9th april 2005
"We were up very early in order to catch our Bangalore-Delhi flight, and we were so used to nipping to Goa that this flight seemed really long, although it was actually only 3 hours. On arrival in Delhi, we noticed immediately, how un-polluted the air was in comparison to Bangalore. Sean discovered that this was down to all the buses and rickshaws running on gas rather than petrol. The difference was obvious and very unexpected, Delhi being a more populated city than Bangalore.
We were to see many strangely Indian sights on our weekend break, the first being a completely naked man walking towards oncoming traffic in the middle of a dual carriageway.Thankfully, i didn't see him from the front, and Sean couldn't get to his camera quick enough, otherwise I'm sure we would have photographic evidence of such."
10th april 2005
Our drive from Delhi to Agra was thoroughly entertaining, and the 4 hours passed relatively quickly with all the sights. Many of the roadside shops, even buildings had trees growing through the middle of them or protruding through the tiles on the roof. Some even looked as if they had been built around the trees, as if cutting them down was too much work. In Bangalorian villages it is quite normal to see little roadside shacks, where men have shaves, but on our journey they didn't even have shacks. Men were set up with a stool, a razor and a bowl of foamy water, right there at the side of the main road. Many men with foamy faces perched under trees lined our road to Agra.
We noticed that unlike Bangalore where all the rickshaws are autos, many original rickshaws (ie bikes) were still in operation in Delhi. Its normal for vehicles to be carrying many more people than you'd expect but as we got further and further out of the city, the numbers just grew and grew, and we were shocked to see some, that were designed for a driver and 3 or 4 passengers, carrying what must have been 15 or 16 people???!!! We drove passed one jeep that was so crammed full of people, that they were hanging out of the back door trying to hold it shut - at 100km an hour!!
At one very populated road junction, where all the articulated lorries seemed to be resting, many young boys scurried through the traffic. We soon realised they were trying to sell water to drink, but not in the usual bottles, this was in fact in plastic bags, about the size of a bag of crisps. Not quite sure how easy it would be to drink, and needless to say we didn't purchase one to find out, in fear of certain death.
We stopped about halfway through the journey at a little tourist restaurant, and got some drinks and a packet of sweets. Two young girls were chatting happily on their hands and knees in the corner whilst scrubbing the marble floor. A completely thankless and tedious task, but they seemed happy enough, which made me warm to them. I gave them my unfinished sweet packet to share, which thrilled them, and they sat close by sucking and chewing whole heartedly. I wondered when might have been the last time they had enjoyed a childhood treat??"
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