Ramblings

Ramblings of a wandering mind

Aren’t there times when there is a jumble of thoughts and ideas in the head
and nothing is clear? Now, in my case, at least, that is not some serious matter of philosophy or psychology. It is the simple issue of having nothing concrete to talk about because there is a crowd of images flooding the mind and none seems important enough.

My major ones relate to travelling from Mumbai to Ahmedabad by road, which did not take many hours as we drove past several towns, but raised several questions in my head, that even after spending several hours in the company of omniscient Googla baba, I could not find the answer to.

I became aware that the impressions I have of places are pre-conceived notions of a frog in the well or are based on anecdotal evidence, both of which might not be true, after all.

I have not lived in Mumbai and the big city overwhelms me. So, I did not follow others’ suggestions to visit any touristy place and confined my physical and touristic activity in the only forenoon I had, to a walk along the Marine Drive.

The ocean was calm but the sun was not kind. The policemen were strolling leisurely along the low stone wall and only warned those who were posing for selfies. The crowds were edging to find a spot to fit their backsides in the cool shadow of the trees planted across, on the pavement. The only ones who did not seem to mind the sun heating up the place were the boy-girl pairs huddled, oblivious of their surroundings. The policemen, however, did not seem to mind their romancing.

Naturally, it made me deduce that the police and the residents of Mumbai, both are unfamiliar with the self-appointed Bharatiya sanskriti bachao (Save Indian culture) groups in the state I live in. These volunteers would have pounced on these lovebirds, yelled lessons on morality and given them a good thrashing for ‘sullying' our centuries-old culture by such amorous public displays. In fact, I had not seen the newspaper so am unaware how many of such Romeos and Juliets had been violently interrupted while fervently declaring their love for each other on Valentine’s Day.

The road journey from Mumbai to Umbergaon, an industrial hub in Gujarat, took only about four hours, a pit stop included. The clean, wide road was very good till the driver chose to follow Google maps and for several kilometers the car hurtled on narrow poor roads crossing the tiny hamlets and villages where people seem to be subsisting on bare amenities. 

I am ashamed to admit that I knew not the existence of this town, so obviously did not know that it has a beach too.

It was only when I saw the giant signboards of VIP, Zodiac, Badshah masala and several packaging material or steel and fabricating units, that I realised this was one of those places mentioned in fine print after ‘Manufactured at’ on packaged items that we buy.

What was noticeable, however, was that in spite of so much industrial activity, the town was clean.

I was told that in his book No Full Stops in India, Mark Tully, has mentioned that the mega television series, Ramayan, was shot in Umbergaon so that not only the actors stayed away from crowds and ‘celebrity visitors’, but also because then they would not be able to shoot other shows simultaneously.  

The town has also seen the shooting of Mahabharat, Razia Sultan, Suryaputra Karn and several other television series and films and continues to be a preferred place for such ventures.

Bear with me because I have nothing much to add about the further late afternoon drive to Bharuch. The hours were taken up dozing, waking up, looking out and returning to sleep mode. We were caught in a traffic rush a couple of times which woke me up from my slumber but left me confused about when the dry dusty stretches on either side of the road, turned into green, cultivated lands.

Bharuch, a crowded well-lit city, named after Rishi Bhrigu, and a centre of pilgrimage for Jains, was our stop for the night. Needless to say, like any other city in India, although the roads and highways were clean, the sides of the roads were littered with debris and sundry material.

The drive from Bharuch to Ahmedabad was somewhat tense because a slight miscalculation of time had put us at the risk of missing our flight back home. Yet the fact is like any other trip through the Indian plains, there was no change of scenery and started to feel as dull after a short while as this piece seems to me right now. That brought to my mind some people who claim to enjoy driving. Share with me please why you think they like it.

Like in any other part of India dhabas (roadside restaurants) dot the whole stretch along the roads and highways. These are not only cheaper than the fancy eateries, but also offer fresh food. The remarkable feature was that there were even hotels offering travellers clean places to stay at night, which is a notch above the rest of the country. Why, one had even chosen the name Holiday Inn Hotel for itself!

These large eating places offer you a wide choice of foods from the violent-sounding Gujarati staples phaphda, khakhra, dhokla, khichdi, thepla etc., besides the ubiquitous vada-pav to regular dal, roti, subzi. Not many places offered non-vegetarian options.

Mind you, there is prohibition in Gujarat. Only a couple of days ago some idiot had pompously posted on Youtube, a video of a Gujarati wedding procession he went in, showing men dancing with liquor bottles in their hands. No wonder the video ended with khaki-clad men literally swinging into action.  

My question is the dhabas offer Kathiyawadi, Jain, Punjabi and Chinese food. Kathiyawadi and Jain food make perfect sense in Gujarat, Punjabi cuisine is perhaps added for the benefit of the truck-drivers operating along the roads but Chinese? My mind fails me.

                                                                            -Anupama S Mani