The Steripen Challenge....Delayed

My planned scientific experiment, The Steripen Challenge, has been indefinitely delayed as I have been unable to locate the instrument required to conduct the experiment, the Steripen. It's a portable water purification system that I had hoped to utilize to see exactly how bad the tap water is and whether the RO-UV purification system in our apartment actually works. In hindsight, this would have been a good idea before the first glass of purified water. As for the location of the instrument, I think there's a good chance the wife has hidden it while out of the country so that I don't do something stupid, like try and purify monsoon ditch water (don't think I'm not going to try).

I was excited about my first scientific experiment since my freshman year in college when I was an arrogant enough Finance major that I thought I could master Miami University's pre-med weed out class, the dreaded BMZ116. Let's just say "master" isn't the word my Dad uses to describe my passing grade.

In lieu of The Steripen Challenge, I took it upon myself to take advantage of some unseasonably cool weather (it's only 81 degrees here with a heat index of 87), measure something else, and finally take a quick run outside. Even though I've adjusted to treadmill running, I've learned there is no substitute actually running outside; after a couple months of a Chicago winter and six months in India, it was long overdue. Even though it's technically an "off" day as the gym is closed on Mondays, I wanted to measure the protected distance that can be run within the grounds of our apartment complex without exposure to traffic (other than vehicles coming and going). The good news, if my Garmin is correct,  is that the loop is 1.1 miles, more than enough variety to keep from getting bored when the weather cools down. It also make outdoor training for the Delhi Half Marathon an actual possibility if and when the date for this year's race is announced.

The Monsoon Arrives

In India, they say things like, "the Monsoon will arrive in Delhi on June 29." And yes, I capitalized the word because the way people describe it, you'd think they were expecting the arrival of some long lost relative. Since the country gets around 80 percent of its annual water from the Monsoon, it almost seems appropriate to turn it into a proper noun. In the states, we have general seasons (i.e., hurricane season, tornado season) Yeah, I know, we tend to get specific with hurricanes as they form and get close, but it's nothing like this.

Apparently the monsoon has stalled a bit this year or isn't producing as much rain as typical. If things don't pick up it could, at best, lead to higher food prices and, at worst, spell utter disaster and drought, so you can understand why it's kind of a big deal.

In Delhi and Gurgaon, the Monsoon first hit a couple days late on July 1. For the most part, it rains for a very small portion of the day but when it does, it's complete armageddon, with quickly darkening skies that dump and blow sheets of water into an environment ill-equipped to handle such an event. The net result is localized flooding because the drainage simply can't handle the volume of water and some streets turn into shallow streams. The streets turning into streams has pretty much the effect you'd expect on traffic. It took the driver approximately 90 minutes to get from our apartment to Lindsay's office, which is about 6 km and typically takes ten to fifteen minutes.

When you think about it, it's a small inconvenience given everything that's at stake but another gentle reminder that even with the amount of development and increased infrastructure in India over the past few years that it is very much still a developing country.

Strike!

Working for an American company that basically follows American holidays (with the exception of a couple of the major Indian holidays), today is an off day. I elected not to travel for the long weekend in part so I could attend the Fourth of July celebration and in part because if I traveled next weekend I could have back-to-back three day weekends, which isn't the worst thing in the world. In hindsight and completely on accident, that was a wise decision.

There's a 12-hour general strike today in protest of a rise in fuel prices.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/south_asia/10505004.stm

If I had chosen to travel this weekend, it's a pretty good bet that I would have either been stuck where I was going an extra day or been stuck in Delhi upon arriving. I really didn't think it would impact me until I received a phone call around 9:00am from the car company. Either our drivers are on strike or they were unable to cross the border from Delhi into Haryana. I mentioned that this would have been a good thing to know more than an hour before expecting the car to arrive. He didn't apologize. Either way, I'm stuck finding my own transport if I care to venture out today.

On the bright side, there's nothing I absolutely need to go out and do today, but I had planned to take advantage of the day off and explore some sights in Delhi, including a search for Karim's in old Delhi which is supposedly once of the more authentic and delicious Indian culinary experiences in town. At the least, I could have gone out and taken some pictures that would have made this post more interesting.

On the bright side, I'm not stuck in some random place in India, or worse, stuck in Delhi with no way to cross the border. Plus, this gives me a little free time to start my "test the water" experiment.

More Options for Water Consumption

Author’s Note to his Mother:  You might not want to skip this post which outlines the reasons and situations where I’ve moved beyond simple bottled water for various purposes.

A primary concern for travelers to India is where they get their water. In our apartment, we have a reverse osmosis ultra violet (RO-UV) filter system from which we take all the water we consume. However, the first glass of water, even from that top-of-the-line machine, was something of a leap of faith. However, once you don’t get sick, you quickly acclimate and gain a level of confidence and trust.

The discerning and careful traveler will obviously stick to bottled mineral water. In restaurants, waiters automatically try and upsell to Evian or some other import, but the Indian stuff (i.e., Himalayan, Catch, etc.) is just as safe and typically half the price. The longer I’m here, the less vigilant I’ve become. I’m not doing something as stupid from drinking from the tap (or, as was the case with a friend when here 5 years ago, drinking from a random well in the middle of the country), but have started to follow the lead of other westerners I’ve seen. At some restaurants, I’ve decided to start trusting the filtered water. While this is risky, if others are doing, why not? While I’m sure the chemistry in my body hasn’t changed, the fact remains – it’s filtered water. If the water were THAT contaminated, no one would drink it. Bottom line, I’ve decided to start racial profiling; if I see other white people drinking water from a pitcher, I’m going to follow their lead.

I stay away from known tap water with one exception: brushing my teeth. At the end of month two, I decided that it’s no more or less dangerous to shower in the water than it is to brush your teeth with it. How much water do you swallow when you brush your teeth? Probably about as much as you accidentally and unintentionally consume when you’re in the shower. I have no data to back this claim, but I’m considering it a fact nonetheless. That’s why I decided to put it in the “safe” column. If you’ve ever brushed your teeth with bottled water, it’s fine for a few days. Two years? It’s an entirely different situation.

Of course, there’s a good chance you’ll see a post in the near future talking about how I can’t imagine how I could have gotten sick. Consider it one of the pillars of the John Luth Weight Loss Plan.