Anecdotes from the Agra-Delhi Highway

The drive from Agra to Delhi is about 200km. The road is actually pretty good most of the way - or else we are becoming accustomed to the vagaries of travel in India.

Our driver Parveen is great. He manuveurs around other vehicles with ease. I would have dented every door and fender on the car as well as ripping off the side mirrors.




Highway driving in India is unique. The law says that trucks and buses are supposed to drive in the slow lane on a multilane highway. No one obeys the law. Just the opposite occurs - trucks and buses hang out in the fast lane. To pass, you dodge to their inside and swerve around the autorickshaws, motorbikes, and camel drawn carts. Absolutely crazy!

Anything with at least two legs or two wheels can travel on the roads here. Trucks, buses, cars, autorickshaws (tuk-tuks), motorbikes, bicycles, tractors, human-powered rickshaws, goat herds, and animal drawn carts. Since the four lane highway is divided, occasionally you need to cross the center median and drive on the wrong side of the highway to get to where you want to go. They don't know from interchanges or exit ramps. This makes traveling an exciting experience. Don't ever think of renting a car in India - you wouldn't survive 10 minutes. You must be born with Indian driving skills in your genes.

As we drove along, we noticed an unusually large number of post high school education buildings. Dozens of them within a stretch of 20km-30km. Institute of Technology and Management Studies. College of Pharmacy. College of Medical Studies. Dental Studies School. All of them seem to be equivalent to trade schools in the U.S.. But many of them are unfinished, empty, or in obvious disrepair. All we can figure is that there must be some government tax incentives to build these schools, but no one ever checks if there are students, teachers, or classes.

Tuk-tuks are a common, inexpensive form of transportation. It is amazing how many people can fit into one of these three-wheeled vehicles. Sometimes there are 2-3 people sitting up front with the driver, 4 people sitting on a small backwards facing bench behind the driver, 4-6 people on a forward facing bench behind that, 4-6 people on a backwards facing bench behind that, and perhaps 2-3 people standing on the running boards and hanging on. All these people riding on a vehicle with about a 35 HP engine. Seat belts - you got to be kidding. Air bags - who needs them. Crash resistant bumpers - never been seen here. Air conditioning - hope that no one has overwhelming body odor.

We love the trucks. The various ways that drivers dress them up are dazzling. Truck art is a competition among long distance goods haulers.





And you quickly get used to the words on the back of every truck - "Horn Please" means honk to let the driver know you are passing. "Use Dipper at Night" means to dim your high beams when approaching at night. Very considerate.

There are roadside stands near every town that sell motorbike helmets. Based upon how much money you want to spend, you can get better protection. The helmets look the same, but the more you pay, the heavier the plastic. Kind of like "you bet your life". There are no government regulations on helmet safety tests. The only government law is that it is compulsory to wear a helmet. Another law that no one obeys. Especially passengers on motorbikes. It is common to see a family of four all riding on the same motorbike.