要想让城市快速发展,就必须有充足的资源做后盾,无论是人力资源还是其他的物质资源。印度的城市发展缓慢,除了人力资源不足外,恐怕另有起因。
The road to Indian prosperity is paved with cheap and cheerful hostels.
印度繁荣之路铺满了廉价且宜人的旅馆。
If several hundred million Indians do migrate from the countryside to cities between now and 2050, as the UN expects, it will be a fiendishly busy few decades for Vivek Aher, who runs a low-cost hostel, one of five, on the outskirts of Pune, a well-off city three hours’ drive from Mumbai.
正如联合国预计,如果从现在到2050年期间数亿印度人从农村迁移到城市的话,对于经营着浦那郊区五家廉价青旅之一的Vivek Aher将是极其忙碌的几十年,它离孟买有三个小时的车程。
A fair few of the new arrivals will have their first experience of urban living bunking in one of the hostels’ 1,350 beds.
新移民中有相当一部分将第一次体验在一家有着1350张床中住下的城市生活。
Should recent experience be anything to go by, most of the new arrivals will test Mr Aher’s patience by tacking posters on his hostel’s walls, or endlessly complaining about the Wi-Fi.
凭近期的经验看,大多数新移民会在旅馆墙上贴大幅海报,或喋喋不休地抱怨Wi-Fi,不断考验Aher先生的耐心。
India has two main drags on economic growth.
印度了在经济增长方面主要有两个方面的阻碍。
One is the difficulty of finding a job, especially in the places people live.
一是找工作的困难,尤其是在居民区。
The other is a chronic shortage of cheap housing.
另一个是长期性短缺的廉价住房。
Aarusha Homes, Mr Aher’s employer, started in 2007 to help people seize economic opportunities far from home.
阿鲁沙是Aher先生的雇主,2007年,它开始帮助人们抓住在远离家乡的地方的经济机遇。
Its rooms are basic and cheap.
它的房间是有基本设施而且便宜的。
They include up to six beds, a bathroom for every three or four residents, some common areas and little else.
它们包括多达六张床,每三、四个居民共用一个浴室,还有一些共同的公共区域和其他地方。
Rent ranges between 3,500 and 10,000 rupees ($52-$149) a month including food.
租金范围在每月3500至10000卢比(52美元- 149美元)之间,且包括食物。
Most of Aarusha’s tenants are young, many of them taking first steps into the middle-class as IT or business-processing outsourcing professionals.
阿鲁沙的大多数租客都是年轻人,其中许多人因为从事IT或业务处理外包专业首先跨入中产阶级。
Paying up to six months’ deposit for a city flat is beyond their means, as is the down payment for a motorbike that would allow them to live far from their employer.
用六个月的存款来支付房费超过了他们的能力范围,同时低费用的电动车也会允许他们的居住地距离雇主较远。