Overloading of vehicles is common worldwide, but it is rare to see such extreme cases as in India.
For example, on their journey, Liang En and his companions saw several vehicles piled high with people and goods. The word "piled" is used because the cars were stacked four or five meters high, with goods twice as wide, and many people sitting on top of the goods.
"This is already considered light. One of my comrades is a Gurkha, and he told me that in northern India, cars can carry three times as many people as here," Fan Meng whispered to Liang En in French, which the driver did not understand.
Liang En believed this because he had seen on TV before the Indian trains with people hanging on the outside and sitting on the roofs, making the carriages' iron sheets invisible.
Of course, such trains are no longer common in India today. Due to safety concerns, India has now strictly prohibited this very unsafe mode of travel, but in Bangladesh, which shares the same cultural sphere as India, this practice still exists.
Because there were antiques on their vehicle, Liang En and his companions had a police escort, but the speed was only slightly faster than riding a bicycle, which made everyone feel a bit anxious, even worrying if they could reach their destination before dark.
"They have more metal than the poor in my hometown, but their living conditions are worse," Jeanne sighed as she looked at the terrible surroundings. She genuinely did not expect that hundreds of years later, people could still live so poorly.
If it were in a place where everyone lived poorly, like in some African tribal areas, it might not seem so bad. However, the slums were not far from several luxurious mansions, creating a sense of magical realism.
"There's no choice; this is Mumbai, the most prosperous city in India," Liang En explained quietly as he looked out the window. "The city has more than ten million people, with three to four million migrant workers."
Although Mumbai's urban area is quite large, it is not as large as one might imagine, so most of the workers can only find a place to live in these areas without water supply, electricity, or almost any public services.
As their convoy moved forward, the houses of Mumbai's low-income population on both sides of the road got closer to the road's edge, as they were closer to the city center, and the land became more valuable.
Of course, this also meant that there were more vehicles and people on the road. The entire road was now as congested as a bustling market, with people, vehicles, and various animals all crowded together. Worse still, there were no traffic police to manage the traffic.
This situation was mainly because the locals did not follow traffic rules. Drivers would change lanes as they wished, moving back when honked at, and if no one honked, they would stay. Sometimes, there wasn't even room for a ping pong ball between cars.
Fortunately, there was a vehicle with fully armed police officers at the front of their convoy, so they managed to open a path through the crowd, allowing everyone to move forward slowly.
At this point, everyone in the car could see more clearly the condition of the houses on both sides of the road. Although they were called houses, many were not even as good as shacks. Many were just a few wooden sticks supporting a grass roof, without walls.
Those with slightly better conditions used tin sheets to build a house, but apart from using more metal, their living conditions were not much different from the poor people in Jeanne's time, as if time had completely stopped.
Obviously, such simple houses could not provide much shelter. The only fortunate news was that Mumbai's temperature was relatively high, even in the coldest January, the lowest temperature was around seventeen or eighteen degrees, so grass huts were still livable.
Fortunately, as Liang En knew, the entire city, like India itself, had enormous internal disparities. For example, the eastern part of Mumbai was truly not much worse than the prosperous areas of those Western cities.
For Liang En and his companions, who had spent an hour to enter the wealthy area, it now felt like they had gone from hell to heaven. Although there were still many people, it was not as crowded as before, like sardines in a can.
Moreover, the pedestrians they saw were much better dressed. Indians had a strong sense of hierarchy, so the poor generally did not come to this area. Of course, the police officers holding bamboo sticks at each intersection also played a significant role.
Most of the people walking in this area were locals working nearby. Today, the streets were filled with white-collar workers or wealthy individuals, and they could even see a few Western tourists.
This southern district of Mumbai was the most beautiful part of the city, with very beautiful beaches, tree-lined avenues, and magnificent buildings from the British colonial era, such as the University of Mumbai, Mumbai Train Station, the Tax Office, and the Court.
It's understandable why some Indians now miss the British colonial era, as compared to the construction done by the British back then, the current Indian government's work can be described as a complete mess.
As Liang En knew, the reason why Indian trains were so slow was that most of their railway system was built during the British colonial era, but those things had been in operation for over a century, making it difficult to handle modern busy railway transport.
The group first went to a museum in this area for the final transaction work, and then took a car to their hotel for this trip, which was the Taj Mahal Hotel booked by the president of the Golden Dawn for them.
To be honest, although India had given a terrible impression before, this hotel was no worse than top hotels in most countries, and it was even called the best hotel in India, symbolizing India's pride and wealth.
The reason why a hotel could have such a reputation was simple. During the British colonial period, Jamsetji Tata and his British friend went to Watson's Hotel near the Taj Mahal Hotel for tea, but Tata was kicked out because he was Indian.
At that time, Tata was already a very successful entrepreneur, fully deserving of respect. After that incident, Tata was determined to build the most luxurious hotel in India. The Taj Mahal Hotel was his masterpiece.
Jamsetji Tata was the founder of the Tata Group, India's largest and oldest conglomerate. However, he was not of India's main ethnic group but a Parsi. They are followers of Zoroastrianism (also known as Fire-worship), founded by the prophet Zoroaster.
Parsi means "Persian." They are descendants of Zoroastrians who migrated from Persia to India to escape Muslim persecution.
Most of them live in Mumbai and some towns and villages to the north of the city. Of course, there are also some in Bangalore and Pune.
The reception staff from India handled the check-in process. Taking this opportunity, Liang En and his companions looked around. The hotel's interior was luxurious, filled with artworks, with elegant arches and a central staircase in the dignified style of the late 19th century.
Soon, all the procedures were completed, and under the guidance of a waiter, Liang En and his companions went upstairs to their rooms to rest for a while.
After all, the previous journey was too exhausting. No matter how good everyone's physical strength was, they couldn't help but feel a wave of fatigue, just wanting to find a place to rest well.
Thank you for reading this far! You can access more chapters from HERE by joining my Patreon community. You'll gain exclusive early access to the COMPLETE NOVEL.
As a member of my Patreon community, here is what you'll get:
- Early access to the COMPLETE NOVEL.
- You also get access to all the novels I'm translating, you can find them here HERE.
- You Get Ad-free Chapters.
- Plus, you can Cancel your membership at any time.
