Talking Point

Danny Boyle’s, eight Academy Awards winning yet controversial film Slumdog Millionaire, set and filmed in India, gave the country another name derivative – the Slumdog Land. The name tagging apart, the film also carried a deeper symbolism for India, a land of many contradictions.

As India surges forward in taking big strides of development, there are millions of slumdogs, aspiring to become millionaires all over the country in their own entrepreneurial ways. The making of new India thus needs a thoughtful blend of big ticket macro development as well as the inclusive growth of micro-small-mid sized enterprises for a sustainable growth trajectory.

21st Feb 2009: Breakfast was ready at 4.15.  Since it was part of Pink City’s room-rent package, I did not want to miss out, even though 4.15 was not the most ideal of times for Pink City’s signature full-course breakfast. Mr. Mathur was up to bid me goodbye and invite me for a repeat visit. The car was already waiting at the portico and everything was timed to military precision as I reached the airport, well in time for my Kingfisher flight to Delhi en route to Lucknow. Jaipur is a small airport where the baggage conveyors were yet to form an indispensible component of the supply chain. The porters often carried the baggage manually at the check-in counters.

Kingfisher departed on time and soon I was tucking away at my second breakfast of the day. This time, it consisted of what looked like a cross between a vegetable sandwich and a burger, a cinnamon roll and something sweet, all in an attractive Kingfisher cardboard box. In fact, the box looked definitely more attractive than its contents. Kingfisher’s stewardesses are all dressed in red and its owner, Mr. Vijay Mallya, who invariably appears in the in-flight safety video, claims that he handpicks each of them personally… a hangover from his wine industry experience perhaps! Also, Kingfisher insists on calling its passengers “guests”. More on Kingfisher later.

I had barely enough time arriving at the Delhi domestic airport and then taking a bus to another terminal to board the Delhi-Lucknow Kingfisher. The bus seemed to take its own time travelling fitfully through the early morning Delhi congestion.  While airline companies had been allowed to mushroom, the airport infrastructure was frightfully inadequate. Construction work was ongoing, but meanwhile the entire airport area looked like a war-ravaged zone. The dust and chaos was all pervading. Finally, the bus chugged into the terminal no. 1A in time (just in time, I thought) for my next flight to Lucknow. Breakfast no. 3 was served! This time I refused the attractive package, especially having had previous experience of the contents.

Lucknow airport, like the one at Jaipur was a modest airport. I was out in no time, looking for a vehicle that was supposed to be there for me. I walked out of the airport and stood for a while trying to locate some sign of familiarity. A guy was standing next to me, talking animatedly on his cell phone. My name figured in his conversation once or twice. I realized he had come for me! I interrupted him in mid sentence, identifying myself. He immediately terminated the conversation and bundled me off into his car.  Very soon we were speeding along the bank of the river Gomti, for which Lucknow is famous. The river looked more like a nullah i in most parts, the effect probably accentuated by the dry season. “If you go near, you will realize that the water is almost black with pollution”, said Upadhaya-ji, the driver.

Soon, we drove up to the MicroSave guest house where I was greeted by Bhaskar the caretaker. A decent, well mannered young man, he showed me to my room and offered to prepare breakfast # 4! I asked him to skip the breakfast and focus on preparing lunch. My accommodation consisted of a massive bedroom, a dressing room and a large bathroom. Creature comforts like aircon, hot/cold water, a large comfortable bed with clean sheets and blankets, color TV with a Tata Sky set-top box with infinite channels, a roomy worktable with comfortable chair and table lamp promised a comfortable stay. I indulged in a luxurious warm water bath and took a short nap.   

That evening, Manoj Sharma, Program Director of MicroSave, offered to take me out for dinner along with his family. I joined him, his wife, a teenaged daughter and a son for an evening on the sprawling lawns of a private club.

The snacks and food was good, the evening was chilly enough for us to enjoy a bonfire that was blazing away, not far from us. To add to the ambiance, someone started belting out old Kishore Kumar numbers! Whoever he was, he was doing justice to the songs … we enjoyed sitting around and listening nostalgically.  

To be continued …

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i Nullah: A larger version of an open drain. Often denotes a small stream, usually polluted