…And Yet Some More Travails
Yesterday, spent some more time on the rough and rugged Western U.P. roads - this time on the outskirts of Aligarh. The road from Agra to Aligarh seems to worsen with each visit (it seems they are re-building the road and replacing it with a cemented one; but by the way things are moving, it looks it would be another decade before they complete it!) The ride shook, stirred, moved, hurtled and swung me around in the terribly uncomfortable Maruti Van, which our taxi provider had sent in lieu of the usual (and more comfortable) Indica.
The list:
Palla Sallu - A small village, just outside of Aligarh city limits, on the main G.T. Road (leading to Delhi via Khurja, Bulandhshahar and Khurja).
Gabhana - A highway small town - dusty and dirty.
Chandaus - (Pron. - the ‘d’ is to be pronounced as in ‘dark’) - We nearly missed the turn here. Travelling on the smooth G T Road was a delight, but the passing milestones warned that we would be in Khurja (Distt. Bulandshahar) soon. Since we knew that Chandaus was in Aligarh distt. only, we tried to keep vigil. But the turn was extremely narrow and we missed it by a few meters. Thankfully, it was a signboard for Radha Saomi Satsang that gave us an inkling that we had crossed the crucial turn.
The road to Chandaus (turn left from G.T. Road at Duaraou) was bad. Nay, it was atrocious. A narrow single lane that curved its way through fields and shanties, full of bumps and potholes, animals straying and children playing, rushing cyclists and slowing bullock carts! A deemed semi-rural development block, the only noteworthy thing here was the presence of a cluster of mobile telephony towers.
Pisawa - This was our final destination - some nine kilometers ahead of Chandaus, on the same narrow road. Pisawa is a sandy, brown and dull kasba. Earlier on it was a ‘riyasat‘, and the fort still exists - now used by the descendants for their use of rearing racing horses (as told by a bunch of locals). Being a private property, obviously we had no access to it. Here, the mobile service also died.
The Breakdown
On our return trip, from Aligarh to Agra, after crossing another hamlet (Sadabad), our car whined to a jerky halt. It was an LPG kit model, and the driver informed that ‘gas thandi pad gayi’. As expected, he had no reserve petrol, and we were in the middle of nowhere, with no petrol pump in visible sight. While the driver tried to heat up the dispassionate and cold gas and make it work, we stepped out into the pitch darkness. It was chilly.
The driver’s attempt to revive the car was futile, and he seemed to have screwed the starter enough. Quite comically, he tried to shake and stir the cylinder - with so much of play, I am sure even Aishwarya Rai would have heated up, but not this car! So, he set out to a nearby village to get some petrol.
We stood in the darkness, shivering. I looked around. The fields lay open. An abandoned well was nearby. The road stretched endlessly on both sides. The traffic was low. The wind was picking up. The moon was missing. A dog howled nearby. It was the 13th, if not a Friday.
And the only song I could think of humming was the ominous ‘Gumnaam hai koi…‘
My colleague was ready to strangle me!
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December 14th, 2006 at 9:59 am
Can I claim this time Gold mera hai
December 14th, 2006 at 10:00 am
Juneli - Bilkulji, gold aapka…and this was extremely fast!
December 14th, 2006 at 10:08 am
Got to know the name of new places.
LOL@ your saying about Aish
.
And the song what would have come in my mind - Bis Saal Baad…. instead of Gumnam
December 14th, 2006 at 10:10 am
Oh toh aap bhi ho yahan.
Yes, Fast. I came and checked your page as routine way
December 14th, 2006 at 10:37 am
I hate hate hate Maruti Vans.
People are ready to lease their roofs to telecom companies for installing towers….for a good amount of money…
Last para is the best….mein toh darr gaye…13th..aiyoooo amma…
And once again, Good to see regular posts here…But am seriously waiting for the 31st dec post….
December 14th, 2006 at 11:20 am
sirji, good that you are documenting all these experiences, once you are into full fledged writing which I am very much in doubt that you will ever be looking at the way you are doing nothing about it but still if ever you do, these will come in handy.
btw day 3 is also up so do come and check and kaali zabaan as you are, I started getting the spam comments. abhi tak thik tha, tum bole aur shuru hua. ab tum hi batao aisi comments ko kaise delete karte hai and don’t say shift to wordpress, I am getting used to blogspot after a lot of effort.
December 14th, 2006 at 11:38 am
lol @ the breakdown and the song….
did that setting provide inspiration for a story? a ghost story… perhaps the aatma of a lone woman hovering around the well, waiting for her lover to turn up…
December 14th, 2006 at 11:57 am
OMG ! What a vivid description ! I would have hated to be there at the time of the breakdown and I sympathise with your colleague
)). With all the travel in the interiors, I guess you are probably ready to pen a saga set in the local socio/politico/economic scenario…or like Anks suggested (which, by the way is a fantastic suggestion, I think) write a ghost story 
How are you otherwise ? By the way, what is the news with Ashish….he hasn’t posted in eons…neither has he responded to comments…is he alright…are you in touch ?
December 14th, 2006 at 11:59 am
Juneli - I was here at that time, but left soon after. Now back to check the comments
Yeah, Bees Saal Baad’s song is another one - but somehow, woh hi gaana aaya dimaag mein uss time. U never know which song might just come up in the mind at whatever time.
Mehak - Actually there will be two similar posts - one for the movies (which is all ready, just wanting to see Dhoom-2 before posting it), and one on the songs (which i keep changing every day).
Pri - Yeh routine jobs se nikalo toh writing ke baare mein seriously sochun… And yep, hv read Day 3 and commented.
LOL@kaali zubaan - y’day on our way towards Aligarh, i had just mentioned to my colleague, what if our car broke down in the night on return…aur woh hi ho gaya. Sigh! Kuchh aur hi maang leta …
About blogpost removing comments, no clue. But i think they wud hv some option of deleting comments. And they do hv ‘word verification’ option in their settings. Get that asap, so that u dont get more spams.
Anks - Story jo aadhi likhi hui hai wohi poori kar loon, abhi toh nothing new in the anvil.
December 14th, 2006 at 12:01 pm
Zoya - Hey, great to see u back here . Thanks for liking the post
As I told Anks too, writing a new story is simply impossible in this job. I have one half finished one, which some day i will complete. But that’s about it.
As regards Ashish, no clue. Havent spoken to him since ages. I guess he is busy building his empire
Do keep coming in…
December 15th, 2006 at 2:01 pm
Jungle mein mangal. Break down is the worst thing I fear!
December 15th, 2006 at 4:52 pm
Manish - More like veerane mein mangal
December 16th, 2006 at 10:27 am
Anupama got voted out….Rakhi came in thru the wildcard entry.
December 17th, 2006 at 2:06 pm
Nice reading. Read a few of your earlier posts too - which I had missed.
Breakdown part is very well written
December 18th, 2006 at 9:38 am
Mehak - Ohki…so both the lovebirds are out now. And the masala begins again
Navjot - Welcome back to RE. Thanks for liking the piece.