Blame it on the Rain!

Blame it on the Rain!

So, day 2 of the monsoons, and the first day I've had to commute with them. As I've said before, the rains aren't really the issue here. It is the roads. Today, I had a meeting in Gurgaon with a major German sports retail brand. The companies headquarters were in a part of Gurgaon that is a little less high rise, and more low slung buildings in the Indian equivilant of an industrial park. Their neighbors were The Future Group (Big Bazaar) & McKinsey.

I tell you this to stress how the offices are clearly in a good section of Gurgaon. However, the roads today were so bad in this area that I thought my driver was going to flood the engine driving through 6 inches of standing water. Aside from the water issue, there was a serious mud issue on this side of town. I saw folks standing ankle deep in clay mud trying to push cars out of their parking spots.

After the meeting, I had my driver take me back home. The ride is normally about 30 minutes, but today took about 1.5 hours. To illustrate the increasingly dire nature of my drive, I've put together some video clips:

1) Part One: Traffic crawls to a stop:


2) Part Two: Motorcycles seem to be the only things making progress


3) Part Three: Damn, maybe I should just use a bike! That must be the fast way home!


4) Part Four: Screw any sort of wheeled transport. The only folks making progress are on foot!


5) Finale! What has been holding traffic up for an hour? This hole in the road.....