Orderly Disorder

Annually we waste crores ( ten of millions) of rupees in the process of tendering,buying,contracting and applying reflective white paint used to mark lanes on Indian roads. Most of us driving or being driven on Indian roads do not even bother to stay or drive in a lane.I try and most often end up in vain, as a looser being outwitted by a fellow criss cross lane driving expert or having my car scraped or dented by them. I remember going to the movies as a kid.Irrespective of the movie the real treat was the Samosa (fried triangular pyramid-shaped pastry shell with a savory potato, onion and pea stuffing) and the Mangola( a bottled mango drink) during the 10 minute interval.Now picture this - Movie Theatre Canteen, lots of eats on offer and a melee of movie goers and just 10 minutes at hand before the second half of the movie begins.Action time begins with people one over the other, jostling and hustling for attention of the server. Am sure the canteen floor has seen many a Samosa on t...

The airline industry in India is booming. Cannot even remember the names of the airlines and one is spoilt for choices when you are travelling say between Bombay and Delhi or Bombay to Goa.But the accompanying infrastructure required is pathetic.The airports do not have enough toilets, we will talk about cleanliness later, nor do they have adequate seating nor signage.For many sectors the flying time is probably shorter than the time required to check-in and clear security. With the advent of the low cost carriers , Europe reinvented and remodelled all it's IInd world war airstips and converted them in to efficient alternatives compared to the mammoth monstrosities of the modern day airports we use. India too has numerous air strips dotting the countryside, often used by politicians,bureaucrats and upcoming industrialists which with some appliction and initiative could be readily converted to alternate and ease the traffic and chaos on our over stressed airports.

Our taxi driver was furiously burning rubber on asphalt in his endeavour to drop us in time for us to reach the airport and board the last flight to Bombay. It also seemed that he was fighting a loosing battle. Our taxi was right in the middle of a cacophonous multitude of Delhi’s irate drivers on the newly constructed flyover at IIT and by now even he was edgy and blew his horn more obstreperously than his usual. The traffic not having moved for a few minutes, he took upon himself to locate the root cause of this unplanned halt and the resultant time for clearing the same. The momentary opening of the driver seat door brought in a wave of cold windy draft sending an instant shudder to all us passengers, none of who were particularly enjoying the Delhi winter or the disorderly traffic discipline of the capital. He arrived a few minutes later with a blank look on his face, opening the door once again for us to repeat our shudder and then deposited himself snugly to restart his loosing...

I never realized that my maiden solo sojourn would spark off a spate of justifications I would have to make to both my family and friends. Having had spoken to my wife, I thought I had rested any emanating objections. But this was not to be so. After dinner, two days before my trip, I dropped into my parent’s room to post them on my solo holiday. Happy noticing an unusual from the routine gesture of me dropping by for a chat, Karisma Kapoor nee Kapur and her Karishma were banished to a muted existence for the while. Like an actor waiting backstage for a cue for his entry on stage, I waited for a commercial to interrupt Karisma Kapoors small screen prowess. Preempting one, I quickly cleared my throat and announced, " I am going for a couple of days to Goa". Realising that this sounded like one of my regular information to them of my usual business tours – I then added for attracting the right attention. "Alone. I am going alone for a holiday without Sarika". In ...

‘Good Morning. Can I help you with your bags?’ The London sky was crisp and bright for this early October morning. Having got up just a few minutes before I heard his doorbell ring, I was rushing to reach the airport and board the plane back to Bombay and be with my family. I glanced down my shoulder to see the cab driver, probably in his sixties, offering to help me with my bags. With years of travel behind me, my instinctive hunch was that my cab driver was from the Indian subcontinent. My response was a respectful – ‘No thanks, from where I hail we do not bother our elders with such tasks’. I could not see his reaction as I was struggling with my golf set, my suitcase and my briefcase. Having set my suitcase in the boot, I kept my golf clubs on the backseat and strapped myself in the front passenger seat. Quickly gathering my breath, I gave him my current destination – ‘Heathrow Terminal 3, please’. I have never had trouble striking conversation with anybody and especially ne...

Travel is the biggest teacher – I have read somewhere, it indeed is. It's my second trip to America this year ,I share with you’ll some of my observations and experiences as I hope this will be of use to both of you sometime later in life.  Once you drive away from the airport ,the first thing that strikes you about America is the sheer size of things – especially since we come from India. Big roads, multi lane highways, huge size pickup vans, long limousines, big cars, tall buildings and of course many big and huge Americans – both men and women. Next a few things that irritate you are that they are among the only nation’s in the world which uses 110v electricity while the rest of the world uses 220v. So you need a different set of adaptors with a step down transformer to keep your electronic accessories charged.  Americans don’t walk – they drive. American’s drive on the right side of the road which again is a visual departure for our Indian eyes. Most American cars are aut...