Thankfully, there was someone to meet me at the gate when I landed in Lucknow. (If there weren't, I'm still not sure what I would have done.) Actually, there were two people, both boys about my age. One of them spoke some English and the other none at all. Why it took two people to drive a taxi is beyond me, though one seemed to be responsible for driving and the other seemed responsible for pointing out landmarks as we drove past them.
I would like to point out that it would be generous to say that people drive on the left in India. In practice, they drive on whichever side of the road is available. After riding with Kalu in Delhi, I was somewhat prepared for this ride, but I still didn't really like it. Since the driving team was sitting up front, I got to sit in the back this time. (Somehow I felt that this was safer even though the back seat didn't have safety belts.)
My driver was actually pretty good; however, he couldn't make the other drivers on the road any better. For example, I observed a woman riding sidesaddle on the back of a moped. There she was without a helmet, her sari blowing in the wind, just waiting to get caught in the spokes of the moped. In addition to the wackos on the road, I also saw many groups of people fixing flat tires on the side of the road, as well as two men sitting in the cab of a truck that had looked like it had been sitting pitched forward in a ditch (rear wheels hanging in the air and everything) for days.
I breathed a huge sigh of relief when I got out of the car at the guest hostel at IITK and I decided that it would be a few weeks before I ventured off campus to do any sightseeing. Looking at the road behind me, it seemed a little unbelievable that I'm going to have to do all of that again in two months to get home. <sigh> Well, in the meantime, cheers!
PS I think that Pepsi must be the official sponsor of India. Every several hundred feet there were signs for "Pepsi: Rs 5" (5 rupees). I don't know that if Rs 5 is a nationwide fixed price for Pepsi, but given the number of places that were selling it, I can't imagine that anyone could expect to be in business long by trying to get more than a nickel for cola. Although I gave up drinking soda a couple of years ago, I may have to start again since I don't trust the water around here.
Posted by Michael at June 8, 2004 12:00 PM