In the park

After a walk with the dogs and then breakfast with Arjun and Yelena I set off with the driver to the Government Bus depot and caught my booked, comfortable bus to Jaipur about 6 ½ hours south west of Delhi. We sasheyed our way through the Delhi suburbs to what should have been an open road but for much of it it is in preparation for a dual carriageway with lots of flyovers so we had to slip off onto the parallel side roads. Our driver thought he had right of way over everything except cows and elephants and hooted at everything else that moved whether it was lorry, buses, horses, camels, motor bikes, rickshaws, goats, bicycles, pushcarts, dogs, cars and pedestrians. So in fact it was a constant blare unless his mobile went off with a startling Hindi music and then his hooter hand held the mobile as he bellowed into it. If the horn was needed he then took his other hand off the steering wheel and he did that too to change gear...

We stopped at a very up market spar resort for a bite to eat and then sped on veering to the right and the left of anything in our path. Outside Jaipur boys were flying kites from rooftops or any waste ground – and it got even busier on the roads as the colleges were emptying for the evening with students on foot or motorbikes. I was sitting next door to a charming girl who had been to two weddings and had beautifully hennaed hand decorations. She phoned my hotel for me so I was met at the bus station and am now in a rather quaint hotel with beautiful decorations and will post some on my Picassa site when I can email properly.