Around the India in 12 days

As the MAP went little warm and we started to travel a bit, the temperatures went soaring in to 40s in India. The first city on the list was fun loving Pune – or at least this is what I though of the city last time I was here – more than 4 years back!

As I traveled to the places again, it was a funny feeling, be it Ferguson Road, Aundh, or even Kothrud… Last year when I was here, I was in dilemma to go back to Germany or to work here. Last time I was here on a Job hunt and it was a messy situation. Not that much has changed either, I am still on a job hunt and I am still wondering if I can work here. Anyways, as we were traveling to all these nursing homes treating the doctors as customers for the first time, it was surprising to see how some of them play demi-god and make decisions on our lives. Evening was spent with in meeting Shivani, Taposh and Nishtha and it was good to see so many people waiting to read through my stories here. Good to catch on the old times as well.

Our next stop was my own Delhi and this time we traveled to place varying from Uttam Nagar to Lajpat Nagar to Patel Nagar. Now for an average Delhite like me, this was a strange contrast. Meeting doctors who don’t even care as to what they get in the operation theaters to surgeons that want to be in-charge of every decision making process. Surgeons that are in their early 70s and might have delivered some of our parents to surgeons just fresh out of college and wondering how can they sell more to the patients. It makes you wonder where is the whole India rising thing happening when you see these know it nothing doctors. Meeting doctors that complaint that their patients don’t buy a 2 rupee iron pill post child birth. Meeting doctors that choose patients based on the affordability and meeting doctors who are ready to treat them all. It made me wonder as to how the same Delhite delights on Kouton’s sale and buys himself a 750 shirt and not be bothered about what his doctor is prescribing to him. How we would go place to get a good tailor to stitch our coats, and not be bothered what suture is stitching our bodies. This was a city of contrasts, but then that’s Delhi for you, where youth and heritage live side by side. Anyways, talking about Delhi’s best experience – lunch at Haldi Ram’s (undoubtedly the best!)

After finishing Delhi on 4th, Nitesh and I drove to Chandigarh and although we started at around 5 from Gurgaon, it was only around 3 AM that we could make it to the Hotel Mountain View. The traffic at Gurgaon has far worsened and it took us more than an hour to cross just a flyover. All those 6 lane roads are a myth really, considering the traffic here. Are the planners in India failing to react or the reaction is too slow. We were discussing how easy loans have made it easy for an average middle class Indian to own a car, once again taking me to the Suture debate of not using a 200 rupees suture in a child birth… anyways when I research I found that total number of cars in India roughly equals to the cars sold by GM in the US and for those of you who know the state of GM in the states against Japanese giants, this is not a number the middle class Indian should be proud of. So, why is there still not enough infrastructure on the roads, or may be there is and yet when I want to get ahead of everyone on that road, I am taking the whole system for a ride. I don’t have an answer for that now. Anyways, it was a smooth ride thereafter and I had enough energy to drive through the night. In Chandigarh we covered Mohali and Panchkula and then started for Ambala on 6th. This time the contrast was much less and it was fun to drive in the city of Charles-Edouard Jeanneret popularly known as Le Corbusier. The roads were wide, the traffic much smoother and to top it all we were welcomed by warm, helping people on the streets. Yo Chandigarh!

After an hectic week of primary research we stopped on the week-end at Delhi and I got a breather on Sunday to celebrate my 28th Birthday with friends and family. A small function at home and a lot of relatives to meet – One could not ask for more.

Monday morning and like all consultants, I was off to the airport to catch my early morning flight… from a busy Delhi airport, where delays due to congestion are a norm, we flew to Lucknow and to my surprise many of us walked to the Airport gate from our plane! The city had worn this yellow color during the election time and to my surprise there were no banners, posters and loud speakers in this election. Kudos to election commission for being able to achieve this much to the relief of citizens (some fools call this “murder of democracy” where a leader can’t even be heard… but then who wants to listen to these leaders anyways). Lucknow still holds on to its rich culture to a great extent among all the big cities in India and although I was not lucky enough to experience the “Pahle Aap” styles much the Paans, the mosques, the imam-badas still keep it the queen of old Awadh royalties.
Having spent two days in Lucknow, I headed for Kanpur on 11th. Strangely enough the land of the Best IIT (yes I say it with a hint of sarcasm) does not have a decent hotel for the team to stay let alone an airport! So we had to travel by Car from Lucknow in the mornings and return by the same in the evenings. It was also strange to find that a city once known for its industries is loosing it all to the metros now. Another funny incident was when we crossed Ganga Setu (Ganges Bridge) on our way and I suddenly realized the small stream of water beneath is Holy Ganges! If this is what it looks in Kanpur, I wonder what keeps it running till Bay of Bengal. Reminds me of the Bupen Hazarika’s number “Aye Ganga Bahti ho kyon?”

Anyways, after getting over with Kanpur, the field trip got over and it was time for us to go back to Mumbai. What if we didn’t hear the loud speakers there was no dearth of Politicians on Lucknow airport and we saw a few waiting with us for the flight. However, it turned out to be a long wait as the flight kept delaying time and again. To make things a bit more complicated it was not a direct flight and we had to go to Delhi first and from there to Mumbai. Once again the delay in Delhi sky to land and then a long wait for the strip to get ready for us… From 5:15 at Lucknow, we reached Mumbai at 1:00 AM!