January 25, 2023
The Ugly Indian: Talk Less, Work More
Today was Team Ugly Indian’s first day at the office. We had a very agreeable start time of 11:30am and I figured I’d have plenty of time to eat breakfast, get prepared, and head over to the office at a leisurely pace. Boy, was I wrong. Following breakfast, I went upstairs to find that my room was locked and the only key was with Team Biome in an Uber speeding north out of the city.
So there I was, teeth unbrushed, wearing yesterday’s clothes, sporting sleep-hair, with no wallet and no way to do anything about it. My leisurely morning now had a problem to solve. After some hemming and hawing (and a little whining) about the situation with Kaylea, Margot, and the security guards at the hostel, I determined there were few scenarios where I was going to my first day of work with my teeth brushed unless I came up with an alternative plan. I assessed the door latch and noticed that I could probably get the entire thing off with a flathead screwdriver. I bummed some cash from Kayt and hit the street towards Vidyapeeta Circle looking for a screwdriver. I intercepted the first hardware shopkeeper I came across as he was raising his gate, bought a screwdriver, and headed back to the hostel. It dawned on me as I was shredding down the sidewalk that it might be unsettling to see a sweaty white guy power-walking down the road with a determined look and an unusually long screwdriver. Anyway, I got back, got the latch off, and managed to get showered in time to jump in an auto rickshaw and make it to The Ugly Indian on time. Talk less, work more.
At the office, we were greeted by Aniruddha (lead designer) and Donbosco (media editor). Aniruddha gave us another taste of the philosophies of the Ugly Indian and explained more about their prolific body of work and its lack of organization. The Ugly Indian is now over 10-years-old and has undertaken thousands of cleanup projects all over the city. To date, there is no comprehensive digital accounting of their work, no main database, no easy way for the general public or corporate donors to see just how much they have done. Our project is to get a handle on this immense amount of data and find some meaning in it. TUI has really lived up to its slogan of “Less Talking, More Working.” But they aren’t a start up anymore, and they need to be able to tell their story effectively through their existing work. They also have goals to use this data to build a framework for others in cities across India and the world. I am very excited to help TUI step back and take stock of their work, help find a greater meaning in the data, and help define their pathway going forward.
As we were wrapping up for the day, Arun, our guide from KR Market and TUI member, stopped by the office to chat. A brief reintroduction turned into an hour and a half conversation about Bangalore, design philosophy, human behavior, challenges, goals and all things Ugly Indian. Just when I thought I was inspired enough, this conversation grew my enthusiasm about the project just a little bit more. I am really excited to learn more and help where I can at The Ugly Indian. But before all that, tomorrow we go on another spot-fix to where we’ll talk less and work more.
