Taken for a ride!

We arrive into this busy market town at the Kadamba bus station. There are at least 50 buses, some arriving and some just leaving. No bus seems to stay still for long. People try to scramble off the bus before it has stopped and others are pushing to get on and grab a seat before the passengers disembark. Meanwhile the conductors are on the ground hustling for passengers and others shouting ar-re! ar-re! ar-re! Hurry, hurry, hurry. Get on the bus quickly. No time to stop. The bus is going now! Get on board!

I'll try to get a better photo but this is a temporary Google Earth shot.

It doesn't show any people!  There are folk everywhere...

Unlike our bus stations at home there are people milling about in front of, behind and beside the buses. Leaping off and pushing on. The ground is dusty and uneven with potholes. 

We decided to wait for the next bus because this one was full but the conductor was having none of it. 

We said there were no seats. 

He told us there would be seats in five minutes...once we were out of the bus station and away from the traffic police. 

 So we squeezed on and sure enough, five minutes into the journey, we were given a small space in the driver's cab! I sat on a metal box and Helen sat on the gearbox where it was hot! And we weren't the only ones in there..two others joined us! (The fare for 10km is 10p.)

This is the fun of India...nothing is impossible. These people find a way round any problem.  

How is this different from our Western ways?  Answers below please! 

I don't know who is reading this blog but any comments are welcome.