Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
this that I had often witnessed people at their kindest. They could smell the desperation
or see the exhaustion or know, because they had been there many times themselves, when
someone just needed some help
The sun was fading, and things were looking bad, but I was in luck now without even
having made it to the aforementioned city yet. Although I had stopped in the middle of the
street, I had also stopped right next to a roadside pancake seller. He and his nine children,
ranging in age from four to sixteen, helped push my bike to the corner and let me stay the
night with them. If you think that sleeping on a straw mattress under the stars is a good
night's sleep, well it is. It was a perfect night of sleep. In the morning, the family even
patched up my bike and gave me gas. As I was quickly learning, there was probably no bet-
ter place in the world for a bike to break down than in India. Because nearly everyone rode
them, and unlike you-know-who, they all knew how to fix them. Incredible India indeed!
I arrived in Lucknow only to find that, once again, a white man with a British accent was
cause for curiosity but not generosity. And again, I understood. Even I was embarrassed for
the chap. I did my best not to get run over by the Lucknow traffic as I made my way to an
outdoor teashop. It was one of many that lined the streets of India. Old men selling chai to
a short but steady line. I began to talk with a man while he waited for his tea, hoping he
might buy me one, too.
“Is it normally this hot in India?” I asked, getting used to striking up conversations with
strangers.
“Yes. Now it's cool. You can say it's cool.”
“It's cool?” I responded. “Cool is 60 degrees. Not 110!”
“I'd even say it's cold,” the man said laughing. Ajay was in his early twenties and looked
as though he might work for a tech company or ride a motorbike of his own. He replied in
near-perfect English, “It's much more hot in the summers.”
“I think I've lost about fifteen kilos of body weight already . . .”
“That means you were huge!” he laughed again, and I knew that I was making a friend.
I explained to him my journey and also my hunger, hoping that he wouldn't dismiss me as
so many had already done that day.
Ajay countered with my favorite reply, “You're looking for a place to stay the night?”
This man was good.
“Yes, I am,” I replied, trying not to appear too desperate. Finally, my luck was looking
up.
