Every year, city wakes up to the same fogging problem

It was a wonderful Christmas dinner. Great conversation, Christmas carols, the warmth of wine, friendship and good food. But the drive back home was a bummer.
From Windsor Court, where we were, to the Media Centre, where I live, is normally a 15-minute ride, even at the sedate pace that the family chauffeur has been taught to drive. But on Christmas day, the ride took close to an hour thanks to the thick blanket of fog that stubbornly blocked visibility every inch of the way.If the Christ child had been born in Gurgaon, those three wise men would never have been able to make it to him; no chance of seeing anything in the sky, much less a star.
The question is, why are we astounded when the fog appears? And why does it regularly make news headlines? Every year at this time of the winter, at the tail-end of the year, right smack in the middle of the festive season, the fog comes down. Its like clockwork.
Yet, every year, the whole of Gurgaon is so surprised by the occurrence; one would think its never happened before. And articles are written in the press about the need for high-mast lighting on the streets, and about how the Gurgaon administration ought to pull up its socks and install all manner of road furniture so that the blinding effects of the fog are somewhat nullified, and how people must learn to drive slowly all this accompanied by photographs of mangled vehicles.
But the one piece of really practical advice, that could actually do something to help, is never given: forget about berating the sarkar its too thick-skinned to listen anyway and for heavens sake go fix some fog lamps to your car. Easy? Yes.
Will people do it? No. And the reason is that it spoils what is called the show of the car.
A month ago I bought a new car and went off to the local Car Shingar to have various accessories put in. The salesman brought out with alacrity what he deemed were essentials: rubber floor mats to protect the carpeting, a bottle of perfume that he plonked on the dashboard before I could blink, a thing that looked suspiciously like a sloughed-off snakeskin to drape over the steering wheel (rejected by me with a shudder) and a slew of other gizmos for me to approve.
But when I mentioned tentatively fog lamps, he turned his mouth down and said with a disapproving shrug that spoke louder than his words: Well, its your wish, but it will definitely spoil the show of the car. Suitably discouraged, I said no more about it, and lived to regret my wimpishness only too soon after. When will I ever learn?
The only redeeming factor here is that I am not alone in my thick-headed stupidity. Add to all the dumbos like me who fail to equip their cars with fog lamps those hundreds of people in the NCR who year after year optimistically plan Christmas and New Year holidays that require them to take flights from Delhi airport. Inevitably, they get grounded for hours, even days and equally inevitably, they are amazed that this should happen to them.
Never mind that every year weve been hearing about CAT III airport facilities not being in place. And then hearing that even after theyre installed, we dont have sufficient numbers of CAT III-equipped aircrafts or CAT II-trained pilots.
And even if we were to get all these CATS in place, it still wouldnt amount to a row of beans because the coaches that ferry passengers from the plane to the terminal and vice versa have no fog-fighting equipment, which can only be yes, you guessed it the humble fog lamp!