Amazing India

Chattarpur, Dec 13, 2011.

59 km

It is quite straight from Mahoba to Chattarpur. Mostly good road, and quite flat.

Once again I crossed the state border into Madhya Pradesh, and when I did the road became narrower and not quite as good. This state does indeed appear poorer and less populated than UP.

Chattarpur does not seem to have that many hotels. I consciously passed the noisy bus station hoping to find a hotel in a quieter area. But when I asked aorund for a hotel people suggested I should go back to the bus station. Eventually two young boys offered to guide me to a good hotel on their bicycle. First place we asked was full, even though it was only just after one o'clock. But then right nearby there was this Hotel Princess that had vacancies. Here I pay a thousand rupees for a finer room than I actually need. It has television and AC, none of which I want.

By chance I have seen that Khajuraho is quite near from here. I had not planned to go there but will now that it is only 50 kms from where I am and I do indeed have the time. I am actually looking forward to spending several days in Orchha. I need to do some larger laundry and generally packing up all my things and settle in for a while.

Until here have had mostly good phone and Internet connection with my Airtel Sim card. But for some reason Airtel has no coverage in Chattarpur. So I went out and bought me an "!DEA" card, and am now online again. As with so many other things in India this was not entirely straightforward, but eventually worked out, as it always seems to do in this land of wonders.
I found a sales shop for cellphones and tried to explain to the guy that it seemed there was no coverage here and asked if any other provider would be better. His only suggestion was that I must go back to where I have bought the Sim card etc. That was 400 kms away and of course out of the question. Plus it was not the kind of solution I had in mind anyway. I had had no connection in Chitrakoot as well and was thinking that maybe Airtel just is not that good in Madhya Pradesh at all.

So I walked on and found an appliance shop and asked there. They did not sell cellphones or anything related. Nevertheless a sales guy there, who spoke good english, said 'come this way'. And he took me to one cell phone shop after another until we came to a place selling this !DEA stuff. There a whole bunch of customers got involved in my problem, including one extremely helpful young man. After spending another 150 Rs, about two dollars, I was equipped with a new Sim and have 1 fresh GB of data access on it.

This is how I solve most problems in India. It is rare, to say the least, to find the right solution immediately. But then I just start by asking someone who takes me to the next and the next, and eventually things work out. That is the real "Amazing India". The Indian government has a tourist campaign with "Amazing India" as its slogan. But they fail to capture the true meaning of that phrase.