I had only two weeks to pack before I went off to Delhi in 2003. Everything was arranged, flight, someone to pick me up at the airport, house where I was to live in...
I arrived close to midnight. There was my boss and his driver waiting at the airport - reminiscent of Subang Airport back in the late 70s but noisier due to the maddening crowd. Even at this late hour.
As usual, the first things that had to be stowed away were the foodstuff - "kicap manis" (sweet soy sauce), "belachan" (shrimp paste), "serai" (lemon grass), "ikan masin" (salted fish), "ikan bilis" (dried anchovies), and "lesung" (pestle and mortar). I travelled with these most important items. Alas, the larder was full of exactly the same things... There were eight Malaysians in the same house from the same company. They each brought the same stuff. A week later, I realised that these were non-essentials. Why? The fish market in Delhi had all of these and much much more.Fresh "serai", fresh turmeric, "belachan", "cincalok"...you name it, they have it.
But where did they get the "ikan bawal" (pomfret), "tenggiri" (king fish), "sotong" (squid), "kupang" (mussels)... from? After all, Delhi is in the middle of the Indian Continent! Well, flowin in of course.
So, every Sunday I made my trip to the. Fish Market to buy provisions and Dunhill International (I couldn't stand the "normal" Dunhill since they were made in India. It takes an hour to get there by car.
Pomfret in Assam Pedas, Steamed Tenggiri with Halia, sweet and sour mackerel, crab in chilli sauce...were my repertoire for seafood. Vegetable menu includes cabbage in dried prawn soup, spinach in belachan, stir fried bean sprouts, sauted capsicum with onion and tomatoes, spinach with salted fish. Beef and chicken were not that difficult to get. Most chicken will be slaughtered in plain sight. Beef dripping in blood...not those pinkish meat as a result of thawing.
My culinary skills for beef and chicken were not exciting. Curry, "kormak", '
"Masak kicap", soup (simply boil the meet with halia and onions. Add salt and pepper. It's like making stock), sweet and sour beef with pineapple cubes, beef or chicken casserole were my dishes.
But my piece de resistance is bouillabaise.
Big problem with cooking though when it comes to beef. Our maid was Hindu. So we had one set of utensils, crockeries, knives...to cook beef.
Electricity is not the only problem. Brown-out and black-outs are daily affairs. But water? Without electricity there is no water. They dug deep to collect water. And you are advised NOT to drink from the taps. So everywhere you go, you will have 2 litres of mineral water. The Site Office, Corporate Office and every floor of our home away from home had a water dispenser!
Crucial to everyone would be hand phones. Just a simple handphone that can call and SMS. Mine was alcatel which had a built-in modem. So, I used that to chat with my wife, faster than the provided internet land lines. For site usage, we provided each engineer with a handphone too. Walkie talkies had a limited range of one mile radius.
One huge problem was NOT knowing! The moment you moved into another state, you have to buy a different SIMM! None of us were the wiser on one of our weekend sojourn to Rajashtan. Pratek, my driver, failed to advise me until we arrived two days later in Delhi much to the chagrin of my wife.
By the way, there were 4 different groups of attendants on 12 hour shifts - 2 maids, 2 cleaners (different caste, darker skinned, unkempt), 2 drivers and 2 gardeners. In other words, service was par excellence. Your shirts are washed and ironed, food at the table, drinks sent to you...but what a waste! We spent 12 hours working, 6 hours of sleep and another 6 to catch up on tv, ym with wife and kids.
And me, being stupid, cooked dinner every day!!!
The gardeners and cleaners do not mix with the others. They come to clean the house or water the plants when the others changes shift - around 6 am or so.
Back to food! I could not swallow their curry, beriyani, dhall...
There were two offices: corporate office (walking distance from home) along the main road and site office near Dwarka. But both were organised in the same fashion. They have a strict pecking order. When you dropped your pencil, the office boys comes running to pick it up. Your "chai" is served at the exact time every day.
They address those above their rank with Sir or Ma'am - reminiscent of the British Raj. They have been independent since 1948 but still unable to shake the culture ingrained during colonialism. Why is that? The caste system?
Their written English is laced like our formal Malay letter writing; salutations after salutations, exaltations...it is like reading (some would swear, my letters) the Contract Document.
What is amazing is that the Contract Managers memorizes the FIDIC contract, QAQC Manager memorizes all the ISO requirements, testing requirements and minimum or maximum values, the planners can recount every single predecessor of each line item...
But on site? Totally outdated!
You must employ ladies to carry a pan full of concrete; wheelbarrows are NOT allowed. They cut Y32s with hammer and chisel. They bend steel plates using brute force. You must employ ladies to break stones to form road chippings. Steel plates are cut using hammer and chisel...
I was stupid enough to order wheelbarrows, cutters, oxy-cutters, crimpers...
I received two stern letters: one from the union of labourers and the other from the Ministry of Labour just 48 hours after those modern conveniences arrived on site!
They do have steam rollers, back hoes, tractors, gensets,..but these are like from the days of the Empire.
One very peculiar discovery - they type better, faster and more accurate on their 20 year old Remingtons than on desktop computers!!!
Salary scale back then? Project Managers were earning RM1k. The ladies ferrying concrete were RM3 per day!
One more unique business model: middlemen. To bring rebars from outside of Delhi you will go through 3 middlemen. Not much RM1k each. First to collect the rebar from the mill, then at the gate as you are leaving! Then one more after the weighbridge before entering Delhi.
Traffic? And I thought was a town crammed with bicycles.
Old Raleighs, newer ones, 3 wheelers, huge ones, small ones...most of them from 60s. They carry 3 pax mostly
Trishaws? Majority are rickshaws - the type shopkeepers uses to load guni sacks of rice.
Then the motorcycles of all sorts. Tuk-tuks' are plentiful. Cars of old and new; Hillman, Mazda Capella, Austins...once a while a Pajero, rarely an Estima.
Every car will NOT have wing mirrors. Nobody, and I mean no one, would dare to rest their elbows on the windo ledges! Why? The distance between two cars or lorries or any vehicle is one wing mirror! The other norm is the incessant honking. You cannot avoid it.
To be continued...
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