Hyderabad

We made it to Hyderabad. We are happily ensconsed with Satya and Thriveni. Kathy wanted to take the train for the experience. It was about 30 hours from Delhi down. Two nights and one day. We both finished 1000 Splendid Suns along the way. A good book.

Here are some idle thoughts about labor with no real conclusions. India has a population of over a billion. There are people to do every job, even the most menial. For example, in Amritsar, the government contracted a garbage hauling company with trucks and the like to do about half the town. The garbage collectors union is up in arms because it will replace the workers currently doing it all by hand. I also got my laundry done in Amritsar. It was done by hand for about $3. It is almost impossible to carry our own bags. There is always a porter wanting to carry them and wanting next to nothing for a tip.

October 2 is Gandhi's birthday. He wrote a lot about how technology was replacing workers in the villages and thought that the social structure was breaking down because of it. In fact, he spent much of his later years living on a commune that emphasized shared labor.

It's been a few decades since I read E.F.Shumaker's, Small is Beautiful, but his thesis is much the same, but regarding the states. He says that our ag research system has always been oriented towards large machinery and monoculture crops. He is probably correct. There are only like 7 corn hybrids making up the majority of the corn grown anymore.

I'm not sure what the economists say about labor and technology when labor is a cheap as it is here. I am glad we had a train to take, rather than trying to walk from Delhi to Hyderabad.