beykoz:
You did mention “the cleverest people on the planet”, right?
After weeks of multiple daily power cuts (some of them lasting four or more hours at a time), I have to seriously doubt the mental capacity of the people in responsible positions, such as those in charge of power generation and distribution in this country which – according to some contributors – is home to the “cleverest” people in the world.
Sadly, everything that is in the hands of the government is completely mismanaged. Trying to avoid one public service will only drive you into the clutches of an even worse outfit. Read on.
The other evening, I flew across two major wind farms in Tamil Nadu and observed that some 75% to 80% of all turbines were shut down. When I reached my apartment about one hour later, the power was shut off – we are told this is due to a shortfall in power generation throughout Tamil Nadu. Hardly!
At this point, I should explain that we live in a so-called "luxury" residential enclave, but the developers only provided a generator that is powerful enought to supply electricity to the elevators and public area lighting whenever there is a power cut. So much for "luxury".
Anyway, this Sunday morning, we woke up to a power outage at 7 a.m., meaning we could not cook breakfast. Mrs AF (who is Thai and reasonably tolerant in all matters) finally lost her cool and so we set out to purchase a gas cooking range. This mission was accomplished quite smoothly, and with the new gas appliance in the back of the car, I asked my driver to stop by a petrol station to pick up a cylinder of LPG. At this point, my driver began to tell me something about needing a government licence and a 20-day waiting period, which I all put down to a possible misunderstanding on his behalf. However, it turned out that whilst anywhere else in the world the purchase of a cylinder of LPG is a straightforward money-for-goods transaction, in India (the country with the cleverest people on the planet - remember?) this is not so. In fact, you need a ration card to obtain your LPG, but as a non-Indian, you can’t get a ration card. We now have a gas stove but no gas – and an electric cooker without electricity. Great.
Given that Indians who go abroad are quite happy to complain almost immediately about perceived discrimination (whether it’s having to take off their headgear for security checks as everyone else, or about traces of beef tallow in fries), I wonder whether the same self-appointed victims of discrimination know how non-Indians are treated back home?
Add this to the inability of a nuclear power to generate enough electricity to enable its population to cook a decent breakfast, and I seriously wonder where people such as beykoz get their euphoria from.