AS goes to India

[willswitchengage]

WSE's holiday 2cray20 - India and Nepal. Amusingly managed to occur just as COVID-19 became big and the airport on the way home was full of western tourists wearing dust masks from Screwfix. Brilliant.

It begins, checking in a Lidl bag as usual at LGW.

Flying Emirates (it was the cheapest option), I had a few hours to kill in Dubai airport so I caught the metro into the old town for a look around - I figured it would be only walkable part of the city. From the train's windows I could just about make out the city's main glitzy attractions but the air is heavily polluted and hazy. Anyway, what a shithole I was presented with. The pre-oil part of the city is a typical 20th century Arabian mish mash of concrete houses and businesses and there really isn't anything to see. Apparently the Souks are vaguely touristy but in reality they're just the Middle Eastern equivalent of a car boot sale. Weirdly however for a country that has to import everything it consumes, buying lunch from various cornershops was remarkably cheap. Unsurprisingly all the vehicles on the road were all second hand Japanese things as is typical in most of the developing world.

We then arrived in Delhi for a whistlestop train around the 'golden triangle', i.e. connecting with Jaipur and Agra. Each leg was about £10 a head traveling in AC class - both in 'chair' and 'sleeper' in daytime mode. All were electric and accelerated extremely slowly - but each 'rake' as they're called over there must have comprised 20+ coaches. Traveling like this was pretty civilised and the electronic seat reservation works incredibly well. Unreserved class was more 'typical India' - i.e. there would be a hilarious scramble of hundreds of aspiring passengers trying to squeeze into their carriages. I imagine that fare evasion is quite high. The toilets were nothing more than a hole in the carriage floor and you could open the doors whilst the train was in motion - very exciting. Despite this everything was generally very dirty and dilapidated.

Delhi Station

Second i.e. 'unreserved' class was the cheapest way of getting around and there was typically a mad rush for passengers to get on.

An EMU in Delhi

Obviously a strong colonial influence. Most stations were signedposted like this

This electric loco was the general workhorse. Caboose type cars were also used and were labelled as 'Brake, Generator and Luggage'. They used the 25KV 50Hz system.

The line to Jaipur wasn't fully electrified so we ended up with a couple of these. I think they have GM engines.

'AC Chair class'. The seats were SO comfortable.

Free dinner with 'hygienic' sandwich

Delhi's metro - generally very clean and modern, air conditioned and full of middle-class Indians

Our first two trains were both an hour late but after that things seemed to improve. They all topped out at 70 mph according to my smartphone's 'speed' app but tended to stop a lot for seemingly ages and for no reason, and crawl in and out of cities at walking pace. Not surprising really as there was livestock and people all over the tracks. I also saw the most impoverished scenes of the country from the train window - shantytowns and people making a living from endless rubbish dumps. Since Indians love computers all ticketing is 100% electronic and in reserved class you're assigned a seat or bed, and tickets aren't available once the train is full, which they always seemed to be. It actually works impressively well, and on the station platforms digital signs tell you where each coach will arrive. Monkey approves, yo.

The roads of India were nothing other than chaos. The only road rules that I could really observe were that you give way to a larger vehicle and generally stick to the left. That's about it. Bicycles and motorcycles were the main ways of getting about - Hero Honda was probably the biggest bike manufacturer I saw, with Suzuki, Yamaha and local manufacturer Bajaj being close behind. Doing a bit of Wikipediaing, India has recently overtaken China as being the world's biggest bike manufacturer. Generally everything was homegrown. Rickshaws existed everywhere as taxis and were pretty cheap, especially as we improved our haggling skills whilst out there. Most were a Bajaj or Piaggio, and I learned that those painted green are converted to CNG running, which is being pushed like mad in India for all vehicle types. Newer models have a 200 cc 4 stroke engine, older models are two stroke. They have a top speed of about 25 mph with twist gear selection. Petrol stations were for some reason very rare and far between. We used a couple of electric rickshaws but they were incredibly slow and had an unbearable ride quality. Cars were popular in more affluent areas and, again, were all local products. The market leader by a significant margin appeared to be Suzuki with its local Maruti products. Mahindra and Tata were local competitors and their newer stuff looked modern enough, and the other Japanese and Korean manufacturers also had their own popular Indian-market vehicles. We saw only a handful of Tata Nanos, it really didn't catch on by the look of things. Again, all of the trucks were Indian. Tata was by far the biggest brand with Eicher and Ashok Leyland coming behind. Those split-windscreened Tata things that look like garden sheds were the most popular, although despite their appearance they did sound like they had fancy new Cummins engines - albeit still connected to primitive local running gear. Obviously a lot of Indian made vehicles and bikes are sold in the UK, but considering the local build quality of everything (half of my water bottles leaked) I'd now be pretty apprehensive about buying one.

Excuse the quality of some of these photos, many were taken from moving rickshaws!

Light trucks like these were popular around town. I think some were copies / licence built versions of old Mitsubishi stuff.

A rare empty road in Agra. The city was heavily cleaned up for the Donald's visit a couple of days after we were there.

Typical congestion. Often crossing the road basically involved stepping in front of traffic to get it to stop.

Use of a fridge's heat exchanger as a rickshaw's door was a common bodge.

Skoda and VW (specifically - Polos) were weirdly popular - over there an Octavia was often called a 'Laura'

The Maruti Suzuki 800 - easily the most common car we saw anywhere, and they were popular in Nepal too

Eicher was a truck manufacturer I'd never heard of before but they were pretty popular. This model looked like a copy of some Japanese thing. Note the flowers which were laid for Donald Trump.

Electric bus used to ferry tourists to and from the Taj Mahal in Agra

Look familiar? These were pretty rare and I only saw them as municipal vehicles. It's a Tata something.

Force vans were pretty popular and are fairly obviously based on an old Mercedes T1. Bonneted Tata trucks were fairly rare, and newer SUVs were common - especially as government vehicles.

The only Hindustan Ambassador that I saw, but I do believe these are a 'regional' thing and more popular in place like Kolkata.

Tata bus in remarkably good condition.

The ridiculous open topped bus in Jaipur

The van on the left is a Tata (407?) and was pretty popular everywhere

Almost all trucks had 'Goods Carrier' decorated on their cabs along with 'All India Permit'

Found one!

Understandably some locals had more money than others

Don't know what this is?

Mahindra Jeeps were pretty common

In Delhi many of the buses were of contemporary design. The roof hump is CNG tanks, not aircon

The closest I got to Donald as he sat with Modi in Hyderabad House - you can just see some of his motorcade vehicles. Oh, wait!

HIS EXCREMENCY DONALD J TRUMP

From Delhi I caught a 16 hour overnight train to Gorakhpur. I was somehow downgraded a class without refund so begrudgingly had to try and grab some sleep among the plebs - which probably would have been fine had the bogie designers used dampers and had I not had a dozen screaming children exclusively in my cabin. Nevertheless from Gorakhpur I caught a local bus to the Nepalese border. All of the buses' destination blinds at the stand were in Hindi but for some reason every local seemed to recognise that I was traveling to the border and recommended which bus to catch. The only seat left was at the front next to the driver, where for the next four hours I was deafened by its air horn and engine which wasn't really isolated from the cabin in any way whatsoever. Nevertheless at a top speed of 30 mph in fourth gear we eventually arrived at the border. The engine was switched off by a pull cord and started by manually connecting two wires, and the horn actuated by shorting another wire on the dash. Serious Mad Max stuff.

Inside the bus of doom. Should have taken a video really, it was incredible

During a piss break and our only rain. The solitary windscreen wiper was not particularly effective. Amusingly all of the locals are wusses and wouldn't come out when it rained - road side cafes were full of sad looking motorcyclists

Must have spent half an hour wandering around trying to find where to get my passport stamped

Truckspotting at the border. I'm pretty sure these things are sold as chassis with the cabs being 'coachworked'. The famous super-decorated floral trucks are a Pakistani thing, Indian trucks are less extreme

Various shit buses in Nepal - this is the country's only public transport

A bus that we caught around Kathmandu. They'd leave when full, and payment would typically be taken when alighting by a 'conductor' whose job was to shout at potential passengers and inflate the fare for white people

The border itself largely involved me having to put serious effort into finding the immigration points - you could just walk through without having your passport stamped. After a bit of 'research' I couldn't find any decent option for getting to Kathmandu so I chose an overpriced nightbus which transpired to have less legroom than that offered by those tiny seats used in primary school assembly. Following another sleepless night, not helped by sitting next to a very chatty local who wanted to tell me everything about his career working at a local cement works, I arrived in a very cold Kathmandu at 5am. The bus itself was pretty cold too - it was a Tata coach whose windows did not seal properly, and felt like it would only start in third gear.

Interesting stuff in the local chemists

Nepal's traffic is broadly the same as that of India except there is less horn blowing and the rickshaws have been replaced with cars. Still no Chinese vehicles either. Both countries also counter my generally regarded assertion that the Isuzu Elf / Mitsi Canter things are the only mass market vehicles sold in every country worldwide. Not here - literally everything is made in India other than a few token luxury cars.

Extr3m3 potholes - spot the local kid

Always wanted one of these

Funny little tractor things that were pretty popular

Finishing in style a Cityrover - my taxi to the airport. Unsurprisingly plastic-y inside and presumably has a crappy indigenous engine (it bogged unless it had its tits revved off). To top things off my driver got pulled over by the cops halfway through the journey for some bizarre misdemeanor or bribe. Flew home. The end.

[bramz7]

That white mystery car, Hindustan Contessa?

What a fascinating snapshot! Great post 11/10.

[face]

Fuck me, did you take any pictures?

[AnthonyG]

Yes, the white 1970’s looking saloon is a Hindustan Contessa, a locally built version of the 1972-8 Vauxhall FE Victor. 

Introduced to India sometime in the 1980s and sold into the Noughties. Most (if not all) had Isuzu engines, both petrol and diesel.

The Tata Nano never caught on and Tata lost a bundle on it. The price escalated from the initial estimate of one lakh (100,000) rupees to around two-thirds of the price of a Maruti 800, and most preferred to save/borrow a bit more for a ‘proper car’.

[sierraman]

Quite like to give India a try, if not only for the food but the chance of seeing a Hindustan Contessa. 

[angle]

On 5/18/2018 at 9:11 PM, angle said:

Managed to rescue a few photos from India off my old / broken phone:

 

These are the ones I managed to rescue off the phone I broke halfway through the time I spent there. You're right that there's definitely something regional about what cars are where - I only saw Premier Padminis (Fiat 1100, basically) in Mumbai and there were loads more Ambassadors in Calcutta than anywhere else. 

Everything is Indian though - you pay more than 100% tax on anything that's not built on the country... 

[wuvvum]

That looks like the sort of holiday I would have absolutely loved 20 years ago, but nowadays I'd find it too tiring and stressful.  I R old. 

[DavidB]

I've never forgotten the time I saw someone boarding a transatlantic flight with his luggage in a Tesco carrier bag. ?

[Dan the van]

Fantastic report,brings back happy memories of 1994 when I spent some time there.Pleased to say it looks just the same.Re lack of petrol stations,yes very few but pop into any shop and they'll sell you a gallon or two or direct you round the corner to their cousin who does lol.

[davehedgehog31]

Tremendous write up, enjoyed that.

[louiepj]

Thoroughly enjoyed your write up of the type of holiday I should have done in my yoof. 

Euro car parts cheapest parts brand is also called Eicher. 

 

[808 Estate]

Excellent photos. I was out there last year, its definitely eye opening. I will post some piccies up tomorrow.

I did find that the railway stations had the best samosa vendors. 18p for 2 excellent veggie samosas was well worth while.

[Dave_Q]

Great write up, thanks.

 

Was there 10 ish years ago, will have to see if I can dig out some pics.

 

Went to Darjeeling which is not far from Nepal on the India side of the border, similar terrain and they also didn't have rickshaws, all their taxis were Maruti Bedford Rascals in 8 seat* people carrier flava.

 

I just assumed that rickshaws simply can't get up the hills.

 

 

[Snipes]

These almost look like Mitsi Dangers crossed with Leyland Roadrunners.

[406V6]

15 out of 10 for nabbing that shot of the Hindustan Contessa. I can't recall ever seeing a shot of one out in the wild.  One for the FE Vauxhall lickers to get really excited about.

[808 Estate]

A few piccies from my trip to Aurangabad.

People "living" in road side tents. They were breaking mud rocks with a block of wood to make a liquid clay, so they could then make bowls to sell.

The tuk tuk of terror. Notice the wing mirror is inside and allows the driver to see the passengers. Tuk tuks can now be ordered using Uber.

How much stuff can you get on a moped.?

Obviously a lot more than the first guy managed.

Chicken tikka, peppers and green chutney pizza. Possibly the best pizza I have ever eaten.

Today was a festival holiday. There was alcohol. This guy ended up on the central reservation of a flyover facing the wrong way. Quite impressive as traffic there usually moves at about 25mph.

The crowd pulled him out and chucked the debris off the side of the flyover.

Our driver practicing safe driving techniques.

Cows have right of way. Sometimes traffic stops on the dual carriageways because the cows are stood in the fast lane and eating the central reservation.

Needs a clean.

A proper bike.

Fixer upper.

Shanty town. Look closely at the roof in front of the tree.

Of course its legal.

Other interesting observation included -

Crossing the road - man up, dont look, step out and have the faith that your chosen god/dielty will protect you and traffic will miraculously pass around you as you traverse an 8 lane cross roads.

Car horns. Used for a bewildering array of misscellaneous reasons. Most cars had a big red button fitted to the lower dash near the gear lever. Usually because the original horn button has stopped working and the new one can be operated with your hand on the gearstick. I saw steering wheels where the plastic had worn away where the horn button was due to so much use.

4x4 Taxis with racing slicks. Seems every 4x4 taxi was fitted with slick tyres to take full advantage of the sand covered roads.