Sun temple

Konark.

Well I made it, at last...and what a place. I was surprised at how worn it was, but the weather beaten sculptures which remain. The work is an credible as is the scale...bloody minded optimism at its best...and I took way too many photos...the temple is basically an illustrated kama sutra...well, a lot more than that, well worth the train trauma to get here...and another memory...

The mini bus journey. Today's were magnificent examples of the scariest way I've yet found to move around in India....

Went to the bus station, found my mini bus, half empty, got a seat by the window...so far so good...got, hmm, be kind, maybe about 100m, when kerfuffle, mutter and stop..out gets the driver, shouts to the conductor...from somewhere appear a long pole a Jack, a spare wheel, some mechanichish shaped piece of rust and out they get...back right wheel, off at the roadside...grab some breakfast, get shouted on, its ready, we late, we going now...get back on and then the accumulative tardis effect...soon full, soon fuller, soon impossibly full and then room for one more...how sharp elbows can be in a restricted crowd...and the wheel in the mini bus in the midst of all of this. Then speed, late, on these roads its like a jack Russell yapping at a herd of elephants.

Then on the way back, in konark bus station, I recognised the driver from this morning. He looked beaten, recognising me a resigned shrug and an attempt at a smile, then he wandered off, muttering I would guess...and so we overloaded up and started back towards puri....a passenger got on and then another, already in the red zone of overcrowding he found room for another eight, with a cake box... and the he really was unable to bend reality any further and left an elderly woman and a child by the side of the road cursing the cake bix culture...the omens read well, just enough air to breathe and I could still see my nose...then, on a slow curve, a stop. The driver got out, shook his head, looked pathetically at his steed, turned his back and made a phone call. We set off again...and then a petrol stop...the driver walked away, this time I saw his mouth move...a discussion, the driver returned to his seat, we moved on...one last time he halted and left us....the sun had set by now, his shoulders he returned wearing he look of a condemned man...I left the bus...