Lucknow to Gwalior

Today we leave early - 8am. No cooked breakfast as we are too early; had to slum it with fruit, toast, coffee and pastries. Bussing to Gwalior. 341km 5hr 57min (Google maps, see later). We settle in to the trip, admiring the Lucknow scenery. Lucknow has lots of brand new industrial/computing related development. It is like Bengaluru (or Bangalore), which we saw on the previous trip. First excitement is our comfort stop after 2 hours. T & U manage to buy masala chai, which also provides some useful change. The notes delivered by the ATM were too large for general use. 500 Rupees. The chai costs 30 rupees each (bit less than $1.20 total).
The road is really good. A multi-lane expressway. Should get there much sooner than expected. But: the bus is limited to 80Km/H AND we meet a roadblock. Accident. Road jammed solidly. The navigation team decides to turn around. Remember we are on a 3-lane divided road. We drive back to the last exit. IN THE SLIP LANE GOING THE WRONG WAY. (see pic). At the toll exit gate there is a very slow queue. News comes that the accident is cleared. We do ANOTHER dodgy u-turn (they’re all dodgy in a big bus). Head back along the expressway where we were. Small signs of the accident.
Another comfort stop after another 2 hours featuring plants we think are marijuana, and a very friendly puppy. Drive. Drive. Interesting and productive looking agriculture on a much smaller scale than at home. Usually wheat or mustard seed crops.
While crossing the state border between Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh Manoj told us about Phoolan Devi, Bandit Queen. She was born in 1963, so relatively recently. Very poor and of low caste. She was very strong-minded and when young she got into serious trouble for injuring her uncle with a thrown stone. He was trying to force her family from their land and was cutting down a productive tree. She was repeatedly sexually abused and was forcibly married at age 11 to a much older relative. She rejected him and ran away. Then she was abducted by outlaws. The leader liked her and raped her repeatedly. She hated him, but formed a relationship with the deputy. He killed the leader so he and Phoolan became head of the outlaws. She allegedly killed all the men who had abused her. Then assisted the outlaws in their Robin Hood like lifestyle. They robbed higher caste villages and held up trains and road vehicles. She was wanted by the authorities. Negotiated with them and surrendered in 1983. Terms of her negotiation were no death penalty for anyone from her gang, freehold land for her family with their goat and cow, government job for her brother. She was imprisoned for over 10 years (although the negotiated terms stipulated a maximum of 8 years). Was never tried. Finally the charges were dismissed in 1994. She became a member of parliament in 1996 and campaigned strongly for women’s rights and for justice for people of lower castes. She was one of about 3 illiterate members of parliament. She was assassinated at age 37 in 1999. Phew! They made a movie (which she hated) called Bandit Queen which did well at Cannes.
Manoj conjured a very nice lunch stop from the wilderness. At the strikingly modern looking Hotel DaaWat.
We arrived at our 17th century renovated small hotel at around 6pm. Whole drive had taken about 10 hours. High tea was waiting for us on the shaded lawn. Lovely setting. Very thoughtful after the long drive.
Surprise before dinner. No tonic water available from room service. Nor beer. “We do not serve alcohol.” Won’t do us any harm. Watch this space.Read more