BOM: 2 hours from work

Everyone seems to live two hours from work here. I think its the traffic, and the high price of living in Mumbai. Total bummer. When I work until 9, the poor engineer that has stayed with me doesn't get home until after 10, and has to get up in time to get here around 8:30! Ouch!

One engineer has his family in some town 4+ hours away, and only sees them on weekends - but only if he doesn't have to work Sundays! He's got a new baby too.

I really think that the people here work all the time. They work most Saturday, many Sundays, and spend 4 hours a day commuting. The test engineer I work with has worked 7 straight Sundays. Ouch ouch ouch.

This is a quality of life issue, I see. I think this commuting is quite common. There are lots of women who work here too - if they are at work 12+ hours a day, I am assuming they don't have house-husbands - who looks after errands and children and things?

Maybe that's why people don't seem too chipper here - they are too tired.

This is that third-world labour thing, giving us cheap goods. This is certainly no sweat shop, just a regular factory - but the commute for the workers must be a killer!

Although maybe its not that people have to live so far away, its just that this killer traffic makes any distance seem long. Today it took ~40 min to get here from the hotel - and I swear its only about 5 km. Less than 10 km, anyhow. When there are no policemen acting as traffic lights there is naturally gridlock, and no one gets anywhere very fast. Usually there are policemen, but sometimes not, then you have the random extra crazy traffic.

-c