Mumbai Taxi

By TIM ROSENKRANZ, 6/30/2014. People say New York is fast, but in terms of interview appointments Mumbai proved to work on light-speed.

My research here is taking me into the tourism industry, the government organizations managing the production of the tourist destination India, and last but not least to some iconic sites to track tourists. I decided to start with the tourist industry in Mumbai. After spending the first few days to settle in and confirming contacts amongst travel agents, tour operators and professional associations, I was ready to reach out, but I clearly was not as ready as my first informant.

I have completed quite a bit of research within the tourism industry in the USA. Usually there you write an e-mail, get a response a few days later with an appointment for an interview within the next 1 – 3 weeks. Enough time to prepare the interview, look up the destination, etc. My first Mumbai contact e-mailed back one hour after I reached out, with the message: “You are welcome.. I presume that you are at the moment in India. Please let me know where you are located .. and I am available for a talk with you As early as possible .. Call me on …” Excited and surprised I called backed soon after at 1:30pm. Three hours later I found myself sitting across my informant, sipping tea and asking questions, which I hastily wrote down in the taxi on the way.

Fieldwork in Mumbai seems to be going on the fastlane. Let’s hope I can keep up.