Thinking Big Picture

After spending the previous week wrapping my head around complex data structures and how the inner workings of code should be organized, this week was more about taking a step back and thinking big picture. The first few days of the week was focused on learning about Classes and Objects in Ruby. In non-code speak, this is Ruby’s way of separating your program into different pieces, allowing you to control how each part interacts with one another. I’ve learned about Classes and Objects on my own prior to starting the bootcamp but the challenges that we did this week really helped give me a deeper understanding of how powerful they can really be and also provided me with a different perspective on how to organize my code when I write.

The second half of the week was focused on learning one of the best practices in the industry, test driven development, or TDD for short. Before I started taking this coding thing seriously, I had this preconceived notion of programmers just typing away furiously on their laptops, headphones on, completely in their own zone. While there are times when this is definitely still true, I’ve learned that a lot goes on before actual coding even begins. TDD is the first step of the journey. The TDD process begins with writing out in plain english what you want your program to do. For example, if I’m making a cash register program that mimics the checkout process of a grocery store, I would write that my program should be able to ‘pull up the price of any single item in the store’, or ‘give me a running subtotal of the transaction’, or ‘calculate the amount of change owed’. After that’s completed, the next step is to write code for each of these statements in order to test if your program can perform the intended functions. The goal is to write code that will pass each of these tests, and in that way, the code of your program is gradually developed based on the intended use cases.

I found TDD to be very helpful in organizing my thoughts and to encourage me to think deeply about what I really want my program to accomplish. It forces you to step away from actual code and consider the real world implications of what you’re trying to build, including possible modifications in the future or issues that may pop up and break your program. Essentially its like having a gameplan instead of going out and improvising. Although it takes a lot of upfront investment, in both time and effort, I already see the value TDD can provide when building more complicated applications and look forward to getting much better at testing in the near future.

One Week In

It’s been a week since I started my bootcamp at Launch Academy. During this time I’ve been introduced to the instructors, gotten to know a few of my classmates, met representatives from a few tech startups in the area and received an understanding of both the teaching style and a course roadmap for the next 10 weeks.

The founder and main instructor is Dan Pickett. He’s been a self-described computer nerd his entire adult life and seems to be extremely knowledgeable about, well, just about everything. The best part is that he’s always super positive and enthusiastic; its obvious that he loves what he does. Launch Academy splits our cohort of 36 into three groups and assigns each group a mentor. My mentor’s name is Sam, a goofy, easy-going guy who was formerly a musician and is also an alumni of the program. He’s only been doing web development for about a year but already seems to be really good at what he does. If I’m where he’s at a year from now, I’ll know I’m on track.

My classmates come from a wide variety of backgrounds. There are guys in their 30’s and above, as well as kids that just finished undergrad. There are people with masters degrees, as well as people that never went to college. Off the top of my head, there’s a former english teacher, a nanny, a military ranger, a barista, a musician, a peace corps volunteer, a recruiter, and a number of ex-corporate bodies like yours truly. The beautiful thing about this field is that it doesn’t matter what school you went to, or how prestigious a company you worked for; the only thing that matters is what you can do. You can’t hide behind a piece of paper from a fancy school to coast through. This is both very humbling and motivating at the same time.

The first week has been focused on learning some of the fundamentals of Ruby, the main programming language that the course will be focusing on. I’ve gone through most of the basics on my own time prior to coming to Launch Academy so it hasn’t been too intense so far, although I expect things to ramp up quickly. Dan typically gives a lecture for about an hour once in the morning and once in the afternoon, but most of the day is spent collaborating with fellow classmates on solving programming challenges. One of the things I like most about software development so far is the problem solving aspects of it. It forces you to really THINK, something I missed terribly in my previous corporate jobs in which much of the work could be based on what other individuals had previously done. The emotional swings can be quite volatile though, as one moment you’re feeling confused, inadequate, even hopeless maybe. Then the lightbulb goes off, you find the solution, and you’re overwhelmed by a feeling of triumph and fist-pumping-ness.

Sam made an insightful comment the other day, analogizing software development to making music. In music, there’s a limited number of tones, 12 I believe is what he said. Using those 12 tones, it is up to the musician to mix them in such a way to create original music. Software development is much of the same. The most complicated problems and applications are built using the same set number of building blocks; it just comes down to how you put them together.

One of the most pleasantly surprising things I learned this week is how collaborative software development really is. When most people, including myself, hear the word ‘programmer’, they tend to think of a nerdy guy typing away furiously at his computer, ignoring all human interaction, as programmer and ‘people skills’ typically don’t go together. However, it really is quite the opposite. One of the things Dan and the rest of the staff emphasized this week is how important communication and soft skills really are in being successful in this field. An important industry ‘best practice’ now is ‘pair programming’, in which two people write code together. One person typically navigates the problem, mapping out the approach and the other does the typing and coding. Personally, I found it very beneficial to have someone to bounce ideas off of and talk out the problem with, making it much less likely to end up staring blankly at the computer screen, spinning your wheels.

Tomorrow is the start of week 2 and I can’t wait to see what I’ll be learning next.

Starting From the Bottom

The first time I told my father I wanted to learn how to code, he thought it was a great idea. It was a warm, sunny Sunday afternoon and we were on a Skype call from my flat in Mumbai, where I had moved to a few months back to work with an international development NGO. As the conversation progressed and I elaborated that I was strongly considering changing careers, and going down an entirely new path, I could sense his original encouragement stiffen into doubt and eventually, discouragement. Are you sure? Have you thought this through? You never showed interest in this field before, why now? Do you really want to throw away the last 8 years and do something 16 year olds are better than you at?

Up until this point, everything I had done previously had ‘made sense’. I went to college on time, graduated early, found a job right away in a promising career field, then left for a better job a couple years later. 7 months ago, I left that job in San Francisco to move halfway around the world to India to essentially work for free in a field I felt passionate about. Even that move could be viewed as defensible from a logical standpoint as the role was most likely only going to be temporary and if things didn’t work out, well, at least it would look great for business school.

However, a funny thing happened in India, as I was rolling along this path I had originally set out for myself. I realized looking good on paper does not equate to feeling good about your career. Thinking you know what you want based on what society, peers, bosses, and your social circle tell you does not necessarily equate to what you REALLY want. After I finished taking the GMAT and began looking at business school applications, I saw a variation of one question that kept popping up over and over again: “Why do you want to pursue an MBA? Why now?” As I pondered this seemingly simple question in my head over and over again, knowing full well that the honest answer of “because I’m not sure what I want to do with my life” wasn’t going to cut it, I realized I could not, for the life of me, come up with a good answer. Maybe it was time to rethink everything.

What had originally brought me to India was the desire to do something tangible, something impactful. At my previous job, there would be many times where I’d be working a 70 hour week, writing some 15-20 page memo on some obscure derivative, knowing full well, that maaaaybe, 5 people would end up looking at it when I was finished. Working hard wasn’t the problem. Working hard doing something you knew made absolutely zero impact in the real world was. Call me idealistic, call me naive, but I knew I needed more.

I had never been overly interested in the tech industry before. I had no interest in coding in high school. I didn’t spend my college years dreaming of creating my own tech start-up. Sure I loved the iPhone as much as the next person, but I never seriously considered having a career in the tech industry until recently.

The light-bulb moment came when I did a walking tour of Dharavi, the largest slum in Mumbai and one of the largest in all of Asia. As I walked through the narrow alleyways, taking in the hustle and bustle around me, one thing struck me more than all else. It wasn’t the trash on the ground, or the amount of economic activity going on. It was the fact that, in a place representing one of the densest areas of individuals at the bottom of the pyramid in the world, there were smartphones everywhere I looked. My tour guide had one, the middle-aged lady on the corner had one, the teenager buying candy had one. If modern technology was here, where in the world was it not?

In today’s world of internet and interconnectivity, if I really want to do something tangible and impactful, what better way than through the medium of technology? Sure I can make business plans and create financial models for farmers, or analyze their crops’ supply chain, but there’s no guarantee that he’ll listen to me, much less implement my advice. Even if he does and everything goes well, my work will only affect a rather small amount of individuals and plus, true habitual change is really hard (especially if it requires more work). What if I could create an app that gives farmers live updates to daily crop prices or connect them with neighboring farmers to increase pricing power by aggregating supply? What about a database of best practices for each of his crops based on current weather and soil conditions? The potential for technology to create solutions for many of the world’s problems is enormous and ultimately, I find that very exciting.

Tomorrow, I start an intensive 10-week ‘bootcamp’ that will serve as my introduction to the world of software development. Is it scary leaving a promising career to go down a completely new path? Absolutely. Do I have fears that I won’t actually be any good at this? Of course. Do I doubt that this is the right decision to make at this point in time? Not at all. In my heart of hearts, this feels like the right thing to do. It comes closest to what I feel I REALLY want. I’m not sure how things will play out in the end but as the great Steve Jobs once said, “You can only connect the dots looking back”.

The Holy Grail

Ever since I first started diving in 2007, there’s been one place above all others that I’ve been wanting to go to. From conversations with fellow divers during my travels, google searches of ‘top places in the world to dive’ and select YouTube videos, one name kept coming up over and over again.

Sipadan.

Sipadan is a tiny island off the coast of eastern Sabah in Borneo Malaysia. It is consistently ranked among the very best places in the world to dive and as such, in order to protect its pristine environment, the Malaysian government has instituted a limit of 120 divers per day. Thus in order to dive at Sipadan, one often has to book months in advance in order to secure a spot. After much haggling and emailing over the past month or so, I was finally able to secure a couple of days at Sipadan and see if the hype was justified.

From a distance, Sipadan looks like your typical tropical island: sandy white beaches, palm trees and crystal clear blue water.

However, under the waves is a paradise unlike any that I’ve seen before. Most of the great dive sites I’ve been to in the past had one or two qualities that stood out. Bali/Gili Trawangan had turtles, sharks and manta rays. Costa Rica and Cabo had large schools of fish. Bohol in the Philippines had magnificent vertical walls. Belize had fantastic visibility, really warm water and healthy, colorful coral.

Sipadan had ALL of this.

To have everything in one place was incredible. But the one thing that makes Sipadan truly unique is the sheer amount of marine life on its reefs. The very first time I hopped in the water, I immediately saw a huge ball of barracuda, probably the best known fish on the island.

My second dive was filled with so many turtles and sharks, I didn’t know where to look half the time. Seemed like everywhere I turned, it was ‘oh look, there’s another turtle’ or ‘hey, look 3 more sharks’. I even found a turtle completely knocked out in a reef, completely unaware I was inches from its head.

The incredible things about Sipadan is that even when you’re not seeing the big stuff (turtles, sharks, huge balls of fish), there’s always SOMETHING no matter where you look. All types of little colorful fish along the reefs, a ray over here, a lion fish over there. Diving here would get you ridiculously spoiled. By my 3rd or 4th dive, I was beginning to think, ‘oh its just another turtle’. I had to keep reminding myself that this is NOT normal, that I’ve had countless dives where I saw nothing and that just seeing ONE turtle would have made it a successful dive.

My last dive on both days was at Sipadan’s best known dive site: Barracuda Point. No barracudas were spotted on either day here but if I had to choose one lasting memory of this incredible place, it would be this:

Gigantic swarms of big-eyed Jacks, forming a wall so dense I couldn’t see my fellow divers on the other side. Being completely engulfed in the school that the only image visible when I did a 360 degree turn is one of hundreds of fish eyes staring at me.

I thought these things only happened in BBC documentaries. Safe to say, the hype is justified.

The Importance of Culture

These past few months have reminded me of a very important lesson I learned over the course of my brief professional working career: how important CULTURE really is.

When I first started my career, ‘culture’ was one of the last things I worried about. It seemed like one of those fuzzy, intangible things that you can never accurately describe. You can’t measure it, you can’t really analyze it, you can use adjectives and say things like “Oh, it’s great!”, but what does that really mean? WHY is it great? WHAT exactly makes it great? What really separates a great culture from a mediocre or unhealthy one?

Soon after I first started working, I began to realize how important ‘culture’ really was. The things I initially considered important in making my career choice (money, upward mobility, international opportunities, type of work..etc) did not have nearly the day to day impact on whether I liked my job or not as the work culture did. A healthy work culture, I realized, is more than just friendly colleagues and friday happy hours (although these two things definitely help!). It’s about feeling supported, being invested, having your colleague’s back, knowing he’ll have yours. Driven to do your best work, not just for your own career goals, but because you don’t want to let your team down. In sports, this is known as ‘team chemistry’. As an avid sports fan my entire life, I’ve seen example after example of ‘chemistry’ being the primary difference between a good team and a great team.

Many of us (especially the other VolCons) came to TechnoServe in part to get away from the stuffy or relentlessly competitive culture of the banking/consulting worlds. Most of the individuals at TechnoServe arrive with similar feelings: the desire to do something impactful, the willingness to give up monetary rewards in order to pursue work that would hopefully be more meaningful than what they were doing previously. You’d think a group of similarly minded individuals working at a non-profit for a fraction of what they’d be compensated in the open market would naturally form a healthier, more collaborative culture than that of a typical corporate environment.

I can’t speak for the other TechnoServe offices around the world but at least here in India, the work culture has been a particularly disappointing aspect of the overall experience. In my opinion, the problems mainly stem from the following issues:

1. Failure at the Top

Culture is set and established from the top on down. Here in the India office, there seems to be a complete lack of awareness or care for the work culture in the office on the part of our head honcho. Not once in my time here have we ever done any kind of team/group activity. Ironically, the only time the office comes together for a meeting is when someone leaves the firm. People work in silos, either by themselves or with their immediate team members. There is no sharing of ideas, a general lack of awareness of what your colleagues are doing and no sense of community. A good leader fosters an environment where people want to work for him, which you would think wouldn’t be too difficult to accomplish at a place where the mission is to create solutions to poverty. Sadly, that doesn’t seem to be the case here.

2. Intransparent Communication

One of the biggest problems in the office is the lack of transparent communication, particularly between the managers and the staff. I’ve both experienced and heard of numerous incidences where an individual was told or promised one thing, only to find out later that the story had changed without anyone notifying them. I’ve seen individuals keep major secrets from their own team members for weeks. This type of behavior breeds mistrust and selfish behavior, quickly leading to a toxic environment.

3. No Skin in the Game

Many of the culture problems I’ve noticed stems from the model TechnoServe uses to bring on employees. VolCons are brought on for short stints (3-12 months) for particular project workstreams. For most of us, this is either a break between jobs, a transitional period before business school or a short term experiment into a new field. Not a place to invest in one’s career.

Although TechnoServe attracts graduates from some of the best universities in India, most of them typically arrive with 6-12 month contracts and view their stint as a short-term assignment, even if their original contracts end up getting extended. There is a general perceived lack of upward mobility and a lack of employee training and investment.

TechnoServe generally seems to be running a model where employees are constantly cycled in and out, not unlike many private consulting firms. If someone’s been here over a year, they’re a veteran. Although this may work well from a business perspective, the constant turnover and lack of continuity makes it difficult to sustain a healthy work culture, which is even more important in a place where employees are not being compensated at their market value and don’t have much skin in the game.

Ultimately, these issues, if left unchanged, may end up threatening TechnoServe’s mission here in India. Real impact takes many years to come to fruition, and continuity is oftentimes a prerequisite for quality work. As many of us from the private sector know, there is no easier way to make quality people leave than to have a toxic work culture.

Kerala

After nearly 3 months in Mumbai, I figured it was time to get out of my bubble and see another part of this fascinating country. Last week I took a trip to Kerala, a state located at the southern tip of India. Kerala is a skinny, small-ish state bordering the Arabian Sea and is one of the four states (along with Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh) that make up ‘South India’. Kerala is widely considered one of India’s ‘model’ states, as it rates very highly in both social (literacy rate, child malnourishment, average education level, women employment..etc) and income (poverty level, average income) indicators. A couple of my favorite people I’ve met here in India so far are originally from Kerala and after hearing some of their stories, I decided I had to go check it out.

Pictures are worth a thousand words, so I’ll keep the verbatim to a minimum.

 

We flew into Kochi and spent the first couple of days in one of the main areas of town, Fort Kochi. A noticeable feature of the area are these nets attached to big wooden contraptions that local fisherman use to catch fish. The nets are raised and lowered manually using weights and ropes and some of the fishermen were nice enough to let us do the touristy thing and help them out a bit. For a small rupee donation, of course.

At night we caught a few cultural events. The first night, we saw a Kathakali show, a form of Indian classical dance/drama that originated in Kerala in the 17th century. The make-up of the actors was exquisite, really cool.

The next night, we went to an Indian classical music show, featuring two musicians, one playing the Tabla and another playing the Sitar. They had my head bobbin’, shit was dope.

Check this out.

Next stop was Alleppey, a town known for the ‘backwaters’, a series of interconnected lagoons, rivers, canals and lakes that Kerala is famous for. We took a leisurely canoe ride along some of the backwaters during one of the days we were there but honestly, I left a little disappointed. The water was really dirty and I couldn’t help but feel grossed out when I’d see someone on one bank of the river washing themselves/their clothes in the water, and then another person dumping trash/defecating on the other bank. Definitely a reminder of how much I have to be thankful for.

One of the highlights of the trip was definitely finding this gorgeous, clean, damn near empty beach thanks to a tip from a local rickshaw driver. I didn’t know beaches like these existed in India as every one I’d seen so far was filled with people and trash. Another reminder to get out of Mumbai more.

If you ever find yourself in Alleppey, make sure to go to Marari Beach.

Last stop on the trip was Munnar, a hill station located in the Western Ghats mountain range in inner Kerala. Place was BEAUTIFUL!

Munnar’s hills are filled with tea plantations as it is a major source of tea leaves. We took an epic hike through the hills, passing above the clouds and walking through the plantations themselves. The views were breathtaking.

Overall, going to Kerala was a great trip. It was really nice to finally get out of the concrete jungle and be surrounded by green things, fresh air and silence.  More than just a pretty place with some fun activities, I’ll remember the trip, especially the time at Munnar, as a time for self-reflection.

Does Income = Impact?

Its been a little over 2 months since I started working with TechnoServe. Work itself has been slower than I anticipated, as I’ve mostly been helping out with various projects and haven’t had a chance to really dive deep into any particular one yet. Hopefully that will be changing in the near future, but in the meantime, I’ve gotten a glimpse into TechnoServe’s methodology towards the projects it does.

TechnoServe takes a very business-minded approach towards development. The inputs, outputs, goals and results are usually based on hard data and measured in quantifiable terms. Although every project is different, a majority of them are agricultural based and deal with smallholder farmers as the ultimate end beneficiary. While a for-profit company measures its results and ultimate success through its bottom line, a non-profit developmental organization like TechnoServe measures its success by the ‘impact’ it creates. How can something like ‘impact’ be measured? For TechnoServe, ‘impact’ is typically measured through income growth. Therefore, the ultimate goal of a project will be something along the lines of: “sustainably increase the incomes of X farmers by Y%”.

Sustainability is key here, as what would the impact be if Farmer A increased his income by 50% in Year 1, only to see it drop by 50% the next year? One of the main ways TechnoServe tries to achieve sustainability is by creating behavioral change in the farmers, through introduction of best practice techniques and various other forms of training, sometimes followed by years of support.

Measuring impact through an easily quantifiable measure such as income makes sense to me. For individuals at the bottom of the pyramid, increasing income levels can easily be argued as the main avenue to a better life. However, I can’t help but think that this scope is a bit limited. Giving someone more money doesn’t mean that they’ll know what to do with it, that they’ll use the extra income in a constructive manner. Increased income only guarantees increased buying power but there is no guarantee that that buying power will translate into ‘improved lives’. A fellow VolCon told me a story about how a farmer he met used the increased income he earned to buy more beer and alcohol. Is that the type of impact we are trying to create? Didn’t a great philosopher from Brooklyn once warn us that, “Mo’ money, mo’ problems”?

One of the major reasons I became interested in development in the first place was from learning about micro-finance, through the stories of people like Muhammed Yunus, the Nobel Peace Prize winner and founder of Grameen Bank, and amazing institutions like Kiva and ACCION, where countless stories are told of aspiring entrepreneurs who bettered their lives through obtaining access to financial capital. The typical story goes something like this: “Tom has a small business selling XYZ. Tom obtains a small loan to buy inputs for his business. With increased inputs, Tom is able to increase outputs and sell more XYZ. Selling more XYZ increases his total income. With the increased income, Tom is able to put his children through school”.

Oh, if it was only that simple.

While TechnoServe is not an MFI (micro-finance institution), and is not in the business of extending loans to its beneficiaries, the thought-process behind its projects are similar to the ideas behind micro-finance. It helps grow businesses by improving the quality and quantity of inputs (i.e., skills training, best practice agricultural techniques, better procurement) which leads to increased outputs (i.e., creating market linkages, improved yields of crops). Ultimately, the end goal is the same, to increase the incomes of the end beneficiaries. But while, this goal may work for driven, ambitious entrepreneurs, who have a clear vision on how to use the increased income to better their livelihoods, the reality is that not all poor people qualify for that description. How can we impact those individuals that aren’t so driven, or would just piss away any additional money they earned, leaving no discernible impact on their wives, children, and family?

A fellow VolCon once asked me after coming back from a field visit, “What do you do if a farmer won’t implement your suggestions because he doesn’t think its possible to be more than what he already is. Can you teach ambition?”

I don’t have the answers to these questions, but while income growth is undeniably important, I do believe that creating lasting, meaningful impact, and not just surface level impact, extends beyond simply increasing one’s income. My guess is that educating a poor illiterate farmer by changing his attitude, thought process and any destructive habits could go a long way in creating an ‘impact’, especially if in conjunction with the aforementioned income growth. Now how you would measure these things? I don’t know.

What are some other ways to create and measure ‘impact’?

The Birth Lottery

Here in Mumbai, poverty is inescapable. Everywhere you turn, you see it. People of all ages constantly begging for money, oftentimes with a limb (or three) missing. Flimsy shanty homes crammed together seemingly on every other corner, as if collapsable from a hard shove. Kids out on the street, using buckets of dirty water to wash themselves. None of this is entirely new to me, but I’ve never been to a place that displayed such things so…intensely.

Seeing this everyday has really made me wonder: how much of our fate is truly in our own hands? Consequently, how much of our fate is already pre-determined by the time we are born?

In America, the most individualistic society in the world, we are taught to believe that we are in control of our own destiny. That our actions determine our results. That anything is possible, no matter the humbleness of our beginnings. These fundamental beliefs are the essence of the American Dream. But when I see malnourished kids combing the garbage for a few scraps to eat or a boy with both arms missing begging me for a few rupees with a purse draped around his neck, I can’t help but wonder how these beliefs I grew up with are simply inapplicable to so much of the rest of the world. How many great scientists, inventors, doctors, artists, musicians has the world missed out on simply because so many kids never had a chance?

I like to think that the reason I am where I am today is based on my own talent, work ethic and decisions that I made. But really, the biggest difference between me and that malnourished kid in the slum might be that I was born into a middle class family in the US and he was born into a family living in the slums of Mumbai. 

In the United Arab Emirates, a boy lucky enough to be born Emerati is essentially guaranteed to be wealthy his entire life. A boy born 150 miles away in an Iranian salt mine is very likely to be doomed to a lifetime of poverty. Who knows, that same Emerati boy may have had a similar fate to the Iranian boy had he been born 100 years earlier, before the oil started flowing. Is the main determinant of our fate how lucky we get in the birth lottery?

Fortunately, I am optimistic that the potential impact of our results in the birth lottery will lessen in the future.

Today, I went on a tour of the Dharavi slum, one of the largest slums in Asia. If you’ve seen the movie Slumdog Millionaire, then you’ll recognize it as the area where Jamal, Malik and Latika grew up. From my conversations with some of the locals here, it seems that the movie had received very mixed reviews here in India, the chief complaint being that Dharavi was shown in an un-flattering, and more importantly, un-realistic way. After having gone on the tour, I can understand why the locals feel that way. Most people (including yours truly) associate the word ‘slum’ with extremely negative connotations. Extreme poverty. Feces. Dirtiness. Smelliness. Just to name a few. Although these things definitely do exist, Dharavi is much more than that.

Dharavi covers an area of 535 acres and is home to over a million people, with a population density roughly 20x that of the rest of the city. Located on prime real estate in the heart of Mumbai, it is not a place where poor people waste away their days doing nothing. Rather, it is one of the most productive places in the city, home to a large number of industries and small businesses, with an annual turnover estimated between $650 million USD (per Wikipedia) and $1 billion USD (per tour guide). Dharavi is home to the largest recycling industry in the city. Roughly 60% of all plastic used in Mumbai comes through its factories, and a portion of the recycled plastic is sold to foreign multinational corporations such as LG. It also houses a large leather good industry, where the raw materials are sold and shipped to foreign luxury goods brands. So next time you purchase an Android smartphone or a Gucci wallet, there’s a good chance some of the materials used originated from this place.

Essentially, Dharavi is a city within a city. There’s a popular saying that once you go into Dharavi, there’s no need to leave, as anything you need is available there. These days there are even kids that grew up in the slum, went to college and obtained a ‘good’ white collar job, that still choose to live there. I am not trying to glorify the place by any means, but it is important to distinguish between the perception of a place based on something like a Hollywood (or British) movie and its reality.

The other thing I noticed when walking through the place was that, even in one of the poorest places in the city, the people there have access to some of the luxuries of modern day technology, such as television, cellphones (my local tour guide had a nicer phone than I did) and, most importantly, wi-fi and the internet.

I believe that if we are going to lessen the impact of our results in the birth lottery on our eventual future, advances in technology, and especially the internet, is our best chance. Our world now is more interconnected than it has ever been. The more places I go, the more I realize that our generation is more or less the same. We are exposed to the same TV shows, the same Youtube videos, the same Lady Gaga songs. The internet has truly flattened the playing field. There is so much free information readily available now on the internet, that even a poor kid born in the slums can take the same courses I do, if he so chooses to.

The goal of development is not to level the playing field so everyone has equal opportunities. Ask the communists, that’s never going to happen. The goal is to give everyone a fighting chance, so that their results in the birth lottery do not entirely determine their eventual fate. We have a long ways to go but I’m hopeful we’ll get there.

Toto, I’ve a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore…

The past few weeks have flown by and its already been a month since I landed in Mumbai. I spent the first couple of weeks at a hotel in central Mumbai, the next week in Bhopal, the capital of Madya Pradesh, where my main project is located, and then moved into an apartment with two other volcons upon my return to Mumbai last week. The apartment is located in a neighborhood called Bandra, and houses one of the main ex-pat communities in the city. The good: lots of food and activities nearby, poppin’ place (by Indian standards anyway). The bad: its really expensive (by Indian standards). I will be based out of here during the rest of my time at Technoserve and will be living with Karolle, a girl on our business development team who went to school in North Carolina, but is originally from Madagascar, and Sid, an Indian guy originally from Delhi, but went to school at Babson College in Boston. Both seem like really nice people and so far, we all get along great.

Overall, the transition has been really smooth so far. Language hasn’t been too big of an issue and I’m starting to learn my way around the city. The people are generally really nice and I haven’t gotten Delhi belly yet *knock on wood*. Work has been a little slow, but I’ll get more into that later. However, a few nights ago, I was rudely reminded that, in case I forgot or was beginning to feel complacent, I am in fact, no longer back home.

Around 4:30 in the morning last Friday, I woke up suddenly to a throbbing pain on my upper left ear. It felt like someone had pinched me really hard. Being in a half-conscious state of mind, I was utterly confused at what was going on. When I stood up and put my hand to my ear, and then my face, I realized there were streams of blood coming down my cheek. Now I’m usually a pretty calm person but this freaked me the fuck out. A million thoughts began racing through my head and while still standing there in a daze, I see a little oval thing scurry across the floor and out my bedroom door. Now I didn’t get a clear look since the lights were still off, but I quickly put one and one together and realized that I had just been bitten by a rat/mouse while sleeping.

Yes, a rat/mouse bit me while I was sleeping.

That just happened.

Really.

As you can imagine, I didn’t get much sleep the rest of the night and saw a doctor first thing in the morning. Thankfully, the shots that he recommended me getting (tetanus/rabies), I had already gotten before coming so he just prescribed an ointment to treat the wound. It’s been a few days now and I feel completely fine. So yea, if you’re thinking of coming to India and think those 20 or so shots that are required are a bit much, they’re not. Get every.last.one.

Other highlights from the past few weeks:

I caught a movie for the first time last week and the seats looked like this:

Not only do the seats go all the way down where you are basically in a sleeping position, but they also give you a blanket!!!! How I managed to stay awake throughout the film (Turbo, which was eh..) is still a modern miracle. And on top of all this, we had to stand up before the film to hear the national anthem (apparently this is a Mumbai requirement). Word.

I’ve always had a bit of a weakness for ice cream but this place has taken it to a new level. Apparently a Mumbai stable, Naturals is a shop that makes a variety of fruit flavored ice cream using real fruit. The flavors are seasonal (since fruit is seasonal…), but damn, everything is SOOO good! The ice cream is fairly light, not too milky/creamy, and there are pieces of actual fruit inside! All types of random fruits too…coconut, lychee, jackfruit, and a few more that I’m sure don’t even exist in the US. I think I might like this place more than Bi-Rite. YEA I SAID IT.

A lot of the food here is ‘veg’ (for vegetarian). Initially, I was a little worried as when I think of vegetarian food, I think of bland salads and the like. However, most of the veg food here is actually really tasty and I really haven’t minded much. This here is called bhindi masala. We call it the ‘crack bhindi’. It is the business.

First Impressions

Its been a little over a week since I landed in Mumbai (which all the locals still call Bombay). As I will be spending the majority of the next 9 months of my life here, the following are a few initial thoughts:

People are generally really nice…when they’re not trying to rip you off

The first cab driver I had the pleasure of encountering here in Mumbai covered the meter with a red piece of cloth as soon as I got in and refused to show, or turn on the meter even after I had repeatedly asked very nicely (cabs are legally required to charge you by the meter here in Mumbai btw). Each one of my requests was met with an ‘it’s ok’, ‘no problem’, or finally ‘no english’. So naturally, my first cab ride ended with a shouting match and me abruptly walking out into the middle of the street.

However, other than a few greedy cab drivers trying to make a quick buck off someone who obviously sticks out like a sore thumb, most of the people I’ve encountered so far have been both incredibly nice and helpful. Case in point:

This past weekend, I went with a couple of people to do some hiking at Matheran, a hill station located a few hours outside of the main city. Hill stations are towns built by the British on places of higher elevation than the nearby plain/valley (a.k.a hills – creative name, I know), usually for the purposes of escaping the summer heat. When we arrived, it was really coming down and while looking for a place to park, our car gets stuck in the mud.

When this happened, approximately ten people near us all dropped whatever they were doing and spent the next hour trying to help us get the car out. Never mind the rain, the mud all over their clothes, or their original plans. All that mattered at that moment was helping another human being stuck in a shitty situation out. Incredible.

By American standards, things are really cheap

Major props to Mr. Bernanke and crew for hinting (who knows if it’ll actually happen) at ending QE in the near future and subsequently, causing the value of the dollar to rise substantially in the past few months. At the current exchange rate of 60 rupees to the dollar, you can get a really good local meal for under $3 USD, 1 GB of data for your smartphone for about $4 USD, and every cab ride I’ve been in has been under $2 USD. After paying rent, I’m expecting to pocket about $20 USD per day as my stipend here, and believe it or not, I think I can get by quite comfortably. However, the one thing that isn’t all that cheap is alcohol. Apparently Maharashtra has a 100% import tax on all foreign alcohol (the tax varies depending on the state) so getting a Blue Moon here is about the same, or even more, than getting one in San Francisco. Guess it’ll be Kingfisher for me from here on out.

The locals are not morning people

The first day going to work, I left around 9:15 and ended up spending almost half an hour trying to hail a cab as nearly every one that passed by was occupied. When I finally managed to track one down, the traffic was so bad that the ride ended up taking 40 minutes for a journey I would later find out should take less than 15. The next day I left around 8:30 and lo and behold, the streets were damn near empty and multiple cabs were just parked, waiting around for customers. Apparently, morning rush out here doesn’t really happen until 9:30-10:30. Oftentimes I’ll get into the office by 9 and be the first or second person there.

Riding the trains is quite an adventure

I’ve been on my fair share of crowded metros in different cities around the world and riding the trains here in Mumbai is near, if not at, the very top for craziest/most stressful experience. First of all, none of the train cars have any doors, so they’re just all open entrances. People also constantly have their bodies hanging out the entrances, like this:

The stations never announce when a train will leave a station once it arrives, and as there are no doors to close, there is absolutely no indication as to how long a train will stay at a station. So what ends up happening is that, as a train is pulling into a station, before it has even come to a complete stop, there will be a stampede of people trying to get into a car and oftentimes, an equal stampede of people trying to get out. What this ultimately means is that, just in order to board a train, you often have to sprint from car to car looking for an opening to pull yourself into, as many cars will be so packed that they are literally impossible to enter. Never has the simple act of boarding a train felt like such an accomplishment. Good thing I have sharp elbows.

Drivers are crazy…and the honking never stops

Mumbai was built by the British as a port city located on a peninsula. What this means is that there is a lack of room for expansion as the population of both people and automobiles swell. Streets here are generally pretty narrow and most cars are small and narrow as well. Consequently, the locals here drive like crazy people and use every.single.inch of space available on the road. Cars are often mere inches away from each other, and things like lane lines, turn signals and sometimes, even traffic lights don’t really matter. Basically the right of way goes to whoever gets to the spot first. What is one result of cars in close proximity fighting for limited space? Honking. That’s right, constant, never-ending, all hours of the day, honking. Might need to cop some earplugs soon.

Indian food is much better here….the other stuff, not so much

Although I’ve only been here for a week, I can confidently say that most of the Indian food back home is definitely toned down. The local Indian food here is SO much better. Dishes are much more flavorful and most of them are spicy, which is right up my alley. But they’re spicy in a compliment-the-flavor type of way and not in a spicy-just-to-be-spicy type of way. Also, there is wide variety of ‘Indian’ food, usually based on the state and region where it’s from (for example, north Indian food, which is prevalent in the states, is very different than south Indian food). I’ve only tried a small sample of the many different types of Indian cuisine so far, but let’s just say there’s a whole lot more to Indian food than chicken tikka masala.

On the other hand, the ‘other’ cuisines I’ve tried so far (save a pretty decent Thai place, but seriously, even ‘bad’ Thai food is generally pretty good), have been, to put it mildly, disappointing. The other night I went to a ‘Chinese’ restaurant and ordered some chicken chow mein. Pretty safe right? Here’s what it looked like:

WTF is that??

I’ve been to enough countries that I’m fairly certain there is bad Chinese food everywhere, but this definitely takes the cake. Tasteless, not-fully-cooked noodles in a slimy, gooey ‘sauce’, if you could even call it that. I’m generally not that picky but this was borderline inedible.

My first meal in Mumbai was actually this:

Not really the business.

The Indian head bobble

In my brief time here, I’ve already noticed a number of cultural differences, from the terms used in business to the way waiters serve you in restaurants. However, the one thing that stands out the most, and is also the most amusing, to me is the reaction I get when someone agrees, disagrees, or even just a ‘ok’ or ‘I heard you’. Basically, the reaction to anything I say.

I hope I don’t pick this up.

Weather hasn’t been too bad

My biggest concern before coming to Mumbai was the weather. Surprisingly, it hasn’t been too bad thus far. Yes its humid, but as the monsoon season just began, and the rain comes down intermittently throughout each day, the temperature hasn’t been too high. I’d guess 80’s – low 90’s. Bearable. The locals tell me there are 3 months of the year where it’s so hot that its hard to breathe, never mind walk, and that animals will lie down on tile floors to try and escape the heat. Just so happens that those 3 months will be the 3 months of this upcoming year where I’m not here. Stay schemin’.

Poverty is everywhere

Poverty is inescapable in Mumbai. Everywhere you turn, there are people sleeping directly on the streets, or in makeshift homes on the streets (often just a tarp being held up by a couple of wooden sticks). There are seemingly slums on ever other street and I haven’t even been to Dharavi or any of the other large, exclusively slum areas yet. The infrastructure here, particularly the buildings and roads, appear to be crumbling. I’ve yet to run into a building without mold, a sidewalk without cement pieces falling apart, or a street without trash littered everywhere. And this is the financial capital of the country. I can’t imagine what it’ll be like when I go to ‘real’ India.

The people at Technoserve are great

The biggest draw of Technoserve for me, besides the type of work they do, is that they seemingly attract a lot of high caliber people. In this regards, I have definitely not been disappointed. Everyone here seems to be both really smart and down to earth. Our head honcho, the country director, used to be a CEO of a tech company and ex-McKinsey. A number of the other volunteers are either students or graduates of top MBA programs (HBS/Wharton/Columbia/INSEAD/Chicago). One girl goes to Wharton and the Kennedy School at the same time and just so happens to be one of the nicest people I’ve ever met. There are a couple of start-up founders in the mix, as well as people that have done some great things in the development space.

One of my biggest surprises in coming here was how many VolCons (what they call us Volunteer Consultants) there actually are. Apparently there are 30 VolCons at Technoserve around the world currently, and 10 of them are here in India. We definitely make up a core part of the overall team and some VolCons are even leading their respective projects. A few of the managers here also started as VolCons before transitioning into a full-time role. Most of us are in our mid-late twenties and seemingly all down to have a good time, so it almost feels like working at a consulting firm (the work is structured similarly as well) again.

I will be flying to Bhopal this weekend to meet the rest of my project team. Next week I’ll, hopefully, be able to go into the field and actually meet and work with the stakeholders (small farmers). Can’t wait.