As I headed out onto Highway 31, the temperature was already at about 25c. The forecast is for 31c, so I have the windows down. There is no shortage of petrol stations here, but the first one I try is actually closed, and I realise it’s only 08:00. A very short drive up the road and I find the Lakho Petrol Station, which is sort of open, but the owner seems happy to help. It’s money. I fill up the camper’s tank, get a little more money from the cash machine and buy some drinks in the stall at the side, before heading east towards Malda.
The whole area is largely flat, but prone to heavy flooding because of the number of rivers that I pass. It hasn’t rained for over a week, not on me, anyway, and the roads are very dry and dusty. When the monsoon season comes by, all of this can change dramatically. I pass Mansi (mansi is the Indian word for ‘Woman’), a small town to the north side of the Highway that was unfortunately made famous in 1981 with one of the worst rail disasters of its time. The train driver was said to brake hard to avoid a cow on the tracks, and the train plunged into the river, killing 268. Cows are sacred in India, of course.
There are lots of trucks on the road. Large and somewhat over laden in my opinion, but there doesn’t seem to be much notice taken of it. Many of the coaches and trucks are very highly decorated, with incredible patterns and colours and shapes. This must be the equivalent of those well lit trucks in America. Not much power, but loads of spare paint.
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I turn onto Highway 81, and as I drive past Manihahi, which sits on the edge of the Ganga river, and about half way along my journey today, I am again reminded that this land is guaranteed to be flooded every year. I debate with myself why these people would choose to live in an area that is so badly effected, EVERY year. There are no defences I can see. No walls lining the river, and this may be purely down to the fact that their money is spent on simpler things.
When I enter Malda (Formerly known by its British-named English Bazaar) it is to the south of the airport. I have to cross the border into Bangladesh, and have a good few hours to do it in, so drive straight through Malda. The city is on the ancient site of the Gaur and Pandua ruins. The British East India Company set up a factory here in 1771.