Riding and Reading; The Safe Way to Commute

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Five days a week I, like most other people, go to work. There are potentially dozens of ways for me to get to work: car, bike, segway, helicopter, skate board, or hitch hiking; the options are potentially endless. I have chosen to go the traditional route and commute via the bus. On my way to work I take a TriMet bus (#44, #54, or #56) from stop #925 to stop #7803; on my way home I take a bus from stop #7586 to stop #955. The ride to work takes 13.5 minutes. The ride home takes either 15 or 21 minutes depending on which bus I catch. During this time I read. During most other times I like to babble. This blog combines all three: books, buses and babble.

Friday, October 9, 2009

Lost in Delhi

Book: The White Tiger
Bus: #44; 6:12 a.m.
Pages read: 95 - 107

Being a chauffeur in Delhi is a challenging task. If you were to enter a starting point and the destination into Google Maps you would get the directions, "Are you fucking kidding me?" This is because a blind illiterate was in charge of Delhi's civic planning. For example, in a housing colony (development) house number "A 231" is next to "F 378". When looking for "E 231" Balram tracked down (tracking as in knowing the inhabitant's scent and using a hound dog's sense of smell to locate that individual and hopefully he/she will be at the address you are looking for) "E 200" and the "E" block vanished completely and the next house was "S" something. This impossible task of navigating Delhi is compounded by the fact that "[If y]ou ask someone, "Where's Nikolai Copernicus Marg ?" And he could be a man who lived on Nikolai Copernicus Marg his whole life, and he'll open his mouth and say, "Hahn?" Or he'll say, "Straight ahead, then turn left," even though he has no idea." pg 99. Big smile for that one.

Problematic for a driver? Yes, especially when you consider the consequences for taking too long to find a location is being called an imbecile and receiving a smack in the head. If I were a driver in Delhi I would invest in a bike helmet.

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