© 2007 Institute of Current World Affairs
The Institute awards long-term fellowships to develop a deep understanding of an issue, country, or region outside the US and to share that understanding with a wider public.
Institute of Current World Affairs - Home Page

Below is a hobbled text version of a PDF document.
In order to read the actual document please click the link below and register if necessary.
(One-time registration is free and very quick.)
Read article

4/15/2006 - The Song Remains the Same: Bombay, Development and International Business by Richard D. Connerney

ICWA LETTERS Since Institute Current World Affairs Crane Rogers Foundation provided fellowships enable outstanding young professionals outside United States write about international areas issues An exempt operating foundation endowed Charles R Crane Institute supported contributions minded individuals foundations TRUSTEES Bryn Barnard Joseph Battat Mary Lynne Bird Steven Butler Sharon F Doorasamy Peter Geithner Gary Hartshorn Katherine Roth Kono Cheng Li Peter Bird Martin Dasa Obereigner David Z Robinson Carol Rose John Spencer Edmund Sutton HONORARY TRUSTEES David Elliot David Hapgood Pat M Holt Edwin S Munger Richard H Nolte Albert Ravenholt Phillips Talbot Institute Current World Affairs The Crane Rogers Foundation Four West Wheelock Street Hanover New Hampshire 03755 U S A RDC SOUTH ASIA Richard Connerney Phillips Talbot Fellow studying influen impact religion Indian society The Song Remains Same Bombay Development International Business By Richard D Connerney APRIL For people India holds ongoing fascination lessen This month retired US Ambassador former Assistant Secretary State South Asia Phillips Talbot returned India attend Asia Society Asian Corporate Conference Bombay I Phil several occasions America arrangements Deborah attend conference Prime Minister Manmohan Singh other dignitaries scheduled speak opening dinner occasion perfect excuse travel India storied cities You cannot Lucknow Uttar Pradesh Bombay directly boarded Pushpak Express train spent night through dusty hills Madhya Pradesh During I caught reading Although I visited Bombay I mostly through books Bombay massive recent books about appropriately weighty In century number thick volumes appeared attempting approximate extensive sprawl large numbers pages Well known author Salman Rushdie Bombay resident birth novels Midnight Children Bombay All books including latest Shalimar Clown amusing turners immensely popular Indians Westerners His vaude villian taste however When I reach conclusion books I often I finally heard mildly amusing punch knock knock Suketu Mehta Maximum City offers sober contemporary Bombay Mehta resident Indian NRI living New York City returned birth write Althoug Maximum City moments ultimately disappoints Mehta Indian origin perhaps thentically Indian I authentically Irish meaning genetic sense without accompanying cultural insight Dublin without I might downtown Saigon Mehta Bombay sadly pedestrian imagine visitor having similar experiences He deliberately somewhat disingenuously seeks prostitutes sters middle class sipping existence A authentic voice heard memoir Shantaram Austra author Gregory David Roberts An escaped convict Roberts Bombay 1980s evade Australian police With limited resources suffering bouts heroin addiction ended Bombay slums living small without running water electricity While learned fluent Hindi Marathi opened amateur medic clinic almost I should explicitly mention Phil former ICWA Fellow India standing trustee Institute formal training residents Local gangsters other plans however They learned about Robert troubled enlisted enforcer shadowy underworld kingpin named Kheder Bhai His adventures Bombay mafia interesting reading especially takes runner mujahadin Afghanistan But crime stories Robert universal osity about everything around beggars stars The result broad sometimes disturbed portrait painted midst battle demons Perhaps literary depiction Bombay found large short stories rarely translated writer Kashmir named Saddat Hasan Manto Writing Urdu around artition Manto obscure little liked literary contemporaries considered nographer penniless alcoholism For those trouble English translations however Manto profound discovery tawdry heart wrenching Brechtean sparing grimness He wrote about Bombay prostitutes pimps gangsters nists where takes interest anyone If dying about Even neighbors murdered assured about I thinking about passage Deborah I checked The Strand Hotel Bombay waterfront The Asia Society conference scheduled middle match between Indian English cricket teams hotels booked cricket I remembered spending weekend student The Strand listed guidebook The Haider Ali Tomb coast Arabian Sea Bombay Built shore Bombay shrine accessible Here group deformed beggars arranges themselves circle chants Allah photo D Simon still rooms available Unfortunately seemed staff changed bedding painted walls decade since I stayed there Our TV closet three Strangest shower which sitioned close proximity toilet bathing distinct danger falling I wondered anybody would notice If The Strand somewhat uncomfortable least center Bombay nightlife district We stopped Indigo trendy watering cocktail The first thing struck Deborah about crowd wardrobe Both deshi local videshi oreign women Indigo showed style women New York City At British NRI resident Indian cricket match When Deborah living Lucknow incredulous Lucknow Wow What women Saturday night Lucknow They their burqahs Deborah quipped The Grand Hyatt hotel airport where Asia Society scheduled conference The Hyatt miles The Strand As drove through streets Bombay I amazed slums I In squatters taken sidewalks building colonies story shacks stretch along streets slivers misery dysentery A writer Newsweek Fareed Zakaria recently remarked regarding economic devel opment India You change middle slums Looking ndless gression ramshackle ragged inhabitants Manto Saadat Hasan Bombay Stories translated Matthew Reeck Aftab Ahmed publication pending Newsweek India Rising Fareed Zakaria RDC hopelessly sewers I tical When beggar approached inter section I thought I would Zakaria claim asking change Before I could speak pressed against window broke Jingle Bells Jingle Bells Rupee deejee Please money Santa Cruz Santa Cruz Mujhe dejee Please I amused musical composition I encourage begging So I applauded waved drove Once reached Hyatt repeated security checks delayed further By inside Prime Minister guards locked ditorium directed adjacent video From there watched number digni taries including Governor Iowa speak including Prime special mention Phillips Talbot return India Overall I found speeches especially certain officials extensive remarks about strategic partnerships already suffi ciently Bombay In speeches private conversation egates during reception followed I heard statistic again emerging Indian middle class million people I where statistic egates conference seemed Three million roughly population America perhaps delegates liked think direct investment promoting created little America Asia group people enough income toothpaste telephones whitening cream popula cosmetic South Asia charge their credit cards Most delegates I spoke belief direct foreign develop would broad India atmosphere conference permeated sense mission could called Mahatma Gandhi Syndrome The Western nessmen I making money their Indian investments lifting common I found attitude Uttar Pradesh I spoke American woman bought exported herbal Lucknow She proud imagined effect activities rural great reluc tance admitted selfless behalf downtrodden highly profitable On second conference again stuck intersection where beggar holding Seeing through window smiled recognition She approached began another complex rendition Jingle Bells accompa niment another young Jingle Bells Jingle Bells Roti Chahi We bread This I could resist rolled window coins They grabbed money inserted their hands again asking resisting attempt window Several beggar children joined holding window I could escape The driver turned around The conditioning running You wasting conditioning yelled frantically I tried their fingers glass beggar girls opportunity They laughed started singing louder confident I liked their rendition Jingle Bells Jingle Bells INSTITUTE OF CURRENT WORLD AFFAIRS Jingle Bells Rupee Deejee By light turne green lightened heart pockets At conference I attended panel discussion subject AIDS Business presided former US ambassador UN Richard Holbrooke attended several ranking officials In government I thought seminar disappointment cause certain sensitive issues deliberately avoided Holbrooke panel For example portant legal battle directly pacts AIDS outreach slowly winding through Indian judicial system A tentious Holbrooke mention focused stead innocuous subjects availability counseling HIV positive people Moreover Holbrooke panel little tendees participate discussion ensuring direction conversation carefully controlled I meeting feeling opportunity ingful conversation important subject wasted Bholu Ex Pickpocket Back Strand Hotel I managed tions television fiddling knobs Un fortunately there except cricket Be tween overs I noticed station playing commercial credit issued State Bank India The showed young staggering through streets large Indian heavy The scene showed struggling steep while children harassed Finally shown bricks working construction At young occupation given Bholu Ex pickpocket The screen flashed State Bank India credit caption Welcome cashless world The I found printed version newspaper which rickshaw pedaler named Babu labeled pickpocket struggled looking If brave world State Bank India cashless heartless While intended poetic justice former crimi reduced thankless employment contained disturbing subtext The laborers portrayed these condemned their tasks their ethical failings Blue collar presented shameful tivity result prior indiscretions This invention State Bank India course philosophical lynchpin caste system ference being Bholu fault rather previous As editorial about these Hindustan Times remarked It though India taken worst deeply entrenched retrograde aspect virtue In these advertisements I unlikely marriage I referring attempt repeal Section India Penal Code which threatens imprisonment anyone convicted partaking sexual conduct against order nature This legislation drastically inhibits ability governmental governmental organizations reach certain groups sexual minorities India particu larly backward areas Uttar Pradesh The question cashless world these passengers intend paying Babu surely unable process credit payment The makes wonder about Babu future If longer engage petty theft labor shameful viable option update skills learn perpetrate credit fraud This people Babu position International credit companies issued million cards Indian consumers years related crimes varieties rampant Times India Lucknow Edition Hindus Times New Delhi Edition March Pickpockets All Anita Roy RDC Protestant ethic Hindu concept metempsychosis The deserve their wealth while because predestined damnation reincarnated In I could offspring union million strong Indian middle class delegates conference mentioning middle class often overcon fident bereft function social conscience Nestorius Heretic Before Bombay Phil Talbot Italian restau lobby Grand Hyatt The meeting reunion While Phil returning India Deborah making plans escape After months power failures mysterious insects bathroom lizards walls cupboard exploding generators daily political agitations ernet connections storms degree undrinkable water dysfunc tional plumbing bacterial dysentery array additional inconveniences daily Uttar Pradesh reached patience She bought return ticket America sched depart several after conclusion conference Inquiring about plans Phil suggested I spend South India I never visited While brainstorming about places I could visit Kerala Goa Phil mentioned Christians St Tho Malabar Coast The Christians St Thomas called Chaldean Syrian Church adherents heterodox founded century heretic named Nestorius Nestorius Patriarch Constantinople AD denied divine nature Virgin Mary refused moniker Mother God refer He condemned First Council Ephesus AD exiled deserts Egyp where His followers carried memory ideas across ancient world ending South India where remain today I later asked Phil about meetings 1940s Mahatma Gandhi As ICWA fellow later nalist Phil known personages In dependence movement Mahatma Gandhi Nehru Jinnah Bose Knowing these famous people personally I asked Phil there dotes could about I wanted impressions about Gandhi Nehru aloof Bose reputed temper Phil every diplomat however His recollections almost purely factual polite lacking subjectivity Coming Going Perhaps Phil careful speaking years ambassador member Kennedy Johnson administrations All diplomats after speak manner designed offend The political argot placates rather provok suggests rather insinuates evades often engages I discretion professional requirement people Phil I couldn disappointed Still thinking AIDS seminar I wondered these patriarchs Indian American relations Richard Holbrooke Phil Talbot ability If Nestorius Heretic wanted Mother Mary conceived flesh blood I wanted Mother In treated similarly I wished Richard Holbrooke Phil outspoken about AIDS history respectively As I discovered literature about Bombay greatest truths often contained shortest expres sions I found profound insight India nomic future encapsulated speeches Manmohan Singh Richard Holbrooke simple children street corner Jingle bells jingle bells Rupee deejee In ditty I heard elements Indian entre preneurial spirit willing innovate ability adapt strength severe boldness demand stoicism See Gibbon Edward The History Decline Fall Roman Empire Volume II Penguin New York INSTITUTE OF CURRENT WORLD AFFAIRS smile More importantly these girls young accused State Bank India being thieves Thus these beggar girls suggested nomic deprivation necessarily usually result personal shortcomings Their version Jingle Bells The rising lifting boats India It believe lifting million It however going these girls honest Even these girls Phillips Talbot Grand Hyatt vacation Goa drink Indigo Nor large corporations Asia Society conference offer maintain build their sewerage system provide comprehensive health award pension The depth India poverty often escapes experts attention If these girls millions others expect unending deprivation their lifetimes recent economic development probably holds little interest They feeling change Worse TV movies Bombay Bangalore enjoying fruits economy excludes Impoverished Indians especially eastern India called Red Corridor increas ingly looked litical movements resur Naxalite Maoist insurgency their future The Naxalites associated groups responsible dramatic upswing violence several years The trouble states Andhra Pradesh Chhatisgarh become pronounce Prime Minister Singh recently called greater threat India militancy Jammu Kashmir If Indian countryside overrun popular Maoist insurgency sounds fantastic sounded nario Nepal years The possibility widespread rural chaos believ gives issue wealth distribution added urgency How recent economic windfall western metropolis Bombay spread fortunate Indian states still question which nobody seems viable answer Meanwhile Naxalites widen their popular support improve their tactics acquire sophisticated weaponry In their determination benefits Ricardian economic theory porations Asia Society conference distinct chance inadvertently proving Marx right instead In after Asia Society wound conference Sensex Bombay stock exchange passed first India match England leftist rebels attacked police impoverished state Chhattisgarh million Indians decided spend their dispos income beggar girls millions wondered where their would Sonia Gandhi resigned parliament Prime Min ister traveled Amritsar visit Golden Temple Phillips Talbot Goa visit friends Deborah boarded returned New York City As I bought train ticket Lucknow Uttar Pradesh other India where devel opment scattershot hotels where neighbors surely notice passing RDC INSTITUTE OF CURRENT WORLD AFFAIRS Current Fellows their Activities INSTITUTE OF CURRENT WORLD AFFAIRS Richard D Connerney January INDIA A lecturer Philosophy Asian Religions Philosophy Rutgers Iona C ollege University Hawaii Manoa Rick Connerney spending years Phillips Talbot Fellow studying writing about intertwining religion culture politics India described former U S Ambassador John Kenneth Galbraith functioning anarchy Rick B A M A religion Wheaton College University Hawaii respectively Kay Dilday October FRANCE MOROCCO An editor New York Times Op Ed years Kay holds M A Comparative International Politics Theory Graduate Center City University New York Bachelor degree English Literature Tufts University graduate Universiteit Amsterdam Netherlands Cours Civilisation Sorbonne She traveled written Haiti began jouralistic council reporter Somerville This Week Somerville MA Cristina Merrill June ROMANIA Born Bucharest Cristina moved Romania United States mother father Learning English retaining Romanian majored American History Harvard College there became captain women tennis She received Master degree Journalism New York University worked several U S publications Adweek New York Times spending years Romania watching emerge darkness Ceauscescu regime presumed light membership European Union NATO Nicholas Schmidle October PAKISTAN Nicholas freelance writer interested intersection culture religion politics Asia He spending years Pakistan writing issues ethnic sectarian national identity Previously reported Central Asia Iran published Washington Post Weekly Standard Foreign Policy Christian Science Monitor thers Nick received M A International Affairs Regional Studies American University December He lives Rikki Andrew J Tabler February SYRIA LEBANON Andrew lived studied worked Middle East since Rotary Foundation Ambassadorial Fellowship enabled begin Arabic language studies toward Master degree American University Cairo Following Master editorships Middle East Times Cairo Times before moving Turkey Lebanon Syria working Senior Editor Oxford Business Group correspondent Economist Intelligence Unit His ICWA fellowship bases Beirut Damascus where report Lebanese affairs Syrian reform Jill Winder July GERMANY With B A politics Whitman College Walla Walla WA Master degree Art Curating Bard College Annandale Hudson NY Jill ICWA Donors Fel looking Germany through ideas viewpoints contemporary artists Before months intensive study German language Berlin Thomas J Watson Fellow looking communist practice cultural politics transition former Soviet Czech Republic Slovakia Poland Croatia Hungary Latvia Romania Slovenia Ukraine Institute Fellows chosen basis character previous experience promise They young professionals funded spend minimum years carrying designed programs study writing outside United States The Fellows required report their findings experiences field month They write subject formally informally The result unique reporting analysis periodic assessment interna tional events issues Author Connerney Richard D Title ICWA Letters South Asia ISSN Imprint Institute Curre World Affairs Hanover NH Material Type Serial Language English Frequency Monthly Other Regions East Asia The Americas Europe Russia Mideast North Africa Sub Saharan Africa ICWA Letters ISSN published Institute Current World Affairs Inc exempt operating foundation incorporated New York State offices located West Wheelock Street Hanover NH 03755 The letters provided charge members ICWA available libraries profes sional researchers subscription Phone Fax E Mail valley Web address Executive Director Peter Bird Martin Program Administrator Brent Jacobson Publications Design Management Ellen Kozak Institute Current World Af fairs The Crane Rogers Foundation This newsletter reprinted republished without express written consent Institute Cur World Affairs