RTW Nomad - Part II

Just some notes I have taken when I see drivers in India:

I don't think cars here have a gas or brake pedal, instead you just continuously press the horn of the car with the left hand for gas and to brake you make intermittent sounds with the right hand. Both of your hands should always be on the horn unless you are getting really outside of your lane, in that case you can move your left hand from the horn to the steering wheel but only for a couple of seconds.

When you drive, you should always assume that people and other vehicles are going to move out of your way, but you should always be conscious that the holy cow will do anything to get in your way.

I think that drivers are fined if they don't pass the vehicle in front of them.

Your car is not allowed to distance itself more than one inch from cars on your side, behind or in front.

I arrived to Delhi three days ago. The city is large, the sky is brown due to pollution and the traffic is absolutely crazy. My friend Daniel left India two days ago and since I don't have anyone to share the costs of a taxi or autorickshaw, I decided to book a group tour that would take me to the main attractions.

The day of the tour I went to the travel agency where the bus was supposed to pick me up at 10:00 AM but at 10:20 instead of a bus there was a guy in a motorcycle telling me that the bus forgot to pick me up and now I had to ride with him to meet the bus. So there I was, on the back of a motorcycle (which I don't like very much) driving through the mad traffic of Delhi, without a helmet and inches away from cars, the ride was about 15 minutes long but during those 15 minutes I held the driver as strongly as I could as if I was holding for my life.

When we met the bus, the motorcycle driver gave my payment slip to the bus driver and he told me to seat in the back. The bus was empty because all the other travelers were inside a Hindu temple but I didn't have enough time go in, so I just waited for everyone else to get in the bus and then drive to the next stop. When everyone came in, I realized that I was the only western tourist in the bus and all the other tourists were Indians that were coming from other regions, they were all staring at me wondering why a western tourist would be on a tour with a bunch of Indians instead of going on a nicer smaller bus with other westerners. Well, the answer is simple, I paid the cheapest price I found for a tour, so I got a tour with Indians, that entitles me to long waiting everytime we have to go to a new place because when you tell and Indian that they have 20 minutes to see a site and go back inside the bus that could mean anywhere from 30-50 minutes for them, when you tell and Indian to form a line, they laugh and even comment among themselves how they can expect something like that from and Indian.

So the tour was absolutely chaotic but kind of fun because everyone (34 Indians in the bus) wanted to talk to me and asked me tons of questions. After four hours I knew everyone, and I was "adopted" by a business man coming from Mumbai and a gay stylist from Central India, that explained a lot of history to me and translated whatever the guide spoke in Hindi.

At the end of the tour, I had a very uncomfortable experience. The stylist and businessman bought me some pineapple slices from a street seller, something that I normally avoid as I see them washing the pineapple and sprinkling unpurified water on the slices to make it seem fresh, with my weak stomach, I know that if I ate a slice of this I would be sick for several days. After he had already paid for the pineapple, I couldn't say "no"; if I had, I would have seemed rude. Luckily we were walking towards the subway station, it was dark and there were tons of people around, so when they looked at me I brought the pineapple slice towards my mouth and when they weren't looking I threw the slice on the floor. It seemed like a scene from Mr. Bean where he tries to hide the food that he doesn't like in rolls of bread, in the purse of the woman next to him, etc.... and just like a scene of Mr. Bean, I was asked at the end.... do you want more pineapple? You ate it really fast...