iPad2 & Me

Very rarely does something come along that has an impact on your quality of life in a meaningful way.  For me, the delivery of my iPad2 is just such an event.  I don’t mean to be melodramatic about, but when you live in Delhi, anything that provides even the slightest venue for escape has an impact.

We already have an iPad in the house.  It was purchased last year before we left for Olga who made the acquisition a term of coming to India.  I felt that it was simply a gadget and had not value, but who was I to argue.  Once the iPad was up and running, I quickly saw the genius in its gadgety goodness and for the last year the iPad has spent its time being snatched out of the others hands at the first sign of idleness. 

As time went on, I realized that I used the iPad more for reading, than anything else and since I was not allowed to remove the thing from the house during work hours, I was not maximizing my potential or its.  I concluded that I needed an iPad of my own!

Seizing the opportunity of most of my company coming to Shanghai, I asked a colleague to pick me up one.  She did and after spending 2 hours in line at the apple store, she successful acquired one for me.  That is a true friend!

Since our return from China, I now sit quietly in the back of the SUV reading my book and listening to the iPod feature – typically to the soothing sounds of Sinatra and Martin – and ignoring the outside world.  I rarely even notice the tap, tap, tap on the window of the beggars and almost never realize when someone makes a right turn from the left lane backing up traffic for days.  Gone are all the frustrations of the commute and I simply take the time, whether 20 minutes of 2 hours, to enjoy a good read and great music. 

iPad2                                                                 $799.00

iTunes download of Dean Martin’s greatest hits           $14.99

iBooks download of favorite book                             $12.99

Peace of mind                                                     Priceless

Blowing Dust

You know how some weather reports make you feel upbeat and happy, like “sunny” or “clear skies”, while others are just what you wanted to hear, like “chance of rain” in a drought or “snow” on Christmas?  Well in Delhi at this time of year we get roughly two reports and neither are very good:  “Hazy” and “Blowing Dust!”

Hazy typically means that the temperature will cross the 110 degree mark by 11:00am and that it will get so hot that the city will generate its own biosphere with a combination of pollution, dust and heat that will all but obscure any thought of a blue sky.  This is the typical Delhi day. 

Blowing Dust is an entirely different animal.  This weather phenomenon is generated somewhere in the surrounding wasteland, where a good, strong wind crosses the arid countryside and arrives in Delhi with the sole intention of blowing all the accumulated crap around.  It gathers up all the dust that has been settling since our last rain and blows it through the streets like pellets shot from a cannon.   The wind can be so strong that it knocks down barricades, so the transported dust & trash are pushed into every nook and cranny in the city.

In the apartment, the fine dust and dirt from the wind finds its way around every window and door to creates a lovely, albeit invisible film across the marble floor.  Only when the maid begins to sweep it up can you see the cumulative impact from the storm.  In the following days, the maid will work extra hard to ensure the apartment is free from the dusty invader and just when it is all clean, the weather report will read “Blowing Dust” and you begin again.  

Cell Out

Last night, as Olga and I were leaving the club, we tried to call the driver to pick us up, but the phone would not connect.  After several frustrated attempts, Olga handed the phone over to me in which I attempted the ancient marriage ritual of doing exactly what your spouse tried expecting it to magically work.  It did not.  There was something wrong with the cell phone service in Delhi. 

I will digress for a moment here and wax poetically on the complete incompetence of Indian companies - yet again.  I mean, what cell phone company allows its entire system to crash, particularly in a country in which no one has a landline.  Airtel, the cell phone provider, is the same company that also provides my internet service and, if you have been following the blog, you know in what esteem I hold them.  This level of idiocy, though, even surprised me.  At what level of incompetency do you have to operate to allow your entire network to crash.

B-O-N-E-H-E-A-D-S!

Anyway, cell phone networks crashing presents a unique problem in Delhi when you live as an expat.  It is not about not being able to call your friends or receive texts (neither of which I do), but when your cell phone is out, you have no way to contact your driver which means you are stuck. You might as well have run out of gas!  The way the driver - drivee relationship works here is that the driver diligently drops you at the door or entrance to where ever it is you would like to go.  You enter and enjoy yourself and when you are ready to go, you call and he magically appears.  When all goes well, this is the extent of your reality.  The driver's reality is a bit different.  Yes, he drops you off, but while you are inside enjoying your air-conditioned meal, he has parked the car in some forsaken pad of dirt in the vicinity and is waiting for you in 110-degree heat.  The issue last night was that we had no idea where this pad of dirt was located and, since it is the embassy area, we knew it was not close. 

We dialed and dialed, but had no success, so we thought we would just grab dinner where we were and wait it out.  We munched down our dinner and tried again, but to no avail.  It was getting on 9:00pm now and I had begun to curse this wasteland of incompetence called India. The reality was that we had two choices:  1) grab a taxi and hope that the driver eventually figures out that we have gone and returns home before I need to leave for work the next morning or 2) walk around the area and look for the driver.  I opted for 1, but with the hope that maybe the driver had recognized the situation and taken measures. In a last ditch effort, we walked to the end of the street and there, against all odds, was my resourceful driver nervously waiting for us in a no parking zone.  Happy to see us, he bolted across the street to escort us to the safety of our vehicle. 

Apparently, he had recognized the gravity of the situation several hours prior and was making regular passes by the entrance of the club to ensure we were not waiting.  In addition, he left word with the taxi stand at the entrance that if we tried to take a cab, they should direct us around the corner. 

After we got home, I realized that maybe my driver’s talents are wasted behind the wheel and I should recommend him to Airtel to run their cell phone and internet division.  My hesitation was simply that I would lose the only competent driver in India.   

Indian Validation or Over-Reaction?

While the news that Osama bin laden was killed by US Navy Seals broke worldwide, in India, it had a different emphasis.  Yes, Osama was killed, but that was only a byline to the big story – “Pakistan was harboring Osama bin laden.”  You see in India, the only good news is news that paints their neighbors to the west in a bad light and this was really good news!

For the last several days, newspapers and TV news shows have showcased and validated what every Indian already “knew” – that Pakistan is a terrorist state.  Every broadcast and article highlights this and I have yet to see an opportunity lost in conversation or correspondence to reinforce it.  It has become a national obsession. 

The Indian dislike for Pakistan, and the visceral hate with which the Pakistanis reciprocate, is not without history.  Since the 15th of August 1947 when the partition of India was made official by the creation of the Dominion of Pakistan, Indians and Pakistanis alike have shared this contempt.  Maybe it is because they are so alike that they have kept this distain, but it has had serious consequences over the last 60 years including the uprooting of 25 million people as each religion, Hindu and Muslim, resettled in their newly formed, respective countries.  In the years that followed, there were mass killings on both sides, an on-going argument over Kashmir and 4 open wars in 1947, 1965, 1971 and 1999.  Most recently, on November 26, 2008 the Taj Hotel was attacked in Mumbai by Islamic militants that are widely believed to still be hiding in Pakistan. 

Since the Mumbai attack, Indians have been screaming to the world that Pakistan has been harboring terrorist.  The recent events have only served to validate these allegations and India is now clamoring for full revenge.  While the world celebrates the death of the number 1 terrorist, one should be keeping a weather eye out for how these two nuclear-armed adversaries deal with this news, as the results could be disastrous.