The past week has been an exercise in transportation disasters. The auto strike was swiftly followed by a thunderstorm that dumped nearly 73 mm of rain and several uprooted trees on Delhi's main roads. To add some perspective, as of August 21, Delhi had gotten 122 mm of rainfall total...for the entire monsoon season since June 1.
I breezed out of an event at the lovely Nehru Library to find that one of New Delhi's poshest intersections (within spitting distance of the Presidential mansion) had been commandeered by troupes of armed guards and harried-looking traffic police. Cars were parked for miles in every direction. People had climbed out of their cars and were gesticulating madly at the cops, or honking wildly at their neighbors. Some, perhaps the more philosophical or resigned, had given up protesting altogether and were slumped on the curb, fanning themselves with their cell phones.
I wandered down the clogged roads, desperately searching for an auto. The sky turned black, night fell, and I was still wandering like a lost spirit through the dark streets, waving at every auto in sight. I flagged down a man who cheerfully told me that he wouldn't take me to my house, but he'd take me somewhere else.
"Where?" I said.
"Wherever we can go," said the auto driver, with a cracked frown. I got in. We chugged through winding back roads and past the crowds massed at the Metro stations. Eventually I got to the intersection where my office was, got out, and paid him. I found another auto who was willing to chance the dangers of waterlogged Mathura Road, and two hours later, I finally got home.
A little table for your information:
Time it took to get home: 3 hours
Cost: 130 Rs.
Time it normally takes to get home: 40 min
Cost: 50 Rs.
See the difference, everyone? This is what happens when it rains. It pours.
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