a few more cultural observations

As for pleasure...

Mangala calls India’s drinking culture somewhat “immature” which seems to translate to young men going to bars alone or in small packs, late at night, for the sole purpose of getting liquored up.  The concept of meeting friends after work for an evening cocktail is not the norm in Mumbai and seems to be unheard of in the smaller towns, such as Aurangabad:  population 900,000.  This may explain our hotel clerk’s barely concealed shock when we asked him if he knew of a good bar in the area.  Of course, we were asking on one of India’s many “dry days,” some of which occur the day before an election to avoid politicians courting votes with alcohol and to reduce political violence, other big dry days are May Day and Gandhi’s birthday.  This past Saturday, no one really knew why it was a dry day.  Last week, we managed to avoid any dry days and made our way to the Taj for a "Harbor View Since 1933"—their classic.  It’s a dramatic mix of gin, juice, cut fruits and flambé of some green alcohol, and it comes with its own story told by the master himself, Praval, who has been at the Taj for over 30 years.  He gave us his card after regailing us with the tale.  When Pat and Henry Clancy were here in the 1960s, Henry had to carry a card from a doctor certifying he was an alchoholic and needed booze for medicinal purposes in order to allow them to serve up a G&T to their friends now and again.    They told us they always made a stop at the Taj when visiting Mumbai;  we toasted to them as we sipped our concoction!

Cheers!

And as for business...

A concept we are starting to embrace:  first half/second half.  This describes a standard appointment calendar in India.  If Roopa calls a business associate to set up an appointment, she  is likely to be told, “Oh, I’m free second half Tuesday,”  which means the investor may try to squeeze her in sometime after lunch--whenever that ends--and before heading home, unless of course, there’s a family event to attend or another errand that takes precedence.  And as everyone knows, this doesn’t account for being caught in traffic—a given--which pushes back the start time anywhere from 30 minutes to 2 hours.  First half might seem the safer bet since the window is ostensibly 10am to lunch, but lunch could happen any time between noon and three…and there’s still traffic.