A quick easy road

 

A quick, easy road 

Blame the pandemic for forcing us to curtail all outside activity and social interaction. Staying indoors seemed the safe choice since March this year. But slowly personal, social and business compulsions started pushing most of us out of this sanctuary to find a way to travel. People started taking trains and planes, although both modes of transport have not yet opened up like before. The times also taught us to take the road, literally, to freedom of mobility. But because buses pose the same risks as the other modes of multi-passenger transport do, smaller vehicles seem a better option now.

Outings with family and friends, frequent travels connected with marriage, funeral and other functions or ceremonies, pilgrimage, long scenic drives and what not, it is not that car and mini bus trips are something new. Most of us have been doing short stretches for ages whether it is sitting behind the wheel or on the back seat to take ourselves to our destination of desire. This way you are the master of your time and the company you travel with; there are no baggage restrictions and you can carry items marked red on the baggage list on other modes, besides it being thrilling for those who love controlling  the steering wheel. 

You would say sitting on your bum for hours together is not your thing; well, stop on the way, take a break, breathe the fresh air. Trains journeys are equally tiring and take longer and flights are short but the regimen at the airports is demanding and takes time.

Don’t most of the families start sessions of singing and antakshri (a game in which you sing a song beginning with the last letter of the one sung by your opponent) as soon as the vehicle starts?

The fastest train takes a minimum of eight hours plus the time from the station-house/hotel and waiting for the train at the railway station (more, if the train is late). The flight is only 55 minutes but add the same kind of time to and from the airport plus time for security checks, waiting for the flight and the cost. 

It was with these thoughts that we ticked the option of driving to Delhi and back from Lucknow last week, and now this is one experience I may repeat ignoring the complaints from some points in my body against continued resting in one spot.

We started at 1015 from our house and reached our destination in Delhi at 6 .00 pm with two breaks either way to cover the 553 km distance through access controlled Lucknow Expressway from Lucknow to Agra (302 km 6-lane), and then Taj Expressway (165 Km) from Agra to Greater Noida. The journey back was of similar duration. I was told later by several users of the expressway that going at 140km/hour against the prescribed 100 km per hour cuts the travel time to five hours, but what is the hurry? If caught, the embarrassment of violating the law, the delay and the fine do not seem worthwhile to me.

I turned a deaf ear to the driver’s suggestion that night driving is better because there is no traffic. He did not know that one daytime drive in Sri Lanka when the driver dozed off and ran the car on to the divider banging it into plants, still fills my heart with dread. And then that wise man had woken up and asked us what had happened.

Often I have muttered under my breath how I feel kind of shortchanged coming to finally live here after being in some great cities in the past years, no wonder it was with a sense of pride that Mani informed that the Lucknow Agra stretch, is the longest expressway  in the country and built by the Expressways Industrial Development Authority of his own janmbhoomi (motherland), too. From this you connect to the Yamuna/ Taj Expressway, one of the longest six-lane such expressways in our country, through the Agra Ring Road for straight  drive to Pari Chowk in Greater Noida.

According to UPEIDA (Wikipedia), "A dedicated 3 km stretch has been built for war-like emergencies on expressway."  In test runs on Agra-Lucknow expressway on the day of its inauguration, the India Air Force landed six fighter jets. In May 2015, the IAF landed a Mirage-2000 fighter jet on the Yamuna  Expressway near Mathura for a similar run.

Besides being the seamless Lucknow-Delhi road connection, what I liked about it was that there was no cattle competing for its right to the use of the road as the expressway is fenced, no honking of horns; one can read, work on the laptop, knit, listen to music, eat and sleep. I don’t know if it was due to Covid or it is the usual scene, there was very little traffic.

Although there are rest areas in each direction, the food on offer leaves much to be desired. What must have been opened with a lofty plan to start up motels, has now shrunk to partially-opened misnomers - ‘food plazas’, offering syrupy over-boiled hot drinks, selected bottled beverages and insipid food choices. Next time I am following the old ways and carrying something from home.

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 The common way of keeping your car clean and disposing of the unwanted: garbage littered in front of the food plazas

While I soaked in the familiar sight of mustard flowers blooming and green crops in the fields, Mani complained there is no change of scenery; it is flat, plain fields. No government, however effective and committed they might be, can change that, so I let that pass. Yet you would also be sad as he was by the fact that there are practically no industries along the expressway.

Green fields are a relief for the eyes of most city-dwellers

The total one way toll was a whopping Rs 1145. Irritatingly, it was collected at too many plazas, but fine, if the authorities can use that money to maintain the road as it is, isn’t it is worth it?

If you look at it rationally, it is just the fastest road link with Delhi. It is not for you if you want crowded village markets along the dedicated expressway. What I missed was the overly painted trucks, blaring loud music, proudly showing off dozens of sage, funny or cautioning one-liners (often hilariously misspelt too), that connect one with the reality of the use of roads.

(Aseen udade aasre tere, rabba sanu maaf kareen

Forgive us Lord, for we fly with your support.)

Sure it was more expensive than taking a train or maybe flying too for just the two of us, but consider the safety in respect of catching the virus and the convenience of not having to take an Uber to move around in Delhi.

Thanks to this trip, I was able to meet up two very dear friends and two interesting cousins-in law. Now the next job on my list is to look for the pungent kasundi (Bengali mustard sauce) that JT had served us in Delhi. I did find this inexpensive item online, yet the cheap fact is the thought of paying the delivery charge has not gone down my gullet so far. If you find it somewhere, please let me know.

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