Zoo Delhi

I've spotted so many interesting animals since my arrival in India. And all of these have just been roaming free, not in any sort of zoo...

cows * dogs * pigs * chickens * cats * camels * an elephant * cobras * antelope * monkeys * chipmunks * goats * mules * parrots * buffalo

Problem solving and decision making

After a few hours in the office today, one of our Social and Environmental Compliance Auditors took me to one of our top-performing factories. It was a pristine facility with beautiful gardens, clean and clear aisles, a nursery for workers' children, an medical station and an on-site ATM for all the workers.

Because this factory is so progressive, The Corporation has partnered with factory management to pilot an educational program for women workers. The comprehensive program, aimed to give workers the skills necessary not only to advance in their careers but also to enrich their personal lives, is a multi-month affair that incorporates interactive, small-group learning techniques.

I had the opportunity to observe one of the sessions on PSDM (problem solving and decision making) and I must admit that I was impressed. The women were engaged in the material, coming up with sophisticated answers to the problems presented and generally expressed that the program was changing their lives. They dove into the materials, wrote on white boards and flip charts, eagerly sorted through note cards and seemed to enjoy their time spent learning.

The women reported that they have better communication skills, understand how to approach problems and have learned to negotiate. They've been able to put these new skills to work with their supervisors, but more interestingly, with their husbands and in-laws as well! I think Panda!!!! could use some of this training.

More on the office

I'm back in our Delhi office this morning and have been collecting several more observations about differences between cubicle life here and cubicle life in SF.

Here in Delhi, several men go around serving tea, coffee and water. They're dressed in black slacks, a white button-down and a black vest. It's like having waiters in the office. Each time I've arrived, our Director has asked me if I wanted anything to drink. He then summons a waiter to fulfill my order and he says to me, "if you want anything, just call one of the boys."

I've also noticed signs for "karaoke lunch hour" around the office. Apparently, once a month the office breaks out the karaoke machine in the cafe and employees can take turns belting out their favorite tunes. One of our team members is a huge fan and sang an amazing rendition of a Hindi song during the last karaoke event.

Singing and performing are not confined to the occasional karaoke happy hour, however. Apparently, during the office holiday party, groups of employees performed musical numbers that they'd worked on for weeks. Most were Hindi pop songs, but I understand there was some Pink Floyd and Michael Jackson thrown into the mix as well.

Today I've been informed that our team is ordering Chinese food. They want Panda!!!!'s expert opinion on whether or not Indian style Chinese take out is authentic.

Chanyot da murgh malai tikka

I've discovered the chanyot da murgh malai tikka and it has become my hands-down favorite food so far. It's so good, in fact, that I've had it two nights in a row!

The restaurant menu describes it as "cubes of chicken, steeped in a marinade of royal cumin, cheddar cheese, garlic and fresh coriander, glazed in the tandoor."

Eaten with some butter naan and the delightful green sauce that accompanies it, I call it heaven.

Does India have a Jared?

After visiting a handwork center and factory, my co-worker and I went to Connaught Place for a late lunch. I'd been told that Connaught Place was a spot where I should visit, enjoy the stores and have a good meal so I was game.

Once we parked, my co-worker was on a mission. He wanted something special. Something tasty. He would consider only one option for lunch: Subway!

My co-worker apparently loves Subway and we walked all around Connaught Place in search for the elusive sandwich maker. He knew one was there, but he wasn't sure exactly where it was so we passed numerous restaurants and wandered for an hour before we finally found it.

I must admit that it was an interesting experience. There two lines: one for "veg" and another for "non-veg." As my sandwich maker (a totally hunky young man, by the way) asked me what additional things I wanted on my subway club, we arrived at the end of the station, where the sandwich maker squeezes condiments from tubes. In addition to the usual selection of mayonnaise and mustard, he offered a mint sauce, a mango chutney and a sweet onion sauce. My co-worker opted for a "B.M.T." and had no idea what the "M" stood for. I couldn't figure it out so I just dropped it.

After we ate our sandwiches, we drove to the beautiful and huge President's Mansion (350 rooms!) and visited the Parliament building. We then drove down to the India Gate, which is a monument dedicated to the Indian soldiers who lost their lives in WWI.

So after my afternoon of Subway sandwiches and New Delhi tourism, I'm ready for a little room service and television.

I'm just here for lunch

This morning, one of our Indian social and environmental compliance auditors took me to a handwork center where workers apply beads and sequins to garments by hand. One of the things I like best about traveling for work is that I get to see areas of cities that tourists normally wouldn't get access to and I can see how real citizens of a community live.

We drove to the outskirts of Delhi where streets are narrow, there was mud and cow dung all over the unpaved roads and people lined the sidewalks. I'd never seen this much concentration of poverty before and it was kind of disconcerting. Stalls were open selling fruit, juices and other wares, but seriously filty and malnourished people were just out and about, going at their daily routines or just sitting there, existing.

We meandered through the streets and went up a narrow flight of stairs to a small room on the third floor of a building. In it, 21 men sat on the floor, diligently applying silver beads to women's tops with a red and white floral pattern. To me, the garment was kind of hideous so I was glad to learn that the product was not The Corporation's, but a competitor's.

I learned that this particular art of beading and sequinsing is done by men only. It's a trade that's been passed through generations and is considered an Indian handicraft. The effect cannot be replicated by machine, so many brands must rely on hand work to accomplish the effect.

Per each order, a group of men will be hired to work for the duration of time until the order is complete. Thus, depending on the size of the order, the number of workers in the room can range from 15 to 30. And during this period, they receive a wage per garment finished, a food stipend of 50 rupees per day (the cost of my ample lunch yesterday!) and they receive lodging through the night. For those craftsmen who are skilled enough to perform this task, it is apparently a good way to make money to support a family.

I'd never seen a hand work center of this nature before and it was quite a contrast to the garment factories I've visited. There's no production line, just a worker with a bag of beads and a garment stretched on a hoop. A television and radio were available for entertainment and they seemed content to be working.

The center's manager took us a few buildings down and we visited another one of his centers on the building's top floor. This one housed 15 men applying beads to the same product. After checking through this facility, we walked down a flight of steps and my co-worker asked what the other rooms in the building were used for. The manager responded that he didn't know because they belonged to other businesses.

Curious, my co-worker opened one of the doors and was startled to see a small cramped room in which about two dozen men were sewing shirts for a local Indian brand. One boy who looked like he was nine-years-old (he was probably 14 - all workers I've ever seen in factories look very young for their ages) and when my co-worker asked how old he was, he responded, "I'm just here for lunch."

Fortunately, this facility has no relationship to The Corporation, but it hammered home the plight that India's poor face. Poverty-stricken families send (or sell) their children to work and earn a wage. They depend on every able-bodied member of the family to contribute to the family's subsistence. Education is not an option for them and their concerns are immediate: putting food on the table for tonight.

It broke my heart to see such conditions since I'd only ever seen factories that The Corporation uses. And despite what people may think, The Corporation has one of the most rigorous social and environmental programs in the industry. The factory I visited later in the day was a stark contrast: orderly cut & sew lines, workers with age documentation and employment contracts, clean canteens that served healthy meals and protective equipment for each worker. We were given access to wage and hour records and we were allowed to interview random workers individually.

But regarding the handwork centers, we expressed concerns to the manager that his operations were in close proximity to facilities that would never be approved by The Corporation. We encouraged him to relocate his centers so that his work wouldn't be in the same building as a facility that clearly operated unethically and employed child labor. Even though the makeshift factory was not working for The Corporation, we want to make sure we distance ourselves from conditions we cannot approve.

By the afternoon, the handwork manager had consolidated his operations into one building where he could oversee working conditions and we were free to audit on an announced or unannounced basis.

I know we alone cannot change some of the horrible human tragedies that occur in the global garment industry, but I am glad to work for a company that is doing what it can, has been making continuous progress and is protecting the workers who make the products that The Corporation sells.

Let's listen to her and get romantic

I just spent the day with one of our Indian social and environmental compliance auditors. Basically, these are the individuals who visit The Corporation's contract factories and make sure workers are treated well, paid a fair wage, aren't discriminated against and a host of other things. Basically, they work to help factories conduct business in an ethical and responsible manner.

Throughout the day my colleague asked me if I liked certain bands or musical artists, and inevitably, they would be artists whose heyday was in the 80s. The first group he asked me about was Heart (love!) and proceeded to play These Dreams. Later it was Circle in the Sand by Belinda Carlisle, Wake Me Up Before You Go Go by Wham! and some song I didn't recognize by A-Ha.

I couldn't tell if Indian pop music is simply obsessed by Western 80s hits or if it was this fellow's personal taste. The English radio station played everything from Pink Floyd to Rihanna to 50 Cent to Paula Abdul to Wham!

Despite all those fine musical moments, my favorite part had to be when he put in No Ordinary Love and asked me if I liked Sade. When I said I did, he responded, "Let's listen to her and get romantic." But the best part was that the singer was definitely not Sade. It was some lady covering a Sade song!