Taking India by Storm
As I embark on the last leg of our immersion trip, I can’t help but to reflect on our past experiences. After just one day in Delhi I have noticed differences and similarities between all the cities that we have visited in India.
The financial city of Mumbai has one of the most expensive real estates in the world. Comprised of many small islands and held together by a concrete jungle, this sea town seemed chaotic and alive. The culinary offering was a mixture of eclectic Indian cuisine sprinkled with influences from all the other southeast Asia countries and Europe. I found that the people on the street where accommodating but short.
Benglaruru, which was formally known as Bangalore, is the technology capital of India. Blessed with the perfect temperate climate, wealth of educated talent, growing infrastructure, and land this city offers MNCs many attractive incentives to establish R&D facilities. I noticed much more western and Europe metropolitan stores here than Mumbai. Banglaruru’s food fare was more spicier and surprisingly provided better quality seafood than the previous sea town. The native people were unexpectedly very friendly and open. It is very true here that to get respect, you had to give respect and once this is done the people are extremely open and curious.
The capital city of New Delhi is the most advanced city that I have seen. With three airports and numerous western style hotels this city has the most modern public transportation offerings. I have even seen lane paint on their roads and drivers actually use them. The traffic is as congested as the other cities abet just more organized. The cuisine is rustic and hearty, which is perfect for this northern city. The limited interaction with the locals had yielded friendly but purely a business type communication.
The commonalities among these cities seem to be national pride, the struggle between change and tradition, and competition. In every city the corporate speakers exuded India pride that seem to transcend to all employees. Secondly each city seems to be conflicted between holding onto its traditions, heritages and cultures while yearning for innovation, technology, and modernization. There also seems to be no concept of zoning of city planning, just an ad-hoc mentality of now with no vision of the future. Finally regardless of where I go there is always this sense of competition and survival. Between company representatives, rickshaw drivers, street venders and even the beggars competition is omnipresent. In a country of 1.24 billion people, this should not surprise me however; the shear pressure of competition can even be seen even in the eyes of children.