The Bureaucracy of Opportunity and Perspective.

I have been in Mumbai for a week now, and the potential frustrations of bureaucracy and local holidays did not disappoint. It has felt like a very long week since I arrived in India. I think this protraction of time is due mostly to the fact that I have not had much chance to do what I came here to do, which is teach and experience what I can of dance in Mumbai as a reflection of the country at large. That said, I have seen two dance performances created for younger audiences, and I did actually start teaching a few classes. So I guess it is all a matter of perspective.

When scheduling my arrival in India, I was aware of the impending public holidays that pepper the autumn months, but it also made sense to try and be here for the beginning of September. So I have been living in a hotel, as mentioned before, until I can lock down an apartment to rent for my time here. However, I arrived on a Thursday night, and Friday was used for my orientation, even though I did gently push to start looking for a place. Then came a “holiday” weekend, which Ryan thought was not going to be a big deal, but no one was really working on the Monday, so there went my first four days. At this point I am happy to report that I have found an apartment, but the bureaucracy of getting into the apartment is another matter, and so I am still in the hotel on my own dime as my Fulbright covers just the first seven days.

Doing business in India is another aspect of the culture that reminds me of living in Jamaica. It is so much easier (dare I say essential) to get things done through personal networks, and the local knowledge and connections of my hosts have proven critical to pushing forward this process of setting up “house”. While brokers are recommended as the standard means of finding housing for Fulbright visitors, in my case it turned out that my host representative, Nitin, was speaking with a friend who knew of a place that was available. We still have to get the lease approved through the court system, and both I and the apartment need to be registered with the Foreigner Regional Registration Office (FRRO). 

My one bedroom apartment with the all important drying lines in the hallway!

As an international visitor it has also become evident that I needed to clarify how my USA bank works with things like wire transfers, and I was pretty frustrated to find that my lack of knowledge about the banks protocols may have delayed my lease signing by as much as three days. However, as the apartment was found partially through personal connections, I am not worried that I will be rejected, as long as the landlord gets his security deposit. But only then will he sign the lease. And only then can I proceed with things that I think of as essential, like getting a fairly reliable internet set up at my apartment (so I can do important things like post on my blog :-), and continue to do business like negotiating future work which is essential to my livelihood).

In the short term, I could not easily set up an Indian bank account, and so I am somewhat trapped to be dealing with converting the cash I brought with me, and relying on my bank for support on the bigger ticket issues. I know there is always another way to do things, but it is not always easy to tell which way will make the most pragmatic sense to me. My personal research and the introductory information provided to me indicated that getting settled in India could be difficult, but as I have mentioned before, it is difficult to know what one does NOT know, until that knowledge is NEEDED. Sigh... And so, today is another day. The sun has come up, and I will continue sparring with the feints and jabs that come at me as I try to last until the victory bell that has me settled into a clean, cool, private space to call “home” for the remainder of my time here.

Thursday night in the USA, the Taylor family all gathered at the current studios of the company to remember Paul Taylor. Coincidentally, in India at the same time, the news broke that the Supreme Court of India unanimously voted that Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code was partially struck down, no longer criminalizing consensual sex between consenting adults of the same sex or based on their gender identification. While I am not drawing any direct correlation between the two events, they remind me that on any given day there are things that may affect us deeply whether personal, societal, moral or global in nature.

Front page on 07 September 2018