Are we really aware of how we spend our time?  This week I have spent most of my time in bed having fever. Bored to death and eager to just get out of bed I started thinking about how much time in life we spend doing things we don’t want to do.

As we grow older time becomes more precious to us. To put this in a personal perspective, I choose to believe that this has to do with the fact that every year I set higher goals for my self. I put more places on my travel list and I have more friends I want to visit and spend time with. This has absolutely nothing to do with my 30^th birthday getting closer. Don’t you dare say so!

I remember when I was small and time was like a deceased snail. Travelling from spot A to Z took a lifetime and my existence was a constant longing for my birthday. Yes, and for Santa of course. Rude Santa came to visit us only once in a year. I believe I was not the only one feeling that way.

According to a calculation made by an american fellow (who was probably fed up with work) we spend 91,250 hours at work in a lifetime. This number will be more or less correct if we work an average of 40 hours per week during a career span of 44 years. That’s approximately 23 % of our lives, if overtime is not counted. How many of us really like what we do? 

According to Daily Mirror women spend 6 months in the washroom during a lifetime. Men spend more than three years. How come this much difference? Can somebody please tell me what are men are doing there for so long!?

We spend four and a half years eating, which means that we hardly spend more time consuming than getting rid of what we have consumed. How come? According to the same source, this has to do with our busy lifestyle. The quality time we spend by the table has diminished since many of us eat on the go. Is it really worth it stressing like this? And is it healthy?

We spend an average of 26 years in bed. I am talking about sleeping right now. All other things that people might do (or not do) in bed would increase the number with another 6 months. This is according to a study done by the bed makers Silentnight. This number seem depressingly low, considering us spending the same amount of time in the loo.

What about cooking then? Well, women spend three years slaving over a hot stove, as expressed by the oven firm Stoves. Men on the other side, put aside Jamie Oliver and Gordon Ramsay, prefer the microwave. British men spend one and a half years in the kitchen. It wasn’t me who said so;)

This guy is making the most out of his time. Stuck in one of the city’s most crowded traffic signals he doesn’t seem to bother much. He makes himself comfortable and puts on some music. 

To mention a few other activities, here is a list of things that we do: 

Queuing: 4 years

Phone:  Woman spend 5,5 years and men 4 years ( I guess you are not surprised woman spend more time on the phone)

Internet: Woman spend 4.5 years and men 6.

Driving: 3 years

Watching TV: Woman spend 13 years in front of the television compared to men who spend 10 years.

This study is made in England and obviously it will differ depending on where we live in the world. If I would give you a brief idea about how much time I spend doing these very same activities in India you would get shocked;)

I guess living in a busy metropolitan city like Mumbai has made me more aware of how I spend my time. At least I choose to believe so. I have learned a lot from my Indian “brothers and sisters”. Instead of grumbling when getting stuck in a traffic jam for 2 hours, I read. Instead of getting bored during a long journey, I sleep. Instead of sweating away in a long q at the train station, I sneak. I am not saying that the latter is something I have learned here, nor that that everyone does it.

We have 24 hours in our hands. Our present time and our future are determined by how we choose to spend them. Are we making the most out of our presence? Obviously we cannot stop going to the loo. Please don’t! We should also not cut down too much on the time we spend sleeping. But we could for instance do something about the roughly 90000 hours we spend at work (if we are not happy). We could also exchange social networking on the World Wide Web with social networking in “real life”? In general we should think about how we spend our time more carefully and what really matters to us.

Time management is an art that few of us master. I am myself far from perfect. I am still searching for the key to that “perfect” life. The perfect life to me would be a life where I am professionally complete and when at same time I feel that I get enough time to spend with my dear ones.  The hardest thing to master though, is to live in the moment. Don’t you agree that we spend most of our time planning for and thinking about the future?  I mean to say that we most of the time plan for something that has not yet happened. What if that moment never comes? What if we wake up one day and realise that we spend all those years planning for something that never happened. Do I just sound depressed right now or is there some kind of truth in this? That’s up to you to decide.

My friend just told me a very true thing. “There is a reason behind Carpe diem being such a famous saying”. Hold on to that thought!

It’s not everyone who will get an opportunity to discover true friendship with a rat. Even fewer will think about keeping a rat as a travel companion. 

I have known a rat called Rani for almost three years. In the beginning we used to fight a lot, but slowly we learned how to tolerate each other. I can be really hot tempered and stubborn at times, and she is the more sensitive kind, but even more stubborn than me. So, you can imagine the kind of arguments we have sometimes. 

Rani is not like any other rat I have seen in my life. She is different. Born in a toy store in India she pretty soon realized that the life on a shelf is not how she wanted to live her life. Mistreated by the shop keeper, she decided to escape. That’s when I met her and our journey started. We traveled through crowded market places and busy streets of Pune, got on a train without knowing our destination, and found our way to the mystic deserts of Rajsthan.

On our way we met children who guided us and showed us their way of life and during the journey I realized that the only way to live life is to help others, show respect and be a good friend. That’s what the books about Rani the Rat is all about.

The books show how life can be if you are a little different. Frid Ingulstad, Norway’s best selling writer has written the books and I got the wonderful experience of creating the photographs. The funds from the sale support a kindergarden project in the slum in Pune, through the NGO Fadderbarnas framtid. The books are also for sale in Nota Bene bookstores in Norway and they have been translated into German. 

I want to share my great memories from this journey. Here are some pictures from the shooting of the books.

May I present Rani. It’s night in the toy store, she is fed up with everyone and tries to escape.

She could not believe that she managed to reach the gate of the store. It’s now or never. Will she dare to sneak out  and face the “real” world outside?

When Rani wakes up the next day she realizes that she has fallen asleep in a pile of Coriander. It’s morning rush at the market place and she hides, so that nobody notice her. 

Too late, somebody has seen her. Better run!

Having a rat as company can lead to tricky situations. Here I’m trying to figure out how to get up on that wall.

Few moments later, I’m up and safe. What next? 

Oh, nooo! Rani takes my example and climbs even higher!

At the train station 

There are so many people. It’s rush time. How will she get into the train and at the same time avoid to get caught. Rats are not traveling very often. 

Rani is illiterate. She was not fortunate to learn how to read and write in the toy store. On her journey she meets the girl Sona and their friendship gives Rani a lot of new opportunities.

In India there are so many different cultures, and Rani and her friend, Anton the Owl, get to see the amazing colorful state of Rajasthan. Searching for something to eat they land up in the middle of a puppet theatre. Rajasthan is famous for their Katputli shows.

But who could ever guess that they would get so tempted by all the colorful costumes!

This image is from the rat temple in Karni Mata in Bikaner. Thousands of rats are running freely in there and are worshiped by the visitors, who come from all over the world. 

Rani had finally found a place where she could feel at home. She made a really good friend over some sips of milk. 

We got company for a while in the desert. But I suspected that even the camels got a bit frustrated with Rani’s stubbornness.

I guess this has to be the last image I display. You can just imagine what happened after this!

Some information: Children just love Rani. The books have become popular in Scandinavia as well as in India. They are made for children from the age of 5 years and make lovely birthday/christmas gift. The third book is yet to be released. Most probably around christmas. 

The process of creating the images were a lot challenging at times. Roaming around in India with a camera, you catch attention immediately. Especially if you have a rat as your companion on top of it. The project is a complete low budget project and all the images are created with a Canon 5d, and two set of lenses (Canon 16-36mm f.2.8 and Canon 50mm f.1.4). You don´t necessarily need expensive equipment to achieve a good result. But a great deal of imagination is needed for sure!

Today i was going through my external hard drives, trying my luck to find that one image among thousands of photographs. Well, it is just to admit that I am not the world’s most organized person, but somehow I always manage to find what I am looking for. Sometimes a lot more than that too. There are so many pictures that I have completely forgotten about and so many memories attached to each one of them. Today I found some I would like to share with you.

This is Oslo by night. I have this thing for dramatic skies. I guess I love it even more after staying in Mumbai, where the monsoon always surprises you. This photograph was taken after me and my friend spent hours just roaming around the streets of Oslo clicking pictures. The darkness suddenly came.

I will never forget this moment. I arrived at the train station (CST) just when the evening rush was about to start. At that time I was working on a book series and needed some pictures from the station, as well as from inside the train. I was not really overwhelmed by the thought of entering, but I got surprised. Without much effort I was pushed inside, and a couple of stations later I was pushed out again… so pretty smooth:P!

Most of my good memories evolve around children. What is better than smiling faces when you come to work? They just make everything worth it.

The desert of Jaisalmer, near border to Pakistan. We had finished shooting for the day and it was near sunset. The desert was completely empty, apart from us and our friends (the camels). All of a sudden this man appears from nowhere and starts playing the most beautiful music. We sat listening for more than an hour.

This is my friend, enjoying the music from the same trip. (see pic. above)

Ganpati is another name for lord Ganesha and is celebrated throughout the country in the month of August-September. Many people (especially in the villages) make a living from these statues. It is truly amazing artwork which takes a lot of practice to manage. The most important part of the whole statue are the eyes. If the eyes are not perfectly made, nobody wants to buy it. I was in the village this year to see how they produce these idols and I learned a lot from the villages about how Ganpati is attached to their everyday life in so many ways.

This is another wonderful memory. This little girl was extremely busy helping her mother washing clothes. The moment she saw me she started screaming and it was obvious that my appearance was not really appreciated. I left from there and that moment she gave a broad smile to her mom and continues from where she had gotten interrupted.

Mother and child images are common, but we can not have enough of them, can we?

I have to smile when I see this photograph. This is taken in Jodhpur, at Mehrangarh Fort.  That’s by far Jodhpur’s most famous tourist attraction. I was standing watching these guys a good while and every time a tourist passed by they would wake each other up and start playing (like mad). As soon as the visitors were out of sight they would go back to their position again, snoring away.

This old lady had so much character and her smile brings back a lot of good memories from this tribal village in Maharashtra.

When traveling alone you need friendly people around. This woman from Jodhpur made my day. She was sitting reading the newspaper when I passed by her house. I stood for a while thinking that I should say something to her and I guess she was thinking the same. Sometimes words are not needed though.

“I guess we might have a small problem here” said the big one to the small one. I was positive that the ladies in the house would miss their favorite serial that evening. (Jodhpur – India)

First came this small little one to me, then…

….I saw his whole family

Grandfather with one of the children in the house. The picture is taken in Panmala community in Pune. This man does not have fingers, but still he is an active family man and takes care of the children.

If you want to see more pictures, please visit my gallery

Personlighet och kultur hör ihop på många vis. Vi blir till stor grad påverkade av vår omgivelse och våra tankar och handlingar är präglade av den kultur vi växer upp, eller lever i. Indier och svenskar är extremt olika på många plan och det första besöket till Indien är ofta omtumlande och kan vara en ren mardröm om man inte är förberedd och inte klarar av att ta saker och ting med humor.  

Min första resa till Indien var som en märklig dröm, där man vaknar upp förvirrad, stressad och undrar vad det var man egentligen drömde om. Nu förstår jag att känslan av förvirring handlade om att jag inte kände kulturen och att jag reste till Indien med mina svenska värderingar och synsätt.

Indier är väldigt gästvänliga. Det sista de vill är att göra någon besviken eller säga att de inte vet, när en fråga blir ställd.  Som gäst i Indien blir man väl omhändertagen och alla gör sitt yttersta för att du ska ha det bra. Detta kan också bjuda på en del överraskningar om man inte är uppmärksam. Går man vilse och frågar någon om vägen, så är det inte ofta man hör ”nej, jag vet inte. Du får fråga någon annan”. Det är inte heller ofta man lyckas hitta vägen om man inte frågar fler än én person. Man bör nästan ta för vana att fråga minst tre personer innan man börjar letandet.  

Det samma gäller tid. Indier är extremt tidsoptimistiska. Jag satt i bilen med en kollega för inte så länge sedan. Hans telefon ringde och det visade sig att han var sen till ett möte. ” five minutes please. I’m there in just five minutes”. Efter en halvtimma ringer samma person i gen och på nytt hör jag ” five minutes, only five minutes. I’m just around the corner”.  Indian Standard Time (IST) har fått ett nytt namn, nämligen Indian Stretchable Time.  I Sverige är det nästan ett brott om man är försenad utan att ge en ärlig förklaring och detta kan bli ett stort irritationsmoment för förstegångsresenären.

”Hemmet” är den viktigaste sfären. Blir man hembjuden till en okänd betyder det som regel att de ser på en med respekt. Att blir hembjuden till någon kan också bjuda på en del förvirring. Det är många oskrivna regler i detta sammanhang. Man ska ha med en present första gången man besöker någon, annars anses det som ofint och presenter skal ges med ”den rena” handen, som är höger. Detta varierar såklart från landsbygd till storstad och från familj till familj. Indier älskar mat och blir man hembjuden så är det rekommenderat att vara extremt hungrig, på gränsen till utsvulten när man kommer på besök. ”Nej tack, jag är mätt” finns inte på det indiska språket och det är inte ovanligt at 5-6 rätter står på bordet.  

Jag kom just att tänka på mina grannar här i Mumbai. Världens vänligaste människor, men Aj, så jobbigt det kan bli om man inte är på humör.  Hemma i min lägenhet blir jag gärna ”super-svenska-Sofi” som gillar att ha ett privatliv. Den attityden går det inte att ha, om man fortfarande vill vara vän med grannarna. 

I mitt hus bor en gammal söt tant som älskar fisk. I lägenheten jämte henne bor en familj på fem som älskar att laga mat (och att äta den efteråt). Mitt emot dem bor Sofi, som älskar mat och tycker det är roligt att laga mat sådär ibland. Det har blivit en slags tradition att vi ger varandra mat när vi har lagat något gott.  Just den traditionen kan gå lite grann till överdrift ibland.  

Det går till så här: Fiskälskaren knackar på dörren och ger mig en stor fin laxfilé som hon piffigt dekorerat med små korianderblad. I denna stund går det inte att tänka tanken ” Jag vill inte ha. Jag är mätt. Eller, jag har lagat egen mat, så nej tack”.  

I nästa ögonblick säger hon:

- Nämen så gott det luktar, vad är det du lagar?!

När jag sedan stänger dörren och står med laxtallriken i handen tänker jag ”Shit, jag har ju inte tillräckligt med mat så att det räcker till henne också”.  Jag dyker in i kylskåpet för att hitta något jag kan laga. Väl förberedd på att gå in till henne med maten, ringer det på dörren igen.  Nu är det granne nummer två som står med en tallrik i näven. Denna gången är det chips som stod på menyn.  Det värsta är att hon också kommenterar hur gott det luktar från grytorna i köket och hon har FYRA familjemedlemmar. För att korta ned historien så slutade det med att jag gav grannarna min mat och åt laxfilé och chips till middag.  Jag kunde ju förstås ha väntat och bjudit dem en annan dag, men det kändes svårt att låta bli när de kommenterade den härliga matlukten från köket. Konklusionen är:

1. Folk älskar att ge
2. Man skal aldrig ge tillbaka en tom tallrik
3. Laga extra mat

Indien har gett mig tålamod. Jag har lärt mig att ta dagen som den kommer och att inte bli stressad eller besviken när saker och ting inte går som jag har tänkt. Det finns en förklaring på det mesta och nu försöker jag, i stället för att bli arg, finna svaret på problemet. Ofta kan kommunikationsproblem uppstå. Jag känner svenskar som kommer frustrerade tillbaka till från sin arbetsplats här i Mumbai och säger ”Allt jag gör blir bara fel”. Det handlar om inter-kulturella barriärer som man måste lära sig tackla för att lyckas i Indien. Vi talar här inte heller om bara én kultur. Indien är hem till 1.3 miljarder människor från olika delstater med olika språk, religioner och värderingar.  När alla dessa kulturer möts så kan kommunikationsproblem uppstå, också indier emellan.  Jag har märkt att det är en stor fördel att kunna lokalspråket. Indier direktöversätter gärna från sitt eget språk till engelska och detta kan skapa enorma missförstånd. Språkkunskap ökar också förståelsen för den andra kulturen och man blir respekterad på ett annat vis.

Det finns nog ingen genväg för att bättre förstå en kultur och lära sig tackla problemen som uppstår. Jag tror nyckeln ligger mycket hos en själv och vilken attityd man har. Är man uppmärksam, visar tolerans, ödmjukhet och önskar att förstå, så hjälper det långt på vägen.  Det kan också löna sig att ha stora öron och liten mun. Det blir man klokare av. 

Bilden är från en pilgrimsfärd som jag deltog i. Den norska tidningen VG skrev om saken, som du kan läsa om det här

Hey Guys!

I´m in a really good mood today so have decided to give you some cool photographs FOR FREE!

The pics are ultimate to use as backgrounds if you are keen on experimenting a little with your digital images. It´s cool right!

Just go ahead and play as you wish and if these images help you to create something cool, do credit sofilundin.com with a line or two;) 

To see the images, click here

On facebook this morning I saw that my friend had changed his facebook pic and I really liked it. What scared me was the fact that the first thing I thought about when seeing the picture was whether he had lost weight or not. The moment after, I started laughing (but felt like crying at the same time), thinking to my self  ”lord pray I´m not becoming one of them”.

It is really interesting to sit alone in a café. You observe a lot and if you have big ears (like me) you will hear a lot of fun and surprising stuff. One such thing is that here in Mumbai when people meet each other, the first thing they say is something related to the other persons looks. By looks I mean weight. The natural thing (for me) to say after meeting my friend after long time would be something like ”Hiiii, its sooo nice to see you!” Over here it works a little differently. I will give you a small look into the situation I faced today.

Zara and Meena are meeting in a café. They have not seen each other in a long time. 

Here we go!

Zara to Meena: Oooooo you lost weight!?

Meena: Noooooo, what are you saying Zara!!

The expression on people’s face is the most interesting part here. They change drastically depending on the comment. If we are talking about weight loss (as in this case), the person who asks will put a huge grin on her face and look from down to up, as if she really is trying to identify the exact spot where the weight loss has taken place.

(I am talking “with a female voice here” since this is most common among woman;)

Meena to Zara: Oh, yeeees you have! Turn around, let me see!

By now Zara starts to look convinced, and pulls in her tummy, trying to look even thinner. Meena’s expression is once again confirming the same. Nobody knows if we are talking about 550 g. or 5 kg. here. Woman’s abilities to observe has reached new heights it seems!   

What I find extremely interesting is that this happens all the time. I have tried to analyse why, but not really found any answers.  All suggestions are welcome! 

The story had a happy ending after all. Zara seamed satisfied with her observation, and Meena with her “weight loss”. Now there was nothing in the way for a yummy chocolate cake!

Reading the papers this morning I couldn’t help but think “haven’t I read this before”. I got a flashback, which took me back 365 days to the breakfast table in my previous flat in Mumbai. If I am not mistaken I was having the same coffee even that day. 15^th of August has the last 64 years been celebrated as the Independence day in India. I will not get into details here and repeat the history of India, but go straight to the point.

One of my favourite papers (without mentioning any names) had a huge Independence day coverage with a bunch of stories from all over the country. Most of us know about the never-ending fights in Jammu & Kashmir, we are aware about the day-by-day increasing Naxal movements. I also assume that most of us are aware of the problems in Assam and their demands for a separate state. We read about corruption everyday, we know that Mumbai roads suck big time and that government frankly speaking are earning money on bad construction. My point is here that why do we have to repeat ourselves.

Is the “independence special” meant to be a summery of for the lot who do not read the paper rest of the year? I am sure that nobody would notice if the same articles were copied from year to year. 

There are a lot of good things happening in India. There are a lot of things we should be proud of. Why not emphasise on that on this very special day and celebrate together instead of grumbling of what could have been done better. That is something we read about everyday anyhow.

It is so easy to blame the government for everything, but we should not forget that things will only happen and change the moment we start to think and to handle things on an individual level. Good teamwork means thoughts and intentions of various individuals towards a common goal.

I was sitting down in the morning trying to remember people who have made an effort in 2009/2010 and who in different ways have given India something to be proud of. I would like to share a few examples and would love it if you could mention who you think deserves special attention today. This could be either from an individual perspective or as part of a team. Here is my contribution:

 Green India

Increase in green behaviour seen, as Indians rank most sustainable in 2010 greendex survey of 17 countries.

Read more: http://www.opesystems.com/blog/indians-rank-most-sustainable-in-2010-greendex-survey/

The Taj Mahal Palace is back in full glory

One of India’s most loved landmarks, The Taj Mahal Palace, Mumbai is restored and joyfully reopened again. Chairman of TATA sons, Ratan Tata together with his staff has done a remarkable job since the 2008 attack and today we can see the grand hotel back in its glory.

Badminton star

Saina Nehwal for taking Indian badminton to unprecedented heights by becoming the first Indian woman to win a Super Series title. Saina has been ranked the second best badminton player in the world.

Affordable medical help

Ashish Kothari, an orthopedic surgeon, left his practice to study at MIT. Not because he was tired of helping people, but because Kothari believed he could help more people as a medical entrepreneur working to lower the cost of care in India. Kothari is formulating a two-part plan for making inexpensive medical tools and building low-cost clinics. In 2009-2010, Kothari is one of 16 fellows at MIT’s Legatum Center for Development & Entrepreneurship, which promotes “bottom-up” global development through technology.

 Read more: http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2010/indian-medicine.html

To the moon and back

G. Madhavan Nair, former ISRO Chief, Dr.G. was elected President of the International Academy of Astronautics on August 31, 2009.

He was instrumental in the success of Chandrayaan – 1, which had found traces of water on the Moon.

India has a long tradition of social service, social reform and voluntary agencies. NGOs emerged in India soon after Independence and Gandhi followers established voluntary agencies to work closely with the governmental programs on social and economical issues.

Working for a foreign-based NGO across India for more than four years I have for the first time got a doubt in my mind. Is India ready for development, or maybe more a more important question would be, does India really want help?

It is quite clear that India has more than enough money to help its own people. One can wonder why it seems impossible for the second largest economy in the world to provide everyone with shelter and nutritious food that would make the sclera, (the white around the eye), white instead of yellow.  

In my daily life I always come across people who before asking my name ask me what I do for living. Half way through my explanation they seem highly disappointed and bothered, as if they regret they ever asked. Being engaged in NGO work is not the most respected thing to do in India, and it is definitely not the most highly paid job either. A MSW (masters of social work) earns as less as INR 5000 per month in Mumbai. This goes for a lot of professions and I will not get further in to this here.

Through my work in the slum communities and rural areas of Maharashtra I have seen a world that most Indians do not come across in a lifetime. I am not only talking about poverty here. I am talking about honest, hard working, friendly people. The things I have learned from them are invaluable.

I guess some by now must be thinking – how can she call them honest when they steal as soon as they get a chance and try to grab you when you get stuck near the traffic signal. The answer to this is pretty simple. The society is not made for them and their background will assure that they stay where they are. Wouldn’t you also steal if you got a chance?

Mumbai is by far the most international city in India. You don’t need to visit Palladium in Lower Parel on a Saturday afternoon to realize that Mumbaikars are suckers for everything with a foreign tag. Nowhere in the country can a young woman earn two lakhs a month and nowhere else will you see the gaps in the society as clear.

A few days back I went out for dinner with some friends and a bunch of people I have never met. The topic poverty was raised and one of the Indian girls said that she has never in her life seen a poor Indian. From this statement I could feel my eyebrows raise and I thought to myself that this was an interesting statement. Despite claiming that she lived in many states across the country she stood by her point that she had never come across anybody in need and further asked how “you people” can come and decide what poverty means.

My small attempt at explaining that I was not deciding how to measure poverty failed. Facts such as roughly 42% of Indians live below poverty line (which is $1.25 per day as decided by the World Bank) seemed completely unfamiliar to her.

In this moment I could not help but think that I had wasted several years of my life trying to educate the poor and to motivate them to help themselves. From this moment I understood why 55% of Mumbai´s population reside in the slums, at the same time Mr. Ambani is getting lost somewhere between the 9^th and 27^th floor of the world’s biggest private residence. Should I have spent my time educating the poor, or is it rather on time that the common man becomes more aware?

Some NGOs work with the concept of sustainable development. This will be successful only when the target group is ready to help themselves. But how can we expect the illiterate lot to understand the need for sustainable development when their very existence is ignored?

When it comes to family life, India is a collectivistic country. The family as a whole is in focus and not the individual. When it comes to career and success people turn individualistic. With a population of 1.3 billion people you need to fight to survive. To climb the ladder of success is not an easy task and I wonder whether it would it be possible to climb if the poor were not there as a foundation of the society.

Take the demolishment of Dharavi as an example and the plans to do so for the last so many years. Is it really the objection (among other reasons) from the locals in Dharavi, which is the cause for the slow process? What would happen to Mumbai if thousands loose their jobs and the production of goods in Dharavi stops? There is a need for the poor, and that need is uttered with closed eyes.

One day I went to somebody´s office. I got chai served in expensive china cups with gold filigree and was greeted with respect. I handed over my company magazine. Leaning back in his leather chair he had to adjust his glasses to really see what was covering the front page. A picture of a mother trying to save her child from starvation.

- Why are “you people” here to spread lies about my country?

I must say that being surrounded by educated people calling me “you people” and who do not want to see the surroundings in which they are living have made me wonder. Is India really ready for development?

Maybe it is not about “wanting” to see, but “daring”.

One thing is for sure. “The Mumbai dream” of becoming the new Shanghai will have to wait.