Goats in Coats: Delhi to Bihar, 17 January 2015

I was driven to Delhi airport in thick fog around 9.30 am.  Indian cars, like most Australian ones, don’t have fog lights: hazard lights are used instead, here.  It was a surreal experience driving slowly along a crowded five lane highway, with ghostly cars all flashing their emergency lights!

On my Air India flight the (more everyday than elegant) stewardesses, who would not have been out of place managing teaching a primary school class, wore saris and sandals with rather mundane (but entirely understandable) thick black socks.  They served the whole plane a vegetarian lunch: apparently on the weekend AI only provides one meal option, and the default is veg!  Very civilised and inclusive!

I was met at Bagdogra by my colleague, SD.  Previously he had written me a very diplomatic email to find out when I was actually arriving:

Dear Madam,

I have been assigned to receive you at Bagdogra Airport on January 17, 2015. It shall be of great help if you kindly confirm your arrival at the airport.

With regards

Bagdogra is in West Bengal, the state which in my limited geography seems to be everywhere: it’s the state through which I made land crossings into both Bangladesh and Nepal, it’s the state in which I land to get to Bihar: I suspect it has good infrastructure and that’s why I'm always passing through it.  Kolkata, the largest city in WB, was the capital of British India for much of the occupation (until the locals got too restless and the British scarpered to Delhi; it’s also one of the areas in which the independence movement was formed) so it has well established connections and networks.

Tea plantations

Our five hour drive to BAU Sabour, just outside Bhagalpur, took us past tea plantations and then lots of farmland.  Rabi (dry) season crops are in: there was some maize and wheat, a bit of rice, and lots of chickpea, lentil and mustard. 

It’s winter and the weather is cool – I doubt it frosts often, but it’s certainly very cold, particularly when there’s fog (and there seems to have been a lot of fog).  Many farmers are keeping their cattle and buffalo warm by draping them, horse-blanket style, in hessian sacks, or the occasional bedspread for the larger animals (sadly no photos; we drove past too fast).  I was thrilled to go past a small family of goats in coats – it looked like the goats were wearing a family’s collection of old sari blouses: the nannies had ladies’ blouses while the kids had smaller versions, in a range of bright colours.  I'm not sure how much warmth a short cotton blouse actually gives, but the effect was charming.

We didn’t get to the Ganga (Ganges) crossing until after dark, which is a shame: it’s an awesomely large river to cross.

SD and I arrived back at BAU in time for a cup of chai and dinner.  He and SK have been enormously helpful ensuring I'm well looked after at the guesthouse.