Journey to Kashid Beach

It took a little over 4 hours to reach Prakriti Resort situated at the Kashid Beach, a distance of approximately 135 Kms from Mumbai. We left at 7:40 AM on a weekday, and I thought it would take about 45 minutes to reach Panvel on the outskirts of Mumbai, boy were I wrong ? It took 30 minutes more than that ! There was very heavy traffic at Chembur, and on the stretch of the lousy highway approaching Panvel. Added to this delay, my driver took a turn towards JNPT, the port trust road on which there was virtually zero traffic leading to suspicion that he did not really know the route that well. We finally came back to Panvel, found the Goa Highway (actually a two lane road with no central divider), and were enroute to Alibaug !

I noticed several funny behaviours of road users (as I normally do, can’t resist the temptation to notice and then blog about it). Since the road has just two lanes, the fast cars (especially the small ones and the motorcycles to boot) constantly keep trying to overtake the slow lorries and buses, and sometimes the tractors, road-laying machines moving inch-by-inch, and bullock carts. Since these small cars are indeed small in their girth, they do not seem to mind when their left-hand space on the road gets filled up by another car or vehicle, when they are trying to overtake. They could accommodate, in the true spirit of “chalta hai”, which means it is “OK to adjust” - nobody is really wrong (or right, for that matter) on Indian roads, anyway.

However, when a broader car like mine (as are the many SUV variants one can find on the roads today) is trying to overtake, there is absolutely no space on the left side when it is filled by another vehicle - sometimes one can’t overtake, as the oncoming vehicle on the other side of the road could be coming in fast, so one has to pull back behind, and behold ! - there is suddenly no space to move behind and left ! Not only that, since you braked to reduce the speed, the car on the left accelerates trying to fill the very small gap now created between you and the slow-moving lorry or bus in the front !! Truly innovative and amazing, to say the least.

The other behaviour which is common on such “highways” is the speed of vehicular traffic. The cars are all actually Ferrari wannabees, they tend to accelerate for no reason, and also have absolutely no reason to be inches away from the vehicle before them and suddenly break with whole-hearted effort, leaving the guy behind to gasp in absolute horror, which my driver did couple of times, albeit quietly, as he was also to blame. Such radical driving behaviour enthralls the audience, while they clutch the rims of their seats in a state of fright. Great stuff !

Another unique behaviour is the use of headlights during daytime. Any driver can flash his head lights when he has the first chance to do so, and make you wait while he gets to use your lane for overtaking. You have no option but to brake, since you were not sharp or quick enough to flash the lights first. This frequently happens in a two-lane highway with no dividers, and you would not want to risk yourself and your passengers by going head on though it is your own right of way !

The Goa Highway was decent in most parts up to Alibaug. Once we hit Alibaug, it became a rural road, with no clear directions anywhere to be found. One had to ask around to figure out the way to Kashid / Murud Village. The villages were really poor countryside one-road affairs, with ladies carrying stuff on their heads to the marketplace, and students in uniforms walking to schools. Hardly any decent houses, very poor infrastructure, villagers selling vegetables by the roadside, really the heart of India so to say. I was not surprised to have learnt repeatedly that most people in India live by the equivalent of USD 1 per day (may be USD 2 now, but does it matter except as a National Statistic ?). The real challenge to any government would be to uplift these poor folks and integrate them into the mainstream developmental efforts of the nation, to really ensure that the fruits of economic growth quickly percolates to the poorest of the poor.

Coming back to our topic, the pity is that the road infrastructure which is a must for rural development, tourism, industrial production and transportation, et al, has been left to the mercies of some organization, I know not what ?! Deterioration was to be seen everywhere enroute - the highway quickly degenerated to pot-hole filled country roads, with space just enough to let two cars pass through in opposite directions. At couple of places, we had to back up since the road width in the village was not sufficient to let a lorry or a bus pass us. I do not understand the need to run the highway through the village, instead of skirting the village, and avoid serious congestion and mishaps.

But people nevertheless pursue their own wont, despite all the hiccups and challenges. Nobody seemed to complain or refer to all this, not even the well-heeled types staying in the resort, all of whom seem to have used their cars to get there. We met a few foreigners as well as Indian returnees from U.S., who seem to be completely nonchalant about the travel troubles. However, I feel that it remains our duty to constantly push the government of the day to enhance the infrastructure, and make it world-class. Let us atleast compare ourselves with China, if not the U.S.

I will soon write about a place of historical importance that we visited in Murud, which is in a state of utter disrepair. Also, the safety angle which has been consistently neglected in sea transportation. Some great photos are also to be posted soon about this beautiful holiday resort and beaches…….look out folks.

Have a Wonderful finish to 2007, and a Great New Year in 2008 !

Cheers

Vijay Srinivasan
30 December 2007
Mumbai

Braindead Mumbai Drivers

Here we return to one of my favourite areas of human analysis - the character of drivers on the road.

I am sorry to be in a position to reiterate that drivers, whether they are hired or owners of the cars that they drive, are generally not worthy of owning a drivers’ licence in the first place. This is especially true of Mumbai suburban drivers. The same drivers follow the rules, more or less, when they drive in South Mumbai, where the police do not tolerate (a) violation of traffic rules, especially beating the traffic signals ; (b) rash driving ; and (c) drunken driving. In the Western Suburbs of Mumbai, somehow none of this works - one rarely sees policemen anyway. The most dangerous thing that one observes while driving in the suburbs is that no driver seems to care much about traffic signals, or about beating the red lights. They are rarely caught by the police, and since the violators can easily escape through usual means, there is no disincentive not to repeat the offence.

I drove today, being a Sunday, to my Club and back home, along with my family. I observed total anarchy between Malad / Goregaon (West) and Andheri (West). There should have been traffic signals at many heavily trafficked intersections, but unfortunately the government does not bother to study these dangerous, life-threatening points and take necessary action to install traffic signals. The more serious problem is what I mentioned above, that people do not care if there are traffic lights or not. They rush past - don’t know why they have to speed. The added element is that the pedestrians cross the road at any point of their choosing - in fact, they seemed to be crossing all over the place. It is difficult to manage the car, when you suddenly see (a) the car in front of you has decided to make a right turn, when there are no such “official” right turns, and so suddenly switches on the right signal of the car - you have no choice but to bunch up behind, or like most people do, make a cautious “left escape”, making a series of vehicles to gasp for brakes ; (b) pedestrians crossing, and ladies with kids on them also choosing to cross because there is no choice left - and if you are on the rightmost lane, you see people on the right edge of the centre divider - I dread to imagine what would happen if a car grazes any one of these folks, which would cause a series of accidents on the road. What is amazing is that the pedestrians are totally nonchalant - they hardly care, and seem to be absolutely sure that no vehicle would be able to hit them. A very bad assumption, I would say, given the poor quality of the Indian drivers, especially the hired ones.

There is another dangerous element - owners pushing their hired drivers to “make it fast”. I always tell my driver to be careful and go slow, and even with this contrarian advise, my driver got into couple of minor accidents on the road. I can’t imagine why owners with families, etc., would take such a huge risk on the roads.

Another interesting observation - if you are coming to an intersection from a side road, you are the road king ! The main road’s traffic seem to be slowing a bit, to accommodate cars which insert their noses boldly into the main road’s traffic. I was wondering how I should manage this peculiar behaviour for the first more than six months of my stay in Mumbai, and finally decided there is no way to go if you have to make a right turn indeed. Even if you abide by your traffic sense, and make a left turn, hoping to get a “u-turn” somewhere down the road, it does not happen and even if it does happen, one needs to go through the same experience of “nose insertion” into the opposing traffic because the “right signal” is ignored by the oncoming traffic. Even a slight hesitation on your part to make a decision is enough encouragement for all the rest of the drivers to violate the traffic rules further.

ABSOLUTE LACK OF CHARACTER ! It does not matter whether these folks - especially the owner-drivers - work for a MNC, or an Indian Corporate, or a BPO, etc., The way they behave day in and day out is disgusting. The lack of police control and intervention by government’s urban planners is more revolting. I simply do not believe such people who do not care about other peoples’ lives, or for their own lives for that matter, and do not respect any of the rules of the game, can lead the world - they simply do not have the culture, or sense, to be examples to the world. There was this famous video of traffic at You Tube about Mumbai’s nonsensical traffice - I would love to lay my hands on that, still looking for it - which clearly depicts how the world is laughing at the madness in Indian roads.

Given that cars are getting cheaper and incomes are rising, and the fact that it is not that difficult to get a learner’s driving license, it is going to be madness magnified another potential 10X on Mumbai roads. I do not see the same madness in Delhi or Chennai, or even Pune for that matter. Drivers do respect traffic signals and peoples’ lives on the roads. Ofcourse, Delhi drivers may be ruder than Mumbai drivers, but they seem to be respecting road rules.

I am sorry to say this, but Mumbai Western Suburbian anarchy on the roads needs to be checked immediately, with (a) postings of traffic policemen at all intersections ; (b) installation of additional traffic signals based on a study of the traffic flow and pattern ; (c) ensure zebra crossings are respected for pedestrians to cross the roads safely without getting threatened by non-stop drivers ; (d) install additional zebra crossings wherever required ; (e) ensure that the drivers respect the “white line” at all traffic signals, so that they do not “bulge” at all points while waiting for the signal, and affecting the flow of traffic ; (f) imposition of on-the-spot penalty on drivers who violate established traffic rules ; (g) check on rash driving, ensure speed limits are imposed with radar devices ; (g) stop drunken driving totally. All this would require increase in budget, but Mumbai pays the maximum taxes in the country, right ? Sure the Finance Ministry can fund it. It is critical to save peoples’ lives on the roads from rash drivers.

Let’s try and get sense back into these braindead Mumbai drivers.

Cheers and Have a Great Stress-Free Driving,

Vijay Srinivasan
28 October 2007
Mumbai

Wednesday Morning in the Rain

This was indeed a unique experience, a first for me !

I was waiting for car transport to arrive at about 5:30 AM last week Wednesday, to take me to the domestic airport for my flight to Delhi. It did not arrive, which was quite surprising, given the so far impeccable track record.

It was raining, but that could not be the reason, I have travelled when there was heavy rain, which happens between July and September monsoon season in Mumbai. I tried calling couple of radio taxi kind of operators, but to no avail. Finally I decided to walk out of the apartment complex looking for a taxi.

In Mumbai, you have these “Blue” taxis, which charge a slightly premium rate, but are air-conditioned and are decent enough (unlike the “all-windows-open” Premier Black and Yellow regular taxis - the boxy ones - that you find all over Mumbai) for a comfy ride. They are mostly of the Tata Indica types, and I looked hard for them. There were a lot of white taxis on the road I live in - these are taxis waiting to transport the BPO employees who work in the Mindspace Complex. They would not come for normal passenger transport.

I could not find any blue taxi, and time was running out - it was 5:50 AM, and my flight was at 7:00 AM, they would board the flight around 6:40 AM maximum. It takes atleast 30 minutes to even reach the airport, and with the rain, it is anyone’s guess !

There was no choice actually - I finally took the “auto-rickshaw”, fondly called as the “rick” by locals. Not that this was the first time ever - I have mostly used them in my younger days in Madras and elsewhere - it is just that this was indeed the first time ever in Mumbai !

I pulled my luggage in and “chalo” - the rick started off like a rocket and moved fast on potholes covered by muddy water. The rick drivers normally do not wait for any traffic signals, and at that time of the day there was no signals operating anyway ! It was 5:55 AM and now I knew for sure the rick would reach the airport before 6:30 AM.

But it was not to be ! When we neared the airport it was only 6:18 AM, but there was a total traffic jam. Nothing was moving. People were peeping out of their vehicles and appeared to be a bit desperate. For a full ten minutes thereafter, there was a total gridlock, and I was amazed to see passengers getting down from their cars and rickshaws with their bags and starting to walk towards the airport which was a good 300 metres away ! I thought I should also be doing the same - I came very close to that point when suddenly the bus ahead of us started moving. Voila ! Good things always happen in India at the very last minute - one has to just believe in God I guess.

I reached the gate at 6:32 AM, got my boarding pass in a minute, cleared security in less than 5 minutes, and got into the second bus assigned for transporting passengers to my flight - I was in my seat at 6:42 AM or so. This was truly amazing, to say the least. The flight was cleared for moving from its position at 7 AM, but as is usual in Mumbai nowadays, did not really takeoff till 7:25 AM. This is normal delay in air transportation in India due to the congestion at top airports - they even charge a congestion tax of Rs 150 per passenger - can you believe this nonsense ?

Anyway, I finally made it to Delhi that morning. It was an experience that I would remember for a long time. India works though with lots of last minute rush and exigencies, and finally always makes up to the target. India 101 for folks from abroad !

Have a wonderful weekend, folks.

Cheers

Vijay Srinivasan
22 September 2007
Mumbai

Journey to Montreal

I travelled for most part of the past 24 hours to reach Montreal from Mumbai via Frankfurt.

I flew Lufthansa from Mumbai, the flight was more or less full, and true to German efficiency standards, the flight landed at Frankfurt at the scheduled time, though it was delayed by about 15 minutes at the Mumbai side. The plane was cramped on the Economy Class section, almost similar to the Cattle Class flights in the U.S. The stewardesses were business-like with no human touch whatsoever, and actually appeared to sport an attitude of “couldn’t care less”. The food was just OK, and there was no entertainment apart from one single big screen for everyone. Sometimes I wonder how these airlines would survive against Emirates Airlines or Singapore Airlines. If only there are no restrictions……..

The Frankfurt Airport was very busy this morning, actually at noon time. The Duty Free Shop was small but doing brisk business. There were lots of tourists, not just business travellers. I tried to log into the public Wi-Fi system at the airport, but could not get through for some reason. I saw a few guys actively browsing, but before I could find time to talk to them, the flight to Montreal was called.

I was surprised to note that while the airlines had weight and size restrictions on the cabin baggage which they applied strictly at Mumbai end, there seemed to be no such issue at Frankfurt. I saw connecting passengers with huge sized hand baggages, and some even carrying multiple pieces. At Mumbai, Lufthansa was very specific about toiletries, the amount of gels/liquids one can carry, and the need to display the same in a Ziploc pouch, et al. However, there was no issue again at Frankfurt, in fact people added to their liquids by getting duty free stuff right there in front of the counter ! May be these folks already cleared all the restrictions !

I took the code-share flight of Air Canada from Frankfurt. This flight was better - the plane had a bit more space. But again, the stewardesses had the same attitude. They asked me “Chicken or Lamb”, instead of asking “Would you like to have lunch, what would be your preference - chicken, or lamb”. Well, one can’t be too bothered though. I focused on reading my new acquisition (from my wife !) - a nice book by Edward Luce “In Spite of the Gods - The Strange Rise of Modern India”. I will be doing a separate commentary of the book once I finish reading.

The Air Canada flight landed exactly on the dot as per schedule at Montreal Pierre Trudeau Airport. Immigration was not bad, though the queue was quite long - took around 30 minutes in all. My daughter took a while longer since she needed to get the study permit done.

We took a van ride into downtown, and the Iranian driver was incessant in delivering all kinds of advice about living in Montreal. It was quite useful I guess, but at the end he overcharged me to the tune of C$ 20. I gave it away instead of arguing - aren’t we used to Indian cabwallahs doing the same, especially the autorickshaws in Chennai ?

More about Montreal soon, Have a great weekend,

Cheers

Vijay Srinivasan
24 Aug 2007
Montreal

Trains of Austria and Switzerland

Amazing Trains - the trains are definitely not manufactured by ICF !

Wonderful infrastructure at the railway stations - though many of them are old, but very well maintained. The trains have good amenities and restaurant, et al. Service could be better, but you can’t ask for anything better ; the trains are good enough, and the scenery outside is sure to keep you entranced for a long while.

DSC03638, originally uploaded by padmavs.

Austria - Switzerland Trains are great to travel in - very comfortable.

DSC03644, originally uploaded by padmavs.

Great Infrastructure ! Very well maintained !!

DSC03631, originally uploaded by padmavs.

DSC02705, originally uploaded by padmavs.

DSC03571, originally uploaded by padmavs.

DSC04284, originally uploaded by padmavs.

DSC04285, originally uploaded by padmavs.

DSC04198, originally uploaded by padmavs.

DSC04218, originally uploaded by padmavs.

DSC04665, originally uploaded by vjsri99.

DSC04711, originally uploaded by vjsri99.

DSC04709, originally uploaded by vjsri99.

Enjoy the pics !

Have a Wonderful Weekend !!

Vijay Srinivasan
4th August 2007
Mumbai

Regional Transport Office

I had to get my local driving licence one day. Since I had to make short drives occasionally when the driver was not available, I thought it would be better to get one finally.

The process of getting one, though, would put off most people, unless one is very young and is just starting off with a Learners’ Licence. As in other government-related operations, the procedure of getting one is not made clear from the start. First, anyway one had to locate the office. I chose Andheri RTO (Regional Transport Office), because at around 7 Kms distance, it was the nearest to my office. But, I did not anticipate that reaching that RTO by road would ever be a problem - I thought, well, atleast the “Road Transport Office” should be connected by a proper road. Voila, there was no road !

There was just a dead end, and we had to swing through the open ground, park at a no-man’s zone with wandering cows and kids playing football, and then wade through the early monsoon shower waters to cross over to the “barracks” of the RTO. I was shocked to see the office - there was no proper building. It was clear that it was some sort of barracks wherein the British stored something……the tin roofed buildings were atleast 70 to 80 years old - surely from pre-independence times.

I was amazed at the government’s cost optimization. Well there would not be even any depreciated value for these barracks anymore. And, these were sitting on some prime residential land it appeared to me ! Great, this is how governments build “value” in their crusty offerings - old time non-electronic experience for today’s teenage crowds !

I noticed that except me, the rest of the people in the multiple queues were all in their late teens, or probably very early twenties. They viewed me with some suspicion - why is this older guy wearing a tie and punching emails on his Blackberry standing in the queue ? Well, they had to accommodate…….one funny thing about the service provided by the RTO is that there are multiple queues for different services - unlike in Singapore, where you enter the office, punch the ticket machine, take your ticket, wait for your turn, and then get all the services at one counter. And all this in airconditioned comfort ! But not here !! You have got to wait in the first queue where they check all the documents, and “look” at you. They were wearing uniforms, looked like police uniforms. In my case, with some “assistance”, I was able to get through fast and just answered couple of questions with mostly a “yes”. They always ask what’s your name - since there is no ID card with photo to check without asking. You have to just ensure that you say your name exactly the way it has been written down on the application/school certificate. Then they try to locate your dad’s name somewhere in the documentation, and ask for the same, again you got to be right. Then they run through the application papers, go to the last piece of paper and sign and stamp. Then you go…….to the next counter !

Again wait in the queue and make the payment - just Rs 60. This service should be priced at a higher level, for all the work they are doing. Further, fees should be high to discourage “learning” drivers on the Indian roads anyway - the roads are just pathetic in Mumbai, for instance. After one clears this queue and makes the payment, then you wait for being called in the third queue which is for photo/signature/fingerprint.

Now comes the electronic world - Maharashtra State is one of the first states in India implementing electronic registration and driving licence card issuance in India - and this is 2007 ! Well, I was told it was difficult to automate, as the “barracks” do not have airconditioning and computers would have failed in the heat and then in the monsoon waters - I can clearly see that - waters can easily enter these building and destroy not just computers, but all the records. Easy in Mumbai for the waters ! When I walked into the electronic data capture room, there were powerful fans - no airconditioning though - blowing air on the applicants who were guided to some 8 different booths available. Finally, there is some “scale” in the operations, I thought - I had expected to see just one computer.

Well, the “electronic” experience was very good. The lady looked at me, asked me to remove my glasses, made me look at the blinking red light of the webcam, and clicked. The human touch was that she asked me whether I am happy with my photo. I have never seen a guy or a girl who says the first photo shot is good enough - so is the case with me always. We went for a second shoot and then it was “okay”. Then, she asked me to sign on an “electronic plaque” - I was truly impressed. My signature sprang up on the computer screen under my photo ! Then the fingerprint capture of the left thumb impression. All these electronic inputs were captured and a “record” was created.

It felt good that the government is finally learning to do its business in a partially automated manner atleast. A sea change indeed !

I was told that the driving licence card will be ready in a couple of days. Great……..I waded through the sea of people waiting, and rushed back to the office - thankfully the monsoon was playing truant - no rain yet.

Have a wonderful weekend folks,

Best Regards

Vijay Srinivasan
30 June 2007
Mumbai

Indian Airlines

I had to reach Delhi early in the morning last week Monday, and so instead of flying the previous night (no one likes to fly on a nice Sunday evening), I decided to experiment with Indian Airlines which had the earliest flight at 6 AM, arriving at Delhi just before 8 AM - just so nice if everything works out as planned.

Alas, I got up at 3:45 AM ! got ready and reached airport at 5:20 AM !!

And, ran into a wall of commotion. There was nothing happening at the Delhi Counter ; I saw long queues in front of other counters. I asked around and was told that there was some kind of industrial “unrest” - I heard that word long time ago. It has been ages since I witnessed a “strike” - there are no strikes or unrest in Singapore.

So, I did the next logical thing - walked into the Indian Airlines Duty Manager’s Office straight into a hapless woman who was struggling to assuage scores of people. I somehow got across to her in 20 seconds, showed her my ticket and asked about the whereabouts of the flight. She said that there is some challenge with sections of the employees resorting to strike, and she expected the flights to leave much later than their scheduled timings. She asked me to wait at the Executive Lounge, and I would be advised soon.

I decided to give it another 15 minutes before I took some alternative action with other airlines, the next ones being only at 7 AM (from Jet Airways, followed by Kingfisher). I went to the Lounge, but was denied entry since I did not have a boarding pass. But I have long since figured out that in such situations only strong arm tactics work in India. I just pushed open the door held firmly by the male receptionist and walked in despite his strong protests, objecting to my entry. There were hardly 3 or 4 passengers inside the Lounge. Indian Airlines is probably the only airline which does not welcome its passengers. I advised the receptionist about my interaction with the Duty Manager and showed him my ticket, but he was still very morose. I chose to ignore him and continued to wait.

After sometime, I became a bit more queasy. I have to make it to Delhi that morning, no choice. It started raining as well - probably the first showers in Mumbai at the onset of the monsoon time. I decided Indian Airlines won’t work out, it was a bad choice anyway to have selected them to fly with that morning, and so needed to find an alternative quickly.

I managed to get into the inter-terminal bus standing outside the Indian Airlines Terminal to get to the other terminal building which housed most of the other private airlines. I did this even though Kingfisher Airlines also flew out from the IA Terminal, since I saw many IA passengers attacking the KF counters for alternative flight bookings. No point in wasting any more time, before the crowd gets to the other terminal, I thought it would be better to get there myself.

Luckily, I managed to purchase a ticket to Delhi at the Jet Airways Counter, and reached Delhi only a bit late at around 9:20 AM. Indian Airlines would have never got me to Delhi even by noon time I guess.

This is the pathetic situation with government-run service industries in India. They have no customer orientation at all, do not treat customers well at all, and do not understand free-market dynamics. How can any government anywhere run a commercial business ? India should move quickly on further deregulation and sell off industries where a government cannot do efficient business servicing the market. I can understand the need for the governmen to be present in some critical industries such as railways, power generation, defence industries, education, etc., but it should be out of most industries in the next decade or so. Socialism never worked anywhere.

I decided once for all that Indian Airlines won’t work out for me. No more experiments, fly the previous night if required, or adjust the morning schedules to fly Jet Airways. Kingfisher is good as well, but they have limited flights unlike Jet. It is surprising to see that all the other private low-cost airlines in India have no business focus but just a consumer or leisure focus. Air Deccan and Sahara schedules are unreliable for business commuters (I have tried both). May be situation would improve now that Sahara has been acquired by Jet Airways, and Kingfisher has taken a stake in Air Deccan.

I hope things would be smooth during monsoon time - since there are hardly any vestibules in major airports, one needs to get down at the tarmac and jump into the bus. It is inconvenient, but there is just no choice today. May be things would improve in the next 2 to 3 years.

Have a wonderful weekend folks,

Best Regards

Vijay Srinivasan
17 June 2007
Mumbai