International Mumbai: Different, yet the same.

Hello all,

As many of you know, I spent August 2012-May 2013 in Guwahati, Assam, India. There I worked for Operation Smile and also was deeply involved with the Pratyasha Foundation. I wrote about many of my experiences at hannahdobie.blogspot.com. I suppose I could have continued that blog with my latest adventure, but that blog is too special for me to add to so I am just going to start a new one.

In May, a couple of weeks ago in fact, I finished my first year at Wake Forest University. It should come as no surprise to anyone that I missed India quite a bit. On the second day of orientation when I was finding my way around Wake, I walked up to a boy whom I had heard speaking with an Indian accent. I introduced myself and got to know Arnav, who is from Mumbai. I also got to know his roommate, Shan, whose parents are from Pakistan. Thank gosh I did that, because those two and a few others became some of my closest friends.

Long story short, because I missed India, I found an internship for this summer in Mumbai with Russell Reynolds Associates, which is an international headhunting corporation. And I asked Arnav if I could live with him and his family. (Hopefully he doesn't regret it and won't kick me out anytime soon). I am so thankful for Arnav and his family. I arrived on Thursday, May 29 and will be here for nine weeks.

I am in a completely different world than I was before. I was in far eastern India when I lived in Assam; now I am on the west coast. Mumbai is huge. It is the commercial capital of India, the city where British and Portugese traders first arrived by sea in the 17th century. It's overwhelming. Tall apartment buildings and business office buildings for miles and miles. As in the rest of India, the disparity between the rich and poor is immense, but there is a growing middle class somewhere in there. I am living on the street that is home to the biggest house in the world and the richest man in India. Mumbai has three Starbucks, and,for the girls out there, three Forever 21s, a Zara, many other western clothing stores, peanut butter, cheese, salad, and all else. It is a hub for anything and everything international.

Since I have not started my internship yet, I have been hanging out with Arnav's family and getting to know many of his friends. We have gone swimming every day at one of the country clubs his family belongs to, the Wilmingdon Club. I have taken many drives and a few walks around his house, getting to know the area. I have eaten incredibly delicious Indian food and about two mangos per day (these are special and unique to Mumbai). I watched the final IPL cricket match, which is on par with the Super Bowl in the USA.

The other day, I went with Arnav and his family to look at apartments. They are thinking about moving. It is important to realize that Mumbai is actually an island (think Manhattan) and therefore there is no expanding out. Everything must go up. So most people live in apartments and flats. We went to look at the World Towers, which, once it is finished, will be the tallest residential building in the world. Although incomplete, there are showrooms and models of sample units and salesmen and all that. It was unlike anything I had ever seen. It is basically a five-star resort on steroids. It is so luxurious that my jaw was dropping.

The sales pitch was so interesting—they make everything sound all international. When the sales guy was showing us the sample unit and having us watch the video he kept comparing everything to projects in other countries. It's taller than this building in Hong Kong, he would say, or the gardens are of this stature in New York, and the architect is well known for his work in Singapore. On the downside, the building itself is surrounded by slums. Obviously, you don't want to spend all that money on a lavish apartment and walk outside and find yourself in a slum. So how do they say they going to fix that? They plan to tear them all down and build an avenue filled with top-of-the-line designer shops. The plan is all there, with a full-fledged three-dimensional model and everything. I'm not trying to come across and condemn the upper classes here for doing this, and for being mean, because that is definitely not the case at all. The upper class here, which is making more and more money, is trying to find a beautiful, comfortable place to live and this is how they do it.

The building of the world towers.

So here is a very different life in India, certainly different from the one I experienced before. A completely different perspective. It probably will not be as exciting to read about. But the more perspectives and life stories you learn, the more you learn and grow.

Sending globalization thoughts your way,

Hannah Dobie