No Parking

There are two signs. The big one says "No Parking-Towing Zone" and the small one says "Parking at owners risk" (sic). There are TWO rows of two-wheelers parked here! If you are parked in the first row, good luck getting your bike out when you leave! The big sign is by the traffic authorities and the small one is by the bank. There is a huge rush at the banks and there is no proper parking space provided. Once in a while the enforcers make a round. While I was there a policeman came by and talked to the "security guard" at the bank who went in and made an announcement that the bikes are going to be loaded onto the tow truck. Out came a large number of people and they scrambled to move their bikes temporarily to another place. Banks are so crowded that it took us more than 30 minutes just to deposit a check. There are drop boxes, but there was some problem recently with checks dropped in drop boxes and some people prefer not to use them. Banks are giving good interest rates - a fixed deposit for 500 days gets over 9% interest.

There was no forethought about the growth that India is experiencing and as usual policy plays catch-up as huge number of new two-wheelers and cars come on the street every day. It will get worse as a huge number of new small cars hit the street. TATA, an automobile company, is coming out with a car that costs Rs. 1 Lac (lac = hundred thousand; 1 lac= USD 2525 or Euro 1780). Incidentally, TATA is bidding for Jaguar and Land Rover as Indian companies continue to go global, while Mercedes and BMW have set up their manufacturing units in India.

"Politics ain't worrying this country one-tenth as much as where to find a parking space." -Will Rogers