Sawai Madhopur to Bundi.........By Bus
On a chilly Grey morning we departed the curious tourist annex to Sawai Madhopur; Rathambhore Road and headed for the bus station. Our little chortling Auto rickshaw made hard work of the short journey to the bus station but finally after much grinding of gears and prayers to Ganesh we made it over the railway fly over and pulled into the bus station.
The bus station at Sawai Madhopur resembles bus stations all over India a piece of wasteland tucked away in the most unlikely part of town. It may not be what the tourist expects but there is no doubt of their functionality, toilets (all be it a bit iffy) rickshaws and a mall of food vendors, pan wallahs and shoeshine boys ensure that all your travelling needs are met. Functionality the Indian way!
After the obligatory chai and samosas our very helpful rickshaw driver made all the inquiries about bus arrival and ticket prices despite our protestations. He had promised the hotel owner that he would see us safely on the right bus and he wasn’t leaving until his duties were duly dispensed.
After a wait of around 20 minutes our steel chariot finally showed up with the customary cacophony of air horn and roaring engine. Our rickshaw driver immediately braved the scrum attempting to board the bus and after clawing his way to the front made sure we had the best seats on the bus signified by a solitary piece of our clothing draped across the seat.
10 minutes later with both horn and accelerator amply tested we were off weaving through the camel carts, food barrows and stealth scooters at a rather alarming velocity, as is the norm of city driving in India. The cassette player was switched on and we settled in for our trip to Bundi.
Forward motion was short lived as 10 minutes later we were halted at a level crossing, the driver realizing this could take some time, hopped out for a chai, something that would become a theme of this particular bus trip.
After what seemed an extremely long wait for the train to pass, we were off again. Our driver didn’t seem to belong to that class of Kamikaze bus driver so often found in India he calmly went up through the gears with something bodering on love for the under powered engine. His bobbing head told me that this song blasting from the speakers was a particular favorite and the revs of the engine shouldn’t impinge on his appreciation of music. He looked like he was on holiday!!
However our relief at having such a shanti driver was short lived as after only 30 minutes he pulled up at a tiny Hamlet killed the engine and disappeared for another chai!
Despite the smoked glass windows a few curious locals soon sniffed out the feringi on board and the bravest offered the first “hallo” we responded in kind and emboldened, the other kids and a few men joined in and soon “hallos” were ringing out from all and sundry.
Having wet his whistle the driver soon had us on our way whistling down the irregular bumpy single-track road, cutting a swathe through the acres of mustard fields. Barriers of thorn and tree trunks punctuated the way, at first we thought we were seeing some local agitation or perhaps a local landowner extracting an illegal toll. However we quickly realized that the barrier were designed to divert traffic away from the irrigation hoses crossing the road. The local farmers were using these to connect the pumping wells to the fields for irrigation! Either side of the road the pipes could be buried so as the traffic could drive safely on without destroying the pipelines.
Our fellow passengers were a motley bunch, from “townies” sporting the latest Nokia handsets to farmers taking strange smelling hand sewed sacks to the market or indeed a protesting bleating goats no doubt soon to be encountering their fate at the local butcher.
The bus was alive with people catching up with the gossip from the neighbors they rarely met. As the bus filled up the chiding and laughing increased as the standing passengers amicably negotiated for another inch of space with their fellow passengers. Somehow an arrangement was always made and we continued down the road in great spirits.
Through countless villages populated by the most colorful women, ragamuffin children, old men with bidis, that looked like they had burned for centuries, young girls tending unlikely herd of goats, and once in a almost surreal moment a tall elegant turbaned Rajput dancing gaily to the music blaring from our bus.
As the mist slowly lifted more of the landscape revealed itself. Looming sun bleached mountains appeared out of the mist, ancient forts rarely visited by tourist sped past, tattooed camels obligingly gave way to the speeding bus and of course the farming towns of Indian gave colour to the burnt scrub land of Rajasthan.
Now several hours into the 110 km journey our knees were feeling the pace jammed up as they were against the driving “cockpit” and much to our chagrin our driver appeared to have a chai addiction! Needing to service his habit every 30 minutes with a 15 minute stop! This turned a 4 hour 110 km journey into a everlasting trudge through rural India, still we tried to keep smiling and the great thing about India is it provides for a smile at every turn, the camel like motor bikes draped saddle style with animal hides. Wonderful undulating mountains, carts piled so high with produce it seemed the buffalo or camel would at any moment keel over and die, and of course the omnipresent smiles of the people of India this combination makes it hard to be down for long in India.
However we were more than a little relieved when we spotted the first bill boards announcing businesses in Bundi, always a sign of imminent arrival at your destination. Soon we were vying for road space with the town traffic and rural India was left behind, then the fort evolved from the swirling mists we were there, Bundi our final destination. We disembarked shook our legs free of the yoga positions they had maintained throughout the journey, surveyed the bruises and congratulated ourselves on surviving it all!
Sometimes the best part of a journey is the arrival and reflection on the film you just played a bit part in!!!!
