India: Tuk-Tuking with Mukul

The internet and “app economy” make travel booking so easy now. Still, somehow the wide availability of ride-hailing on this trip was a big surprise to me. Grab in Indonesia, inDrive in Nepal. In India it’s Uber - same credit card attached Uber account, or pay cash if you prefer. Need a ride? In a car, motorbike, tub-tuk - point to point, for an hour, tomorrow long distance or right here, right now? Install an eSim app and then getting around is so easy. I don’t use Uber much at home so it wasn’t on my mind really when arriving in S.E. Asia. I assumed street transportation was done the old fashioned way. It never occurred to me that you can get a tuk-tuk where you happen to be to go exactly where you want to go, without adequate pronunciation, or haggling price, or even having correct cash amount on hand. Just get in and go - enjoy some conversation and the ride along the way.

That’s how we met Mukul Kumar - using Uber after getting off the train in Agra and needing a ride to our hotel. He was so helpful and so easy to be with that we arranged other trips around Agra with him in our days there and eventually on to the airport on our way out. I took some videos on these rides to share. I merged them into the two below, one that highlights the murals and mural making along major streets and the other for pure immersion into the flow of the horn-chatty traffic.

Regarding horns, at one point I heard the most melodious and sonorous horn melody. It sounded like what I’ve heard from buses but it was so close, I asked Mukul if it was us, though I had never heard that sound from a tuk-tuk. He said no and that he hasn’t his horn for two years. That was surprising and a little alarming - wouldn’t that make us dangerously invisible in the echolocation world of Indian traffic? He said a guest from Liverpool once told him that Europeans aren’t used to all the honking and don’t really like it. He hasn’t used it since. He simply goes a little slower when needed. It made the rides with him even more interesting to observe. Traffic’s sound overall isn’t subtle but really its aural communication fabric is quite amazing. With virtually no traffic lights or stop signs, the flow is spontaneously unerring. Like with all improvisation, you have to be an astute listener as well as player. It’s really impressive to my ear. Here’s some of that.

Agra Street Murals

Mukul Kumar is on WhatsApp if you need a ride or a tour in Agra: +91 89793 99873