Indian Woman Backpacker

"We offered her a ride. Once inside the car, she offered us Rs.500 to drive her down for some additional 40 kms..(of course we had to vehemently argue with her & also arrange for a cab for her. She was attending a marriage party.. her elder son spoke english, chotta wala is a neta, her daughter looks like me." 

Discovering the state of our education system

We offered a ride to three 7^th standard students on their way back from school. When asked what they had studied at school that day, they promptly replied, “Mathematics!”

So, we asked them a simple question, “What is 27 minus 3?”

After pondering over the question for 15 minutes and discussing it amongst themselves, one of the girls replied, “22”

I wonder if they would have been able to answer correctly if we had said, ‘What is Rs. 27 minus Rs.3?

Tidbits - Mountain Madness

While driving back to Mussorie late in the night, we encountered a traffic jam on a considerably precipitous mountain road. We saw a large number of cars parked to one side and a larger number of people shouting at the top of their voices. 

After making a few enquiries, it appeared that an Ambassador car had hit another car, breaking its bumper. The victim car was part of a large marriage party convoy. The driver of the Ambassador car had fled but for some incomprehensible reason, the people from the marriage party had broken down into smaller groups and were fighting amongst themselves.

We overheard someone saying, “Let us push the Ambassador down the mountain!” Another voice said, “No, let us throw a large rock on top of it.”

An old man went around apologizing profusely to every one. When asked if he was a passenger of the Ambassador car, it turned out he was part of the marriage convoy and was apologizing for no apparent reason.

This continued for an hour. Finally, they moved.

The Slowest Link

I just drove down from Mussorie to Delhi. It took me 9 hours to traverse the distance of 270 kms on a national highway, which translates into an average speed of 30 kms per hour. I am wondering if I am a really pathetic driver!!!

“Well!” I tell myself, “How the hell do you expect yourself to beat the swarming tractors, bullock carts and the local mobile contraptions pacing the pathetic two lane highways at their own idyllic speeds?  Even the trucks and the killer buses have to swallow their pride and follow them in humility.”

I recall witnessing countless number of tractors, and motorbikes driving the wrong way, and each time spending a couple of minutes in recovering from the shock of it. Motorists braving the onslaught of bicycles and carts and swerving dangerously in a bid to avoid them! Two wheelers refusing to budge from the middle of the roads

A car had stopped in the middle of the road while the driver was blissfully chatting on his mobile and blowing puffs of smoke in air. Tractor owners exchanged greetings, completely unconcerned about the traffic queuing up behind them.

Women holding small children waited anxiously for a gap in traffic so they could race across the highway. Old men on bicycles were trying to cross the road completely oblivious of the traffic. At one point, a bullock attached to a cart full of sugarcane harvest stubbornly refused to move. It was certainly a mad mix of heavy vehicles, pedestrians, bullock carts and bicycles.

Many a time, the state of roads made me wonder if I was driving on a highway or a jungle path.

I quizzed my travel companion in frustration, “What is the purpose of the highways? Were they designed for this juxtaposition of snail-paced vehicles and fast-moving vehicles? What are the bullock carts doing amongst heavy vehicles and cars? Are we always going to follow the pace of the slowest ones? Is that forever going to be the policy of our country?”

Chinese Strategy – Winning through the Stomach (How the Chowmein is Becoming the National Favorite)

I have just returned from a trip to some of the most remote yet excruciatingly beautiful places in Uttarakhand including some really picturesque villages on the way to Yamunotri, Tehri Dam and Dhanaulti.. 


The dhabas/restaurants at these places, including the two solitary dhabas at Yamunotri, were serving only local food . What I found striking was the fact that along with the ubiquitous dal, chawal and roti, and the all time favorites like bread omlette and Maggi, "chowmein" was being offered at these places as a regular staple food. I then realized that "chow-mein" had crept into our lives in a quiet revolution, a stealthy and entirely bloodless coup. From the various versions of the dish found at five star hotels and local restaurants in cities, it was now being served in the remotest corners of India.

Infact, upon quizzing a few dhabawalas, I was happily informed, "Madam, everybody is eating chowmein these days, they come and eat at the dhaba and then get some more packed to take back for their families." . Truly, the chowmein continues to the most popular import for us from China !!!

The Noodles Ready to be Fried for eager customers

The Local Noodle