We walked to a place called Dilli Haat to meet the Gagan John family and just as we were crossing the busy highway we saw the elephant. Fred grabbed a 100 rupee bill out of his wallet and waved it at the boy rider. Our friends were yelling and saying it was illegal to ride the elephant on that road but the boy was determined to earn the money. He gave his command and the elephant stretched out his front legs clear across the road and laid down. A big city bus had to stop and all the traffic got backed up while Fred and the boy did their best to hoist me up. An elephant's head has big scratchy whiskers and they were poking me pretty hard but I was determined to take a ride. It was sort of embarrassing to think about the funny scene I must have made getting on and off of that elephant.