I have just come back from a 9 day trip to Kuala Lumpur and man are there some differences between the two places. What is interesting to note and think about is if India will be like Malaysia in 20-40 years?
Malaysia is green green green everywhere. Where the soil hasn't been covered with concrete there is something growing. Now this is a result of the tropical climate and the fact that it generally rains once a day. This is unlikely to happen in Hyderabad, so I will not be expecting this.
Malaysia has freeways everywhere. 2-3 lanes in each directly and constantly packed with traffic. I got stock in the rush out of KL on Friday and spent 4 hours travelling 20 km. India is building up its road net at the moment but then again the new road from Hyderabad airport is bumpy and unlevel and has only been open a year. Whether this is due to bad consultants, contractors or low budgets I am not sure, but the fact remains that even such new projects are not up to the standards in countries like Malaysia or Europe.
The above is something I started a few days ago and the answer is that India will only develop like other countries through a change in mindset. The will will for solidarity needs to be widespread and then it'll happen. Otherwise the right people will just continue to wall themselves in (literally) and leave the outside to decay.
Now I would like to share with you tales of my travels to the state of Kerala and Tamil Nadu. The trip starts with a morning cab trip to the airport. A quick affair but along the road that is already bumpy so soon after being opened. I arrive in good time, check in, eat a little breakfast whilst reviewing some work material. I believe that airport lounges are universally expensive but then again I must admit that 40 DKK isn't bad for a large white chocolate latte, a muffin and and fruit salad. As a matter of fact that'll only get you the coffee in DK! Anyways, it's expensive for India so my point is still valid.
Now as I sit and relax and get ready by colleague calls: Now the plan was to be as follows. My two colleagues from Chennai were to drive to the city of Cochin to collect me. We were then going to drive about 1 hour to the place of the meeting and and hereafter were were to drive to Coimbatore, which in on the way back to Chennai...All very simple. Now I get the call that one of the colleagues has gotten a pinched nerve or something in the neck and therefore colleague number two is flying into Cochin and out from there again in the evening. Now there seems to be a phenomenon in India and I am not the one who noticed it first. Something bad always happening to someone etc. Currently I have two colleagues with severely ill parents and one colleague with a sick brother and a child with a broken arm. One of the colleagues with the sick mother is also sick themselves with some kind of nausea/vomiting thing that keeps them up at night. Now I should let you know that we are only 5 people in the work place not including the care taker who is going to hospital tomorrow with his daughter so she can have a pin in her arm removed (she was driven down by a car). Bad things just seem to happen here! It's pretty weird. And I know that all the stories are true!
Anyways the story then takes a turn as I ask how I am to get to Coimbatore...Well I will just get a cab 160 km, no biggie. So I get on the plane (In India they understand that I NEED an exit seat) and just relax looking out the window. As we start to decent the landscape is entirely different to Hyderabad...Green green green. Palm trees everywhere. Apparently Cochin is one of the main locations for the growing of coconuts in India. I sit patiently until my colleague arrives 15 min after me and we hire a car. 150 km and 3 hours wait time, which pretty much equates to a whole day fare only comes to 200 DKK. We get going and drive through small villages with houses cut out of what almost looks like jungle. The first thing that strikes you in driving in Cochin is GOD! Ok to be more precise Kerala has a high percentage of Christians and there are churches and shrines every few kms. We move north and soon have to turn off to get to the site and we move along small roads lined with houses that are painted extremely vibrant colours. I haven't seen this anywhere else but the houses were Bright blue and orange, Purple, bright green and then you'd see a shrine with jesus on the cross. I really felt like it could have been South America. As we move further away from civilisation we come through rubber plantations and rolling hills with green everywhere. It's humid and warm but actually very nice.
The business visit was interesting and the people we met were friendly and kind. Afterwards my colleague and I return to the crossroad city and we find a taxi for me. He wants double fair as he is going somewhere where he can't get a return fair (fair enough). Now cabbie speaks NO English and my colleague can't really speak to him either, as he is from Chennai and this dude is from Cochin! However the cabbie knows where to go. Now this dude, like the other cabbie, has a cross hanging from the rearview mirror and a image of Jesus on the dash. Now through three hours or travelling without a word I was tempted to point at the picture and say "JE-SUS" but thought better of it as it may lead to me trying to explain Darwin's evolution of species through hand gestures.
Approaching Coimbatore we drove by a beautiful mountain range and it was generally a really lovely drive in a Indian built Mahindra Logan, which is actually based on the Romania Dacia Logan, which in turn is owned by French Renault. As we approach the airport area at dark it looks a little sleazy where I am and I tell the cabbie to pull over at the hotel I had seen a billboard for proclaiming something along the lines of "finest hotel in Coimbatore". No vacancy but the manager was kind enough to call another hotel and hold a room costing around 300 kr (that is a lot!). We drive and I don't know what to expect. It certainly can't be the place that looks a bit like a palace there...or wait...IT IS. Sigh of relief. It's call good. I come in and get checked in and go to my huge room with the relatively hard bed. However in India you can divide hotels into 2 categories: with toilet paper or without toilet paper. This was a toilet paper hotel. I spend the evening eating dinner and outside whilst watching cricket on a huge projection screen.
Next morning I flew back to Hyderabad with a plane that was meant for me (see photo).
Tomorrow morning I am off to Northern India starting with Delhi, so there will be more stories to tell I hope.
Thanks for stopping by
R
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