Chapter 24, the T virus is shocked!

It is about a distance of more than 1,000 kilometers from New Delhi, the capital of India, to Bodh Gaya, Bihar, which is about half the distance from Beijing to Shanghai. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 However, on the Indian highway where all kinds of animals and vehicles are running wildly, Wang Qiu's luxury bus for Buddhist pilgrimage tour groups has just entered the border of Bihar after two and a half days of driving.

– and that's when the tour group departs from New Delhi and heads straight to Bodh Gaya, without spending time visiting the Taj Mahal along the way, the holy city of Varanasi, famous for its floating corpses on the Ganges...... The tour group seems to be planning to wait until the return trip to visit the above places.

From a historical and humanistic point of view, Bihar is to India what Henan is to China. This state is located in the heart of the Gangetic plain, the mother river of the Indian people, the Ganges, the incarnation of the Vedic daughters, flowing the river of light, the holy river that opens the door to liberation from the cycle of life and death, rushing through the center of Bihar, nourishing the land, making the fields fertile everywhere, the crops three or even four times a year, and you can see green rice fields, golden wheat waves, and clear ponds everywhere. The pond is overgrown with lotus roots and water lilies, and the buffalo tramples on the mud on the edge of the pond and chews on the lotus leaves...... Its capital, Patna, was once the world's largest metropolis and the capital of Ashoka during the Mauryan Dynasty, Fahrenheit, with a population of 700,000 as early as 250 BC. Both Buddhism and Sikhism originated in this land, while Hinduism also has countless temples and shrines here.

However, despite such a glorious history of civilization, and sitting on the most fertile land on the banks of the Ganges River, and a population of more than 100 million, Bihar today is the poorest state in India - in the eyes of the Chinese, Indians are poor enough, but the per capita annual income of Bihar is only a quarter of the per capita income of the whole of India, and it is only more than 400 US dollars, which is lower than Eritrea in Africa!

However, Bihar also has the lowest literacy rate and life expectancy in India, with per capita electricity consumption only one-sixth of the Indian average, and many towns and cities have no electricity, and it is dark at night. Law and order is so bad that Naxalist guerrillas and road bandits are so prevalent that even the police chief of Bihar has publicly lamented that the place he runs is "a lawless and chaotic land......

As a result, when the tourist bus entered Bihar, not only could there be all kinds of messy sandbag bunkers along the way, and soldiers carrying Lee Enfield rifles carried out "anti-terrorist missions", but also the concrete road under the wheels, which was full of cow dung and animal hoof prints, was further degraded into a dirt road without even asphalt and street lights...... At first, it was so bumpy that the buttocks of the passengers of the car hurt, and in the end, they simply broke the engine in a wilderness without a village or a store - due to the interruption of the air conditioning, the carriage was quickly burned into an oven by the scorching sun, in order to avoid being roasted alive into jerky, a group of passengers had to reluctantly get off the car, each looking for shade to escape the scorching sun, but it was still as hot as a dog sticking out their tongues.

“…… Hey, I said, what the hell do you guys think? Actually driving a bus on such a broken road to organize international tourism? ”

While smearing cool oil on his forehead to prevent heat stroke, Wang Qiu complained to the sweaty tour group leader, "...... Why not let the tour group take the train, or find a better way? Such a potholed gravel road is only equipped with a tractor! ”

“…… It's the first time we've run this course, so we didn't expect it to be like this! Judging from the map, it is clear that this should be a newly built highway! There is also a photo of the Bihar Transport Minister cutting the ribbon on the completion of the renovation and opening of the highway in the newspaper! Who would have thought it would be a scam! ”

The team leader showed a sad expression, "...... Except for a few kilometers at the first toll booth, it has not been renovated at all! ”

- Wang Qiu suddenly thought that in Verne's science fiction novel "Around the World in Eighty Days", the protagonist seems to have had a similar experience in India - the newspaper announced that the railway that had been opened to traffic for a long time was actually shortened by a lot of money and was not repaired at all, but the Indian side still pretended to have repaired it and sold all the tickets...... As a result, the hero had to buy an elephant and ride it......

“…… No way, India has always been known as a great magician's paradise. In the past, roadside dervishes could make some coins disappear; Now, the elected MPs have wiped out some bridges, roads and dams. Just like China, we maintain our traditions. ”

The beautiful Indian tour guide in a sari also came over, muttered weakly, and then told a joke that is said to be famous in India - an Indian minister visited China and was invited to a dinner at the Chinese minister's home. As soon as the Indian minister arrived at the Chinese minister's house, he looked at the luxurious house in amazement. He asked, "...... Your salary is not high, how did you manage to make the home so luxurious. ”

The Chinese minister took him to the roof and asked: "...... Do you see the highway over there? The Indian minister nodded.

“…… Okay, that highway was supposed to be 12 lanes. I made it 8 lanes. The remaining 4 lanes are in my home. ”

Indian Minister: "...... wow……！ ”

Two years later, the Chinese minister visited India. The Indian minister invited him to his home for lunch. Looking at the Indian minister's extravagant home, the Chinese minister was very surprised and asked the Indian minister: "...... Your salary is only 10,000 rupees a month, how did you build your home into a palace? ”

The Indian minister was delighted, took the Chinese minister to the 18th floor of his house and asked: "...... Do you see highways, dams, and power works there? "The Chinese minister didn't see anything. He said, "...... No. ”

The Indian minister said: "...... My friends, they're all in my house. ”

- It's the same kind of corruption, in China it's a part of it and you have to do something right, in India it's all greedy, you don't do anything......

“…… Well, you don't have to be too frustrated, in fact, similar things happen in China. For example, the state wants to revitalize the animation industry, and the central government allocates 100 million yuan to local cartoons; The local government deducted 90 million and took 10 million to place orders for well-known animation studios; A well-known animation studio swallowed 9 million and subcontracted 1 million to a small animation company; And the small animation company is actually a leather bag company, deducted 900,000 yuan, took 100,000 yuan to a professor of animation at a certain university, the professor collected the money, turned around and threw the task to the students, saying that this is your summer vacation homework. The students who had no money and were lazy simply found an old Japanese anime dubbed by Taiwanese or Hong Kongers, and at most changed the avatars of the characters, without even thinking about the plot, and went straight to the matter. ”

Levi interjected, "...... The whole process is very satisfying from top to bottom, and the only one who is not satisfied and even slaps the table and scolds the mother is the audience - but Chinese cartoons are never made for the audience, just like Indian roads are not used to make cars run......"

Wang Qiu was stunned, although he also knew that many university professors took on their own private work was usually the final homework of students...... But playing to such an exaggerated extent is still a bit unbelievable - it seems that my discipline is still too high, and it is necessary to continue to learn advanced experience.

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Although the air-conditioned bus was not repaired for a while, in order not to delay the trip, it was soon replaced by a luxury bus full of colonial style - that is, it can be seen that this tourist bus used to be very new and great, but that was almost a few decades ago.

This Indian-style bus, the outside is full of colorful reliefs and fine patterns of gods, the interior is decorated with imitation wood grain plastic, carved beams and paintings everywhere, and a small iron fan is inlaid above each seat.

However, there is a problem that there are passengers on this bus, and if you add Wang Qiu and the Chinese tourists of their group, they will not be able to squeeze in - but this problem is easy to solve, after some bargaining, the team leader reluctantly promised all Indian passengers to refund their tickets for free, and then compensate each person for 500 rupees of compensation plan, the Indians on the bus immediately smiled and made room for the Chinese tourists, carrying their luggage and moving separately: some skillfully climbed on the roof of the car to see the scenery, The other part of the arm strength is hung directly outside the car window......

Then, with a carload of people inside and another car outside, and several sheep standing on the roof, they continued to squirm slowly towards Bodh Gaya, with double the overload, at a speed of up to 30 kilometers per hour...... The remaining 100 kilometers of the journey took five and a half hours, especially when passing through several broken bridges that seemed to be hundreds of years old, and it was a creepy soul sublimation again and again.

But the quality of the Indian people is really extraordinary, even the Chinese tourists sitting in the car are already screaming in fright, and they are still giggling when they hang out of the car...... Along the way, there were also people who fell because of lack of arm strength, but soon they slipped back into the window at a trot.

By the time the car finally arrived at Bodh Gaya, where the Buddha had attained enlightenment, the passengers in the car had almost attained enlightenment in the heat and horror.

Although it is a famous scenic tourist area, the dirty and noisy degree of Bodh Gaya, it is really unimaginable, at first glance, there is no feeling of pure Buddhism. Just like the other Indian cities you see along the way, Bodh Gaya's streets are littered with garbage, and it's not uncommon for people to stand on the street and turn sideways to urinate. It feels like Indians are living in a huge garbage dump.

As soon as everyone got off the bus, groups of little beggars came like a tide, chasing the tourists at a fast speed, with bright eyes and stretched out their hands to softly call "10 rupees 10 rupees 10 rupees 10 rupees ......", if the tourists refused to pay attention and walked straight forward, it immediately became "5 rupees 5 rupees 5 rupees 5 rupees 5 rupees ......", and then ignored them, it became "1 rupees 1 rupees 1 rupees 1 rupees". It's amazing how seamless the transition was.

Behind the little beggar, there are all kinds of vendors selling tourist souvenirs, here the vendors are all quick-witted, fluent in English, at a glance they are actually out, always start with "hello", and then begin to sell extremely enthusiastically - Wang Qiu and a few of them just broke free from the entanglement of the little beggar, they were blocked by a hawker selling Buddha-shaped watches: "...... hello！ Friends, look at the watch! Look at the watch! ”

Wang Qiu sighed helplessly, raised his left hand and said, "...... I already have a watch. ”

And the peddler immediately and happily suggested: "...... Change your watch! Change your watch! ”

Wang Qiu, who looked embarrassed: "......"

After finally getting rid of these overzealous hawkers, the next thing I saw was a street full of religious figures from various countries, including Tibetan lamas in red robes, Southeast Asian monks in yellow clothes, and Japanese monks in glasses...... But more often than not, the native ascetics of India, dirty, shirtless, with various colors of dirt on their faces and hair, entangled in mosquitoes and flies under the trees on the side of the street, in strange poses and motionless.

Although this approach resembles a masochistic performance artist, Indians clearly take advantage of it, not only do they not dislike their dirty smell, but they also respect them as saints. After all, the original Buddha Shakyamuni also participated in Zen enlightenment and founded Buddhism in this way.

According to Buddhist documents, more than 2,500 years ago, Prince Shakyamuni of Nepal saw through the red dust, became a monk, and sought the Tao, initially accompanied by five companions, and successively learned from three famous scholars. But Shakyamuni felt that none of the scholars had a real way to liberate them, so he left them. In search of liberation, Shakyamuni and his five companions went to the south bank of the Ganges, in a wooded area in present-day Bodh Gaya, to practice penance (like the dervishes of modern India, starving themselves in all sorts of strange poses). After six years of unremitting penance, to no avail, he felt that asceticism was not the cure for liberation, so he bathed in the river, and then received milk from a cowherdsman to regain his strength.

At this time, Shakyamuni's five companions thought he had lost heart, so they left him and went elsewhere to continue his austerity. Shakyamuni came alone under a Bodhi tree and made a great ambition that he would never leave this place if he did not attain the right path. He spread auspicious grass, sat cross-legged facing east, meditated, and finally overcame all kinds of troubles and obstacles in his heart one night, and realized the right path and became a Buddha.

Regrettably, as early as 2,500 years ago, Shakyamuni lobbied barefoot on the land of India from east to west and from south to north, preaching the idea of "equality of all beings". But more than 2,000 years later, Indians' deep-seated notions of hierarchy remain unchanged.

In short, the place where the Bodhi tree is located is the birthplace of Buddhism, the modern Bodh Gaya. The first of the four holy sites of Buddhism in India, it is also known as the United Nations of Buddhism - so after entering Bodh Gaya, you can see temples everywhere along the way, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Bhutan, Burmese, Vietnamese...... Almost every Asian country with a Buddhist faith has collected donations from believers and built its own temples in Bodh Gaya, like an embassy. Among them, the Japanese temple is the most ambitious. In contrast to the chaos and squalor of Bodh Gaya Street, every foreign temple here is fragrant and spotless. It's just that the unpleasant smell that can't be driven away from the street still wafts into the temple from time to time, which shows that the temple in the real society is difficult to break away from the ordinary after all and truly become a pure land.

However, Wang Qiu and the others did not come to Bodh Gaya for tourism and pilgrimage, so as soon as they got off the bus, they said goodbye to the tourists in the group, and then found a three-wheeled motorcycle, left Bodh Gaya, and continued towards the Chandra. The village of Vicha, where Mr. Shukla was located, advanced.

After another difficult and bumpy journey, they finally arrived at their destination in the evening, a small village with the words "poor and backward" engraved on the door of their heads, full of thatched roofs and mud brick walls, looking like an African tribe. The children of the village were so thin that they were not commensurate with their age, and their heads were very large; Innocent eyes flickered, as if to torture people's consciences.

Outside of this slum, the only decent house in the village, the small western-style house of the Shukla family, stands like the king of beggars, standing on a hill surrounded by green trees - although in Wang Qiu's eyes, this house looks like a peasant house in the southeastern countryside of China, with a larger courtyard at most, but here it is already like a palace.

So, Wang Qiu and the others went to the door, explained their intention to the doorman with a big waist and a round waist, and asked him to call the owner of the house.

A moment later, a middle-aged butler in a khaki uniform rushed over, dragging their hands eagerly and walking in, saying incoherently as he walked, "...... You are doctors from China?! That's great! The host had fallen ill the night before! The forehead is so hot that you can bake potatoes! However, quacks in this rural area can't cure it, and many people are also infected with ......."

As soon as they heard this, Wang Qiu and the others suddenly had a thrill in their hearts, and immediately the alarm bell sounded, and when they entered the mansion to take a closer look, they found that there were people coughing everywhere, and there was even a guy lying in the corner of the wall vomiting blood.

When they were dragged into Mr. Chandra's bedroom by the housekeeper, Shizuka Jukawa, the female school doctor, examined Chandra, who was already in a coma due to a high fever. Ms. Shizuka Jukawa, who lost her face in an instant, finally came up with the answer she least wanted to see:

“…… My God! It's the end of it! It can be determined that it is a mutated T-virus...... And it's spreading!! "The hosts.

A moment later, a middle-aged butler in a khaki uniform rushed over, dragging their hands eagerly and walking in, saying incoherently as he walked, "...... You are doctors from China?! That's great! The host had fallen ill the night before! The forehead is so hot that you can bake potatoes! However, quacks in this rural area can't cure it, and many people are also infected with ......."

As soon as they heard this, Wang Qiu and the others suddenly had a thrill in their hearts, and immediately the alarm bell sounded, and when they entered the mansion to take a closer look, they found that there were people coughing everywhere, and there was even a guy lying in the corner of the wall vomiting blood.

When they were dragged into Mr. Chandra's bedroom by the housekeeper, Shizuka Jukawa, the female school doctor, examined Chandra, who was already in a coma due to a high fever. Ms. Shizuka Jukawa, who lost her face in an instant, finally came up with the answer she least wanted to see:

“…… My God! It's the end of it! It can be determined that it is a mutated T-virus...... And it's spreading!! ”