Even with the help of our GAP guide, travel in India has been a little crazy. You may have heard that there is record cold temperatures in Northern India, and the usual fog is creating chaos in air, rail and road. So the other night, we were hoping for the best heading by overnight train to Varanasi from Agra.
The Agra railway station is far outside of town, so instead of the usual motorized rickshaw, we had the "luxury" of cabs. They are actually more terrifying, as they deal with the same traffic hurtling down the road at 5X the speed of a rickshaw.
So, off the three cabs go into the gloom of the foggy night, dodging cows, dogs, goats, pedestrians, push-carts, bicycle rickshaws, motor rickshaws, cars, trucks and large buses. After a while, we actually got to a 6 lane motorway, three per side (not that anyone used them). Our cab went roaring past cab #1 parked at the side, no flashers flashing. What was wrong? We stopped up ahead, and our guide phoned to find out. He said they had broken down, and we would go back to help.
I had noticed our guide now held a large metal water pitcher on his lap. What's in the pitcher, NP? I asked, fully well knowing what the answer was to be. Oh, it's petrol (gasoline). Ah yes, open gasoline in our cab, I opened the window to let some of the fumes out.
It is at this moment that we hurtled back out onto the motorway. It had a concrete divider in it, so it was not possible to get to the correct side. No problem, we just drove down the wrong side of the freeway. On the shoulder with the slow moving pedestrians and cows.... NOOOOOO! We were flying at high speed down the fast lane in the wrong direction, honking and dodging huge transport trucks, buses and cars. And yes, there was a pitcher full of gasoline on the lap of our front seat passenger. SSSSHHHHHHIIIIIITTTTT! Sorry to swear, but really.
Actually, all we could do is laugh and joke about it, it was so absurd and dangerous. And we all did laugh, Jason summing up our feelings with the night's best quote - "NP, you have one fucked up country". My second favourite quote was "At least we got to see the Taj".
After a couple of kms dodging traffic and laughing out of countrol, we arrived at the stuck cab, sitting at the side, still no flashers flashing. You will recall the foggy conditions.
Out came the pitcher of gas, the carb and tank were filled, and we then watched what can only be described as the driver masterbating some engine part while someone started it up.
It roared to life, we did a very fast U-turn, almost being hit by 2 large trucks, and proceeded at high speed to the train station.
The train was 2 hours late, we froze on the outdoor platform, but when it finally came, we had individual berths, unlike our first train trip.
Welcome to travel, India style.....
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