Our touring today demonstrated in several ways main themes in Indian history.
The contrast between the old and the new: In Bangalore, we passed Dr. Jain’s Cow Urine Medical Shop. That was the old. It is now an Ayurvedic Clinic (maybe using the old herbal formulation, but substantially updated).
Major parts of its European colonial history: We took a one-hour boat ride to an island, and on the way, got an abbreviated history of the island. It houses what was once (2ndcentury AD) a Hindu temple dedicated to the Lord Shiva, one of the trinity of major gods (there are supposedly 3,000 or more, a total magnified by the different forms a god can take; Shiva, for example, is the Destroyer of Evil, but in one incarnation, is a yogi, and in another is a master dancer). The one-time temple has major sculpted stones depicting stories about Shiva, and picturing his well-known son, Ganesha, the god with the elephant head. By the time the Portuguese reached Bombay, the temple had been abandoned, so the Portugese used the cave, in part, for target practice. The Portuguese connection was part of Portugal’s quest for spices under Henry the Navigator, which for a time created far flung trading ports that included Goa in India and Macau in China. Claiming what was then seven islands, the Portuguese claim became part of a dowry of the Portuguese princess who married Charles II of England; hence, Bombay passed into the arms of the British East India Trading Company.
Much of what we saw today dated from the British period (which lasted until 1947) and is close to the area around the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel. The Victoria Train Terminal, built, like so many of the late 19th century buildings (such as the High Court and the sumptuous University of Mumbai (the city was originally Mumbai, but the Portuguese gave it the name Bombay because, I believe, of a local god) in the Indo-Saracen architectural style, was the biggest building project in 19th century Asia. Even today, it services 7 million riders a day (scale in the East, in China and India, is somewhat mind boggling for Americans. Bombay has the population of Australia!).
The new and the old is reflected, as well, in the local dobi ghat we visited. A dobi ghat (the name of a train station in Singapore, is an outdoor laundry (dobi is a washerman; at least all the workers in the ghat, which is a riverbank, were men), and constitute one of the largest slums in the city. There are four of these areas, and I understand that workers in the slum earn about $200 a month, which is enough to send money home to families left behind.
Within sight of the dobis, is Marine Drive and the Malabar Hill, which have the highest priced real estate in India. There are a number of wealthy families who have made Mumbai home, including many businessmen. One of the newest homes is an 18 story edifice built for Mr. Ambani, whose story I just bought in the bookstore in the Taj (books are a real bargain in India—priced for sale only in India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, and Nepal); Mr. Ambani, the CEO of Reliance, one of India’s major conglomerates, has 400 servants for his family, which consists of him, his wife, and their child. Who says the maharajahs are gone (though most of the maharajas — the Indian rulers under the princely states which were subsumed in 1947 — had their political power stripped, some still have palaces. Several of the palaces have been converted into hotels, so you can sleep in a palace, as Mrs. Hoyt and I did in Jaipur).
We saw the former home of the Tata family, India’s largest group, who also call Mumbai their headquarters. They represent an interesting theme in Indian history, too, being Parsis—Persians who emigrated centuries ago and found a home in Bombay. The Parsis worship fire, and you may know them as Zoroasters. We were supposed to go to a Parsi temple, but it was closed; we did go to a Parsi restaurant for a “wedding feast.” One memorable feature was eating the meal on a banana leaf.
The final place we visited brings us up to “modern India”. Mahatma Gandhi, the father of modern India, lived here from 1917 until 1934, and the home where he stayed is one of a dozen Gandhi museums in India. The story of his life, documented in Richard Attenborough’s film several years ago, was retold in the home: sent to London to become a barrister (promising his mum, as the British would say, he would have neither wine nor women), he eventually went to help the Indian community in South Africa. He even got a medal in the Boer War for being part of a hospital corps. Evicted from his first class compartment because he was “colored,” Gandhi turned to non-violence and for the next almost fifty years, using a simple but powerful lifestyle, helped mobilize Indian and world opinion to get the British to leave India in 1947.
Tomorrow, we’ve visiting two more companies to learn how India has gone from 1947, and one of the world’s poorest countries, to one that still has 30% below the poverty line, yet has shown enough progress to merit the statue of progress that is on top of the Victoria Terminal (130 years later!), and the focus of the book I mentioned yesterday, the India Way, published by Harvard Business School press.
Namaste.
Good night.