Things are different here

Brian is suffering from a bit of a hay fever out break, the mustard harvest at Mount Abu meant there was a lot of 'stuff' in the air and it has made him very sneezy and bunged up.

So anyway I thought I would do a list of a few things that have made me look twice, wonder 'what on earth?' etc. This is not in any way critical or intended to be rude about India and its people, it is just stuff that is different.

People work really hard here, if you only have a basket and a few vegetables you display your veg nicely in your basket and sit by the road to sell them, if you have a brush you sweep things, the old (men and women) pick up rubbish or dead leaves or dust monuments etc. Whole families do building or road works, women in beautiful saris wield pick axes or carry stones or sand in big bowls on their heads, the oldest child looks after the little ones and the baby sleeps in a cradle made out of two A frames with a pole between them, on the pole is tied a large cloth by its four corners and inside is a baby - this can be on the central reservation of a 4 lane highway. Seen this morning on our way by road from Mount Abu, a woman grouting between the kerb stones of a bit of central reservation under construction while her two small boys (aprox 18mths and 3 yrs) played in the gap (maybe 3 feet) between the two sets of kerb stones that made up the central reservation.

People also work by shifting things or people about, there must be millions of tuc tucs in India all ready to squeeze in up to about 10 people (possibly more). There are also bicycles and these are used for personal transport and for delivery. There are 4 wheeled trolleys that people push about, some are used as stalls in markets or at road sides, some for delivery of goods, next come the large 3 wheelers, like a really big tricycle, over the two back wheels is a flat bed and this can be a mobile stall or a peddle powered delivery cart, at night the place where you sleep. There are also carts pulled by animals, donkeys, oxen, and most exotic looking, camel carts. Sometimes you see donkeys with panniers carrying building rubble or bricks, occasionally you see Elephants carrying people and stuff (I'm not sure what, something no one needs in a hurry).

There are also tuc tuc vans and Apis, just like the ones you see in Italy, these are often laden with gas bottles, produce and huge numbers of cardboard boxes. Motor bikes and scooters are used for personal transport, but rather more people on them than we are used to seeing at home. So far my largest count has been 5 - small child on petrol tank, dad driving, larger child, mum side saddle (in sari) with largish toddler casually under her arm. Only the driver wears a crash helmet (and not always) often even if worn the helmet has not got the chinstrap fastened. The young drive scooters, girls looking like exotic bandits because they swathe their faces in scarves so that only their eyes show, in order to protect themselves from dust I think.

There are also very old fashioned invalid chairs that are a large tricycle with the chain worked by handles rather than peddles. I have not seen a single wheel chair as we know them.

Lorries here look very solid and quite old fashioned, I think its because they don't seem to have many of the sort that are a cab that you can hitch a container to. Also they are decorated with tassles, painted patterns, shiny metal that has been punched with patterns and aways "horn please" or "Horn OK" in fancy writing on the tail gate.

Things you may have read about the way people crowd onto transport are all true, shared jeeps are filled beyond reason and then people get on the roof, small lorries transport swaying crowds squashed into the back, people ride on top of loads of sacks of produce or on lorries full of bricks.

Bricks, that reminds me of the huge number of brick fields and brick kilns we have seen as we travel around. Also miles and miles of firms selling cut marble and granite, you can hardly think there could be any mountains left.

Oh, lastly (for now) there is absolutly no concept of 'mutton dressed as lamb' here. No matter how old , tiny and bent you are you will never think 'perhaps I am past the age where this cerise/turquiose/red/peacock blue/lavender/baby pink sari will look good on me'. No; pattern, colour, sequins, embroidery - bring it on, and very good they look too. You occasionally see a woman in a white or grey sari and women in banks and offices sometimes wear darker colours, but they certainly are not the norm.

Tess