On Traveling in India
Well, there are three modes of transportation I am going to touch: a train, a plane, and a car. I had never taken a bus in India, so I can't say much about it. Flying in India is expensive and it is an understatement. The cost of flight from Kochi to Delhi is 14,000 rupees (300 US dollars) one way. Indian nationals can receive a discount by buying the tickets 21 day in advance and, thus, decreasing the price to 8,000 rupees. Foreign nationals are deprived of that option. Flight from Kochi to Bombay is 7,000 rupees one way. The cost of train between these two cities is 3,000 rupees. Feel the difference. So, the majority of people prefer to use the train. As a proper Indian couple, we boarded the super-fast, super-lux. I took one like that before. Apparently, I had forgotten that the best Indian "super-lux, super-fast" is remarkably similar to the third class trains ("platskart") in Ukraine. The most memorable impression about Indian trains is overchillied monotonous food. It reminded me of an old Russian joke: newly married daughter calls her mother: "Mom, what do you do with lunch if daddy does not want to eat it?". "I give it to him for dinner, dear". I also can't forget the curtains instead of the door and tons of mosquitoes. If anyone had a good dinner it was mosquitoes – my blood must have tasted like a delicacy. On a positive note: my husband promised that we are not going to repeat this adventure any time soon. He suffered even more than I did from the whole "taking a train adventure".
Driving in India deserves its own story. I might write more about it later, but I am trying to just give some highlights of my current journey right now and I really can't avoid writing a few words about it. When I first time came to Paris, my immediate impression was: "It is Delhi minus caws". Well, any big city in India is Paris plus cows, people, dogs, other assorted animals, rickshaws, trucks, and any other imaginable types of moving vehicles. The new Kochi-Trivandrum four-lane highway is full of all of the above-mentioned. Local people continue to treat that National Highway (as any other tar road) as an old village pathway. I've been told that in Bangkok the government installs a tall fence to prevent people from crossing the highways. I've been also told that this idea would be impossible in India due to the distances. As far as I can see, the amount spent on kickbacks to politicians and trade unions, and on overpayment to contractors would have been sufficient to build a fence as well as pedestrian crossings. The Indian Times wrote an article "Blood on the Roads" calling all drivers to follow the rules. I personally believe that the pedestrians should follow the rules as well. Another Russian joke comes to mind: "I haven't bought a car yet, but I already hate pedestrians". On a positive note, Kerala drives have significantly reduced the amount of honking. I also have seen some road police. I haven't seen them giving a speed ticket to anyone, but their presence makes the drivers more cautious.
A bicycle, as well as a scooter, is a family vehicle. A family of four can travel on one: elder child right after the wheel, than father who is doing actual driving, behind him the mother holding the younger child. This arrangement of people can be encountered happily driving in an opposite direction on a highway. I guess it is for them there is a sign - "Left is Right".
To conclude today's edition of "My Adventures":
You know that you are in Kerala when:
* You park your car in an "Infant Jesus Parking Lot" (Infant Jesus
seems to be very popular out here. I have also encountered Infant Jesus Medicals
and Infant Jesus Public School.)
* The only gym in town has a sign "Swami's (bachelor's) gym: body massaging
and vibrating motor"
* Every hundred meters you see sign "Kalla. Toddy shop" (kalla or
toddy is local alcoholic drink made from coconut sap). That sign is a first
written sign in Malayalam any visitor learns to recognize.
* Every third hut advertises itself as a Computer Institute
* Every other palm tree has a red flag tied to it
* Every other evening you find group of males yelling something unintelligible
in the load-speakers so loudly that you wonder why does the sound wave not break
the windows. (Usually it is some sort of political rally going on)
* Every first day of the month you can't buy alcohol because government declared
it 'a dry day' (to the annoyance of tourists and hotels)
* One of the most popular local dishes is beef chilly (Cow is a holy animal
for Hindus)
* A temple has no problem playing songs by a Christian singer but would not
allow him to enter the temple because he is not of Hindu religion.
©Lidia Bhaskar, 2003