Skip to main content

Unscripted India (part 2)

Things you see as you travel can be monotonous or unique to a locale or geography.  Alaska is vast and monotonous with not much happening.

Parts of India on the other hand are a 24x7 comedy or tragedy depending on your perspective.

  • People live in trash - they create it and throw it right where they eat, work, sleep or live.  Reader's Digest could do another series titled - Life's like Trash (and metaphorically I found some people treat their lives so).  So much so that they do not have another point of view - it is second nature to dispose whatever garbage they have in their hand to earth right there.  That it is of no use and is in their hand or mouth or attached to their being is reason to dump it instantly or spit gobs.  Lack of latrines instigates some other behaviors noted earlier.
  • Power outage - while rampant in certain parts and not so in others is a non-major event.  No one is that dependent on any particular service that an outage would cause irreparable harm.  That is why no one guarantees anything in India.  You might get it or you might not.
  • People have installed inverters or generators which may or may not work.  At a lodging in northern Konkan the dude that ran the establishment had not fully familiarized himself with  the operation of the largish generator in his front yard.  When power went out he went and stared at it after much urging to amend the hot and humid room situation.
  • Speed hump is your friend - Your speed on any given road is a function of potholes to stray animals multiplied by errant wrong way traffic /ridership.  The same road will contain a series of Speed Bumps where you can actually accelerate since at times they are the only smooth macadam you will find.
  • Cell phone while in each and sundry's pocket are highly unreliable when it comes to a working signal or compatibility with other carriers.
  • Only country on the planet where trucks and rickshaws urge their surrounding drivers to Please Honk.  Blow Horn or Horn - Ok - Please (this may or may not involve mother's blessings - Aicha Ashirwad being the slogan).

  • Bedouins in the burbs - most locals that ride 2-wheeled vehicles now wear a desert nomad like cover on their face to avoid breathing particles that may kill them in a week.

  • Hardware like scooters or cars or buses are operated at 400% capacity on a regular basis - no country can show results like this.



 

Comments

  1. we are productive but where is it where it counts? arguable.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Of chocolates

I like chocolates. Godiva Dark with Almonds - not sure of the naked woman on the horse to be the icon of some choice cocoa based products but tastes good. Started in Belgium but now owned by some Turks. Cadburys - Fruit and Nut Milk Bars - awesome combination of dried fruit pieces along with a medley of nuts makes your toungue dance - started by a Brit now owen by Kraft USA. Lindt Hazelnut spheres - made by a Swiss confectioner are divine balls that melt in your mouth with a lingering nutty taste Ghirardelli Milk Crisp Squares - crunchy and light these milk squares are easy on the palate but pack some serious calories - all good I say! Originally founded by an Italian who moved around till he landed in SF Bay today also owned by the Swiss Lindt empire.

Columbia SC

 The Palmetto state.  One of the confederate kinds. History dating couple centuries back.  We visited the capital yet again this time to take in the SC State Museum. Occupying the former digs (literally remodeled) of an erstwhile cotton mill this structure is an amazing piece of reimagination.  Four floors of excitement for kids and young at heart alike. Located on the shores of the Congaree River formed when the Broad meets up with the Saluda River, this edifice is approx. 60 years old.  The front of the building has a more modern planetarium that was added about a decade ago.  The museum itself has different areas of interest segregated on each of its four floors. The first floor has gift shop and a diorama of some of the local geography including the swamps and the state beaches with audio guides to help understand what fauna thrives locally. The second floor is all about natural history and showcases animal kingdom that may have survived on this latitude millenia ago.  There are se

New England is gleaming in the fall

 This autumn the weather gods cooperated as we took a family trip in the northeast to see six states that qualify or makeup what is known colloquially in America as New England. Mass, Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Connecticut and Rhode Island (tiniest state in the union). The outing helped tally up the states we either lived in, visited or have worked in to 47. Guess which three have eluded this intrepid traveling family. Any rate the drive was all in about 1,800 miles and included some memorable geographic wonders or points of interest.  Easternmost part of state of Massachusetts being one.  Furthest drivable road east in Mass being another. Visit to all Ivy League schools (term harkens to a collegiate athletics conference and generally regarded as elite academic institutes of some repute worldwide) is another random bucket list item of which this trip afforded the chance to knock two more of the list.  Dartmouth in Hanover, NH and Brown (and its sister institute the RISD  - school f