The view from my bedroom window

Caught the bus to Udaipur at 11 and arrived about 8.30 pm and was surrounded by rickshaw wallahs who demanded 500 Rs for my journey to the hotel I had booked. Went to the prepaid booth and they asked 47Rs – it is such a crying shame that one's first impression of a place is given by these men. The journey was similar to the one from Delhi – the roads have improved enormously since I was last here and the bus driver took full advantage of the 2 or 3 lanes by passing on the left and then to the right. There were 100 lorries to every car and he swept past everything with verve and determination – he was a Maharajah on his elephant and nothing was to stand in his way. He didn't hoot at cows but did slow down for them, anything else was fair game and several drivers got a few sharp words from him. As the light faded he started chewing betel and when I heard a screech his head would bob to the side as he spat out of the window and there was another screech as he shut it again. My seat companion was an extremely large woman who was delivered to the bus by her son. Luckily I saw her coming and managed to lower the arm rest between us but even so she flowed over and under it to my side. At every stop she got out and bought things to eat and she devoured at least a pound of beautiful peas from their pods. She eventually got out and was met by her husband on a motor bike and as she climbed aboard, side saddle, she fairly swamped it and nearly tipped it over.
On the journey I had fun looking out for tractors for Waipushrink – 9 in all – Sonalika, Swaraj, Eicher, Massey Ferguson, Youvra, Farmtrac, New Holland, Mahendra and Ford – so that is why there are rather a lot of pictures of them today.

tractors here!