What is a Toofan? I hear you say. It is a long wheel base 4WDrive used as a taxi in India.How many people can you fit in a Toofan? Well today I think we set a record! There were 21 people in the Toofan we travelled in from the small village of Bhadraser back to Mundra. That’s nearly a whole class! But it was cheap. 20R a person. That is equivalent to about 40 cents Australian.To travel 30 km.I am not sure if Number 21 counts as actually being IN the Toofan as he was sitting on the back bumper bar holding the back door which stayed open the whole way as there was no way of shutting it.He held the door with one hand and had his mobile phone in the other making a call!
Bhadraser is a small village which we explored today . There is school on Saturday in Mundra but we were given the day off. Firstly we caught an auto out to the Jain Temple and then walked back through the village. Some young boys who were not at school proudly showed us around the village pointing out all of the features such as the water tankers, hospital, big old abandoned bungalow and the school, where they were probably supposed to be but weren’t.
We went into the school and introduced ourselves. There were two schools right next door to each other, one the girls’ school and the other the boys’ school. The Principal of the boys’ school invited us into his office where he played the harmonium for us. He then invited us back to his house for afternoon tea break. He lived about 5 minutes away from school so we headed off there and had chai and biscuits, sweets and savouries.
After that we headed back to the main road where we were met by an old guy who organised the ride in the Toofan for us. We took his photo with his two best friends which you can see below.
Just another day in India!
i like my villages photo.i found my schools and my photo in yours visit but i can not see my photo.
Lovin’ your journey! Take care and keep on enjoying 🙂 Sally xxx