A wild day on the road

Thursday was a travel day and we drove along the main highway between Delhi and Mumbai. "Highway" is a euphemism for this road which was a combination construction project (think laborers on their knees with whisk brooms made of twigs), several hundred mile long corridor of the Indian version of a strip mall, and clogged motorway for most of the truck traffic running between those two cities. When we weren't wedged into a sandwich of trucks and tuk-tuks on all sides, we were bumping along through potholes.

We also shared the highway with cows, monkeys, antelope, camel carts, bicycles, dogs, rickshaws, gypsy caravans, mules, wild pigs, and lavishly decorated tractors. Several times we stopped to allow shepherds to take herds of goats across. Roadsides were filled with shanty towns, businesses set up in film-flam structures, or on a chair (barbers), and women in dazzlingly bright saris dotting the fields and byways with brilliant color. Traffic lurched and stopped all day for various reasons. Once we saw a truck stopped in the slow lane of the highway. The driver was asleep on the front seat while all vehicles detoured around him. It was one of the most wildly colorful and entertaining rides ever!

At about 3 pm we stopped for a late lunch at the 400 year old Chomu Palace, an elegant oasis in the middle of nowhere. Yummy meal, beautiful grounds. After we ate we walked out into the village where a weekly bazaar had everyone thronging in the streets. We had to thread our way through the crowds of people, cows, wild pigs, and dogs. People were friendly and shy. I don't think that village gets a lot of American visitors!

So on to Jaipur, in Rajasthan. Photos following are a random assortment from the day.


Lunch place


Tractor traffic


Gypsy wagons with mules


Cow sleeping in highway median


-all trucks decorated


Village scene


Indian "strip mall"


White horses for use in weddings (bridegroom rides in on one!)


Monkeys along road


Lunch place courtyard


Chomu Palace.





















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Location:Jaipur, India