Buses in the night

Udaipur, Friday 1 March 2013

The overnight bus from Jodhpur to Mount Abu dumped me on the roadside about 4.45 in the morning. This was becoming a habit! 

'To the right, to the right,' the driver called to me, gesturing to a road leading off into the night. He shut the door and the bus pulled away.

Luckily (for once) a tuk-tuk appeared and took me several km to the bus station, from where I'd take a bus up into the hills, to the town of Mount Abu. I asked around at the station, and found out that the local buses would begin at 5.30am. I sat down on a bench beside an older man. A younger guy on the bench opposite looked at me with wildish eyes, and made a questioning hand gesture as if to say, 'So what's going on?'. I ignored him, but over he came and sat down and the usual rigmarole of questions began... where you're from, where you're going. He was clearly a bit strange, and it was five in the morning. I wasn't interested in humouring some idjit, so I pulled out my book and started to read, hoping he'd clear off. 'What's your country famous for?' Oh for goodness sake. 'Guinness,' I said, barely looking up. He hadn't understood and asked again. 'Guinness,' I repeated. Confused, he finally beat a retreat back to his original seat. 

The old man beside me pointed to a private bus that had pulled up on the roadside at the station. 

'Going to Mount Abu,' he said. 'You can go and ask.'

I did. And it was. It was nice of him to point it out to me, as for a few more rupees I got a comfier ride for the hour-and-a-bit journey, and didn't have to wait for another half hour being stared at by a crazy person.

So, next stop Mount Abu...