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.
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.
1 comment:
Priti you will smell mother earth-Mati ni suvas which is very refreshing. You must be enjoying mango-alfanso delicious ok Jai Yogeshwar
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