Fuel Stop, location a blur

Dogs, Again

Bird Sanctuary

Arriving in Raijanj we thought we were on the outskirts when the town suddenly ended. We asked for a hotel and ended up at a Government Tourist Bird Sanctuary Lodge, a peaceful place with a beautiful flower garden and woke up to chirping birds. As the only guests, we are treated like family, which made us miss our own. The big bonus for us was that we got to toss a happy hip baby girl around for the evening.

Borderlands

We are crawling north on the National Highway 34 in West Bengal along the Bangladesh border to the Nepal border near Siliguri. From the eastern outskirts of Kolkata we almost made it through the city without hassle, but got off too early from the “No Rickshaw Expressway” we greased our way on to, and landed in the heart of Kolkata. In my mind, besides Cairo, Kolkata has the most horrific driving conditions in the world. David cruised right through.

From Kolkata, we landed in Baharampur, not a spectacular day in kilometers but the traffic jams on the two lane pothole infested national highway slowed progress. The roads are obviously a problem for commerce. Road maintenance is part of the State and National budgets, so funds are obviously being funneled off to line government officials’ pockets. The towns up north are darker and poorer. Intermintent power and no street lights gives Baharampur a gloomy edge and the proximity to the border causes headaches. Bangladeshi citizens are flooding the rural towns here for a better life. We are now in Raijanj and will cross the border into Nepal for our final 600 kilometers to Kathmandu. We've been focused on the drive and sort of forgot that we will soon see an entirely new country and culture-- we can't wait to see Nepal.

Stalin's Smile

We were happy to finally have a chance to return a favor. Stalin needed a ride to the airport. Communism is alive and well here and that really is his name. Believe me, we confirmed.

"Stalin, right or left here?" "Hey Stalin, anybody in that lane behind us?" Doesn't exactly roll off the tongue, but I used his name as much as possible nevertheless.

Stalin's eyes widened as cops waved us down. He's a bellboy at our Kolkata hotel and, in spite of his name, any interaction with authority deeply freaked him out. I thought he was going to bolt. We explained ourselves to the police and they happily waved us through with smiles and a thumbs-up. Stalin was all smiles himself until we were stopped again. This time, the authorities had clearly seen other teams and we didn't have to say a word-- big smiles and the gate to the forbidden highway opened.

Neither John nor I are really law and order guys, so this was just another day at the office for us. But Stalin's face was pure exhilaration as he cheered out loud.

Rules and bureaucracy soak everything here and in wildly inconsistent ways. Drive your rickshaw on the six-lane expressway? No problem. Tea at 6:30 a.m.? Absolutely not, sir. Tea is at 7:00, as stated on that sign. We were glad to give Stalin a little taste of the dark side.

After his ride with us, I like to think that Stalin rose the next morning to start a punk rock band with the first hit single "No Room For The Man In My Rickshaw."

The reality is probably that he just went back to work, but at least we gave him a really fun ride to the airport. And that's something I've never had.

Dogs

I like to take pictures of dogs. That's just how I roll.

You Got to Have Faith

A puja was performed this morning for our Rickshaw as we set off for Calcutta. Steering wheel, hood, bumper, were all blessed by a Hindu priest, with special attention paid to the tires. Incense and flowers came with us on the road. Rickshaw eating potholes, highway diversions, traffic from all angles and a muffler repair complicated our day. We (Rickshaw, David, and Strick) survived and found a brilliant hotel (with more staff than patrons) next a toll booth on the outskirts of Calcutta at dusk.

A roadside hotel calmed the day’s biggest worry--motoring into the heart of Calcutta in darkness. Results are the bottom line.  The puja was a big part of our day.