Our colleagues arranged a car to take us to Agra to see the Taj Mahal on saturday. They said it will take about 4 hours but I didn't believe it. How could it take that long to go only approx 140 miles?! Turned out they were wrong, it took almost 5 hours! Even though we got on the road by 6 am traffic was bad. Our driver, Venedra explained that there were 3 classes of people the lower class are the laborers who work all the days in the week.
Laszlo likened our drive to a video game. Our driver was zipping in and out traffic dodging oncoming cars when he decided to go on the other side of the road to pass. The shoulders would also be used. You would say our driver was reckless but everyone was doing the same thing. I lost count of how many times I had to close my eyes, so sure we were going to hit someone. I have never seen such aggressive driving in my life! Not only were we dodging slow trucks but also oxens, horse drawn carts, people etc. 2 lanes turned into 4 lanes which includes the shoulder. It was really scary but I sat in front and was entertained the whole ride, the 5 hours passes pretty quickly. It was so unreal when several times I turned my head and looked into eyes of an ox right next to the car as it tries to cross the street! Apparently there are no traffic laws in india. As a result over 100 thousand people die due to traffic accidents. That's part of the reason why our company does not want us to be on the road at night. Imagine trying to dodge all the dangers of the road at night. Street lights? get real.
At one point I glanced over to the other side of the road and saw what looked to be a funeral procession on foot. It took a few seconds for my mind to process that people were carrying a dead person on a wooden stretcher. The body was covered in a bright yellow cloth with strings of yellow and orange marigold flowers draped over the body. Our driver explained that Hindis cremate the dead and the muslims and siks burry their dead. I guess this body was on its way somewhere to be cremated. So ok, I didn't see a body being burned by the river (thank goodness) but it was close. I think it was more than enough, it was not on top of my tourist thing to do while in india!
I was so amazed the different way people were being transported. It reminded me of the scene in vietnam. I can see how Gary was so entertained on the bus ride as we went through village to village. However, instead of the gazillion mopeds we saw in vietnamese there were many tuk tuks which are small open 3 wheel vehicles that pack people like sardines.
India seemed to me dirtier and poorer. I dont thing they have trash cans because there is trash everywhere. The word that came to me was squalor. It was morning and the temp was cool, most people were wrapped in big scarfs or blankets, I was told they usually cannot afford a jacket. The fog in the rural areas is actually fog but the fog in the city is actually smoke and pollution. People burn all kinds of wood including the live green twigs so it gets really smoky.
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