – and I’m still chewing. Speaking of which, my aunti very sweetly packed me a ‘tifin’ with a chutney-potato sandwhich and chee-kee (Indian snack).

One of the highlights of my day was finding toilet paper in the restroom – which I am visiting practically every hour b/c of the amount of water I am drinking :*) Today as I was commuting home (I have about a 30 minute commute by ric), I could feel a splattering of a few raindrops and as I am writing this entry, I can smell the wet air that is proceeding the advent of the monsoons.

The Motherland: Day 1

Mumbai, India

As soon as my flight docked, I couldn’t help but feel this queasiness in my stomach. Mostly I believe it was due to the fact that I didn’t sleep much on my flights, but it was also a result of the combination of my intense excitement about arriving in India as well as some anxiety. I’d been bombarded with all sorts of useful information prior to my flight – don’t ever leave your bags out of your sight, keep your passport hidden, etc., etc. …the usual stuff, except the advise was embellished with many detailed examples from my advisors’ personal experiences. As a kid, I remembered spending a lot of time going through customs, but the process was unbelievably uneventful and hassle-free. So, I arrived in Mumbai safe, but more importantly all my bags reached safe and sound as well.

The Indian friends I made on my flights kept warning me that I was in for a “total shock”. You see, the last time I visited India was 7 years ago. Apparently a lot has changed in 7 years ;*) I wasn’t sure if I should expect a completely different city when I arrived or not, but the moment I stepped off of the plane, I sensed something very very familiar, and at that moment I gained comfort in realizing that things may be changing, but many things are the same. There is this distinct odor that I has been imprinted in my memory from my childhood visits to temples or on mass transit systems in India - the smell of Indian people. Now, I’m not saying this is a good smell, nor am I trying reinforce preconcieved impressions - rather as strange as it may sound, I felt a sense of security when the airport’s smell and look remained very familiar to me. Which also means that aside from a few noticeable changes to improve services, the airport really hasn’t changed since my childhood visits in the 80’s.

On the road from the airport to my relative’s house it was indeed difficult to recognize many landmarks, due to the development, yet familiarity of the city still exists. Simply put there is a lot of residential construction going on right now and the name of the game is to build-UP. Although many of the slum areas that served as landmarks to destinations no longer exist (there is an interesting slum relocation phenomenon occurring in the city steered by the private sector, of all people, as a result of the enormous increases in property values). It was exciting to still be able to recognize the streets that wind past my grandparents flat (Suvida) and shop as well as the Ghatkopar train station - These are the places I spent my childhood summers.

Most of the day I unpacked and slept. While things are definitely familiar, I can’t say that I am not experiencing any culture shock at all. I definitely made a double take upon realizing I was to take a ‘tumbler’/faucet bath vs. a shower (saves a LOT of water). And though I came prepared with toilet paper, the lack of toilet paper stumped me still. And lastly, yes, it is hot. I have this constant glisten on my face b/c I cannot stop sweating – so I can’t stop drinking water, so I can't stop visiting the restroom :*) So weather I'm bathing with a shower or a trickle of water, as I'm constantly sweating water on the body is a GOOD. Another little observation I’ve made is that our household only has one trash bin inside of it – which tells me one of two things – either people in India use things until there’s only a stump left (which is true) or people are still throwing trash out their windows (yet to be confirmed).

After taking a 5 hour ‘nap’, I made my mom proud. This time of year is a very auspicious time in India for two reasons. Traditionally Hinduism follows the lunar calendar and every 3 years instead of only 12 months, a 13th month is ‘granted by God’ to people to "do God’s work". So, in the auspicious month the first place I visited in India was a temple (Haveli). The smell of the jasmine garlands was so strong it overpowered that ever present smells of the city.

The Journey Begins

In Flight: Midland, TX to Mumbai, India
19 hours flight time & total 27 hours transport time

I’m finally on my way to India. This trip has been four months in the making and it’s exciting to be on my way transcending from planning to doing. I took a leap of faith that I would get accepted into a business school and began planning “my trip of a lifetime” – at least that’s what I think it will be. Especially after working in the ‘real world’ for five years, I’ve realized the scarcity of opportunities to take months off at a time to pursue passions (outside of my career) and learn something about myself and about the world. So it is with these intentions that I am headed to India for the approximately 2.5 months prior to entering grad school.

The first project I will be pursuing is as a summer intern for a non-profit organization based in Berkley, CA called World of Good (http://www.worldofgood.org/). WoG is an advocacy group for fair trade specifically in the handicrafts sector. To be completely honest, I was not particularly well versed in fair trade prior to stumbling upon WoG’s website. However, we’ve all heard of fair trade – think Starbucks selling coffees and teas with fair trade labels. While fair trade amongst commodity products has become more mainstream (a result of the fundamental nature of commodities – tea, coffee, sugar – that allows for quality standardization and thereby easier labeling and certification) in the past few years, the concept of fair trade actually originated within the handicrafts sector and takes roots as early as 1940’s (differing sources place the origins in Europe in the 1970’s or in the US in the 1940’s).

You may be wondering what exactly is ‘fair’ trade and what does the handicrafts sector refer to. My basic and very brief interpretation of the concept is that fair trade aims to prevent the exploitation of labor in developing countries (“Southern Producers”) by developed countries (“Northern Consumers”). Humf. Sounds like world history wrapped up in one definition, eh? I’m sure I’ll have plenty of thoughts to share once I’ve been in the field about fair trade and indeed there are plenty of controversies related to this topic. But for now, I don’t wan to stray off topic. So as mentioned earlier, advocacy is not what drove me to pursue a summer internship with WoG. Below are excerpts from my internship application cover letter:

“…Through my own artistic maturation…I began to associate my artwork as not only a form of self-expression, but also as a product of thousands of years of cultural evolution.

While globalization is accelerating the advancement of many underdeveloped nations, all sectors of these nations’ economies are not growing or benefiting from this phenomenon at the same pace. This is especially true in informal economies, such as within the artisan communities. Gradually, the handmade artwork I received from India has been replaced with mass produced factory products, stripped of its artistry and stamped with a “Made in India” label. I have developed a passion for advocating fair trade practices, especially amongst artisan communities, as I recognize that global macroeconomic factors have undercut artisans’ economic incentives to sustain their trade, especially as many struggle to meet their basic survival needs. Fair trade practices are the key to the (i) persistence of cultural art, (ii) improvement of artists’ standard of living and (iii) maintenance of the integrity of a global artisan sector.“