Še en luksuzni avtobus / Another luxury bus

Za drugi del mojega indijskega potovanja sem imela v načrtu pogledati še Agro in Varanasi, zato sem se morala vrniti v New Delhi in od tam poiskati prevoz naprej. Odločila sem se spet za nočni avtobus, tudi tokrat luksuzni. Bil je podoben, kakor vsi avtobusi doslej, star, razmajan, ropotajoč. Nisem se nič vznemirjala, ko je malo težko vžgal in med potjo kašljal in krehal, saj sem bila prepričana, da indijski avtobusi vozijo do večnosti. Pa tokrat ni bilo tako, sredi noči je namreč avtobus dokončno odpovedal. Vsi potniki iz polnega avtobusa smo izstopili, šofer in njegova posadka pa so se lotili štopanja. Kljub temu, da je bila noč, je bilo na cesti precej prometa, tudi nočnih avtobusov proti New Delhiju. Kmalu nam je ustavil en avtobus, ki je bil sicer poln, tako kakor naš, ampak so se hitro zmenili in smo se vsi potniki zbasali gor. Nekaj žensk so nas posadili v kabino k šoferju, kjer je bila postavljena lesena klop, na kateri sem imela morda kakih 10 centimetrov sedeža zase, sedeli smo kar drug prek drugega. Ampak gneča je tam nekaj običajnega in nihče se ni pritoževal, smo se pač tako stiskajoče zjutraj pripeljali v New Delhi. Pot sem nameravala nadaljevati z vlakom, zato je bilo treba iz avtobusne postaje priti na železniško, ki je bila po zemljevidu sodeč sicer blizu, a nisem vedela točno kje, pa še ta velik nahrbtnik sem imela, zato se mi je zdelo najbolje, da se pustim peljati vozniku rikše. Kmalu sem ugotovila, da vozniki rikš sodelujejo s svojimi prijatelji, ki imajo potovalne agencije in prav nihče od voznikov me ni hotel peljati na železniško postajo, vsi so mi ponujali, da me peljejo nekam drugam, kjer lahko kupim karte za vlak, »very cheap«. No, bila sem utrujena in ne preveč pri volji za pregovarjanje, zato sem se pustila peljati v eno tako agencijo. Navsezadnje to niti ni bila tako slaba odločitev, saj smo se najprej zmenili, kam bi rada šla, potem pa sem v miru pri njih sedela in čakala, med tem ko so poslali enega mulca na železniško postajo, da se je tam drenjal in mi kupil karte. Postregli so mi s čajem in kasneje tudi s kosilom, saj sem tam čakala kar precej časa. Na koncu sem vse skupaj seveda plačala, predvidevam, da so v agenciji nekaj zaslužili na moj račun, ampak glede na to, da so v Indiji cene tako zelo nižje v primerjavi s cenami doma, se mi vse skupaj sploh ni zdelo drago.

During the second part of my India journey I planned to visit Agra and Varanasi. Therefore I had to return to New Delhi to get onward transportation. I decided to take a night bus again, a luxury one as previously. It seemed the same as all other buses I took previously, that is old and creaky. It didn't bother me when I heard that the engine had difficulty starting and coughed along the way because I came to believe that Indian buses run forever. But this time it was different and at one point during the night the bus didn't want to go any further. All the passengers got off the bus while the driver and his crew started hitchhiking. Although it was the middle of the night there was lots of traffic on the read, including additional night buses headed for New Delhi. A bus soon stopped for us. Although it was full just like ours, they offered to pick us up anyway and we all piled into the bus. A few of us women were directed toward the driver's cabin where I had about 10 centimeters of a wooden bench seat to myself, otherwise everyone just piled on top of each other. But they didn't seem to mind as crowding is quite usual and we successfully arrived in New Delhi in the morning. I wanted to continue my travel by train so I had to find my way from the bus station to the train station. It was supposed to be close by but I wasn't sure exactly where to go and I also had my large backpack so I decided to hire a rickshaw driver to take me there. I soon found out that there is a huge business between the rickshaw drivers and their friends who own travel agencies. None of the rickshaw drivers wanted to take me to the train station, they all offered to take me somewhere I could buy train tickets "very cheap". Well, I was tired and not in the mood to argue so I allowed one of them to take me to an agency. It turned out to be not a bad decision after all. First I explained where I wanted to go, then I sat there in peace and waited while they sent a kid to the train station to shove through the crowds and buy the tickets for me. They served me tea and later they brought lunch as the waiting took most of the morning. I paid for everything at the end and I'm sure the agency made a commission on whatever they sold me but since prices in India are so low compared to prices back home I was satisfied to pay for the services.