Day 10: Mumbai to Delhi

Wednesday, August 08, 2012

Day 10: Mumbai to Delhi

kids from the airport

Today was really emotional and trying because we left Mumbai to enter the second phase of our experience in Delhi. Vidisha and I met Netra for morning prayers at the temple where we prayed in silence, got blessed, and shared our last autorickshaw L. After a quick breakfast with the group, we checked out of our hotel and loaded our cabs to get to the airport. It was so sad leaving Netra behind because we all formed bonds with her and wanted more time to spend! I didn’t even anticipate getting emotional when saying goodbye to her. I am definitely going to miss having her around but am excited about us keeping in touch.

When we finally reached the airport, we quickly realized that our cabs dropped us off at the wrong terminal. At this point we only had about 30 minutes to get to our gates so we had to run with all of our bulky luggage to make our flight! Luckily, Dr. Vyas was able to persuade the airline team to keep the counters open for us so that we could check our bags. Like VIPs, we raced through security and boarded the plane that we had delayed from taking departing.

When we arrived to Delhi, we instantly realized big differences. For starters, there were actual lanes, traffic lights and rules that the drivers were actually abiding. There weren’t piles of trash on the ground and there just seemed to be a lot less pollution in general. It was nice to see a lot of greenery in the capitol as well. Getting to the hotel was a little chaotic but we all managed to check in and get our rooms. We grabbed a quick bite at (drum roll please) McDonalds and then headed to the embassy to meet with Nandita Chopra.

In her prestigious role as NIH representative at the Embassy, Ms. Chopra talked about her background, path to research, personal motivations, and challenges as an Indian American woman in leadership. We learned about the various functions of NIH and how complex its offices operate in India. Interestingly, we learned that one of the most common issue that India faces-sanitation-wasn’t a high priority in their bilateral agreements. It was a frustrating reminder of a social entrepreneur’s constant struggle: how do you change the infrastructure or culture surrounding your issue to make it an urgent priority? Working with the government Ms. Chopra explained was very difficult and she hopes that some of the common-sense goals can become more visible. She then gave us a tour of the embassy and showed us how the American staff lived. It was unreal seeing their painted town of luxury. It was arranged like a sophisticated college campus only much more spread out, fancy, and family oriented. We sat down with Ms. Chopra for drinks and a light snack discussing with her on a more intimate level (which I loved) and got to know some of her tools of survival. She is in such a demanding role that has so many seen and unseen stressors that her ability to remain calm and create boundaries was completely shocking yet encouraging at the same time. It’s important I think for leaders, especially women, to learn the importance of self-care of which she was a huge fan.

We then traveled back to the hotel to have a class session over tapas. This portion of the day was really emotional as well. We shared with each other some of the challenges we have been facing throughout this case study. We talked about what our strategies were for dealing with these really complex, global issues and did a really in-depth analysis of what we had been observing while in India. It was nice to get to hear from other folks and realize how fortunate I am to be on this trip. Not only do I know the meaning, scale, and fundamentals of social entrepreneurship- but I now have the courage to pursue it. I also have connected with some really amazing people from GW and can say that my entire worldview has shifted…for the best.