Hyderablog

Morning Commute

On my morning drive to the office the other day, I ran into, literally, a series of minor roadblocks, which when I thought about the commute later, seemed to say at least a little something about the experience of living in India. First, my driver and I hit a bit of a traffic jam as the car passed by a gas station (or petrol pump, as they're known here) that was opening for business for the first time that very morning. I recalled the previous morning, when as we passed by the same spot, a large sign promised "Opening Tomorrow." Just behind the sign sat two bored looking attendants, feet up and arms folded, as if prepared to wait in that very spot for the next 24 hours until the pumps started flowing.

Business openings, even for ventures as utilitarian as gas stations, are quite a big deal here. Rarely is an office or new business inaugurated without selecting an auspicious day on which to do it, performing a puja expressly geared toward achieving success in business, and inviting family, friends and perhaps a local dignatary or two to grace the opening with their presence. Sweets are distributed, bells rung, coconuts cracked...the works. With some luck, the local media may turn up as well. In this case, a policeman stood in the street outside the "event" redirecting traffic, while a banner at the entrance to the station announced the inauguration and welcomed some official or other (State Minister for Petroleum Products?), who no doubt would declare the station open for business and perhaps pump the first ceremonial liter. I wonder if he got a free tankful himself...at about 43 rupees per liter ($3.79 per gallon), gas is one of the few things that's more expensive here than in the U.S.

Another inauguration, this time that of a just-constructed Hindu temple, briefly stopped us in our tracks a few blocks later. Some weeks earlier, I had noticed that a new temple was being built in the area. I didn't pay a whole lot of attention to this, essentially because temples are everywhere here and come in all shapes and sizes, whether informal toll booth-sized structures on the roadside, or gated compounds with their own parking, connected auditoriums, etc. This one had apparently just been completed, and to make its presence known in the neighborhood, the temple (obviously one with a bit of money) had placed, right in the middle of the street, a large colorful canopy and a small stage. A hundred or so plastic chairs were placed right in front of the stage. An opening ceremony was clearly imminent. I was briefly puzzled as to how a temple could simply take over a street like this, wreaking havoc with local traffic. Pretty quickly I came to my senses and remembered where I was: God is everywhere here, and even spills out into the street on occasion. And if any permission was required in order to secure the street for this event, chances are that whomever granted it was likely sitting in one of the little plastic chairs, right up front. We found another way to go.

A few blocks later, we found a large trench being dug in the middle of the street through which we usually pass. Equipment, mounds of dirt, no way through. I couldn't tell for sure, but to me it appeared as if they were laying down a line of fiber optic cable with which to wire the neighborhood for high-speed Internet access, cable or some other digital service. We took an alternate route to avoid this. Finally, within a few blocks of the office, we came to a stop, as a small group of cows, together with their "caretaker", crossed the road in front of us. These were decidedly low-speed, with nothing digital about them; they took their sweet time, not the least bit bothered by the fact that we were waiting for them, and now late for work by a solid 15 minutes. Go figure.

posted by David @ 5:26 AM