Jaipur to Delhi

From Jaipur to Delhi

Heading back to Delhi to catch an evening flight we have 163 miles to cover and it takes us almost 4 hours. There is lots of lumbering truck traffic. They seem to travel in fleets. They are painted all over and I mean every available surface, (even the axles), in bright colors and designs and are the modern version of the caparisoned elephants that used to carry similar goods. Heavy, colorful, single-minded in their progress; they clog the road and the roadside, and park in clumps and columns on the sidelines, waiting. The trucks and road construction combine to make driving a challenge. Sanjay is our savior. It takes extreme patience and skill to wend through obstruction after obstruction never really getting up much speed.

Claire is a trooper, rarely complaining. Lesley and I sing her Sheldon’s soft kitty song from The Big Bang Theory.

"Soft Kitty

Warm Kitty

Little Ball of Fur

Happy Kitty

Sleepy Kitty

Purr, Purr, Purr”HH

She wiggles and smiles and gives us so much positive feedback we sing it in a round.

Purr Purr Purr

It’s difficult to keep track of our progress. Road signs are rare. We pass through small towns (more congestion) and there is no signage.  From time to time there is a mile marker. Compared to the road guidance we are accustomed to this is practically non-existent.  I give more kudos to Sanjay.

We pass through several toll booths. There are two kinds: one that uses an electronic pass that is pressed onto a reader embedded in the booth; the other kind is a table, sitting outside, with many colored coupons stacked in piles and a man who stamps them and takes the payment and makes change. This really slows things up. Stating the obvious here. For me, this is an example of the charm of India.

Street Scenes

Simple Elegance

View From the Backseat

Road construction happens without flagmen or signs. They use barricades to move the traffic. We see men squatting to smooth the new concrete roadbed using hand tools.

As I watch from inside my car- bubble I wonder: What is it like to be you? Are they thinking the same? There are trade-offs either way.

Saying Good-bye to Sanjay

Pulling into Delhi connects the final piece of the Golden Triangle: Delhi to Agra to Jaipur and back to Delhi, the three most visited cities in Northwest India. Sublime Isosceles.