tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31338942.post-39197759469775856072008-06-30T23:36:00.006+05:002008-07-01T00:01:05.176+05:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.scottcarneyonline.com/blog/uploaded_images/IMG_5815-772555.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://www.scottcarneyonline.com/blog/uploaded_images/IMG_5815-772518.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>Today the Chennai ran out of gas. By noon the few remaining pumps that were open had lines that wrapped around the block. A few, like the Indian Oil pump across from my house went for more than a mile. In the center of the city I passed a stalled Hyundai Santro with a woman in tears behind the wheel. She had run out of gas while going from station to station looking for a place to fill up. By ten at night, the few remaining pumps had police posted outside of them ready just in case a riot broke out. I saw people filling jugs for drinking water, apparently hoarding the fuel just in case the gas supply doesn't get turned back on.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.scottcarneyonline.com/blog/uploaded_images/IMG_5797-727370.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://www.scottcarneyonline.com/blog/uploaded_images/IMG_5797-727321.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />I stopped at several different pumps and asked attendants why there was no gas and got conflicting answers. A police officer with several stars on his eppillete outside one bunk told me that there was a strike. Fed up by paying $5.30 a gallon, truck drivers refused to supply gas to stations across Tamil Nadu in a bid to the government to lower petrol prices. In a country where the median income still overs around $300 a year, the current price of petrol is far higher than just prohibitive, it's downright obscene. However another source at a local newspaper told me that gas supplies were slow to come in from abroad and that this could be a sign of things to come.<br /><br />There is still no clear consensus about whether this is merely a blip, or the beginning of a trend in Tamil Nadu. I expect that the issue won't be resolved tomorrow. There will probably be a lot of stalled cars on the roads in a few days.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/31338942-3919775946977585607?l=www.scottcarneyonline.com%2Fblog%2Findex.html' alt='' /></div>Scott Carneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03332843345932942468noreply@blogger.com3