MOTORING IN INDIA

Evening Post, Volume CIX, Issue 33, 8 February 1930, Page 27

MOTORING IN INDIA

WEATHER AND ROADS

THE GEAND TRUNK

Whcu I meulion motoring in India to anyone in England I always hear the ono monotonous comment, "But is it not unbearably hot?' 5 To which I reply, "India is liot, but not aiwayß and every where." I remind my : audience that the Himalayas arc in India, and their summits are-covered with eternal ice. T show them photographs of snow-ao-^rd houses and gloomy cold moun->,-n defiies, and round off by saying that even on the hottest of daysmotor- :- iujr is comfortable because the ' swift rush through the air creates a wind.;._ Obviously, one does not pull up by the roadside and wander about without a topi covering the head, just as at night one does not; sleep ma single blanket owing td^the extreme cold. But ■with common sense and a determination not to object to minor hardships, motoring in India can be a joy. , v•. The main roads are very good., Jibe Government has provided roads which, by some travellers, are considered amongst the finest in the world. Road metal is easily obtained, labouris cheap, and land easily acquired. Kiplmgs description of the Grand Trunk road is still ti-uo: "Truly the Grand _Trunk road is a wonderful spectacle. It runs straight, bearing, -without • crowding, India's traffic for 1500, miles—such a

river of life as nowhere else exists in the world. ' The middle road takes the quick traffic, left and right is the rougher road for the heavy carts. A man goes in safety here, for at every few miles is a police station." This road is for the most part shaded with four lines of trees. ' , • . Some of tho main roads m the more mountainous parts of -Northern India are triumphs of engineering skill. Some I of them wind like ribbons, over sandy wastes, avoiding shifting sands; some of them are cut on tho sides of the mountains, some ,of them1 run-through the mountains, ' and of teni there are yawning chasms on one side and towering cliffs on the other. What more does the experience-loving motorist desire? ■ . ■ ■ ■ ; The roads leading to the .villages are deplorable.. The bullock cart used from time immemorial can stand any amount of ill-usage* and the Indian native does not see why he should trouble about, road setvices so long as his bullocks can jolt and thrust their way to the village! When famines occur the Government begins road-making to pinploy the ' natives, and in this manner important works are completed , and starvation averted from the districts. It is a common sight to come across a solitary road mender sitting on his haunches, breaking stones, and scarcely looking up when a vehicle passes him. Often he is miles from any habitation, and sponds the night in a rude hut by tho wayside. Horses, are little used as beasts of burden, but constantly, one, meets or overtakes camels/ sometimes in long strings forming a caravan travelling perhaps from Afghanistan and sometimes singly, bearing perhaps the district postman or policeman. Strangest of all read users in India are the beggars, and the travelling religious fanatics. They can be seen rolling in the dust, walking with the arm raised above the head so that it will become atrophied,(and almost always clothed in rags. " One &fridi beggar wore a ragged piece of cloth to cover the back of his head, and a thick piece of cloth round his waist. His long thick beard reached almost down to. his waiat, and in his hand he carried his water bottle. The symbol of his caste was painted vividly on his forehead. ' . Another outstanding feature of Iridian roads is that almost everyone carried a load. Sometimes a load of wood, sometimes a jar of water, sometimes goods to sell, and sometimes goods that'have .been bought. 'But always these things are carried on the head, and little girls. frequently carry, loads as big as themselves in this manner. A schoolboy carries his slate on his head, a farmer'his wooden plough, and the carpenter carries his hammer on his head. ' , The crowded Indian roads'with their picturesque and ' varied traffic are a groat contrast to the English country roads often so monotonous in their sameness (this refers to main L roads), but it must be remembered that this crowding'is near tho cities odlv. A few miles from a city one can be alone with Nature at her grandest and at her most sublime.

A motorist who had no speedometer on his car was asked how he knew, what speed, he was making. His answer was: "When I go 10 miles an hour my lamps rattle; when I go 13 miles an hour my mudguards rattle; at 25 miles an hour my bones rattle."