Anish Kothari

Here's a post I wrote 3 weeks ago. Since then, there has been an anti-corruption movement that resulted in the passing of the Jan Lokpal Bill last week. Also, the Indian cricket team won the Cricket World Cup, which united Indians like very few events have before: it was a collective fist pump for a country that desperately needed one. I hesitated to post this before, but having re-read this, I stand by my words. Let me know what you think.

I've realized that I'm not willing to work a regular job in India; there are a number of cultural issues to deal with that I'm tired of fighting. Namely, there is a lack of accountability (work gets passed around like a hot potato), there are too many interruptions (people not finishing their work on time), and, most importantly, the fact that work happens at a very slow pace. In between the tea/coffee breaks, betting on cricket, celebrating everyone's birthday/wedding/property acquisition, etc. work doesn't get done on a timely basis. And that's when there aren't external events like power outages, traffic jams and transportation strikes getting in the way. Sometimes, those factors totally prevent work from being done and require jugaad in the form of paying bribes, extending deadlines or simplying giving up because the work is impossible. The end result is unpredicatability: a work day that could be completed from 9am-5pm is extended from 10am-8pm. In the end, it's just not worth it because that's time and effort that takes away from someone's well-being. That's ok for a lot of working people who don't want to do anything but watch TV in their free time, but not for me. I'm in the prime of my working life and not utilizing my ambition would be mortgaging my future.

Read the rest of this post »

Hello again.

Here's a breakdown of what I've done over the last year.

March 2010: Mumbai

• Started work at Citigate Dewe Rogerson India, an investor relations firm located at Nariman Point. On my way to becoming an Excel/PowerPoint expert.
• Commuted to work by local bus; learned how to read numbers in Marathi (bus information at the front of the bus is written in Marathi; it's in English on the side of the bus).
• Procured a PAN card, opened a bank account: finally got some official documents to prove that I existed
• Began eating street food: vada pav, bhel puri, sev puri, sandwiches, etc. So began a love affair with street food!

April

• Weekend trip to Lonavla through work
• Went to a Mumbai Indians IPL match with friends from work
• Family event at Pune: cousin's mother/father-in-law's 50th anniversary - handled DJ duties for the musical extravaganza
• Started work in earnest: I was assigned 3 clients with colleagues; work included writing press releases, creating board presentations and I wrote a Chairman's statement in an Annual Report for a big Indian conglomerate

May

• Summer begins and I sweat like crazy. Seriously debate climbing 10 flights of stairs every morning.
• Lost my phone on the bus in the morning commute. Made trips to the bus depot and police station to try to get help - nothing doing.
• My dad visits me in India; we travel to Bangkok, Thailand and Koh Samui
• Water shortages led to planned trips to the office bathroom and bucket baths replaced showers.

June

• Mango season! Eating fresh Alphonso mangoes (the king of fruits!)
• The rain begins and it's wonderful at first; the moist earth smells amazing and everything is fresh and clean. Mosquito population increases dramatically.
• Started looking for a place to rent. I found a place through a friend in Lower Parel in a redeveloped chawl (225 sq. ft. 1BHK: bedroom/hall/kitchen). Everything was ready through an agent but the owner never showed up to make it official. The deal went through; a blessing in disguise.

July

• Came down with malaria... it was probably the worst 4 days of my life in recent memory. I thought I was dying: intense fever, sweating, body aches, hallucinations, I was having trouble standing and walking at some stages. Luckily it was over pretty soon and I got back to normal.
• Moved into my cousin's flat in suburban Mumbai and started commuting by local train. My daily commute went from 1 hour to about 3.5 hours, but it was an excellent experience. I'll write a post about that soon.
• Ordered tiffin for lunch from Magic-o-Meal. This was really fascinating - I would be informed of that day's menu by SMS by 11am or so and the dabbawala would deliver the tiffin by 1pm and return by 1:30pm for pickup. The plan was to eat or empty the tiffin during this time while the dabbawala would himself have lunch. He would deliver the tiffin on one side of the passageway and pick it up on the other side. If the tiffin remained where he had left it by pickup time, it would not be delivered that day. I would eat with friends - we would open our tiffins (some of them had tiffins delivered from home) and share the contents depending on our tastes; some people would give away their tiffins so they could order fast food.

Read the rest of this post »

I frequently travel by BEST bus in Mumbai. It's easy, cheap, convienent, and efficient. If I'm going to be stuck in traffic, I find little reason to pay extra to sit in a taxi or auto and watch the meter go up, up, and away. So for Rs. 25, I can purchase an all-day bus pass for travel anywhere in Mumbai. When I have to do extended traveling by bus I purchase this ticket and when I go to Juhu Beach to play ultimate frisbee on weekends, I buy this ticket too, even though I could buy 2 single tickets for Rs.12 each. Here's why:

A couple of months ago, I was going home to the suburbs after eating dinner at my cousin's place in South Mumbai. I was waiting for a bus to the station when a guy about my age stopped in front of me and took off the back cover of his mobile phone. I had no idea what he was doing, so I took a step back. Then he took off his headphones and handed me a bus ticket and told me to take it. I refused at first because I didn't know why he was giving it to me. So I asked him what it was, he explained it that it was an unlimited ticket and walked off before I could thank him. I was grateful because it meant that I wouldn't have to hunt for change or break a Rs. 50 note (I'm perpetually short on small notes and change). Then I boarded a bus to Grant Road station to go home.

On reaching the bus stop near the station, I saw a passenger hand his ticket to a man waiting for a bus . I paused and wondered: is this really happening? Then I followed suit and passed along my ticket to the friend of the man who had just received a ticket. They both looked at each other as if they had won the lottery. The receipient of my ticket smiled and said a very genuine ''thank you''. I smiled back and walked toward the station, scratching my head. I wondered if it was normal for people to do this - I'd certainly never come across anything like this before.

Read the rest of this post »