1st. op. day 31 2nd. op. day 10

To begin, another Irish joke -
Flanagan met the parish priest in the street. The priest didn't have much time for Flanagan, being as he was a hedonist and non church goer. Flanagan thought that as the priest was no doubt a man of wisdom and knowledge, he would ask what Lumbago was. The priest decided to give it to him with both barrels. He said, "Lumbago is what you get from loose living, fast women and too much of the drink. Why do you ask?" Flanagan said that he was concerned as he'd heard that the Bishop had it!
Jean continues to progress but a little more slowly than last time, although that's not surprising or unexpected. We are taking all our meals in our room as it is too difficult for her going to the restaurant but she's hoping that she'll be there for breakfast tomorrow. She is doing extremely well. We are hoping to go down to the old French settlement of Pondicherry 150 kms south of here on Oct. 10th. and then we'll fly back to Bangkok on the 14th. All still subject to change but looks doable at this stage.
Thought you might like to hear some of the items in the Times of India today.
- A rare white tiger killed a youth who fell into his enclosure at the Delhi Zoo. It was 10 minutes before the tiger attacked but in that time no-one helped the guy. Then the tiger dragged his lifeless body around before losing interest. Can't have been too hungry!
- The unemployment rate among working age Indians between 15 and 60 years of age is 15%. This amounts to 110,000,000 people. Not a healthy figure. The total population is 1.2 billion.
- There has been a money laundering and corruption scam involving the 2010 contract for purchase of Augusta-Westland helicopters for India's Ministry of Defence. Some 21 million Euros involved in kickbacks. India has now cancelled the contract with AW and various people have been arrested.
- The Indian sharemarket (Sensex) down yesterday by 1.5% on bad global economic news.
- In Tamil Nadu State (Chennai is the state capital) 20% of power was cut to the industrial sector. This is because a key power station is out for repairs. Every now and again there are blackouts of usually only a few seconds but it must play havoc with high tech industry, hospitals etc. Still, there is much being done throughout India to upgrade the whole power supply system. But, like the roads, there is a long way to go with millions still without any power whatsoever and India will never reach its full potential until these infrastuctural problems are fixed. It's a mammoth task.
- Narendra Modi, the Indian PM, is off to the USA for a 5 day visit this week and always gives a gift to his opposite number. Apparently he gave Tony Abbott a book on Yoga!! He still hasn't found anything for Obama. The Chinese President received a Khadi Jacket.
- Petrol prices are down to 71.5 Rs. (NZD1.53) per litre but local auto rickshaw drivers haven't reduced their fares. In fact fares have gone up and there's a big stink!! Much like anywhere really.
- India is getting tougher with drink driving laws but there is still a long way to go with apparently 380 deaths on the nation's roads every day. A lot of it is in the attitude to driving too. If even a small gap opens up the first instinct is to open the throttle and the brake is very much a last resort. No thought of any potential consequences.
- There are 2 desalination plants due to be built near Chennai at a total cost of Rs.5.441 crore. If you've got a big enough calculator you can work it out - 1 core = 10,000,000 and 49.2 Rs. = 1NZD!
- a bus driver was stoned to death when stones were thrown at the bus and he died at the wheel while the bus was still moving! One of the passengers managed to stop the bus. This happened at Uthankarai, some distance from here.
- Trucks are being hijacked and the drivers murdered in Andhra Pradesh State. The trucks are carrying copper plates and the latest incident was # 14 in 6 years. Not surprisingly owners and drivers are refusing to drive that particular stretch of the highway! The Police say they are increasing patrols!!
- By now it will be known whether the Indian space mission to Mars has been successful. India will be the 4th. country to have entered the "Mars Club".
- Apparently the reason for the present Chinese aggression on the Sino/Indo border is that China wants to bully India into not becoming too friendly with Japan. Modi, the Indian PM has just been to Japan and apparently has a good personal rapport with the Japanese PM, Abe. China of course doesn't want a newly militarised Japan on their eastern side together with India on the west. But the bully boy tactics are unlikely to work. India has said that the outcome will depend on who blinks first. Not very propitious for peaceful relations. Just remember all this when thinking how great it is that we are selling all our milk powder to China!! China's sole aim is TAKEOVER, whether it be by military means or by financial stealth and they have an intergenerational time frame.
- 11 people died when a 5kg LPG cylinder exploded on a bus. It was being carried illegally. 60 more are badly burned and are "battling for their lives" (apparently some with 80% burns) in hospitals near Delhi. It took emergency services several hours to reach the scene and then another 4 hours to hospitals in Delhi through evening rush hour traffic. Just imagine how the burn injuries fared over that time frame.
Well, that might give you some idea of life in India. Not, we hasten to add, that our lives are being directly affected, but it shows how diverse in a totally bizarre way life is here. We have state of the art hospitals, an advanced IT industry, Martian space missions, potential war with China, horrific crimes and daily loss of life on the roads, to mention just a few things which happen all the time.
Hope you enjoy the read and that all is well.
Cheers and love from us........
Jim and Jean
Chennai

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com