India, Part 3

While in India we did quite a bit of road travel, considering our short stay.  It took about 10 hours of riding in the van round trip to visit the Taj Mahal and fortress at Agra.  Later our trip from the airport to the school in northeast India (the destination of our visit) was three hours by land rover.  In India you drive on the left side of the road.  Since that was my experience my first eighteen years of life, I felt at home right away.

Road travel in India gives you an excellent opportunity to see the people and landscapes.  My initial and lasting reaction about the country was that "everyone is busy going somewhere!" Upon reflection, I think that's true.  People in India seem to be constantly on the move on foot and by wheeled vehicle.  I don't think it was just because we were observing them from the roads; I think they are just more "on the way to somewhere" than people in many countries.

Despite the absence of helmets for many motorcycle riders, the flimsy vehicles, the speed of travel, the people and cows and dogs wandering across the streets, and the heavily loaded vehicles with people sitting on top as they careened down the roads, most human beings seemed to be keeping body and soul in one piece. Even with the weaving in and out of traffic, the horn blowing, the quick slow-downs behind slow-moving vehicles and the dodging of cows--which have protected status in India--I was never fearful with our drivers who navigated travel in native style.

However, at the end of our trip we were transported by a couple of teenage boys driving us on the half-hour trip from our hotel to the airport, and they drove like idiots.  Seriously.  The lad behind the wheel rocketed along more aggressively than others in that crowded city of Gauhati, dodging in and out of lanes, sometimes just before an oncoming truck would have hit us.  Although I was still unafraid for my own survival, I thought, "These guys are going to hit someone."  Sure enough, our vehicle clipped the rear view mirror on a motorcycle.  Our young driver pulled over, looked out the window, shouted briefly in the direction of the motorcycle driver who was inspecting his maimed vehicle, and then pulled back into traffic.  After that he did drive slower, so I think the encounter rattled him a little.

Here are some pictures from our road travel, ending with a little video that should give you a better feel for the experience.  Enjoy!