Over the Western Ghats

On Tuesday evening I was invited to give a bible message for a small assembly in Coimbatore.  There were about 30 people that attended and it was a very encouraging time.  I spoke on the biblical principles to discern the Will of God in your life.  Everyone was very thankful and appreciative of me being there.

On Wednesday morning at 7:30am I caught a bus that would take me from Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu to Mysore, Karnataka.  From there I was planning to catch a bus back to Hunsur.

The bus was very comfortable and had air conditioning which was great.  It was to take 5 hours to travel to Mysore then another hour to Hunsur.  I had been invited to give a gospel message at the Hunsur school as their were having their end of year Christmas program, so I was planning on being there in the early afternoon.

The bus route from Coimbatore to Mysore

However things didn't pan out as hoped for.  After two hours of driving in the bus we approached the Western Ghats.  They are a huge mountain range in western India.  Just before we were to drive up this gigantic mountain and its 27 hairpin bends we hit heavy traffic.  In fact everyone came to a complete stop and got out of their vehicles.  There were cargo trucks lining the side of the road as far as you could see as this was the only place to buy supplies until you are over the mountain.  Some people rushed up to the bus and told us that the road was blocked and it would take about 3 hours to clear.  It was unlike anything I've ever seen before, madness everywhere.  

Some of the guys from our bus got out and started to direct the bus in-between very tight gaps to push our way through to the front of the queue.  There were lots people trying to wave us down yelling out that the road was blocked ahead.  I'm sure there would have been thousands of people stuck in this traffic jam as there were so many people on the side of the road everywhere.  When we managed to get past all of the cargo trucks we finally got onto the first few hairpin bends up the mountain.  But on hairpin bend number four we hit the traffic again and this time there was no way around it.

Picture from inside the bus watching the traffic slowly move

It was amazing to see the view off the side as there was just forest as far as the eye could see and lots of monkeys sitting on the side of the road watching everyone.  After about an hour of sitting dead still the traffic started to move slowly.  As we moved our way up the mountain there were still dozens of people on the side of the road.  Everyone was trying to direct traffic by waving their hands as cars and motorbikes would squeeze through the trucks. These hairpin bends are so sharp that most trucks have to do a three point turn to get around them.  

View from half way up the Western Ghats

When we finally reach the top of the mountain, which took two hours, we stopped at a small set of shops to have something to eat.  I was talking with one of the locals and he told me that the traffic jam was caused by one single truck that had broken down.  But because of how impatience everyone is they all tried to overtake each other and then are forced into an insanely big traffic jam.  Both lanes of the road were filled with cars and everyone was trying to overtake each other.  I've noticed the driving in India is very pushy and no one gives way unless they absolutely have to.

Once I reached Mysore I managed to get onto another bus heading for Hunsur.  I finally arrived at Hunsur at 4pm and Saroja (a lady from the orphanage) picked me up from the bus stop and then we drove over to the school.  Unfortunately I had just missed the children's Christmas program and they were just about to get onto the school bus and head home.  Everyone was very excited to see me and wanting to shake my hand.  I am very happy to be back in Hunsur and continuing the work of the Lord.  Over the next few days there is a lot of work to be done around the orphanage and on Christmas day all the children will receive a new set of clothes which they are all looking forward to.