Zombie Highway

We met up with Deepak yesterday afternoon when we arrived back in Delhi.  It was nice to see his smiley face again.  We agreed to hit the road at 7am for our first day of our Varanasi road trip.  He said it will be a long day of driving.  He wasn’t wrong.  It was 10 hours in total.

The first 2 hours were on an expressway, very impressive but an accident waiting to happen.  I think some drivers thought they were on the autobahn.  Their slip-stream was pushing Deepak’s new pride and joy, his new (second hand) Suzuki Maruti nearly off the road. 

The next few hours were back to normal Indian highway driving dodging oncoming traffic, animals, people, any obstacle on the road.

After lunch, leaving Gwalior Deepak said he hadn’t travelled this way for 2 years but by memory the road was bad.  Once again he was right the road is in a state of disrepair.  It was disgraceful.  All due to corruption.  India has a terrible reputation for corruption within politics and this is a prime example.  Story goes this stretch of highway was started 2 years ago but never finished.  We passed bridges to nowhere, road depots were deserted, such a shame in a country where so many people need money just to eat.  The politician pocketed the money.  End of story.

We travelled for 3 hours on this road to Jhansi.  It was full of potholes of various sizes, broken bitumen, gravel or road base in others.  It was like a roller coaster ride.  We were getting thrown around.  I got the giggles because it was just too silly.  Cars, trucks, tuk tuks, motorbikes, push bikes, all the normal traffic was driving wherever they could just to stay on the road.  Jim said this is just like playing Zombie Highway and we both agreed that Deepak would be a natural at the game with his driving skills.

Jim, JC & Riju loved playing ‘Zombie Highway’ on the iPad together.  They were like naughty boys, laughing and distracting each other to make each other lose.  JC was the winner with the highest score.  It was hilarious to watch and listen to.

We eventually arrived at our accommodation which is lovely, the Bundelkhand Riverside in Orchha.  Jim couldn’t wait to show Deepak the game.  Now he loves it too and yes, he is a natural.  The last time I saw Deepak this evening he was showing the man on reception how to play.  

Unfortunately these photos don't show how bad the road really is