Tuesday 18 August 2009

No Transport in Delhi

My main means of transport in Delhi for me and the teenagers are Autorickshaws/Tuk Tuks they are so cheap and cheerful. At the beginning of this week the government announced a crackdown on unauthorised autos. They should be registered with various certificates, pick people up when flagged down, the drivers should own the vehicle, they should always use the meter etc, etc.
So the crackdown would begin on Monday.
What happened?
An Indian solution in that the autos went on strike. Not an auto to be seen anywhere. I didn't know and left a friend's house in my usual manner, walk along and get the next auto.
There weren't any.
I did find one, a couple of miles and three blisters later. Price was 100 rupees we got it down to 70 as the driver said " No more autos today" and he was right.

Great solution as far as I was concerned. How can you crackdown when they have all gone away?

It has caused my youngest teenager some difficulty. He has his leg in plaster. He kicked his brother and missed a bit, things got twisted and he has torn ligaments in his foot. He blames his brother for having a bony arse.
Yesterday the school bus dropped him off and a policeman noticed his predicament and gave him a ride home on the back of his motorbike.
Today he had to walk back on the crutches.
Myself- well I was in the hotel at an ex-pat meeting. I ordered a taxi and another person laid a claim to the same taxi. We shared and now someone else I know in Delhi. We discussed food always a biggie with the ex pats.
Food here is not at it's best in "the summer"
Even fruit and vegetables.
It took me a long time to find a shop that sold edible lettuce but today it was not good and the sweetcorn was inedible. It was full of ants.
Fruit- there was a mouse on the fruit stall. It ran around and the stall holder just kind of squished it with an apple on display.

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