Horn Please

On the Road in Northern India, October 2012

We used many modes of transportation on our OAT Heart of India tour - planes, trains (including the Delhi Metro), buses, taxis, tuk-tuks,  rickshaws, boats, camels, shanks mares, and even hot-air balloons. But the tour was essentially a road trip, and our daily life was centered on a big white tour bus. I love road trips especially in a bus. One sits up high and has a great view. Impromptu stops are possible, and on and OAT trip, highly likely. Streets and highways of India offer a window into the life of the country and display the inevitable contrasts and contractions of a rapidly developing economy and rapidly changing society.

Transportation in India is fully optimized. Almost every conceivable mode of transportation is utilized, everywhere. Roads are used for transportation of goods and people in whatever conveyance seems appropriate.

Cow herders in Rajasthan move their herds between summer and winter pastures along highway 84 (the main road between Delhi and Jaipur), mostly on the shoulder, but sometimes in the left ("slow") lane. There are oxcarts in busy roundabouts in New Delhi. Cows are everywhere - in big cities, in small towns, in the  countryside; on main roads, in narrow ancient streets, in stairways leading to homes. In Europe, bike racers refer to median dividers, speed bumps, cross walks as "road furniture"; cows are the "road furniture" of India.  It is not uncommon to see a group of cows dividing the direction of travel by laying about in the middle of the road, or marking the edges of the road by moseying along along the shoulder, or simply crossing from one side to the other ("Why did the cow cross the road?" ... "To make the truck blow its horn.").

Indian cities are ancient, and so are many city streets. The Chandi Chowk bazaar of Old Delhi, between the Red Fort and the Jama Masjid, was one of the celebrated wonders of the ancient world. The area retains this heritage in New Delhi; it is a vibrant market area, its narrow ancient streets still crowded with shoppers and merchants. It is certainly no place for a tour bus, but walking, pushcarts, rickshaws, donkeys are just fine.

Rights of way are not clear with this diversity traffic. Every truck encourages the vehicle behind to "Blow Horn", or more poetically to "Horn Please". So, you may hear the occasional toot of a horn. At times, it seems as if it is the horn that makes the vehicle move. Our always helpful tour leader provided the following rough guide to Indian horn etiquette:

Cars: Short blasts (urgent) indicate supremacy, i.e. in clearing dogs, rickshaws and pedestrians from path. Long blasts (desperate) denote supplication, i.e. to oncoming trucks "I am going too fast to stop, so unless you slow down we shall both die," In extreme cases, this may be accompanied by flashing of headlights (frantic).

Single blast (casual): "I have seen someone of of India's 1.2 billion whom I recognize", "There is a bird in the road which at this speed could go through my windscreen", or "I have not blown my horn for several minutes."

Trucks an buses: All horn signals have the same meaning, "I have an all-up weight of approximately 12.5 tons and have no intention of stopping, even if I could". This signal my be emphasized by the use of headlamps.

10th incarnation of Shiva was an articulated tanker.

You might expect a lot of aggravation and hostility given all the congestion and honking, but altercations are rare. There are 1.2 billion people in India, and getting along seems to be a priority. People behave good-naturedly about delays and congestion. The cow crossing the road, is not on a personal mission to disrupt your day. It is simply crossing the road,

Head in the sand; feet in the water

The Honolulu Bulletizer (aka Star Advertiser) features a story about competing designs for what may become the tallest buildings in the State. The controversy is about how high they are and what it will do to the Honolulu skyline (whatever that is). Why is nobody worried about what these buildings will stand on. The Kakaako area where these building may be built is a low-lying area and  likely to be covered in water in 2050. Raising Islands reported recently on the latest threat to dry land, the University of Hawaii has an extensive website devoted to sea level change, and a symposium on environmental disasters to be held in January 2013 features this alarming map of future Honolulu sea levels during a storm surge or tsunami

Is anybody paying attention?

I hope the lobby entrances on these these buildings include boat docks.

"Get out of the way."

"Rail is on the way. We've got the money. Get out of the way." says Honolulu Mayor Peter Carlisle.

It sure looks like rail is a fait accompli. Money is moving in congress. The first delivery of steel rails has arrived in Honolulu. Pylons to support the elevated track have been constructed. Archaeological examinations of rails sites are in underway. It looks like a done deal.

But it is a really bad plan.

The credit rating of the primary rail car contractor, the Italian company, Ansaldo is in financial trouble and has been rated as near junk. This is the same company that Los Angeles fired for poor performance. Ansaldo is expected to provide cars and driverless operating systems. Good luck with that.

The route extends from East Kaplolei to Ala Moana Shopping Center. The first station is located some distance from Kapolei, Ohau's so-called second city, in East Kapolei. It will not provide much relief for the residents of Ewa Beach trapped daily on Fort Weaver Road.

The second station is at University of Hawaii's West Ohau campus, students might use it if they can find a convenient station at which to board.

The third station is Ho'opili. Nobody lives there; it is mostly farmland. But a big real estate development was recently, and long after the station there was planned, approved for Ho'opili, further impoverishing our farm land and further enriching developers.

The fourth station and several others from are in low-lying areas, perhaps above the tsunami inundation zone, but within the predicted sea level rise. The low-lying stations include the airport, most in Kakaako and Ala Moana.

The construction plan is to build the stations and the railway is in numerical order. It will start in the west and build toward the city. In a few years we can ride all the way for East Kapolei to Pearl City.

The route does not include the University of Hawaii, Manoa campus or anything else east of Ala Moana. So it won't help get people around in the city itself.

It begins to look like the rail plan is really a further enrich real estate developers plan.

I support rail. I don't expect a rail system to reduce traffic, but I do expect a rail system to help people get to places they need to go. So, If this thing is going to happen, why not revise the plan so it will work. Consider the following steps:
1. Get rid of Ansaldo - there are many alternative suppliers.
2. Revise the route: move it to higher ground; put stations where people need to go, Kapolei, Ewa Beach, Manoa.
3. Reverse the order of construction - build from the center outward - so people can use of the rail system while it is under construction.

Walking Like a Cow

India, October 2012

We were getting ready to cross a busy street in Delhi, and our tour leader advised us to "walk like a cow", meaning when you see your chance, go and don't hesitate. Cows wander the streets of India with apparent nonchalance and manage not to get themselves killed or to disrupt traffic (much). We all crossed the street safely; the flow of rickshaws, tuk-tuks, taxis, buses and trucks simply enveloped us, we keep walking and break through to the other side. Walking like a cow is good general advice for walking around tourist attraction in India.

We travel in a huge white bus air conditioned bus with the word "Tourist" emblazoned on the front window. When we stop anywhere, we draw a crowd. In the country, it is usually children curious to see strangers. In the cities or at tourist destinations, hawkers and beggars are attracted to the bus like bees to a flower. Every time we stop, we must run a gantlet to get from the bus to our destination. Conversations are started by single word "No", eye contact, or even glancing at merchandise.

Hawker: "Pashmina? 200 rupees." (An impossibly low price for the genuine article.)
Me: "No, thanks".
Hawker: "100 Rs".
Me: "No. I don't want a pashmina".
Hawker: "Gandhi statue? 200 Rs"
Me: "No"
Hawker: "100 Rs".
...

The bus stops and we all prepare to go do our touristic duties. I jam my hat onto my head, adjust my Ray-Bans, and take a deep breath. I get off the bus and am engulfed in noise and exotic smells. I begin walking like a cow. I become invisible. The crowd parts for me as the Red Sea parts for Charlton Heston. I do not see the tacky elephant key chains. I do not see the postcards, the singing bowls. I do not feel the slender woman holding a child gently touch my arm. I do not see the man infected with elephantiasis display a foot like a tennis racquet with toes. I do not hear the price of the Gandhi statue drop to 2 for 100 Rs. I am indeed walking like a cow.

These scenes repeated in multiple languages everywhere tour buses stop. After a few days, one of our group asks "How to you like India?", perhaps expecting a value judgment. Value judgment in India is slippery. The hawkers, and even the beggars, are operating some sort of enterprise. It is a truism to say that there is poverty in India. The question to ask is how are people dealing with their own poverty. Business in India operates on all scales. The hawkers and beggars are participating on a microscopic scale. The man with the tennis racquet foot has declined medical treatment because it would reduce his income. A man in Jaipur, missing a foot from birth, upgraded his business from begging to selling postcards and helping tourists cross the street. Hawkers bring cash home and put food on the table while being spared from the indignity of begging. Our tour guide recounted a success story of three brothers from Varanasi who parlayed their hawker business into a multinational business enterprise. It is a hallmark of contemporary India - 1.2 billion people creating ways to put food on the table. Value judgments are irrelevant.

Walk like a cow.

Hiatus

Haven't posted anything since August 2009.

Lets just say I have been doing other things. I plan to keep up writing stuff. Here is a sampling of what might appear.

Karen and I visited India this year, so you might read something about that.

We recently had a mayoral election in Honolulu with a clear choice between pro-rail candidate Kirk Caldwell and anti-rail candidate, former Hawaii governor Ben Cayetano. Cadwell was city manager when Mufi Hanneman and received bags of campaign donations from construction companies and unions.  My penultimate post in June 2009 was on "Honolulu Traffic". I re-read it, and don't see much I would change.
 
It looks like we will have Mufi's mickey mouse rail plan. Frankly, I support some form of rail transportation system in Honolulu, but this plan sucks. It does not stop where people need to go (eg the Manoa campus of the University of Hawaii). It will be constructed in the wrong direction (eg from Ewa towards downtown). It will include stops in places where there are no houses (eg the proposed Hoopili subdivision). The equipment supplier, Ansaldo, was recently fired by the city of Los Angeles.

I held my nose and voted for Cayetano hoping he might come to his senses and try to fix the rail plan. Now there is no hope.

Also who really believes that rail will relieve traffic congestion? Cities with rail have rally bad traffic. The purpose of public transit is to get people where they need to go.

You might read more about rail.

But Superstorm Sandy gives us something else to think about. Although most of Mufi's train will be on pylons  Will the route be high enough above sea level to stay dry? You might read more about climate change and Honolulu  urban planning.

Or I just might stay lazy.