Heading South

Riding out of Delhi in 25 degree heat. Every man for himself. Motorcycles, rickshaws and cars leaving dust clouds as they make long off-road detours to avoid traffic jams. The law, apparently, is anything goes. People on all sides sitting on their horns, which are ear-splitting for me, and receiving rude gestures in return.

A young motorcyclist with pillion passenger, mesmerised by the cycling tourist he has just passed rides straight into a pair of girls walking home from school. One of the girls has an injured leg but can still walk, and the riders try to help her out.

Out here, the tiny auto-rickshaws carry as many as a dozen passengers, often with young men standing on the rear bumper and casually holding on for dear life, whilst others sit calmly on the canvas roofs.

After some time, the road's franticness seems to reduce along with the traffic volume. I arrive in a small town and find a seedy hotel, full of mosquitoes. The porter has a really bad dry cough, and I think tuberculosis, but the owner is nice and gives me some samosas, and then I go out to buy food.

The first thing I notice is the monkeys jumping around on the roofs, co-existing just fine with the town's human residents. I start to look for food, and select some samosas, chapatis and dhal from a street vendor. Many vendors prepare their food in plain view or even literally in the street. Looking at this one, I start to question the hygiene and where the water might be coming from, but I wolf down the meal nonetheless.

Later, I sleep under mosquito net with the ceiling fan throbbing above. I don't sleep so well, and awake to find I have a sore throat and an upset stomach, which I decide is gastroenteritis. Nonetheless, staying put is out of the question and so I hit the road, feeling weak and unwell but taking it fairly easy.

Thankfully, this part of India is incredibly flat. The only undulations I ever encounter being railway or road overpasses. The next several days en route to Agra, I clock around 50 km each day, stopping frequently at the roadside with diarrhea and to rest or sleep when a sheltered spot affords the opportunity. Almost everywhere I look, I see huts with thatched roofs, farmers and their children. Women balance enormous loads of materials on their heads. I start to see the odd camel towing a cart along the national highway. I arrive in Agra on the 4th day out of Delhi, and find a cheap and friendly hotel.

I spend a lazy week in Agra, seeing the vast Agra Fort as well as the Taj Mahal, for which I use the services of a young guide. After this I mostly just relax as I wait for my intestines to stop churning. A true Philistine, I pass a good part of my time in this historic city reading e-books and surfing the net. After 1 week in Agra, I am finally recovered from the gastro and regaining both appetite and strength. I have only a vague direction in mind, the city of Jaipur, because I've heard many people talk about it...