RETURN TO INDIA

My quick return trip to Bombay allowed for a more intimate cultural experience than my previous journey. After spending several consecutive 16 hours days in a board room tyring to work out a business relationship, our business partner insisted we take a break and go visit his home town of Cochin...a two hour flight to southern tip of India.

Sweta Mangal, CEO and Shaffi Mather, Chairman of the Board

My colleague and I arrived on a Saturday night and through a combination of airplanes, car taxi, and water taxi we arrived at an eco resort on a lake in what is called "Kerala Backwaters." We took lodging on a unique house boat that once served as a barge on this lake that is five times the size of Utah's Salt Lake. We were quickly ushered into an a/c dining room on board the boat and served traditional Indian Cuisine. Our individual bedrooms were very well appointed, each with their own bathroom and shower. We awoke the next morning to a rocking motion and discovered that we were on a sunrise tour of the Backwaters. There was a very high sense of eco-conservatism which speaks highly of the region. The resort consisted of individual bungalows amid a network of man made canals which supported indigenous wildlife.

Shaffi came to retrieve us on Sunday afternoon to take dinner with his family. It became apparent that spending time in the homes of our hosts was very important. We were greeted at his parents luxurious (by Indian standards) home that evening with brothers, sisters, uncles and children all lined up in a row to greet us as we entered the home. Conversation over the dinner table immediately went to the American elections. While they recognized that Obama was not a friend to global trade, they expressed enthusiasm that the American Dream was alive and well. It was a reminder to me of how people look so favorably toward the U.S. (irrespective of liberal perspective) and the ability for the individual to rise to success on their own merits without constraint of political regimes. A perspective that I silently hoped would continue.

Reluctantly returning to Bombay we continued meetings until Shaffi and I were required to attend a meeting with the government in Delhi. I had heard so many negatives on the Capitol that I was curious to compare. However, I found the city to be more modern and with better traffic flows where you aren't fighting the road obstacles such as cattle, elephants, camels and donkeys that are so often found on the streets of Bombay. This British designed city sports several large parks. One does have to be careful of the ubiquitous monkeys who roam the city streets hoping for a handout from a passing taxi, tuk-tuk or bicyclist.

On the day of my flight back to the States, I grabbed my camera and against concierge advice began a five mile trek through the city surrounding my palatial Hyatt Regency hotel. Less than a hundred yards from the hotel the scene drastically changed. Amid the harried traffic accentuated with continuous use of the obnoxious honking of horns were what we would call slums lining both sides of the street. While it would have been so easy to take photographs to bring these shocking images to the eyes of my few readers, the thought of exposing the abject poverty and destitute conditions in which they live just didn't seem appropriate. The polluted water, people sifting through piles of garbage looking for even the smallest of usable treasures, or huts that made our backyard bunk house look extravagant are a reality to 1.3 billion people. But to capture those images would have exposed their shame that they must surely feel.

Instead, I opted to capture a photo of these three young girls resolutely weaving in and out of traffic on an errand that might net the $2 per day that 80% of India survives on. The young girl on the right has the most captivating smile and it would be easy to picture her as a future model in some fashion magazine...as it is, current conditions say that she will most likely never finish the 3rd grade. But within her smile, one can see an element of hope.

HOPE FOR THOUSANDS OF INDIA'S YOUTH

The hope for hundreds of thousands of Indian youth seemed to be captured in this image that appeared on the side of this highly modern building, which overlooks the meager huts that we would refer to as slums. I can't look at this image without internalizing the message. There are incredible gaps in the social structure of this country. And yet the people talk of opportunities that are on the horizon as they emerge into a more hopeful age.

I have great hope that our pursuit of a business venture in India will create these opportunities and make a real difference in their quality of life...perhaps gaining access to modern health care will be a welcomed dream.