Of golden triangles and lost cities

My first road trip through the golden triangle of Delhi-Agra-Jaipur , covering 700 kms in less than 3 days , was as exciting as the the first and only time I sky-dived , head first, from a 12 seater Fokker in California wine country. The feelings were all the same , adrenaline rush in the beginning followed by a state of bewilderment and ending in a sense of resignation.


To be fair, the road infrastruture has definitely improved , especially the Indian highways. However, the road sense remains pretty much the same, on or off the road. Some of the things that you see on Indian national highways are probably so unique that , as a tourist, you would even pay to see them.


1) Tempo vehicles carrying 25 people, about 10 of them clinging for dear life while cars and trucks whizz by.

2) Cattle ( Yes, no fencing)

3) Overtaking - Keep a lookout on your left and right. You never know who decides to overtake and when.

4) Tractors and bullock carts - They have right of way and no rear view mirrors. Overtake them at your own risk.

5) Processions and bandhs - For some strange reason , every group which is demanding something from the government decides to block a section of the national highway. This is a form of protest unique to India. It definitely sends the message across.

Inspite of these problems, the quality of NH-2 is excellent, road signs are all there including emergency numbers , traffic is handled decently in case of blockages and speed limit is 90 km/hr. 200 odd kms from Agra to Delhi took me 4 hours. All slowdowns were due to points noted above.

The Alwar-Mathura highway(?) is a neat example of a road that makes you cringe and curse yourself. You start regretting why you ventured out of the comfortable confines of a metro city. 5 hours for 95 kms at an astounding speed of 19 km/hr. The road also threw up some surprises, like the heritage city of Deeg where a magnificent fort and palace lie rotting away. From the moment you enter the city, you realize it is god-forsaken , the dusty winding roads , the forlorn look on the faces and the ruins. There is not a single dhaba ( eating place) along the way. There is not even one place to buy water. At one place, a state roadways bus had got stuck in a narrow stretch running through a village. Another state roadways bus was trying to pull it out using a rope and was blocking the entire highway in the process! At another place, a woman had covered half the width of the highway to bathe her children. Mind you, the entire road is an arc 150 odd kms from the national capital. So much for 9% GDP growth.