Cooking Thomas...?

Everytime I travel abroad, I get back home wondering if India will ever get to where the developed countries are. For a week or two after my trip, I keep thinking up small plans in my head to do my part to navigate India towards more progress. Then I get back to my usual common (wo)man life! It is not something I am proud about...maybe it shows I am mediocre...maybe it is cause of the lack of confidence that I can make a difference at a large scale...maybe it is cause I am actually most comfortable and at home in all the chaos.

I travel 1/2 way across the globe to a different country, hire a car at the airport and drive to my hotel which is 30 miles away, without even having to stop to ask for directions. It is so seamless. Here, over the weekend, I drive 1/2 the distance (15 miles) to Masinagudi in 5 hours...stop about 10 times for directions and then get to know that 1/2 of the activities we were hoping to do aren't possible at this time of the year! It is anything but seamless! This kind of important information is not available here...and in London if I have excess luggage I can plan my route in the underground based on the number of steps that are there in the station! All the information is available online. They are literally apologizing for not providing escalators and lifts at all the stations and give you a work around for that. It seems so ironical...how are we even surviving in all this chaos?

In all this cynicism I got into a discussion about whether the Food worlds, Fabmalls and Reliance Freshes were increasing the disparity in India. The 1 billion here need to get richer if we want to get to a 'developed' status. What will the thella waala do if his customers switch to shopping for vegetables at Fresh because it is neat, has AC and is available at a comparable price. Over coffee my friend and I worried for the faceless thella waala on Tippasandra main road and then we took the easy route of getting back to work! A couple of hours later the worry for the thella waala was gone and he was sure that Reliance or Foodworld won't put the thella waala out of business...he would fight back with his ingenuity! This enlightenment came to him on MG road!

He got off the auto on MG road at the Brigade road junction, crossed over from the Cauvery corner and made his way towards Higginbothams vaguely recalling that Thomas Cook had an office somewhere there. He must have walked some 10 meters when a man came up to him with a Thomas cook card and asked 'Looking for Thomas Cook?'. Now, how is that possible? How do you figure out that someone dressed casually in a shirt and jeans is going to Thomas cook? There might be some 100 shops on that side of MG road. How did this salesman single my friend out as 'the guy who is going to exchange currency'? He wasn't carrying a banner or asking about for directions. He wasn't even carrying a briefcase of cash or any such thing. For all you know, it might have been a relatively light day at work and he just decided to meet some ex-colleagues for lunch at Coffee day.
Friend: Ya, am looking for Thomas Cook. Where is the office?
Smart Salesman: This way sir (and he walks along all the way to the Thomas cook building, and passes the door which seems to lead to Thomas Cook)
Friend: (Pointing to the Thomas cook door) Isn't this where I should go in?
Smart Salesman: No no..that is just administrative office, for exchange you need to go in there...(and leads the way into the building and through another door to a man behind a desk, waiting to grab Rs and hand over dollars)

Once inside my friend looks around and sees no Thomas Cook logo etc. He finds it a little shady
Friend: Is this Thomas Cook?
Man behind the desk: Yes we exchange money. What are you looking for?
Friend: (Again): Is this THOMAS COOK?
Man behind....: Yes, we give good rates.
Friend: (Persistently) But, Are you Thomas Cook?
Man behind...:No Sir, but we give much better rates than Thomas Cook!
And then he tried to convince my friend to exchange Rs there...but wasn't as successful in pulling a fast one as the smart salesman on the road! My friend walked out of there into the other door with the Thomas Cook logo. He walked out with a lighter pocket but not without a sense of admiration for the illegal guys working next door to Thomas cook, cooking them up and eating up their business. Imagine their guts, here was a Golliath looming right in front of them, but David doesn't seem to be perturbed. He is devising new work arounds every day and earning his life. We could get into a whole new discussion on right and wrong and whether the ends justify the means etc. We would probably talk about whether the unethical route Guru (Abhishek Bacchan, said to be portraying Dhirubhai Ambani) took, to work-around the license raj was right or wrong. But one thing is certain, as a country, we have all the survival instincts it takes in this place! It might appear that there is nothing to cook, but most will find a Thomas Cook to cook and not only appease the hunger, but also end with a cherry topped dessert!