Funny Indian Commercial
I had to awake from my posting slumber to bring you this great commercial. It really made me laugh. You have to love the agency for putting this one together.
Being a Gora Desi in Europe
Well Folks, it has been quiet on here for a while. My apologies. The Gora Desi moved in January. I am not living and working in France.
Sally & I moved here over the Christmas Break, as Sally started her MBA at Insead. I don't want anyone to think I've forgotten about India - don't worry I haven't. As luck would have it, our apartment here in Fontainebleau was left stocked with Desi Pure Ghee, Hair Oil and Garam Masala by it's previous resident.
I'd be lying if I said I didn't miss India. I do. It sort of snuck into my being over the months, and I find myself missing the oddest bits of Delhi life. That said, I'm also enjoying steady power, and never running out of water.
I'm working on a new blog at the moment to chronicle this next chapter of life. I will try to hop over here and keep this one updated with the bits of India I continue to find entertaining & will try not to forget about you.
When the new blog is presentable, I will post a new link here. Until then, धन्यवाद.
#6 Labor Arbitrage???
Everyday I drive past hundreds of businesses taking advantage of the Global Labor Arbitrage situation here in Delhi. Businesses across Delhi NCR (National Capital Region) thrive on the cost savings they can offer their customers (or their corporate offices) by employing high skilled workers at a dramatic cost savings.This is a hot topic in America, one that is debated constantly in the press. Is it right to shift local jobs from Main Street, USA to Mangalore, India? I am not going to try to offer an opinion on this matter, or state opinions on this practice.
This blog post is going to discuss a far graver labor arbitrage situation... the outsourcing of machines.
Yes, you heard me Heavy Machines, be on high alert. Your jobs are in danger of being outsourced to low cost labor across India. Cranes, Steamrollers, and Bulldozers beware. Your jobs are no longer safe. I hope you have invested wisely, and put money away in an emergency fund - because across India construction foremen have found a way to replace you.
We no longer have a need for your heavy lifting abilities, no need for your fancy hydraulics & earth moving potential. Your have been made redundant. It turns out we can do your job more cheaply with a hundred men.
Sure, it takes a bit longer (years longer in fact), but the job is done the same in the end. And besides, the cost restructuring opportunities are huge. I'm sorry, but we can no longer be bothered to be experts in non-core business functions. We thank you for your years of service, but unfortunately we would much rather shift these roles to "business partners" who can augment our "operation expertise" while effectively allowing us to cross-synergize our capacity management.
So, enjoy your last few months of work. After the Commonwealth Games have come and gone, you can pack your things and move on to Vietnam - I hear they still have need for the general skill sets you posses.
As for us, we've already begun replacing you. Just have a look around - and you will see your replacements hard at work.
click to view full size image
#5 - Trust Your Staff
Trust is an interesting thing to have learned while in Delhi. As I've alluded to before, living in Delhi can afford you some luxuries. For instance, a driver, a maid, home pick-up and delivery of your ironing (press wala). But with each of these people we employ, there is an element of trust. This morning we learned that we can't trust one of our employees.Last night, Sally and I stayed in and watched a movie. At about 8 in the evening, Sally ran to the ATM to pull out some money for the week and money so that we could pay our maid's salary in the morning. Our maid has been a Godsend for us, and does a great job without even making us aware she is there. She is a vast improvement over our last maid - who quietly stole 200 USD from a locked cabinet over a few days. But I digress.
With the money placed in her wallet, Sally set her purse on the counter in our entry way & we finished the rest of our evening. Around 6:30 am, Sally rose for her morning jog. She left the front door unlocked, while I snoozed for another hour in the bedroom. Eventually, I woke up and joined Sally for coffee in the family room.
She asked, "Did anyone come in while I was on my run? As I returned home, I saw the press walla leaving the apartment and he muttered something about my husband." I assured Sally that I hadn't heard anything - but did notice the newspaper was on the counter in the hallway. Maybe he had just placed it inside the house as he has done before. Thinking nothing of it, Sally and I finished our breakfast & I got ready to leave for work.
"God Dammit!" Sally shouted as I stepped out of the shower. "The maid's Salary money is gone. I think the boy took it." I was sure the boy hadn't taken the money, so I insisted we must have misplaced it last night. The boy has always been so kind and nice, with a smile on his face. He is probably 17, but looks about 15 and is always eager to collect our pressing. Just last week he seemed to have taken a new job, He had showed up at the door with a new uniform from the Dry Cleaners at the local market.
"I'm sure it wasn't him," I told Sally, "He wouldn't come in the house and take money from your purse. Why would he risk his families business over something like that." But Sally was convinced, and I should have been too.
We decided that we would both go over to their stand in the neighborhood and confront him. I felt it was only fair to give him a chance to admit the theft. I didn't want to make a scene, but simply to give him a chance to return the money - no questions asked. With our Driver Dharmender, we drove over to their shop and shared the news with his Father. We suspected his only son of taking money from our house. Without a note of concern, the Father asked us to wait for his son to come home.
Soon the boy returned home and we confronted him. For 20 minutes the boy denied the claim, and seemed appalled that we would accuse him of theft. The discussion never got heated, it was simply a calm discussion between the boy, his family, Dharmender, Sally and I. After the 21st minute, the boy suddenly had a realization.
You see, he said "I did accidentally pick up the 2500 INR. But, realizing I had this money, I returned to your house before coming to my shop. Sir, while you were driving over to my shop to accuse me of stealing, I was returning to your home to return the money."
And so, Dharmender Sally & I climbed back in the car to race home. The boy and his mother mounted his bicycle and cut through the pedestrian gates giving them a speed advantage. By the time Sally, Dharmender & I reached the top of the stairs, the boy had already reached. He gingerly pointed to the fuse box outside our apartment.
There sat 2500 rupees. It was all a simple misunderstanding...
yeah, right.
#4 The Meaning of Jugaad
You only need to exit a plane at Indira Gandhi International Airport to begin noticing the ingenius solutions Dilli-walas have come up with to solve problems such as leaky faucets or broken down vehicles.These ingenius solutions are referred to as "Jugaad" by most Dilli-wallas. It sometimes feels as if these 'duct tape' solutions keep this country moving forward. Here are a few funny & inspired "jugaad" solutions I have spotted in my year.
1) This is an extremely common sight. An autorickshaw being towed by an even more run down autorickshaw with only a rusty chain connecting the two.
2) In Gurgaon I frequently see potholes being re-filled with only stones & sand - sometimes leading to disaster.
3) Every handyman we have called seems to have no plug on their power drill. However it is never a Problem. They just cram the two cord ends into an outlet.
4) I found this chap who was eager to transport a car & keep it looking clean and new. He simply wrappepd it in tape & burlap.
5) Although sometimes, the solutions are truly inspired. Like the famous Soulabh Toilet which can be built for an extremely low cost using locally sourced materials, and no running water source.
6) For another inspired solution, look at this retail stores answer to the plastic poly bag ban in Delhi (which only lasted 10 days from what I can tell...).
Unfortunately, sometimes there is no Jugaad solution for your problem, and eventually you must give up. Check out this beauty of a vehicle that is parked outside the Foreign Regional Registration Office as if to welcome you to your extended stay in India.
#3 - The Importance Of Giving Back
WOW - it has been a long time since I got on my soapbox and let my readers into my life here in Delhi. It has been a busy couple of months since my visit to the US. It has been both good and bad.
If I'm being entirely honest, it has been a rough couple of months. There is an old story that is often shared regarding the frog in a pot of boiling water. The story says that a frog who enters the pot when the water is cool, will become acclimated to the water and not be tempted to jump out of the heat. Eventually in this story, the frog dies.Alternatively, dropping the frog directly into a pot of boiling water will cause the frog to leap from the pot, scalded - but alive. I've learned this year that I am a bit like a frog.
You see, when I first moved here everything was new, exciting & different. I was so consumed by the newness of it all that I never once noticed the water was getting hotter day by day. Little things like infrastructure issues, the heat, the dust, the crowd didn't bother me. They each were gradually turning up the heat on the water while I was too busy being distracted by the "newness" around me.
However, eventually work or family brought me away from India for a visit. Upon returning, I found entering Delhi was a bit like jumping into a pot of boiling water. OK, I know - it is a bit of a bad analogy - I don't die after all.... But the point is, the return is a shock. I find myself leaping into the comforts I've left behind. I crave the relative simplicity of life and home & bury myself in the comforts of five star hotel restaurants & malls.
Now eventually, I'm coaxed out of my shock and become accustomed to Delhi. Usually it is due to some emotional experience that reminds me the life I live in Chicago is not normal. It is not the way 90% of the world live. It is a privileged life. And so slowly I let real Delhi, real India back into my life.
One of those Emotional kick-in-the-pants experiences for me is Pardada Pardadi. And so, today, I am re-publishing an earlier post on Pardada Pardadi Educational Society in hopes that you two will take a moment to think about the life you don't lead. And please - think about giving back.
This past weekend, Sally and I paid a visit to Pardada-Pardadi Girls Vocational School in Anupshahr, Uttar Pradesh. Located near the Ganges River, the area is largely agricultural in nature.
The Pardada Pardadi Education Society (PPES) was established to provide education to girls who would not normally be afforded an opportunity to attend schools. Enrollment has exploded through a variety of novel programs including, guranteed job post graduation, 10 rupee placed in saving account for each day of school attended, and vocational training (in addition to academics).
Here are some shots of the school & Children.
To learn more about the school, visit http://www.education4change.org/.
Unplugged.
I've been unplugged for two weeks now. I leave for Delhi again on Saturday - but until then, you can find me on the streets of Chicago.
Don't worry - I have 28 more posts to go on my first year in India. But for now, soak up the view in my hometown.
#2 - Sometimes, Smaller is Better.
The first thing you notice when you go to a fruit & veg market in Delhi, is how small all the fruit and veg look. Bell Peppers are barely the size of a women's fist, onions are half the size of US, and tomatoes come in one variety (mostly).
Frankly, I was a bit disappointed on my first shopping experience. None of the veg looked particularly tasty. Frankly - it looked a lot like the leftovers on a Sunday night at your local Piggly Wiggly.
Determined to cook for myself, and unable to stomach another meal of pasta, I bought a bit of everything from a veg stand in Gurgaon and headed home to experiment. After washing and slicing a few bell peppers, I put together a plate of hummus and sat down. With one bite, I was a converted man.
You see, in the US most produce is often treated with pesticides, insecticides or herbicides. It is frequently genetically modified & almost always seems to grown to weigh as much as possible - and last a really long time on a shelf (a really, really long time - I once saw a show on Food Network which showed how Potatoes were stored for nearly a year before being made into french fries - Yuck). All this leads to giant grocery stores stocked with monstrously sized - flavorless produce.
In India, the supply chain is altered. Generally speaking - produces travels significantly shorter distances to end up on your dinner table & is much more flavorful. It is certainly more "ugly" - with spots & perhaps actual signs of transport - but I assure you - the taste is phenomenal.
This is my second of 30 things I learned in India. I learned how produce is meant to be grown & meant to taste. Funny, it took moving to India to discover how amazing a bell pepper could taste, or to learn how tasty raw onion can be(try it at home with lime juice & salt).
Before moving to Delhi, I paid good money at the Green City Market in order to put together a Seasonal Menu of locally sourced produce. Now, I just visit any street corner.
#1 - The Value of a Dollar
As most of you know, I'm an American. To be more specific, I'm a 29 year old male, raised in an upper middle class suburb, who traded in his 19th floor condo in Chicago's River North neighborhood to move to India about a year ago.
Full Disclosure: I moved as an expat with my company & have been sheltered even here. I'm not living the Peace Corps lifestyle or anything.The town I grew up in provided a wonderful childhood, but definitely left me (and many others) sheltered.
It was the sort of place where as a child you met your friends for coffee at Starbucks... Before there was a Starbucks on any corner. In fact, you could almost classify a suburb's ability to shelter children based on when the first Starbucks arrived. We got ours in 1991.
Perhaps that is where my perception of the worth of a dollar started. After all, if a dollar didn't even buy you a cup of coffee as a tween - imagine my perception of it's worth at 29.
That all changed in India. In Delhi, a dollar (let's say 50 rupees) can buy you more than you could possibly imagine. In fact, I've quietly been making a list of things one could buy for a dollar here in Delhi. Ironically, a cup of coffee isn't one of them (at least not a cup from Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf - the closest thing to a Starbucks here in Delhi).
- 50 minutes of mobile to mobile calling (vodafone pre-paid)
- 6 days of satellite TV (Including HBO, StarWorld, CNN, etc)
- 9 pounds of Onion (@12 INR a kilo)
- 1.4 personal pizzas from Dominos (starting 35INR)
- 5.5 miles in an auto rickshaw (Delhi Rates)
- 7 (update 16) pressed shirts from neighborhood press wala
- 3.5 loafs of bread
- 1/2 pound chicken or Bangalore Beef from high end shop
- 4 bottles of premium bottled water
- 16 issues of Hindustan Times (INR 3 per issue)
I am not naive, a dollar can't possible buy you the same amount of goods in the United States. I do understand the economies of producing products in these markets are very different. I'm simply illustrating how the perception of a dollar's worth, when seen in the broader context, can change your life.
I can assure you that when I visit Chicago next week, my new value of a dollar will certainly play a role in my consumer behavior. This time I'll pass on my triple grande non-fat latte at 200 rupees. Instead, I'll buy 36 pounds of onion upon my return.
This post is part of a 30 part series called 30 Things:
June 4th is my 1 year anniversary of living in India. I'm taking a few moments each day to reflect on the year, piece together my thoughts on living here as a quiet observer of Delhi lifestyle. I can't promise this will be the most profound list of things I've learned about myself, India, or life - but it is sure to make you smile.
So, with that, June 4, 2009 - my 366th day in India. Time to start reflecting.
30 Things: Observations on 1 Year in Delhi
Today is my 1 year anniversary of living in India. I want to take a few moments and reflect on the year, piece together my thoughts on living here as a quiet observer of Delhi lifestyle. I can't promise this will be the most profound list of things I've learned about myself, India, or life - but it is sure to make you smile.
So, with that, June 4, 2009 - my 366th day in India. Time to start reflecting.
De-Worming...
Someone commented on my prior post regarding the Pig Po, which made me realize I hadn't shared another disturbing, but mostly funny story about India.Some time back, Sally developed a terrible rash on her hand. The rash started innocently enough, a few bumps between her fingers, but soon spread across her palm. Before long, her entire hand felt like a basketball & was bright red. Needless to say, at this point - we paid our first visit to an Indian doctor.
Taking advice from our friends over at www.ourdelhistruggle.com, we visited a doctor in Hauz Khas. His office was inside his sprawling home, in a quiet upscale residential community. Upon entering his home, we were greeted with an 8 foot high tiger pelt, complete with taxidermied head on the wall. Immediately, we knew were were in for a fun visit!
The doctor was GREAT! He was extremely helpful, understanding & quickly diagnosed the hand rash as a food allergy of some sort. He gave us a prescription recommendation for us & we talked for a bit about his children - both of whom are now in US. Thinking we were done with our visit, we started to pack up, when he asked us a question that nearly put us into a fit of giggles.
When was the last time you de-wormed yourselves?
We took the pills, and seem to be worm free. I've asked around and it seems a common thing for children to take these pills to keep them free of worms. I can only assume we were encouraged to take them as we would be particularly susceptible to food borne parasites given our recent introduction to India. From what I can tell, we are now worm free & will probably take another dose in 6 months time.
Beef in Delhi
Ok, so I hate to admit this, but for the last 2 weeks I have been eating an unidentified meat. The label lists it as Ground Lm Tender Lion (yes, lion - not loin). However, when cooked it tastes, looks and smells exactly like beef.I am not an idiot, I do realize how stupid I sound saying I've been eating an unidentifiable meat. And that just sums up living in India as an expat. What you thought were your boundaries are simply no longer your boundaries. Yes, 11 months on and I am now comfortable eating random ground meat product.
Another example of my ever shifting boundaries involves a shop called the Pig Po. This shop is a pork butcher, and as far as I know there are two locations. One, is right at the end of my street while the other is in Jor Bagh.
Some time back, Gurgaon Connection - an expat group in Gurgaon - had a chain of mails about where one could procure good pork. Several members chimed in that the PigPo in Jor Bagh was a great option. I quickly chimed in that the Shanti Niketan location was significantly closer to Gurgaon and could save the drive further into Delhi for everyone involved.
Soon, someone took it upon themselves to post that they would never eat pork from the Shanti Niketan location as they had seen a cockroach in the shop case once. Now, if this message had reached me a year back and if the Pig Po had instead the Whole Foods in River North (Chicago), I would have been appalled and considered switching to another yuppie super market.
However, after a year in India - my response was simply - "Oh well, get over it!" What store/restaurant doesn't have a cockroach, mouse, critter lurking around the corner. Nature didn't intend meat to be kept in a freezer for weeks on end in India's heat. Apparently, I was not alone in my get over yourself response - several other expats chimed in with similar stories of rodent spotting in the most Hygienic of shops & restaurants in Gurgaon (Ambi mall, etc) - all indicated they continue to eat out.
On my way home that night, Sally & I discussed dinner. I stopped & bought some fresh pork. Despite what the alarmist in Gurgaon had to say - it tasted great. But definitely not as great as my mystery meat.
It's Electric!
I am sorry for the deluge of photos today, I finally had a chance to gothrough my phone & pick out a few of the winners. This is another of my
favorites.
At the end of our block is an ICICI bank atm. I happened to notice the other day that there was a large poster behind the ATM with instructions on how to treat an Electric Shock.After reading the poster, I began to wonder. Have people who've overdrawn their accounts been shocked by the ATM? Is the room full of live wires just waiting for someone to grab them. Should I use rubber gloves when entering my
pin code.
Truthfully, I probably should. Although, not for fear of electric shock!
If I'm indeed shocked, should I expect a man to mount me from behind and then proceed to pull my arms over my head? And if after all this, I am still having problems - will I be driven to the White House?
With such a frightening poster at ICICI, I've decided to start using the Citibank ATM, it seems a safer option. Plus, it has better A/C - a win/win.
What Not To Do:
If you encounter an office fire, I highly recommend you not follow the directions posted in DLF Corporate Park (pay attention to the third item):
Amigo Was Robbed!
I struggle to understand how Times of India can release a book of restaurant reviews & seriously label TGI Fridays as the best Tex-Mex restaurant in Delhi. Did the reviewer get a personal check from TGIF for this honor? Amigo GKII, you were robbed.Editors Note to Amigo: Don't get too excited, I'm not saying you cook mexican food like Rick Bayless, but you certainly perform better than anyone else I've tried in Delhi (Sancho's & TGIF included). Oh, and please change your Tortilla Soup recipie stat - here's a better one.
As if the inclusion of TGIF wasn't a big enough insult to Dilliwalas (Delhi Residents for my non-
desi audience), the book seems to have named any restaurant at a five star hotel in India as the best in every serious category. I've eaten at all of these (I know, die yuppie scum), and I assure you the best Italian in Delhi is not the characterless Italian restaurant at the Hyatt. If you want to know my recommendation - just ask.
desi audience), the book seems to have named any restaurant at a five star hotel in India as the best in every serious category. I've eaten at all of these (I know, die yuppie scum), and I assure you the best Italian in Delhi is not the characterless Italian restaurant at the Hyatt. If you want to know my recommendation - just ask.Shame on you Times of India. Shame on you for sloppily naming restaurants to your list & then asking consumers to shell out money to read it. Shame on you for finding another way to slap your name onto a poor product.
I made the mistake of buying your book last year - don't expect my money this time round.
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