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Out walking In credible India

Five days into it and here are some preliminary observations-

Pros -

Many an airport facility (large like Delhi and Mumbai or remote like Ranchi) has been revamped to the point it has performed better than an American property especially considering the volume of humanity it handles.

Since people in India don't arrive in Yukon or Denali type truck monstrosities they are generally forced to pack light making the domestic flying easy on the boarding and deplaning part.

Many new flyover and express roadways are done and seem to perform a decent job shuttling gobs of people

Large cities with budget are erecting new metro rail lines to further the infrastructure required to shuffle people around at cost neutral basis

Generally loafer public seems to have been put away or put to use compared to my last visit 7 years ago

All of this almost makes my better half think that she might have the pleasure of my company next time she visits.  Not so fast I say-

Cons-

There is still lot of overhead trying to get train tickets.

Infrastructure especially roads while on the mend still is hugely inadequate for the job and there is no hope that it will improve- it is a problem of mathematics not a babu fix.

While getting on and off the plane is easy the in between part can be a groan since lot of newbies are availing themselves of the option to take off, and are unfamiliar with kursi peti and phunwa yakking protocolsm. It can make for lot of education and family matters being loudly shared with traveling public.

I might have to take classes to understand any spoken language especially by the service industry that seems to prefer mumbling at unusually soft decibel levels whereas everyone from cell phone discovering public to stray dogs go at it at excruciating pitch at all hours of day and night.




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