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After breakfast I stopped at the travel desk where I was introduced to my driver, Mohmmed. He was a neatly dressed man of medium build in his early forties.
India 2002 - Part Four: Bujapur, Gulbarga & Bidar
Dougburnett2003-11-24 12:16:16
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Indian roads, I might mention that there are really no such things as lanes. Large vehicles simply take as much space as they need. Smaller vehicles wisely give way to the needs of the larger ones. It's a dynamic situation: one moment Mohmmed would be pulling off the road to avoid an oncoming bus or truck and the next forcing a family on a motorcycle onto the shoulder as we passed a slower car.
The thing that would probably surprise westerners most is that all this happens with none of the ranker one sees on US highways. Only once did I see a driver deliberately and vindictively cut another driver off. Anyway, it looked like driving on Indian roads would take all your attention and I was hoping that Mohmmed was giving it all of his.
Mohmmed was, in fact, a very patient and deliberate driver. We traveled at a reasonable speed and he was quick to give way to larger vehicles. The only problem - if it was one - was that he doesn't speak much English. We could communicate - he knew nouns and verbs - but his vocabulary was way too limited to hold any kind of real conversation.
In the fields along the road, men with oxen plowed the dry, red soil. I saw corn, sunflowers, onions and bananas growing. Some fields were irrigated by a cow pulling a waterwheel, while others by a man working a pump with his legs. The water made all the difference between the brown, dry fields and the ones bright with new growth.
About 10:30 we reached the town of Zahirabad where Mohmmed stopped at a little open-front café for coffee. While he was refreshing himself, I walked around taking pictures. Then it was back in the car and on the road again.
A little before noon we stopped at a tollbooth. Before Mohmmed got out he turned and asked for 300 Rupees - $6.00. This seemed like a lot of money for a toll, but I gave it to him anyway. That was our arrangement: he would cover
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See photographs from:
India Gallery
