Update - it was 4,200 pictures taken - not 3,000...
Rickshaw ride!
By the end of the trip we'd done it several times, but this was to be the first for India - We are still in the first full day here. It was a little uncomfortable for me, not the bumps, but the idea that I (and the boy, two to a rickshaw) were going to sit there while someone else - a fellow human being, equal in every way - would serve as the engine to pull us about. Having ridden one of these contraptions in Thailand as well, I'd already experienced the queasiness in the pit of my stomach. Heck, I feel guilty when I plop my big butt on Rosalie's back. It didn't help that this guy might have weighed 105 soaking wet.
Our driver was a nut - he wanted to share his English and tried to point out as many sights as he could. I might have understood every tenth word... He spent a great deal of the ride racing two of his buddies, also pulling rickshaws, and if he got close enough to one particular other young driver, they would try to slug each other or get the other in a headlock, all in good fun. As a cultural aside, Indian men show a great deal of affection to each other. It is quite common to see men and boys walking hand in hand or with their arms around each other's shoulders - or sometimes their affection is manifested in taking silly swings at each other. This is all very heterosexual behavior but not something we are accustomed to seeing.
Almost immediately we dove into narrow alleyways with the well known and disconcerting jumble of power-lines overhead. This is just one of many photos we took of the power lines, some of the photos show the lines even better - but this shows the narrow alley and our line of rickshaws the best. I'm going to be showing a lot of photos as it is and I don't want to over do it. Between us, the hub and I took more than 3,000 pictures.
I believe this counts as our first truly perilous encounter as at one point the power-lines hung so low they actually scraped the canopy of the rickshaw in which the boy and I rode.
We passed many examples of daily Indian life:
Men managing impossibly heavy loads by ancient methods.
Or perhaps women carrying impossibly large and heavy loads on their heads!
Food vendors cooking on the street - for the most part various types of fried breads. Most everything brown. Smelled good, but we never bought food from a street vendor. One of our goals was to get through the whole trip without Delhi belly. More on that at a later time.
Or selling fresh fruits and vegetables from their carts. Always bright and beautiful.
Fabric vendors with their mountains of bright cotton, silk, brocade - how does one choose? I have a weakness for brightly colored fabric. We did not have the opportunity to get down and buy anything on this ride. I'd have had some of those pieces for sure if I could have.
Bangle vendors - ooo, shiny. Wish we could have bought items at the local price, I'd have come home with many more bangles than I did. But none of the vendors had prices on any of their wares because they know that Westerners will pay more than locals. From research I've done I believe we tourists tend to pay five times or more the going rate for pretty much anything from a piece of bread to a length of sari fabric. I'm ok with this for the most part. Don't mind helping the Indian economy. But I'd have come home with much more sparkle if it had not been necessary to haggle the price of every single thing.
Livestock free in city streets - yes
Laura, a goat just for you : )
A family of Sikhs. The little boy and the man in the orange shirt have their turbans tied differently from the man in the blue turban. The style of wrap in the blue turban indicates this man's father is dead. The style of the young boy and the man in orange (tight around the head with the big knob in front) show that their fathers are still alive.
Monkeys (Karni says there is a "monkey menace" in Delhi) - we saw monkeys in every city we visited, and quite a few in the national park we visit later in the trip as well. Not to mention the dozens and dozens that lived in and around the resort we stayed in during the Nepal portion of the trip. Details to follow.
Tiny packed shop, after tiny packed shop. I could have spent hours and hours looking through these little shops. Except that the shop keepers would drive you nuts trying to force you to buy one or two particular items rather than just letting you absorb the whole thing. This shop was full of items for religious offerings. The flower leis hanging in front, sparkly fabrics, beautiful boxes, gorgeous strings of beads...
Families of four on one motorcycle - later I'll show you a picture of five on a motorcycle. The women all ride side-saddle. If anyone wore a helmet at all, it was the male driver only. The whole time we were in India I only saw women driving a scooter or cycle twice - never once saw a woman driving a car. Karni told us his personal record was seven young skinny Indian males on a motorcycle, but that was in his younger foolish days.
And so very much more - this is but a sampling.
This ride is the point at which I fell head over heels in love with India. So many bright colors, so many bright smiles.
The power lines defy description. Even pictures don't quite capture the insanity.
Another thing the pictures cannot even hint at is the noise. Car horns, motorcycle horns, scooter horns, heck - Even some of the goats and cows had horns - and they all use them....non-stop. It seems to be something of a second language. The horn might mean "move over, I'm bigger than you" or it might be "watch out! I'm here, don't hit me" or just "hello". I had heard that horn honking was a bit to the extreme. But like so much of India, you simply cannot understand until you have experienced it.
One of the informative items given us at the orientation meeting was a copy of the Highway Code of India. I'll share it with you because it is all 100% true
Article I: The assumption of immortality is required of all road users.
Article II: Indian traffic, like Indian society, is structured on a strict caste system. The following precedence must be accorded at all times. In descending order, give way to: cows, elephants, camels, buffalo, pigs, goats, dogs, heavy trucks, buses, official cars, pedal rickshaws, private cars, motorcycles, scooters, auto-rickshaws (tuk-tuks), handcarts, and last - and least - pedestrians.
Article III: All wheeled vehicles shall be driven in accordance with the maxim:to slow be to falter, to brake is to fail, to stop is defeat. This is the Indian drivers' mantra.
Article IV: Use of horn (also known as the sonic fender or the language of the road)
Cars: Short blasts (urgent) indicate supremacy. I.e. in clearing dogs, rickshaws and pedestrians from path. Long blasts (desperate) denote supplication, i.e. to oncoming trucks, "I am going too fast to stop, so unless you sow down we shall both die." In extreme cases this may be accompanied by flashing of headlights (frantic).
Single blast (casual) means, "I have seen someone out of India's 1 billion whom I recognize", "There is a gird in the road which at this speed could go through my windscreen", or "I have not blown my horn for several minutes."
Trucks and Buses: All horn signals have the same meaning, "I have an all-up weight of approximately 12.5 tons and have no intention of stopping, even if I could" This signal may be emphasized by the use of headlamps.
Article V: All maneuvers, use of horn and evasive action shall be left until the last possible moment. (personal aside - no kidding, it is a non-stop game of chicken)
Article VI: In the absence of seat belts (which there is) car occupants shall wear garlands of marigolds. These should be kept fastened at all times.
Article VII: Rights of way: Traffic entering a road from the left has priority. So has traffic from the right, and also traffic in the middle.
Lane Discipline: All Indian traffic at all times and irrespective of direction of travel (pa - for reals!) shall occupy the center of the road.
Article VIII: Traffic Management: It is a jungle out there. Apparent traffic islands in the middle of crossroads have no traffic management function. Any other impression should be ignored.
Article IX: Overtaking (passing for those of you who have never driven outside the US) is mandatory. Every moving vehicle is required to overtake every other moving vehicle, irrespective of whether it has just overtaken you. Overtaking should only be undertaken in suitable conditions, such as in the face of oncoming traffic, on blind bends, at junctions, and in the middle of villages/city centers. No more than two inches should be allowed between your vehicle and the one you are passing - one inch in the case of bicycles or pedestrians.
Article X: Nirvana may be obtained through the head-on crash.
Article XI: Reversing: What's this? Not many drivers in India like to use this gear. It is against their driver's mantra.
Article XII: The 10th incarnation of God was an articulated tanker.
And we are still not done with the first day. More to come.
"I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."
