No Water? India – Gurgaon Infrastructure Dilemma

Date: Friday 8/22/2003 1:45:49 AM

Subject: No water? India’s Dilemma. Power out? No biggie.

Here is an interesting thing: the power goes out here at least once a day, usually a couple times a day. (At the guesthouse that is; at work they have a UPS.) It is only off for about a minute before coming back on.

When I was talking to this Swiss lady that I met who lives on one of the buildings in my complex, she said that it comes back on because there are two big generators in the apartment complex on the roof of one or two of the buildings. They kick in to provide power when the main power supply fails. If power is out for a long time, the generators have to trade off so that they can cool down.

How is that for crazy? The governmental infrastructure is not sufficient to provide continuous power so private parties have to make provisions for themselves if they want a continuous power supply.

Additionally, there is no public water. The apartment complex draws on two aquifers under the ground for the water we have. (No wonder they say "Don't drink the water" considering the infinite number of men I've seen by the roadside... when you gotta go, you gotta go...) Apparently there is no public water in India, Gurgaon where the office and my apartment are (it is a suburb of Delhi). They are running a pipe from Delhi to Gurgaon to provide water, but the project has gotten stalled because there is a railway track in the way and they haven’t decided what to do about it. Go over, under, around? It's been four years they are thinking about it. (This also according to the Swiss lady.) We don’t realize the conveniences that we take for granted in the US.

Yesterday, I wore a Salwar Kameez, see picture. It is like a long shirt with blowsy trousers. It is pretty and very feminine. There is this silk shawl thing that I wear with it, just draped over my shoulders with the ends hanging down the back. Seems not so very practical, but very feminine as it sways and swishes as I walk. About a million people told me a looked beautiful, even a few people that I didn't know. So, of course, I felt very flattered by the end of the day and had a huge smile on my face. I also wore a bindi, the little black dot thingy on my forehead. It is a fashion statement. (The big red ones are for married women, but the other colors are for fashion.)

Also of interest, only 12% of people in India own cars.

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