In search of new India

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MANY FACES: Janta Mantar observatory.

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MANY FACES: Delhi shanty town.

In the last decade, this once forgotten country has majestically come to the fore. Right now, it seems there is no stopping this land of 1.3 billion people as its economy and world profile continue to rise. But at what cost? Alicia Buller investigates.

A choke of ash billows up from the main street of Old Delhi - a slew of burning meat grills and human heat. Shrieking monkeys trample a tin-roof up ahead, playfully angling for food.

A shoeless man sits cross-legged on the pavement; he looks up, clocks the coinless pot from the day's fruit stall takings, but tosses up some bananas nevertheless.

This is the capital heart of India; what they call ‘new India' - the next big thing, an impending economic powerhouse. But here, there is no sign of brand awareness, luxury living, blasé bombast - only colours, yearning, and a curious acceptance of poverty.

Old Delhi. The streets are so far removed from the plush desks where the exuberant Western pundits from the Economist, Time and Newsweek sit that it's comparable to India's own gulf between its domestic rich and poor.

The former British colony now boasts 53 US dollar billionaires, three of which feature in the Forbes global top ten rich list - Lakshmi Mittal, Mukesh Ambani and Anil Ambani. Moreover, the country is widely slated to be home to 300 million ‘middle class' Indians by 2010 - a figure the same, incidentally, as the entire population of the US.

Since the early nineties, when its economy was liberalised, India has emerged as the world leader in information technology and business outsourcing, with an average growth of nine per cent over the last three years.

Foreigners ventured a net US$20 billion on its booming stock market last fiscal year, and overseas banks lent even more to its mighty companies. But the increasingly ubiquitous, business-biased view of India suppresses more facts than it reveals.

Recent accounts of the alleged rise of India barely mention the fact that the country's US$978 per capita gross domestic product is not much higher than that of sub-Saharan Africa, and that 70 percent of the country is still small time rural agriculture-supported. Not to mention that rising global oil and food prices may yet slow its economy: the ultimate reality check for what has become a hurtling, almost euphoric media bubble.

But for the middle classes, for now, things are changing. The Indian luxury market is worth US$377 million dollars and is likely to grow at a rate of 28 per cent over the next three years, according to a survey by A. T. Kearney. In 2007, sales for tickets on low cost carriers grew by 115 per cent. Last year Bollywood sold 3.6 billion tickets worldwide. And the list goes on.

Jagan Mohan is a 35-year-old first generation entrepreneur and budget hotel group owner who resides in the south Indian city of Hyderabad. He returned to India from America just over a decade ago to start his own business.

"We have seen a major amount of changes in every sphere of life. The attitude has changed, business infrastructure has improved; it's become a global place in every sense of the word," he says. "I think India is shining, in at least some aspects ... the things that we used to consider luxuries are now must-haves."

And while the billions of foreign investment are helping to provide more jobs and liquidity for at least some of India's population, Mohan says he mourns the loss of a simpler India. "I was in America for three years in the early 80s; India is turning out to be just what the US was then: the mall culture.

Now we get hounded with countless telesales calls, they give you a credit card and then it becomes a habit," he says. "Another change is a lot of people would just come by to your house very casually - not any more. It feels like family life is eroding."

On a macro level, at least, India has witnessed major growth over the past few years.

Much of the new India hype is realised and living and breathing in the swanky cars and clothes of India's nouveau rich cliques in the big cities and larger towns. But at a grassroots level - in the villages and tier-two cities - prosperity is a faint hope and the hope for improved infrastructure and decent education even fainter still.

In the relatively sleepy Rajasthan city of Udaipur, the contrasts are concrete. The city, with its rich tapestry of lakeside palaces, forts, temples and bustling bazaars, has earned the dual distinction of being India's most fabled and romantic city. At the same time, its row upon row of dilapidated houses - some without windows - offer a bleaker perspective on beauty.

As the capital of the Mewar state, Udaipur was the only Raiput stronghold to maintain its Hindu allegiance in the face of Muslim invasion. And from the late 16th century, peace brought about an upsurge in the arts and encouraged the building of beautiful palaces, temples and forts.

And today - as if in a nod to India's 21st century renaissance - the royal family's descendents have revamped Udaipur's City Palace to stunning effect and reopened it to the public, with the addition of a museum.

My guide for the day, 40-year-old Singh from Tamarind Tours, has lived in Udaipur all his life. "I remember when I was growing up, every house had a courtyard - it was the centre of social activity and family life. They are not used so much these days."

Nostalgia aside, Singh remains upbeat about the new interest and investment in his home country. "Today Udaipur has 350 hotels, ranging from US$2 to US$20,000 a night. This shows you the breadth of my city, of India today," he says.

"Tourism has given new life. It has created jobs and cultivated local crafts - miniature paintings, silver jewellery and textiles."

Singh tells me that he will never leave Udaipur. "The water of the lake will always call you back," he says. "See Venice and die, see Udaipur and live to see it again and again.

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