November in Delhi: not what it used to be!

WiFi Sucks!

Connectivity is so poor in Delhi, worse than last year! I’m looking at my swanky new 4G iPhone and it has one bar and says Airtel; one second later there are three bars and it’s says Vodaphone; another second later it says “No Service” which persists for half an hour!  It’s the same with my iPad and other iPhone. And this is at the Hilton!  I couldn’t use What’s App at the airport. I had to resort to the most expensive international calling feature to alert my friends outside. My devices are physically inches apart and “airdrop” takes forever to work. I could go on, but I’ll stop!  Like I’m so fond of grumbling, WiFi sucks here, oh-so bad!  

Such an irony when you think that the entire world is filled with smart Injuns creating IT companies or sitting on boards of top ones in Silicon Valley - never mind all those wallahs toiling away in the Chennai back offices of Visa, AMEX, Master Card, the World Bank - keeping the entire planet’s IT systems buzzing so beautifully!  It is rare at the IFC to ever have a communications failure, so - if they can get the entire world to function - why can’t they get their blooming act together in this country?  My friend Girish A. says “it’s all politics” - of course it is!  He’s gone back to using his landline! How pathetic is that?

Traffic is a Nightmare!

Nobody uses GPS, the traffic is horrendous, the pollution is actually visible, but more on that later!  It took us an average of two plus hours to get to anywhere!  Most of it was bad driving but traffic is truly a nightmare!  No one stays in their lane, I was trying to stop myself gasping out loud whenever I saw another vehicle get within a hair’s breadth!  How we survived I don’t know!  I guess it wasn’t my time!  I’m not sure what is more stressful: the traffic, the way folks drive or just the general dirt and grime and dust that gets in one’s eyes and hair and clothes!  It’s as if one gets washed with a film of filth every time one goes outdoors! 

Statistics compiled by the Research Wing of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways in its report titled ‘Road Accidents in India 2016,’ showed that Delhi had the highest number of deaths — 1,591 — due to road accidents which peaked at 8,623 in 2014 before coming down to 8,085 in 2015 and 7,375 in 2016 (The Hindu, Sept. 7, 2017). The decrease in deaths is due to an increase in vehicle population, say experts. The number of vehicles is more than 10 million (over 94 percent privately owned). This is shocking when you realize there is no proportional increase in road space in a city that houses nearly 20 million residents!  Lax enforcement and speed are considered the main killers, say road and design experts. 

World’s Most Polluted Capital!

According to Bloomberg News, air pollution is estimated to kill more than half a million Indians and Pakistanis every year, while the World Bank has said environmental degradation costs India $80 billion annually. We have all heard of illegal crop burning, coal-fired power plants, vehicle pollution, and the PM2.5 particulates in the air at their most hazardous level of 400 - 40 times the safe levels recommended by the WHO!

A recent report in the Lancet medical journal said pollution had claimed as many as 2.5 million lives in India in 2015, the highest in the world. For some years now, Delhi (not Beijing) is “the world's most polluted capital” according to the WHO, with pollution levels that regularly exceed Beijing’s. 

I experienced the foul acrid smog within a few minutes of standing outside the airport waiting for my ride. It was a disgustingly toxic combination of vehicle emissions from diesel mixed with smoke and dust. I was outdoors less than half an hour but my lungs were filled and I was choking with the putrid fumes!  

I felt this again and again whenever I went outside. It is gross, it is relentless, it is everywhere - and it is inescapable!  Masks don’t help, really!  Indians are literally killing themselves - and future generations - without any evidence that things will ever get better! 

Conclusion 

I do a blog every time I come to India and, sadly, things only seem to get worse!  I am disheartened not just by the lack of any kind of visible progress from last year or the year before or the year before that! The current culture wars (beef eating, women in movies) and the all-too-present specter of mob rule - versus the struggle with the more liberal secular forces of the kind of India I grew up in - are coming to a head like never before.  How will it end?  Hard to say. 

Final thoughts: for me, what is worse is to see educated citizens (including friends and school mates) in complete denial of what’s going on! They even make excuses for the lynchings!  It’s hard to have an honest discussion!  Instead of acknowledging problems they’re talking about what’s wrong with America!  Like the media spent weeks dissing the U.S. over the silly sari controversy!  But I’m optimistic. Maybe next time I’m here, things will be better!