Touring in Delhi and Agra was a bona fide photographic bonanza! We've visited a number of very successful companies that are rolling out sustainable, socially-responsible products to India's poor and we've also had a chance to pose in front of some of the richest landmarks in Asia. We also saw some dancing monkeys!According to Gurcharan Das, the acclaimed Indian author with whom the group shared lunch in Delhi, the Gini coefficient (a measure of economic inequality) for India is lower than in most developed countries -- implying that in aggregate the poor earn a greater share of national income in India than in other countries. Although this may be true, I suspect that the statistic depend largely on the fact that the poor make up such a large percentage of the population in India and the wealthy/middle class are few in number (but growing). We have seen the disparity between the two classes firsthand throughout our trip -- both in urban and rural settings.
We noticed one particularly illustrative example of this disparity on our first day in Mumbai. During the afternoon, a poor Mumbaite offered to shine my shoes for 2 rupees (5 cents) -- easily a five minute piece of work, out of which he needed to pay for his own shoe polish and equipment. Later that evening, the group descended on a posh bar/lounge to rub elbows with Bollywood stars and other glitteratti. Cocktails at the bar ranged from 700 - 1500 rupees ($18-39), making a night of clubbing in New York City seem like a relative bargain. Assuming that the shoeshine guy could manage to drum up 6 shines/hour -- an aggressive goal -- it would take him 140 hours to earn enough to buy a cocktail! And perhaps most remarkably, nobody at the club was trying to haggle with the bartender as they would have with a street vendor on the adjacent block.
These sorts of disparities seem to be quite common in India -- largely because the gains from the recent economic growth have been falling almost exclusively to an urban elite and there are few government-provided social programs to take care of everyone else. Fortunately, many of the companies we've visited on the trip are working hard to develop new products and opportunities that will benefit those being left behind. Two examples that we've met with, eChoupal and 1298, really exemplify these efforts. eChoupal is a rural retailer / agricultural trader that supports Indian farmers throughout the growing season with know-how, seed and fertilizer and then guarantees them top prices for their produce once it is harvested, cutting out an often cutthroat middleman. Without sacrificing its for-profit motive, eChoupal is helping to sustain a very-difficult way of life for the rural poor. Similarly, 1298 is a for-profit ambulance service in Mumbai that has stepped-in to provide medical care where the government does not provide services (there is no state ambulance service in India). By charging higher prices of callers to the 911-model number (1298 in Mumbai), the company is able to make ambulances available for the truly poor at no charge. The biggest remaining problem for the firm is the difficulty of transporting patients to the hospital given the horrendous traffic in Mumbai!The rest of the blog is just pictures from the past few days. Enjoy!
The entire group posed for an impromptu shot at the base of the Qutab Minar, a stone tower built in 1199 and maintained impeccably over the years. (The elderly bearded gentleman is not a business school student)
A dancing monkey with eyeshadow and facepaint. Although the monkeys were cute, they are obviously not being treated properly. Despite this apparent abuse, we readily handed the trainers some rupees. Frank noted the irony, saying "my name is Frank Buchanan and I support monkey torture." 
A woman in the doorway at the eChoupal village
Mica smiling w/ family in the Village. You wouldn't believe there could be so many young kids in such a tiny village!
The ladies of Social Enterprise at Agra Fort
A mural at the bird hospital. Basically, they illustrated every possible way a bird could be injured. some were truly outrageous!
I'm a giant!
Posh nightclub photo-op
'Nuff said.
Sunset on the way to Hyderabad. As always, I've uploaded some additional pictures of what we've been doing over the past few days. Since everyone on the trip is an incurable shutterbug, please stay tuned for links from many of the other group members. Cheers!
http://picasaweb.google.com/redmocha/Delhi
http://picasaweb.google.com/redmocha/Agra
(P.S. Always a sucker, I gave the shoeshine guy 100 rupees for a fantastic shoe shine instead of the 2 rupees he requested)
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