The New Urban Aspirer

Mandhar Achwat (name anonymized), age 23, lives in a chawl in Kalina, Mumbai with his mother, an elder brother and his wife, and a younger brother. He graduated with a B. Com. from Raheja College in Santa Cruz above the 90th percentile in his class. He now works as a recruiter in a placement agency that hires civil engineers and construction workers into large development projects in Mumbai. He commutes by train and then bus for 1.5 hours everyday to get to his place of work and back, and his job earns him Rs.15,000 per month. This is thrice as much as his mom makes as a house-maid after 30 years of doing the same job. He bought his first phone a year ago when he joined this job, so he could be in touch with his bosses, and stay connected with the candidates. Now, his phone book has over 1,000 phone numbers of candidates who reach out to him whenever they are looking for work. He spends over 5 hours a day on the phone. His phone bill is Rs. 400 (free incoming). Mandhar downloaded NGPay on his phone that links to his ICICI bank account and allows him to save Rs. 50 on movie tickets if booked through his mobile. He uses SMS Gupshup, on which his neighbour has an SMS group with over 8,500 subscribers.

Mandhar has a simple goal: Rs. 1 Crore by October 23, 2008 (his birthday). That’s right, 5 months from now. How will he do it? Infrastructure projects in Mumbai are a goldmine. A massive sales campaign of the development runs concurrently with the construction. It is not unusual for much of the property to be spoken for even before the foundation is laid, and the same property may have already changed hands multiple times before the last brick is laid and the property is ready for possession. Mandhar would win the builders’ trust through his recruiting capabilities, then convince him about his abilities to get buyers for the property at higher bids than what the builder expects, then leverage his network with other builders to reach interested buyers and close a few good deals. By moonlighting with the builders ‘on the side’ as a property realtor, “All I need is to close one 100 Crore deal in 5 months and make my 1% commission”.

He has it all figured out. Delusional ambition, naive bravado or silent confidence? Whatever the answer, Mandhar’s aspirations are high. He is one amongst many aspiring urban youngsters who are living in the slum but aiming for the moon. This might be an extreme aspiration, but the upward mobility culture and ambitions of young professionals from low income families with graduate level education are a force to be reckoned with. This might sound unreal but none of this feels unreal. It is a trend you can touch and feel. If we can empower a million enterprising Mandhars to use their phone as a money making tool and get their hands on some alternate income, these entrepreneurs can be a shot in the arm of the new Indian middle class.