is it because lydia polgreen @lpolgreen is black that she's not as obnoxious as barbara crossette, john burns, et al? actually the jews who were in india for nyt before (steven weisman, a m rosenthal) were not so bad either. it is the WASP jerks who really despise india and especially hinduism.
to be fair, the delhi metro *is* awesome. i was in delhi for two or three days and found the metro was absolutely fantastic. easy to use, inexpensive, remarkably well maintained, beautiful. i was going back and forth on it from patel chowk, near where i was staying to (#IOU$#OIU) rajiv chowk (otherwise known as connaught place) etc. the only place that i had some trouble at was chandni chowk, because there was a half hour wait to get into the station, as there was only one metal-detector/frisking stand and there were lots of people waiting to get on the train.
best of all, i didn't have to haggle with auto drivers and taxi drivers in my broken hindi! just the facts, ma'am -- just pay rs. 8 or whatever, get a token, and jump on the next train, which will come in the next 5 min. i mean, little short of astonishing.
i liked the metro museum at patel chowk. noted with interest that e sreedharan got his way on most major decisions, but lost the one on gauges. all metro systems around the world are meter gauge. for some odd reason, politicians insisted that the delhi metro must be broad gauge, and overrode sreedharan's objections. (why, they are going to roll garib rath rolling stock onto metro rails?). yet another dumb decision, probably based on some money from some contractor. anyway, delhi is now stuck with unique, customized broad gauge metro rolling stock, which means there are no economies of scale. i don't think this is the stock used in calcutta either.
will bangalore use the same rolling stock? hope so. if bangalore's metro is as good as delhi, that would be wonderful. imagine taking the train from kerala to the byappanahalli multimodal terminus, and then cruising on down to mg road on the metro for like rs. 20!
even though metros are expensive they can make a huge difference. even buses can. the volvo buses are making a definite difference in bangalore according to people i know who commute on them, although it has not yet penetrated into the skulls of people in trivandrum that the volvo buses are a far better deal, cheaper, faster and more comfortable with AC than autos.
3 comments:
Sreedharan has given us a key to unlock a bog lock. Nothing is more acceptable to Indians as religion. Instead of making our work places sterile with pseudo secularism we should propound and educate people using Bhagwat Gita on mgt and how employees should be productive. People will be all ears, learn about the Lord God Krishna' song, get motivated by the message and of course take pride in being Hindu, the job and the country we serve.
I think 5 minute message from the Gita every morning will really set the tone for the day in any factory or office.
How the muslims react should not be a stumbling block.
Noticed the same thing in the US as you have: Blacks and Jewish guys are friendly and sympathetic unlike hardcore WASPs, some of whom are downright nasty.
Delhi actually has become quite a liveable city over the past decade or so; the only city in India that can be said to be a tad bit modern. That's what resources and a will to improve can achieve. Why aren't other Indian cities cared for as much as Delhi is?
Post a Comment