So I was so excited when we landed in Kolkata I couldn't contain myself. As we drove to the hotel I was amazed at the traffic and the honking. The honking it just never ceased. And they don't seem to follow any traffic rules.
In Bhutan they didn't have any rules, and I was amazed at how they were able to drive on one lane roads. Really there was only one lane, and sometimes that lane was taken up by the cows or the horses or the dogs. And the cars would patiently wait for the cows, horses or dogs to move so they could drive by. They also had people who walked in the middle of the road, but when the car would come by the would move over. All very civilized and polite.
Now we come to India. People don't wait their turn, they don't move over and they certainly are not polite and civilized. There were a few times that I was sure that we were going to die. *Wait wait you can not drive now the light is red.* I am thinking that those lights are just for show, getting ready for Christmas.
But I was prepared for that, I was not prepared to be in a shake down. I was in the car totally enjoying the flavor of the place when a policeman pulled over our driver. I had heard about this before I had come so I knew what was happening. I told Twila that it was a shake down because they saw as in the back seat, but she insisted that the driver had done something wrong.
Unfortunately I was right, it was a shake down, and as we were driving off they pulled another car over and started it all over again. Okay I read about it, but I never in my life thought it would happen to me. And what was worse then the shake down to me was the fact that they felt that they could go through his car. They opened the glove compartments, looked under his dash, under the seat, in every nook and cranny you can think of. It was horrible. The injustice of it made me realize how lucky we are.
Then we went to the Temple of Kali and I had another shake down. But that is another story.
MS2
In Bhutan they didn't have any rules, and I was amazed at how they were able to drive on one lane roads. Really there was only one lane, and sometimes that lane was taken up by the cows or the horses or the dogs. And the cars would patiently wait for the cows, horses or dogs to move so they could drive by. They also had people who walked in the middle of the road, but when the car would come by the would move over. All very civilized and polite.
Now we come to India. People don't wait their turn, they don't move over and they certainly are not polite and civilized. There were a few times that I was sure that we were going to die. *Wait wait you can not drive now the light is red.* I am thinking that those lights are just for show, getting ready for Christmas.
But I was prepared for that, I was not prepared to be in a shake down. I was in the car totally enjoying the flavor of the place when a policeman pulled over our driver. I had heard about this before I had come so I knew what was happening. I told Twila that it was a shake down because they saw as in the back seat, but she insisted that the driver had done something wrong.
Unfortunately I was right, it was a shake down, and as we were driving off they pulled another car over and started it all over again. Okay I read about it, but I never in my life thought it would happen to me. And what was worse then the shake down to me was the fact that they felt that they could go through his car. They opened the glove compartments, looked under his dash, under the seat, in every nook and cranny you can think of. It was horrible. The injustice of it made me realize how lucky we are.
Then we went to the Temple of Kali and I had another shake down. But that is another story.
MS2
Following on in the bad taste of my comment on T2's blog, I hope your comment "I couldn't contain myself" was referring to your mental state rather than problems caused by lack of clean bathrooms.
ReplyDeleteDo you know how much the driver had to pay for the "shake down"? Mexico is also well known for similar requests for "la morbita".
Aren't you glad you are not driving? Makes you wonder if the traffic in Fremont, Mountain View & other parts of the East Bay follow the Indian customs.
We talked today on SKYPE, so I feel better - it's amazing what modern electronics can do. For a technological dinosaur like me, it's tough since I was emailing, texting, rebooting, & using a couple of computers to find out what was wrong. It turned out to be as simple as you weren't in the room to answer my call.
Oh well, at least you got to see Taya hide under your desk (and eat some cheese) & Tolar be playful.
I want to hear about the Temple of Kali since Kali has a whole bunch of arms for shake downs. I seem to recall something about "snakes", but I'll try to block that out.
Please email me since I'll be in South Dakota from Thursday, 11/8 & returning Monday 11/12 (I'll get the doggies on Monday but have to drop them off Wednesday evening - darn!!!).
I'm flying with Bruce on NetJets out of Napa & then to Pierre, South Dakota (pronounced "Peer")
We ALL miss you & I must remember not to give Taya as much steak.
Gardener coming today to trim the jungle AND to fix the sprinklers.
Keep those blogs coming, we LOVE them!!!!!
I remember well our Pushkar shakedown. I think I still have somewhere the piece of twine they tied around my wrist. I paid one rupee!
ReplyDeleteAha! Driving in India. Non-stop honking and no rules! Reflects my feelings exactly. It's the one place that I've been in the world where I simply would not drive.
ReplyDeleteshakedown. no shimmy shimmy.
ReplyDelete