Driving the Roads of India

Driving on the roads of India is an experience totally foreign to what I know as "driving." First, India drives on the left side, the "wrong" side of the road for Americans. To walk across the street is a nightmare, because I'm always looking in the wrong direction. All the rules as I know them don't exist here. Indian drivers drive by a set of rules I don't know about. The best thing I ever did here was to hire and car and driver. No way could I have driven here. Below are some of my impressions of the roads in different areas of India. I am always the passenger, never the driver, and that suits me fine. What a trip down the Grand Trunk Road, that goes from Kabul to Calcutta. I was on the Delhi-Agra leg. I saw bicycles, cars, busses, trucks, camels, elephants, cobra snakes, bears, monkeys, water buffalo, cows, pedestrians, dogs, and a cat. The only rule of the road is that anyone can and will do anything at any time. Y can drive anywhere, but you cannot touch anyone. It took us 7 hours to get there, and that was a Saturday, a day off. The people are most interesting. The women all are clean and have beautiful saris, the men are dirty. The women sit on the back of the motorcycles, sidesaddle, usually with a kid o two, one in front of the husband, and one kid in the middle. The price they pay to look good. We spent about 6 hours on the road to Jaipur. Along the way I saw just about every human function there is. I saw peeing, dumping, sleeping,bathing, crying, arguing, a guy falling off his cart, you name it, just not sex. I saw a funeral where the men were carrying the wrapped body, and the women were all hunched down on the ground, wailing, and I do mean wailing, loud and clear. The ride is almost as interesting as the towns and landmarks. I'm come up with a list of the things that men do by the road, and things women do. Men... shave and wash each other, cook, sleep on cots (charpois), visit and hold hands with each other, pee, crap, fart, burp, and scratch their dicks play board games and cards, drive their camels, water buffalo, elephants, motorcycles, trucks, goats and cattle down the road, just about anything except hard labor. Women... carry loads of camel dung, and bundles of sticks and small trees to use a fuel, and jars of water--all on their heads, arrange their saris, and cover their heads with the scarf, work on road repair, house construction, restoration of temples, work in the fields, herd goats and cattle, and carry babies. One more thing about the road. My driver says to watch for cobras on the road. You have to stop because they are so big you can't just run over them. Ohmygod!!! So far, no cobras. Six and a half hours from Jodhpur to Khuri, 40km outside of Jaiselmer--the road trip. Lots of goats, sheep, and camels. I do love those camels. The road was pretty good, but that's because the Indian Army has a large presence in Jaisalmer. It's close to the Pakistan border. They run between Jaisalmer and Jodhpur. I saw about a hundred big trucks with soldiers and equipment. We also saw an Army camp a few yards from the road, with lots of tents. The Army is probably the biggest income, right ahead of tourism for this part of the state. All the activity on the road is starting to not phase me, although I'm always looking for some excitement I'm getting used to "road life" here in Kashmir. Everyone is attracted to the road, people, shops, dogs, beggars, flocks of ducks and chickens, herds of cows and sheep, gaggles of geese, etc. Pedestrians seem to trust the driver. They walk on the road expecting all cars to avoid them. I wouldn't trust these drivers for 1 second. It is a whole different mindset, driving here. Two laned roads are treated as 4 lanes, using the shoulders as lanes. They pass each other constantly, always expecting the car being passed and the oncoming car to make room for them. They have speed bumps with no warning, so you fly when you hit one. It's just best that I don't watch. If I had to drive, I would never reach my destination..