pondicherry to chennai

definitely the most interesting bus ride of my time in india, the short three hour jaunt from pondicherry to chennai proved to be high quality bang for your buck entertainment. rs. 53 (roughly one dollar) for the three-hour trip, which although not one of the more scenic drives, was one of the more expeditiously completed legs of my journey, due to the fact that it traveled along an actual, legitimate highway, therefore allowing the bus to go more than 40 km/hr.

since there were several wide lanes in which to drive and since it was india, people had idea that they could drive as fast and as outrageously as they pleased. this is all in good fun until people start cutting off the massive and overpacked 18-wheeler trucks that are also flying down the road. my fellow traveler and i were crammed into the back of the bus with our backpacks and an indian woman had sat down next to me, who decided to use my leg as an arm rest. apparently, the social stigma of indian men sitting next to white omen doesn't apply the other way around.

looking out of the very dirty windows, we witnessed yet another event that i will never forget. a small car cut in front of a huge truck. the truck had to attempt to to swerve out of the way, unsuccessfully. the truck then fell on its side, slamming to the pavement with such force as to throw its passegers through the windscreen. the men skidded down the road in front of the truck and i would be surprised if any of them survived the ordeal. it was one of those things that happens in slow motion, and the noise of the crash was quite remarkable.

we later saw a few more accidents, but none were as intense as the truck crashing. the longest part of the trip as getting into chennai, which is a sprawling, filthy, indian city. negotiations were made with a rickshaw driver who took us to the backpacker area and further negotiations were made for a place to stay for the night before we could find train tickets to escape chennai.

after dealing ith multiple 'travel agents,' who claimed there ere no seats on any trains for a couple of weeks, we went to the main train station and were able to purchase tickets for the following day. my friend was off to delhi, going north on a 33-hour train and i was heading 26 hours west across the country back to mumbai on a sleeper class ticket, the lowest class on long distance indian trains. this was going to be a true india experience. total cost for the ticket was rs. 400, about eight dollars.