Like that headline? Sadly, I can't take any credit for it -- they ran this story as a package with a bunch of boxes, photos, graphics and such, and I think the print layout team put it all together.
If I ever pay taxes in India, I will definitely hire an accountant, if only so I don't have to brave the line.
Tuesday, 29 July 2008
Saturday, 26 July 2008
It's a safe country
I am sitting in the newsroom on Saturday evening, and news of six bomb blasts in Ahmedabad just appeared on television. As I turned around to watch news of the attacks -- which came just one day after seven blasts in Bangalore -- I apparently looked concerned enough to prompt one of the deputy metro editors to volunteer some reassuring words.
"Don't worry, it's a safe country," he said, laughing. "We always have at least six blasts."
"Don't worry, it's a safe country," he said, laughing. "We always have at least six blasts."
Story: After the scare, flight delay
I went out yesterday to get some "color" for this story, a woeful travelers' tale. Most of what I got was cut for lack of space. Fortunately, I have this blog, on which I can post whatever occurs to me.
Here is my dispatch from deep inside Le Meridien Hotel, New Delhi:
Anne-Marie Guillet could have done without the last two days of her Indian vacation. The 55-year-old Frenchwoman was among the 241 passengers who on Thursday evacuated an Air Mauritius flight that caught fire when a bird flew into its wheel. She spent Friday shuttling between Le Meridien Hotel and the Delhi airport after a second flight was canceled due to mechanical trouble.
“I really do like India,” said Guillet, who spent two weeks touring Rajasthan and is now heading home to Reunion Island. “But I really want to go back to my country.”
After Thursday’s emergency evacuation, some passengers waited more than four hours for their luggage before buses escorted them to Le Meridien. They received phone calls at 1:30 a.m. Friday telling them to return to the airport for an early morning flight. They then spent two hours waiting on the plane before officials told them the flight had been canceled.
“We waited, we waited and we waited,” Guillet said Friday afternoon. “Now we don’t know if we can take another plane.”
Ratnesh Verma, one of 90 HDFC Standard Life Insurance employees headed to Mauritius for a holiday, spent Friday resting and nursing cuts sustained while sliding down the emergency escape chute during Thursday’s evacuation. He said his family has encouraged him not to board any more planes.
“They say, ‘If this type of thing keeps happening, then why risk your life?’” he said. “But it is a part of life. If you worry about this type of thing, you will be living in fear.”
So Verma joined the scores of bleary-eyed travelers who gathered in front of Le Meridien early Friday evening. With luggage in hand, they boarded the buses and left for a third trip to the airport.
Here is my dispatch from deep inside Le Meridien Hotel, New Delhi:
Anne-Marie Guillet could have done without the last two days of her Indian vacation. The 55-year-old Frenchwoman was among the 241 passengers who on Thursday evacuated an Air Mauritius flight that caught fire when a bird flew into its wheel. She spent Friday shuttling between Le Meridien Hotel and the Delhi airport after a second flight was canceled due to mechanical trouble.
“I really do like India,” said Guillet, who spent two weeks touring Rajasthan and is now heading home to Reunion Island. “But I really want to go back to my country.”
After Thursday’s emergency evacuation, some passengers waited more than four hours for their luggage before buses escorted them to Le Meridien. They received phone calls at 1:30 a.m. Friday telling them to return to the airport for an early morning flight. They then spent two hours waiting on the plane before officials told them the flight had been canceled.
“We waited, we waited and we waited,” Guillet said Friday afternoon. “Now we don’t know if we can take another plane.”
Ratnesh Verma, one of 90 HDFC Standard Life Insurance employees headed to Mauritius for a holiday, spent Friday resting and nursing cuts sustained while sliding down the emergency escape chute during Thursday’s evacuation. He said his family has encouraged him not to board any more planes.
“They say, ‘If this type of thing keeps happening, then why risk your life?’” he said. “But it is a part of life. If you worry about this type of thing, you will be living in fear.”
So Verma joined the scores of bleary-eyed travelers who gathered in front of Le Meridien early Friday evening. With luggage in hand, they boarded the buses and left for a third trip to the airport.
Thursday, 24 July 2008
On the way back to Delhi
On the Tuesday Continental flight from Newark to New Delhi, which clocked in at just over 13 hours from takeoff to touchdown, I sat in seat 23F. To my left, in 23E, sat a man in his late 30s or early 40s dressed in a blue-and-white striped button-down shirt and slacks. To his left, in 23D, sat his daughter, who was no more than 6.
About one hour after we took off, the man and I struck up a conversation. He and his daughter lived in Michigan, he said, where they had just bought a house valued at $500,000 for $300,000. "It is a great time to buy," he said, grinning widely. He went on to say that they were on their way to Andhra Pradesh, his home state, to attend the funeral of his father.
The man, who has lived in Michigan for the past six years, then asked how I was finding India. I gave him my stock response, which is that the summer had, for the most part, gone as expected, that the company accommodations had made for a fairly painless move and that I was looking forward to seeing more of the country -- particularly the south -- in the fall.
Then he decided to give me some tips to help me make the most of the rest of my stay.
"You know, one Muslim in India is worth 10 Hindus," he said. "They have the power. But they think... they think like animals. They do not act right. You have to watch out. They will try to take advantage of you."
I looked at him but didn't say anything. "It's like the blacks in the U.S.," he said, nudging me with his elbow as though we were in on a shared secret. "You know better than I do that you have to be careful around them."
I smiled at him briefly and then began rooting around in my backpack for my headphones.
"I am sorry to disturb you," he said 30 seconds later. "But I have to tell you: Don't go into Pakistan. They are like animals up there in Pakistan." I told him I had no plans to go into Pakistan. Then I put the headphones in, swallowed two Excedrin PM tablets and went to sleep, thinking as I drifted off that it would be easier to learn something from such exchanges if I didn't find them so offensive.
About one hour after we took off, the man and I struck up a conversation. He and his daughter lived in Michigan, he said, where they had just bought a house valued at $500,000 for $300,000. "It is a great time to buy," he said, grinning widely. He went on to say that they were on their way to Andhra Pradesh, his home state, to attend the funeral of his father.
The man, who has lived in Michigan for the past six years, then asked how I was finding India. I gave him my stock response, which is that the summer had, for the most part, gone as expected, that the company accommodations had made for a fairly painless move and that I was looking forward to seeing more of the country -- particularly the south -- in the fall.
Then he decided to give me some tips to help me make the most of the rest of my stay.
"You know, one Muslim in India is worth 10 Hindus," he said. "They have the power. But they think... they think like animals. They do not act right. You have to watch out. They will try to take advantage of you."
I looked at him but didn't say anything. "It's like the blacks in the U.S.," he said, nudging me with his elbow as though we were in on a shared secret. "You know better than I do that you have to be careful around them."
I smiled at him briefly and then began rooting around in my backpack for my headphones.
"I am sorry to disturb you," he said 30 seconds later. "But I have to tell you: Don't go into Pakistan. They are like animals up there in Pakistan." I told him I had no plans to go into Pakistan. Then I put the headphones in, swallowed two Excedrin PM tablets and went to sleep, thinking as I drifted off that it would be easier to learn something from such exchanges if I didn't find them so offensive.
Monday, 14 July 2008
Ajkal mai chutti me hu
In Hindi, according to my Living Language self-study book, the above phrase means "I am on vacation." And I am. Tonight I head to Seattle via Newark (the first leg of this journey will be a 16-hour nonstop flight, followed by a shorter cross-country one) for my oldest brother's wedding Saturday in Eastern Washington.
I will be back in Delhi on the evening of July 22, and I am hoping that the effects of the jetlag will have worn off sometime around Labor Day Weekend.
In the meantime, here is a link to my most recent Facebook album. It includes some assorted Delhi tourist sites (Red Fort, for instance) and other pictures of life in Soami Nagar.
Tuesday, 8 July 2008
USA A-OK
The Fourth of July — a holiday that for the past few years has barely registered with me — turned into a three-event extravaganza in New Delhi.
Event the first:
A woman on the metro desk who will be married this Friday in Shimla invited me to a reception the night of July 4. I was the only American to make it, which rarely happens, as the HT interns have tended to move in a pack to social functions. The event was very classy – outdoors, great catered food (including Lucknow kebabs, which I had never tried), an open bar and, at the end of the night, Indian songs played by some guy with an acoustic guitar. About one hour into his impromptu set, he stopped the music, pointed at me and said: “You. You feel left out.” Although I told him I was enjoying myself just fine, he insisted, in an effort to make the evening more America-friendly, on launching into Metallica’s “Nothing Else Matters” followed by Bryan Adams’ “Summer of ’69.” I thought it peculiar that everyone knew every word to the latter, but on Monday, when I mentioned this to another metro reporter, she said the song is played at every party.
Event the second:
The U.S. Embassy threw a party for ex-pats on Saturday night. Some points of note: drinks were served by marines; the dinner menu included hot dogs and hamburgers; partygoers were greeted by an Indian Uncle Sam who was, quite inexplicably, on stilts (see picture with Emily); and a DJ closed the evening with a dance party that featured both rap and country hits and, as a closer, Don McLean’s “American Pie.”
Event the third:
Emily, Michelle and I threw a Fourth of July-themed party at the guesthouse on Sunday. The girls made apple cobbler (it would’ve been pie, but we lack an oven) and sweet potatoes. I was in charge of champagne – both drinking it and encouraging others to do the same. The party turned into a viewing of the Wimbledon final between Federer and Nadal, which lasted until 2 a.m. Sadly, only the houseboy and I were in it for the long haul, and he stayed only because he sleeps in the common room with the television (meaning that I kept him up, which in retrospect I feel bad about).
The takeaways: 1. I love America, and also Spain (Rafa!). And India. 2. I am looking forward to an alcohol-free few days.
Monday, 7 July 2008
Story: U.S. papers, Indian copy editors
Writing about the troubles plaguing my chosen field is so much less depressing here.
UPDATE: This story appeared on Romenesko Monday.
Newsman: What will be outsourced next? Newspaper editors?
Eureka Reporter
"When newspapers lay off someone here and hire someone in India, they are breaking their trust with the American public in order to pinch pennies," writes Dave Stancliff. "As an old newspaper man, I find it difficult to see what’s happening to such an important part of our society because of lack of imagination in solving money problems." || Hindustan Times: It remains to be seen whether outsourcing will cause a dip in editorial quality.
UPDATE: This story appeared on Romenesko Monday.
Newsman: What will be outsourced next? Newspaper editors?
Eureka Reporter
"When newspapers lay off someone here and hire someone in India, they are breaking their trust with the American public in order to pinch pennies," writes Dave Stancliff. "As an old newspaper man, I find it difficult to see what’s happening to such an important part of our society because of lack of imagination in solving money problems." || Hindustan Times: It remains to be seen whether outsourcing will cause a dip in editorial quality.
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