One for the road

"Country roads take me home...." John Denver's all time favourite is  like an anthem to the roadies, no not the MTV type roadies, the ones who take to the road for a joyride and enjoy the feel of the road, the gushing winds caressing not just their bodies but also their souls. Those of you who have watched Alia Bhatt starrer "Highway" would recall the transformation of the heroine after the ride of her life, which started in highly unpleasant manner and unfortunately culminated with the death of the hero but she had discovered her mojo in this journey. 

 Having just returned from an outing to Jaipur from Delhi, I was wondering why are these trips more enjoyable and memorable than the ones undertaken by other means of transport which are way more convenient, by air or train for example. Firstly these are more grounded (pun intended), apart from the convenience and flexibility which a road trip provides. A halt for a cup of tea at a roadside dhaba, the casual chitchat with the locals just add spice to these jaunts. Then the fact that most of us get initiated into these trips rather early in our lives, so memories of those joyrides remain etched forever. 

I distinctly recall our countless family rides on the good old lambretta scooter of yesteryears,  perched on the carrier of the vehicle as my younger sibling got to stand in front with my father. These were relatively short distances just over 60 kms from Dhar (Madhya Pradesh) to Indore and back, but were loads of fun as these were undertaken as picnics. We could stop just about anywhere, pick up some farm fresh veggies or fruits such as mangoes or guavas depending on the season and relish them en route or relish the good old sugar cane juice at outlets euphemistically called "Madhushala". One didn't mind the discomfort of the carrier one bit and every such trip was eagerly looked forward to. 

These trips then gave way to the bus hikes which we undertook from Dehradun to Delhi, Agra or even Valley of Flowers. But the best one was the cycle trip to Chandigarh and back, where the dhaba owner of Narayangarh(Haryana) was reduced to tears at the ravenous appetites of 13-14 year olds who finished off his rations for the complete month in one single meal. Scooter or Motorcycle trips were normally over short distances and were typically for not more than a couple of hours, however with the opening of the economy, the aspiring middle class laid their hands on their first four wheelers, Fiat Padmini and Maruti 800, Ambassadors were for the manor born,  primarily the Babudom.

Post commissioning I was on wings with my own personal LML Vespa scooter, driving from Mhow to Dhar and back during my Young Officers' course. These trips were always undertaken during the Ramayan telecast time, as the roads were absolutely barren and one could drive at breakneck speed without any fear, as even the traffic policemen were glued to the TV sets. Serious self driven road trips commenced when we (Ramesh Balan and self) decided to drive from Mhow to Wellington in our Marutis. Since we had qualified for this prestigious course (Staff College), this was in a way, a reward for our efforts. Maruti lived upto its Hanuman characteristics, with six of us ,i.e. My parents both kids, my better half and me with loads of luggage some on the carrier fitted on top and the balance in the boot of the car. Wellington here we come!! It was the longest road trip undertaken by us, route was deliberately charted in a manner that we could go via Ajanta Ellora caves for tourism obviously, Jalna as my cousin stayed there, onwards to Pune where my brother Sujay was based those days and that was where my parents were to get off. A road trip in the peak of summers is undertaken only by desperados or lunatics, with mercury  touching 44/45 deg Celsius you can guess as to which category did we belong to.

 Pune to Belgaum was a wonderful drive and en route to Mysore we took a detour to visit the famous Shravanbelgola Jain shrine, although not part of the original route and itinerary. The Gommateshwara or Lord Bahubali (not the fictitious Mahishmati one!!)  statue is a gigantic 57-foot high monolithic statue on Vindhyagiri Hill. Carved of a single block of granite, it is the tallest monolithic statue in India and is visible from miles away. 

Legend has it that Lord Bahubali was the son of first Jain Tirthankar Rishabhnath, who belonged to Ishwaku dynasty, the same as that of Lord Ram himself. 

Once you are bitten by the travel bug, you are hooked for life, during the mid term break, while the rest of the course drove down to Trivendrum, Kochi for the "babes and beaches" break, we took off on a temple trail with two sets of  parents, Ramesh Balan's and mine. We hired one single Van with twelve of us including the toddlers Ananya and Padmini. We covered Meenakshi Temple Madurai, enjoyed the hospitality of Meenakshi Balan's parents there and onwards to Trichendur on the West coast of the state.Rameshwaram, Kanyakumari , Trivendrum Padmanabha Swami temple, Alleppy, Quilon,  finally Trichur Guruvayur temple and back. We enjoyed South Indian cuisine at roadside restaurants, stayed in budget tourist hotels, went to the beaches in Kovalam, the back water cruise, all these in just about ten days. Since Ramesh's family are fluent in Tamil, we did not have to face any language issues nor for the food.  In all of 10 days it was quite a journey with lifetime of memories. 

The other interesting trip from Wellington was to Bangalore, as it was called those days. That was during one of the tutorial breaks. Kamal Chand was keen to go down to Puttapurthy as he is a devotee of Satya Sai Baba, we were planning to go down to visit Preeti's aunt. We thought it would be fun to go together and so off we went on a Saturday afternoon, four adults three kids in good old Maruti 800. I was at the wheel and it was a lovely drive down upto Mudumalai forest sanctuary. While crossing one of the villages we saw some commotion by the roadside and a Car with DSSC sticker on the windscreen parked by the side. It was obvious that one of our colleagues was in some trouble. On enquiry we got to know that the officer had accidentally hit one of the young kids, who had received minor bruises. But the whole village had gathered and were getting rough with the officer, while his family stood helpless. Language barrier only aggravated the situation. The lady was at pains to explain that we were from the Indian Army, trying to mime a weapon in hand, which the villagers presumed as being aggressive and were in no mood to listen. We somehow managed to convince the elders that it was more important to get the boy to a hospital to ascertain the exact nature of injuries. Guess what ? It appeared that that the whole village got in the rear seat of the Maruti 800, there were at least seven visible in the RearView mirror. The scene reminded us of the Hera Pheri sequence where Om Puri with his friends comes to Mumbai and they all get into one Taxi, with people falling off from the other side, as the car door is closed. We had to leave the ladies, kids and elderly parents of the officer there with the villagers. Finally when the doctor in the nearest town confirmed that the injuries were minor in nature and with some fruits and Rs500/-, a compromise was arrived at. 

We resumed our journey with a delay of about two hours. Our plan was to hit Bangalore by early evening, here we were yet to cross Mudumalai. But bravado of the youth propelled us and we moved through the thick forest although it was already pitch dark, reaching Mysore by around dinner time 8.30 pm. Rationality dictated that with the ladies and kids in tow, we should have stopped for the night in Mysore itself, but we were told the road to Bangalore was good and so we pressed on, hoping to reach by around midnight. Chand decided to take the wheel now and all was well, till the road was reduced to just craters instead of the occasional potholes. Somewhere about 60 odd kms from Bangalore when it was already midnight, the front wheel of the car went in one of these craters and stayed there.... just refused to venture out, obviously it had had enough not just for the day but for its lifetime! So we were stuck, couldn't move ahead nor could we stay there with ladies and kids there. Those were the days when there were no mobiles so leaving Chand with the Car, I decided to walk down and look for any sign of habitation anywhere, after a couple of kms, I spotted a factory, approached the guard managed to convince him into allowing me to make a phone call. Subbu Uncle is a retired fauji, who obviously found the whole episode amusing and rescued us with car being recovered the next day.

Another memorable journey was when we drove down from Karu to Srinagar and back in our pilgrimage to Amarnath. I was posted in Karu in Ladakh those days and decided to add to my good karma by taking my parents and in laws together to this 'yatra'. Firstly taking two sets of parents together is by itself a daredevil act and I am sure Lord Shiva was mighty pleased by this rationality defying act of mine; as the citation normally goes "with utter disregard for my personal safety, displaying conspicuous gallantry in the face of enemies I bashed on regardless!!" In a single Toyota Qualis we six adults and two kids were huddled together for the experience of our life. The LC was very active those days post Kargil and Op Parakaram and shelling on both sides was common phenomena. While we were on our way to Dras, shelling began and the convoy was halted. I was my usual self moving around trying to figure out things, sending shivers down the spines of the mothers, we moved after a while . Parents were astonished to notice that tea was being brewed by the drivers on the side while shelling was on, getting a glimpse of life of a soldier. In Dras Transit Camp where we stayed, there were notices as to where should the guests move in case of shelling and the Officer Commanding Transit Camp personally came and briefed all the transients. All in all the journey itself was worth a lifetime of experiences for parents. Amarnath trek up and down even on horse backs is quite an ordeal especially with the group that I was leading. The most pertinent question was posed on our way back by my daughter, all of six years, who was very enthused on the way up, as to why exactly did we come here in the first place. The magnificent Ice Shivling obviously did not interest her much.

Road travels continued unabated, the mileage accrued included number of trips from Patiala to Simla, Kasauli, Nahan, Badrinath and back in our Wagon R. The passengers changed from parents to siblings to in laws, each journey had its own tales. Kids were older and enjoyed these forays to the fullest. Thereafter there was a lull for a couple of years, till we ventured on to Gangtok Darjeeling from Ranchi and the next year to Puri Bhubneshwar again fro Ranchi. These tested our perseverance and patience as the drive at times was almost 16 hours.

Dogs normally freak out on road trips, but  Buddy, our lab was mortally scared , although he enjoyed the breeze but his major worry was that he would be taken to the Vet and would end up with some injections. It was quite an exercise taking him to the vet for this yearly ritual. But Covid times were special times and during the lock down I was ordered to move on posting to Delhi and so he had to travel with us in the good old Wagon R. Udhampur to Delhi with a night halt at Patiala, the poor dog hardly sat down, was so fidgety and Preeti had a difficult time holding onto him.  

With superannuation beckoning, it is time to hit the road again, looking forward to some interesting trips ahead.....