Monday, January 05, 2009

From today's A.Word.A.Day
Welcome back home Anu Garg.

I'm back home from India. Back to the snow and sub-freezing temperatures of Seattle. A few random observations from my three weeks in Mumbai...

There appears to be some law there that everyone has to have at least one cellphone. And you're required to answer the phone when it rings, even if it's in the middle of your own wedding.

In the absence of a cellphone, any small portable electronic device can satisfy the regulation. I swear I saw a beggar on the sidewalk with the wires of an mp3 player hanging out of his ears.

You have a higher chance of dying in a traffic accident than in a terrorist attack, especially if you are a pedestrian. A rule of thumb: the bigger the vehicle, the greater the right of way it has.

Only in Mumbai: A shop selling $100,000 Porsches can be around the block to a shop selling bananas (with a total inventory of perhaps $100).

Only in Mumbai too: Space is at such a premium that in certain neighborhoods buying a parking spot for a Toyota in the parking lot of your building might cost you a Porsche.

Well, adjusting the clock on my laptop computer took only a few seconds, but my body clock is still getting used to the 13.5 hour time difference. Meantime in AWAD this week we'll see five miscellaneous words.

2 comments:

Martha Silano said...

Happy New Year, Peter! I so enjoyed this post about cellphone usage and indigents with MP3 wires in their ears. I hear the Italians, too, are very much in love with their cell phones and their computers (especially to check Facebook 20x a day while at work). Who would have ever imagined how much electronic gadgetry the 21st century would be filled with, even in far, far away places like Mumbai. Wow, Mumbai. I look forward to hearing more about it once your body clock gets back in line.

Peter said...

Hi M:
I wish it were me that was in Mumbia, but it was Anu Garg, the Word a Day guy! (follow the link to his place)