On the sly, Lobby Manager Gaurav, my guardian angel from yesterday, has arranged a driver for me, and for half the price quoted by the hotel. But shhhh, it’s a secret. Agra, Gaurav’s hometown, is four hours away by road, about 250 km (155 miles). We take off after breakfast, where I have a nice conversation with a business man from Colombia.
During the 4+ hours it takes to reach Agra, my young driver receives numerous phone calls. Between that and his English being very limited, I have ample time to look out the window. Conclusion: do not drive in India. Driving on the left à la England is the least of your worries. Cars, bikes, motorcycles, motorbikes and tuk-tuks pay no attention to the right-of-way, one-way streets, lanes or anything. There are five lanes on a four-lane road, three lanes on a two-way. Vehicles come at you from all sides. The name on one big sign says it all: Shiva (the Destroyer god)! People have to change cars here, not because of engine wear, but because their horn wears out! Another highway sign warns drivers: “maintain your discipline”.... but to no avail.
After an hour just getting around Delhi, we hit open patchy roads. At one point I see a child in front of his driver dad on a motorcycle... on the highway at almost 100 km/hr (60 mph). Not to mention saris billowing on other cycles. One cyclist has no helmet because of his turban. Buses stop at many exits, entrances and overpasses to let riders on or off. We pass fields of some yellow crop, maybe colza/rapeseed. From time to time there are groups of high, thin smokestacks; no idea what they’re for. Sometimes a small temple in the middle of a field. People living in tents under underpasses. It’s a patchwork of life in India, and very different from life in the other countries I’ve visited.
The haze makes it impossible to see far. It’ll last until Agra. (My guide says it’s been this way since Diwali (Oct. 27, a full month ago) and it’s the fault of the firecrackers, but my money’s on pollution and no wind. Plus the burning of crop stubble after harvesting.)
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| The unfinished but occupied building across the way |
And with Agra comes gridlock. One instance of it caused by a man on a bike carrying long pipes blocking trucks as he cuts across traffic. Bad Indian driving habits (see above) plus roadwork plus pedestrians and cows in the roads do not make for fluid traffic. It’s like a video game. Overwhelming.
I have time to see the city, including people napping on walls by the river, before we finally reach the hotel around 3 o’clock, just before the buffet lunch closes. I eat so much and am so tired that, after arranging for a guide for tomorrow, all I have the strength for is spending a while at my window watching life across the street... where, in spite of the specification “Taj Mahal view”, there is no Taj Mahal in view. What is in view is cows grazing in the vacant lot between two unfinished buildings over open shops, a lady hanging wash out to dry on the roof of one of those unfinished buildings while her children play, a man dumping rubbish off a truck into that lot while, further in, workers dump construction trash off the roof of a building... all trumped by a tuk-tuk driver taking a dump in that same lot. Pristine no-litter China this is definitely not.
Night falls before six o’clock, local time. I don’t last more than an hour. Big day tomorrow.
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| The "Taj Mahal view" advertised |
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