After we arrived at Jhansi train station, we boarded G-Adventure bus with new driver and assistant. It was to have been a two hour drive to Alipura, our next stop for two nights, but we got gnarled in a massive traffic jam for over half an hour. This was also where they were building a "fly-over" for a new road. There were several women in saris carrying plastic basins of rough granite rocks (bigger than gravel) on their heads to wherever it was needed. A number of men stood arround taking turns using a strange shovel/fork contraption to rake the rocks into the basins whenever a woman came in with an empty one. It all looked very inefficient but it no doubt provided employment. 

Luckily, our bus had A/C. There was such a jumble of buses, trucks carrying huge loads, cars, motor cycles, bicycles -- all of them jammed to a halt. Parakrum finally got out to see what the issue was. We could see him gesturing, waving his arms, obviously trying to untangle the mess. When he came back, he said it was "a no common sense jam." Everyone was trying to get there first, with no one giving way. Heated words were exchanged, but we finally started to move.

A huge gravel truck met us and it was a VERY tight squeeze for both vehicles to get by without metal squealing. One of the workers or locals was helping to guide us through when a metal barrier nearly clipped him. It’s amazing how people can react SO fast here - a matter of survival.

When we passed the truck that caused the hold up Parakrum swore, "There's that bastard!" We passed him and it was fairly easy sailing from that point. There was a small section, about 100 feet that was under construction - very rough and we thought: "Oh No! Not a free massage from now on!” but it was a very short section and we were soon on our way again over a fairly good road.

The village of Alipura is a larger village than Tordi. It is also cleaner, but still looked poor. But these are farmers and this is their way of life. The fields were bare, but they appeared to be getting them ready for the monsoon rainy and growing season. The streets were very narrow and it really takes skill to manoeuver large buses like ours through the people, other vehicles, cows, goats, dogs, and kids.