Monday, February 06, 2012

India trip diary

Ramblings from my recent India visit:
  • "Are you a Muslim?" Ironically, this was the first question I faced after landing in India. When I assured the cab driver that I am not, he confided, "This place is turning into a mini-Pakistan". Apparently, there is a growing Muslim domination among cab services at the Bangalore airport. Minutes earlier, I watched from a distance as another cabbie approached and threatened my driver... The ruling BJP, I believe, is not particularly good at organizing anyone other than shop-keepers.
  • Our airlines still seem to be out-of-bounds for girls who are not "very fair". Wonder what excuse they give to those girls who apply.. "not fair enough, sweety"...?
  • The exponential growth of private vehicles and the near stagnant number of public buses is hard not to notice. There is no practical way to provide road space and parking space to meet this growth. Only solution seems be to increase tolls and parking fees. If cars are to be taxed based on their size, the width of the car will make for a better criterion than the length, as is practiced in India currently.
  • Pedestrians and bikers seem to be completely outside the radar of our planners. The poor quality of our Diesel coupled with the subsidy on it makes for toxic air in the cities.
  • Mothers speaking to their children in English is becoming an increasingly common sight in South Indian cities. I am perfectly fine with NRIs speaking to their children in English, but in India ...?  The dichotomy between home and society will lead to a very confused generation of Indians.

1 comment:

Arvind said...

On the last point, there is no use blaming parents or society. It is the government that has created tertiary education in English.