Opinion A haphazard billion

In 1995,Jacques Vincent,the outstanding CEO who transformed Danone into a global dairy leader,asked me to help him evaluate business potential in India. Having worked to create and renovate 175 brands in the Danone portfolio throughout the world,I was eager to showcase my own country’s real picture. I arrived in advance to organise visits to urban and rural markets and consumer homes. Jacques met me at the Kolkata airport at 11 p.m.,skimmed over the five-day agenda,and before going to his hotel,decided on his dinner–the Bengali food my mother had cooked at home. Then we went to Keoratala crematorium at 1 a.m. This prelude to his next day’s business schedule was to show him how life ends for eight million Indians who are cremated every year. The activities connected to death made a huge impact on a Catholic European,in whose community death is a silent ceremony. From electric incineration to the burning ghat,Jacques was experiencing reality. He exceeded the 30 minutes as per the plan by staying there up to 4.30 a.m. “Death also has an angle of festivity,” he commented.

At a marriage ceremony a few days later,the tuberose garlands took him by surprise as he’d seen tuberose at the crematorium too. That our culture allows the use of the same flower in marriage as in death is totally alien to Catholic society.

Being absent from India since 1973,I started to see the country with a new eye developed by French and European culture. On the way to the refugee colony I spent my childhood in,I felt shocked at people hanging on the open doors of high speed suburban trains. My father reminded me that I had travelled exactly this way when going to art college. I immediately recalled how people sometimes hit the electric bar outside and died. In fact,as per Mumbai statistics,824 people fall off trains every year,and every day four people die and four are injured in railway track accidents.

Working for a French industrial design consultancy in 1979-80,I got involved with some very advanced design for SNCF,the French national railways company,and learnt that doors could not be kept open when electric trains were running. Electric trains first started in India in 1925,and later,there was a collaboration with SNCF for new technology. It dawned on me that it may not have occurred to Western companies,habituated as they are to the mores of a sparsely populated nation,to deliver products to overpopulated countries as per the recipient’s culture,discipline,habit,population or respecting their value of human life. I’ve heard that India’s electric train doors did close initially. But closing doors would limit passengers to 250 instead of the required 500 passengers at peak period. So the mindset of servicing a billion people is not to reduce passengers per train,but open the doors for ventilation. This,of course,is a totally wrong solution.

From this example I knew that to work for my native country with my European skills,I had to first address our myriad cultural skews that are not comparable to any other country in the world. China may have a billion people but we have a multiple nuances among our billion people. The stark paradox of million-vs.-billion-people countries came alive to me here.

For developmental projects in different industries,India often takes professional expertise from developed countries. Their execution may be sophisticated,but their relevance to the Indian masses may fail to register. Take a look at our several new airports with world class aesthetics; see how the narrow security system can still detain flights. Toilet doors are so small that it’s always a push to get in,blocking people inside from coming out. For the sake of the haphazard billions,wouldn’t two doors,one for entry and the other for exit,solve the problem? New airports have no space problem,but five years down the line they can become obsolete or congested if future space planning has not been done.

In today’s sophisticated housing layouts,children are growing up in a protected,Swiss atmosphere that defies relevance to reality that’s visible just 100 metres outside this cocoon. This closed environment may be good for expatriates to keep their families from intermingling with the unknown,but how will these Indian children adjust to life later? While making such layouts private,is it not possible to induce some real Indian cultural elements,like hygienic versions of Chowpatty,Daryaganj,Chikpet or Gariahat-like open environments?

In aspirational areas,our thinking process is overly influenced by the culture of the Western millions. We proudly showcase Indianness with the tricolour on the face in cricket matches,but neglect to build on the charm of being a haphazard billion people country. Innovative designs that respect this culture can create a benchmark for the world.

While being in the system of a billion people with diverse culture,religion,language and habits,it may be difficult to transform or modernise every public area. In all our designs we need to inject lots of functional usage advantages that emphasise the requirements of a billion people. That way we get an aspirational global look,yet become radically different from the million mindset.

Shombit Sengupta is an international creative business strategy consultant to top management. shombit@shininguniverse.com