My Time to Shine

Apparently one of the local radio stations has been running the same early-morning show for years.  The DJ will cheerfully ask listeners to phone in and answer the question, "How late are youuuu for work today?"

Punctuality is not one of the central tenants of Indian life.  How could it be?  Between the absurd traffic jams, the every-man-for-himself queuing system, the sheer number of other people you have to navigate around, precision needs to go out the window in the interest of keeping sanity.

The morning commute was particularly snarled today, and we found ourselves sitting for twenty minutes not half a block from your correspondent's office.  Surrounding the car were young people peering through a fence into a crowded mass blocking the front entrance of a nearby auditorium.  As it turns out, Indian Idol was holding tryouts in our neighborhood, and thousands of people had turned up to audition.

To accommodate the giant influx of aspirants the Indian traffic police had helpfully closed one side of the road. As we've learned, a closed road in one direction only invites drivers to plow into oncoming traffic, and today was no exception.  It was when JP wedged us bumper-to-bumper--and by that I mean front bumper to front bumper--with another Ikon that we decided to walk.

Blonde girls anywhere in India never escape attention.  Two weekends ago, when driving through Jaipur, we saw a blonde at the side of the road and were amazed--she practically emitted a glow, she stuck out so blatantly.  We made it into the office, but our stroll was far from casual.  When we finally made it up the elevator, a large group of high, high-level executives were milling about the reception area, and they had all seen us schlepping through the early-morning heat trying to elbow past crowds of Future Kelly Clarksons.  We were late even by Indian standards, which led several international CEOs to joke we had stopped to tape an audition ourselves.

Now how's that for a first impression.  I doubt it's the kind of fame Indian Idol was hoping to inspire.