The things that currently drive me nuts

The same old things, every time. They only seem to get worse. After a while, you get used to them again - I haven't gotten to that point yet on this trip:

- Not being able to walk outside without my heart in my mouth, bumping into hundreds of stray dogs within a couple of miles, sometimes vicious looking packs of them (not only does this city have to deal with its own strays, but apparently some genius somewhere decided that strays from other cities were to be dealt with by transporting them here and releasing them - there are hundreds of thousands of stray dogs - India soon will have not only the largest population in the world but already has the largest stray dog population in the world).

- Having to listen to some of those dogs fight amongst each other and bark all night long.

- The narrow, unnatural, 30-40 mile creek that runs by (well, not immediately by, but some 50 feet away) my parents house, beginning at one river and emptying into another, carrying tons of sewage and God knows what else and emanating all kinds of smells at times ).

- Various people throughout the city, including in this locality (middle class people with proper houses, sometimes cars and all kinds of other luxuries - but with pea-sized brains) burning their garbage in piles outside the gates of their houses (including plastics and God knows what other noxious fume producing substances) - they seem to think that this is the state-of-art-way to get rid of your garbage.

- Groups of people (usually men) milling around idly everywhere and staring all together whenever a female form passes by.

- All the people who you sometimes vent about these things to, who live in swanky localities, get driven around in air-conditioned cars and only see the insides and the outsides of the nicest places in India wondering why you're complaining and what you're talking about. They should all do substantial time here, with none of their accouterments.

- A feeling of total frustration and helplessness that nothing can ever be done to improve things here (not that I have ever seriously tried - always started something - if only in the smallest way - and never really stayed long enough to follow through) and sometimes disgust.

- Diwali season (which means fireworks everywhere - everyone buys fireworks). The pretty ones are nice to watch when they're set off, but when rockets tend to almost land on your head or eyes and blind you as you are walking on your terrace, you don't take kindly to either the season or to the idiots who are heedlessly firing these things that travel in a short arc and land, while still burning, on the ground or some one's terrace, head, face or other body part as they're standing or walking outside or the authorities for letting such things be manufactured and sold. Only slightly better than this sort are the 'bombs' - 'atom bombs', 'nuclear bombs' whatever - that go off and usually take your ear drums with them for a while. With a pounding head all I can think of at these times is that I'd like to, as in those Tom and Jerry or Road Runner cartoons, shove these bombs up the backsides of the people setting them off and see how they like it then.

- That there are so few columnists like Tavleen Singh of the Indian Express who actually tell it like it is - everyone else seems to be pulling the wool over their own eyes and just talk about how everything here is the best, the first, the greatest, the whatever - or just don't talk about any of this at all - or just talk about it as if it's all normal

One bright spot:
The ear-splitting noise from constant revelry in open air tents or the street where the not-so-fortunate people hold their weddings or the mullah's call to prayer at ungodly hours over the loudspeaker at nearby mosque no longer seem to be a problem - people seem to be obeying some new law of no noise over loudspeakers between 10 at night and six in the morning or something (or it could just be that I'm here out of season).

I hope I can help in some way, no matter how small and doing no matter what, towards mitigating at least one of these issues - already on it. If nothing else, at least then I can complain a little bit louder.