Time for a break
The first year's over. Another few months after the summers and it will be time for placements. Parhai will finally be over and done with.
Meanwhile, am off to Mumbai for the next couple of months for my summers where I hope to blog a bit more. Lappy dearest has stopped functioning and the irritating three-day break means I just have to make do with this ramshackle keyboard in the basement computer lab. And the phone company has been kind enough to block my outgoing. They need lessons in how not to treat their valuable customers.
So, yetserday afternoon as we werewaiting for the pizza guy to arrive, we came across this Tanzanian guy who had flown in straight from Dar-es-salaam, had been dumped at the institute and had no clue in the world as to how he would get to Gurgaon. "But what if someone falls sick today, what are you people going to do," he kept saying.
"I haven't rested in 24 hours, I just wanna get to my hotel please," the poor guy kept explaining to the guards. All the taxiwallahs at the nearby stands were drunk. He looked as if he would start crying any minute. I mean here he was- this huge guy in his 30s and ready to shed tears. We called the radio cab numnber,they said they would take 90 minutes. So we made him wait in the hostel. Only the dispensary was open, so I made him sit there.
"Oh, it's the right room for me, I am a doctor," he kept saying. Finally the cab arrived at 5 pm. He got in and kept on thanking me over and over again.
The incident really made me wonder. For all the talk of metropolitan India heading towards a 24X7 society, the reality is completely different. Any major festival and the entire city comes to a standstill. Good Friday, Holi and Sunday have meant that the banks have been closed, the institute office has been closed, my lappy cannot be repaired, hell- I didn't even have any place to eat yesterday except for those horridly-overpriced pizzas. All this even as we revel in the glory of our multi-cultural secularism. Food for thought. (Or FFT as a certain teacher here would say).
Meanwhile, am off to Mumbai for the next couple of months for my summers where I hope to blog a bit more. Lappy dearest has stopped functioning and the irritating three-day break means I just have to make do with this ramshackle keyboard in the basement computer lab. And the phone company has been kind enough to block my outgoing. They need lessons in how not to treat their valuable customers.
So, yetserday afternoon as we werewaiting for the pizza guy to arrive, we came across this Tanzanian guy who had flown in straight from Dar-es-salaam, had been dumped at the institute and had no clue in the world as to how he would get to Gurgaon. "But what if someone falls sick today, what are you people going to do," he kept saying.
"I haven't rested in 24 hours, I just wanna get to my hotel please," the poor guy kept explaining to the guards. All the taxiwallahs at the nearby stands were drunk. He looked as if he would start crying any minute. I mean here he was- this huge guy in his 30s and ready to shed tears. We called the radio cab numnber,they said they would take 90 minutes. So we made him wait in the hostel. Only the dispensary was open, so I made him sit there.
"Oh, it's the right room for me, I am a doctor," he kept saying. Finally the cab arrived at 5 pm. He got in and kept on thanking me over and over again.
The incident really made me wonder. For all the talk of metropolitan India heading towards a 24X7 society, the reality is completely different. Any major festival and the entire city comes to a standstill. Good Friday, Holi and Sunday have meant that the banks have been closed, the institute office has been closed, my lappy cannot be repaired, hell- I didn't even have any place to eat yesterday except for those horridly-overpriced pizzas. All this even as we revel in the glory of our multi-cultural secularism. Food for thought. (Or FFT as a certain teacher here would say).
posted by 8 by 52 at 8:47 AM
1 comments
