India oversimplified

So I’ve finally finished the tough slog through The World Is Flat, Thomas Friedman’s much-cited opus on globalization. One could take issue with the 577-page book’s uneconomical approach to language, but it’s hard to dismiss its basic economic premise: The playing field is leveling out, as India, China, and other emerging markets plug in to a global economy. Outsourcing is a fact of life.

Friedman’s breathless enthusiasm, though, encourages an unrealistic view that India is poised to overtake the United States overnight. True, the high-tech city of Bangalore is prospering. But as the COO of an Indian outsourcing firm told me recently, “Bangalore is not really part of India.” Much of the subcontinent is mired in unimaginable poverty. India has lots of ground to make up.

I received a stark reminder of this recently, when my son, Sam, got a letter from Children International, an organization dedicated to helping poor kids. As do many U.S. families, we “sponsor” a child, donating a fixed sum each month to pay for essentials. We signed up when Sam was 6, with the hope of fostering in him a sense of charity and responsibility. We were matched with a 7-year-old boy, Biswajit, who lives outside Calcutta.

As part of the program, Sam and Biswajit — a seemingly happy kid who enjoys running and does well in school — exchange letters. This particular correspondence was different: an official update on Biswajit’s family of four. Turns out, they live in a two-room house. It has no electricity, no indoor plumbing. Biswajit’s father drives a bus; the family income is about $35 per month.

That is poverty, plain and simple. Will Biswajit someday make big bucks writing code in Bangalore? Possibly. But right now, his family is more concerned with putting food on the table. Somehow, I think the great leveling will take a lot longer than anyone thinks.