Traveling anywhere can be enjoyed if one is able to afford the right sunglasses. Meaning if you have an open frame of mind and are able to look at the bigger picture life is painting it has a lot of comedy in it's canvas.
I know it's easier said than done. I have been fortunate now to be able to take time away from work and browse through the landscape that is India for a month. Below are some real world signage I saw and the insanity that is prevalent in Indian society. Ironies and ad hoc regulations rule the day and can indeed drive someone insane if living through it on a daily basis but it is easy to make sarcastic remarks when viewing the idiot parade as a short term visitor.
On a boat ride to visit Vivekananda's epiphany inducing rock on the southernmost tip of the country I had to get on a private boat to cross few 100 yard of sea water from the mainland.
Getting on the 5 minutes boat ride has hours worth of BS drama. First - two signs for two lines. Discrimination at the outset. People that can afford to pay to jump the hour long wait in sweltering conditions pay five times more than 50 cents as in $2.5 equivalent in local money. Then you only wait 5 minutes. Got time to save $2? Lose weight in the sauna by the rock? Pay 50c.
As you approach the boat you smell putrid odors and notice a mad cacophony of 10 drifter types that are trying to look official due to their radio units and yelling to split the line in two separating male and female riders. What the blistering barnacles is going on? No one has a clear answer but it is this belief (partly correct) that Indian males in hot sweltering crowds start groping their female counterparts (perhaps along with their own parts).
The best option to avoid this HBO special was to separate the line.
The same process of course is not followed on the return trip (perhaps one feels enlightened after visiting the spot that Vivekananda got some profound ideas?)
Just before boarding the boat some dudes that look like the dog didn't eat start issuing commands to grab a life vest from the beyond dirty floor and put them on. The rust bucketthat Amma (llocal lady Minster) contracted with might actually sink in the 5 minutes it takes to cross.
Did I say the vest was beyond dirty? The CDC and NIH can perform a decade worth of bacterial and pathogen studies by taking one of these 'life preservers' home (see the irony of the name?)
The next chapter in the retarded excursion is where and when photography is permitted. Multiple confusing signage rules as a way to allow the gullible to be fleeced.
Here is a minor brain wave - give the army engineering team a project to build a walkway to the rock.
After navigating the mumbo jumbo of Kanyakumari I am now heading by train to Trivandrum in an AC coach without the coach number markings on it. Hey maybe I will have an epiphany soon. After all I can smell someone taking a dump.
I know it's easier said than done. I have been fortunate now to be able to take time away from work and browse through the landscape that is India for a month. Below are some real world signage I saw and the insanity that is prevalent in Indian society. Ironies and ad hoc regulations rule the day and can indeed drive someone insane if living through it on a daily basis but it is easy to make sarcastic remarks when viewing the idiot parade as a short term visitor.
On a boat ride to visit Vivekananda's epiphany inducing rock on the southernmost tip of the country I had to get on a private boat to cross few 100 yard of sea water from the mainland.
Getting on the 5 minutes boat ride has hours worth of BS drama. First - two signs for two lines. Discrimination at the outset. People that can afford to pay to jump the hour long wait in sweltering conditions pay five times more than 50 cents as in $2.5 equivalent in local money. Then you only wait 5 minutes. Got time to save $2? Lose weight in the sauna by the rock? Pay 50c.
As you approach the boat you smell putrid odors and notice a mad cacophony of 10 drifter types that are trying to look official due to their radio units and yelling to split the line in two separating male and female riders. What the blistering barnacles is going on? No one has a clear answer but it is this belief (partly correct) that Indian males in hot sweltering crowds start groping their female counterparts (perhaps along with their own parts).
The best option to avoid this HBO special was to separate the line.
The same process of course is not followed on the return trip (perhaps one feels enlightened after visiting the spot that Vivekananda got some profound ideas?)
Just before boarding the boat some dudes that look like the dog didn't eat start issuing commands to grab a life vest from the beyond dirty floor and put them on. The rust bucketthat Amma (llocal lady Minster) contracted with might actually sink in the 5 minutes it takes to cross.
Did I say the vest was beyond dirty? The CDC and NIH can perform a decade worth of bacterial and pathogen studies by taking one of these 'life preservers' home (see the irony of the name?)
The next chapter in the retarded excursion is where and when photography is permitted. Multiple confusing signage rules as a way to allow the gullible to be fleeced.
Here is a minor brain wave - give the army engineering team a project to build a walkway to the rock.
After navigating the mumbo jumbo of Kanyakumari I am now heading by train to Trivandrum in an AC coach without the coach number markings on it. Hey maybe I will have an epiphany soon. After all I can smell someone taking a dump.
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