Observations

Today, I completed my second day of work. There is not much to report so I'll present some observations.

Before I arrived in India, I had heard that the traffic was very bad going to and from work. The trip coould take anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour to go just a few miles. But then a new building was opened and our people relocated to it. And we changed hotels to be closer to the new building. So now, the ride is no more than a few minutes to and from work. That's not to say that the traffic is not bad. The difference is that we are now more on the outskirts of the city rather than downtown so there are fewer people and less traffic to contend with.

In the two days that I have gone to and from work, I have witnessed many cows, dogs, sheep, chickens, oxen, and pedestrians sharing the road with cars, trucks, motorcycles, bicycles, three-wheelers, and buses. I have seen buses leaning to one side as they go down the road because they are so full of people. I have seen people literally hanging on the outside of the bus because there is no room inside the bus.

The road that we travel to get to work is under construction. What is interesting is that there are no warning signs. Everybody just looks and sees there is construction going on, building materials on the edge of the the road, bricks for medians lying in the center of the road ready to be installed, and people walking all over the road to avoid the debris. So vehicles are weaving all around the lanes to avoid the building materials and people and animals in the roads. Quite a sight!

The building that we work is set back from the main road about a half mile. The driveway that leads to the building is actually a very well traveled road. The trouble is that it is not paved. In reality, it was paved but it was found to be defective for some reason. So the road contractor came back and tore up all the asphalt. Evidently the foundation had not been correctly laid. There are many potholes now and it really skaes you up when driving this road. What is happening now is that many people are digging lots of holes without the benefit of machinery. They dig holes that are about a foot in diameter and filling them with cement, I think. The holes are a few feet apart. You can imagine how many holes that is when you think the road is at least a half mile long, and two lanes wide in each direction. And of course traffic and pedestrains are still using the road so they can get to and from work. The workers use a "T" shaped rod. The shaft of the "T" is positioned on the ground. One guy works each end of the cross of the "T". They rotate the tool to auger into the ground. This loosens the ground so that they can dig it out with a shovel. I have been told these holes are about eight feet deep. When the ground it too hard or more pressure is needed, another guy will sit on the "T" while his buddies rotate the "T". It sort of looks like he is on a merry-go-round. I kept wondering why somebody didn't get a machine to do this. It would be easier and faster. But machines cost a lot of money, and I heard these guys get paid about 200 Rupees a day. That's about $5 to you and me. With those kinds of wages, it's cheaper for the contracting company to use manual labor. And there are many people willing to work for that amount of money. Of course, manual labor takes much longer to complete a task even when many people are assigned to it.

All of us are already trying to make plans for this weekend. I think we are getting cabin fever since we don't leave the hotel in evening. Of course, it is an ordeal because besides planning where you want to , you have to line up a driver or two. Remember we cannot take public transportation anywhere, so we depend on the drivers to get us around. I'll let you know how it goes.