Delhi Tracks
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The Spitting Driver
have a new driver from the office today since my regular one is off. This driver looks OK, but seems to be chewing something. Something, that I guess must be betel leaf (paan). I am not sure if he is also chewing tobacco along with it. I find this to be a disgusting habit – but since I have no choice and need to get to the office – I sit in the car.
What was even more disgusting, that at the traffic lights – the driver would open the door to spit out this grossly red colored mixture. It was truly heinous. I know that I should have said something – but I could not even look at the fellow for fear of me throwing up. Spitting paan is one of the most repelling sites in Delhi not to mention totally unhygienic.
I would have thought that this would have been a habit of the lower classes or the less educated. But as I have stayed more and more in Delhi – I find many of my friends chewing this strange concoction for hours. And even as they are driving, they are chewing along. And every so often – open the door of the car to spit out a disgusting mixture of saliva mixed with the betel leaf. People tend to be spitting this all over the streets. And you can clearly notice all the red marks on the walls of Delhi. No wonder – no matter how much one tries – with the beggars on the street, the spitting paan walas, the peanut shells, the endless other garbage on the street – it will be tough to keep the city clean. I can almost understand why the Singapore government banned chewing gum on the streets.
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