My Day on the Highway
One day, about four months back, I suddenly felt the urge to get away from home, even if it was for a day. I felt that I badly needed a break from work and decided that I would travel by road to Chennai, do a bit of shopping and maybe some window shopping to cheer myself up and return the same evening. Wiskyd and many others in Sulekha would probably disagree with me, but then nothing like a visit to T Nagar in Chennai to make your spirits soar or at least keep you from dying of boredom!
Work had been back breaking --almost literally. Hours in front of the computer had given me a very bad backache. I just wanted to get away, and so made the decision to go for a day to Chennai by road. A foolish decision, considering the fact that it would involve a lot more sitting, this time in the car, but I reasoned that I would be staring at things other than the computer screen. The weather was pleasant and I refused to think about the effect on my back. I was going to travel to raise my spirits, come what may. Besides, I could pick up my hubby who was stuck in Chennai, as he could not get a plane/train ticket home. The driver assured me that it would take only six hours one way. Neither of us was aware of the condition of the road.
We left early in the morning. The weather was beautiful. It was the type of weather that would induce a peacock to spread its tail plumage and dance its best dance to attract peahens. I decided to roll down the window and keep the AC turned off. I realized later that it was a mistake (My hair absorbed all the dust it could and was like coir at the end of the day!). I enjoyed the wind against my face, not minding that my hair refused to behave and looked worse than it normally does when I get up in the morning. The passing trees, green paddy fields, coconut groves and plantain orchards are a pleasing sight. You don't want to even blink your eyes and miss the greenery.
In the midst of the green surroundings, there are tiny villages. Almost every village has a temple for the village deity with terracotta sculptures of horses built in front of the temple.
Watching village kids dive into canals and ponds as their mothers wash their clothes made me wish I was one of them! I refused to take my face away from the window. Every tree, plant and shrub, even the sight of the ubiquitous karuvelam tree (that inhabits every nook and corner of our country) gave me pleasure. All this till the car reached Perambalur, and then, God, it was a drag. The road was bad and the traffic worse. Why is it that every season it rains, our roads are filled with potholes of various sizes? Why can't we repair roads in such a manner that at least for a decade no repair work needs to be done again?
The ride became so bumpy that it had a telling effect on my back, neck, and you name it, every part of the body. I thought that this was just a passing phase and that the roads would be better, ahead. I was proved wrong. There was no respite from bad road or heavy congestion. A bad road is bad enough, but congestion makes matters horrible. The traffic every now and then moved inch by inch. The driver was very cautious and refused to overtake unless he was very sure that he could do it comfortably--with the result that we took more than eight hours to reach Chennai, whereas it should have taken less than six hours.
At Chennai, I decided to give the silk shops a miss and did cotton sari shopping. The fact that a number of silkworms are sacrificed for every single silk sari makes me feel guilty every time I wear one. I avoid buying them although I haven’t really completely stopped wearing them (I still wear the ones presented to me). The weather in the South and the weight, or rather the absence of it, in my purse arethe other strong reasons I avoid pattu saris. If I say that Pondy Bazaar was teeming with people, it would be an understatement. I swam through the crowd, managed to tolerate the smell of a combo of deod and sweat, competed with younger, pushy (literally too) shoppers for the attention of salespersons and finally, emerged victorious with two, three bags in my hand.
After grabbing something to eat, we set off--back again on the highway.
It takes quite a while to leave the hustle and bustle of the city behind; actually it is difficult to tell where the city ends. Metros keep developing, gobbling up the rural areas around. So, there are offices, factories, other buildings and traffic everywhere for miles. It was quite dark by the time we reached Madurantakam. There is a famous shrine for Lord Ram in this place. I heard the driver curse a lorry driver who seemed to appear from nowhere in front of us—the lorry had no headlights! One has to be prepared for such things on our highways! The driver stopped at his favorite spot for some eats. Presumably, the place is popular with truck drivers. My husband and I waited in the car trying to shut out the noise from nearby trucks. Raunchy Tamil numbers were belted out from the radio in a truck parked nearby.
As the car started, I dozed off and woke up suddenly to find our car right in front of a gigantic lorry on the road. It was past midnight. My husband and I had both dozed off and unfortunately, for a second, so had the driver! Providence saved us that day. The loud hooting of horns and glaring headlights had woken him up just in time to swerve away and avoid a collision. The lorry sped away, but I could well imagine the expletives that would have poured out of the lorry driver’s mouth!
All three of us were shaken thoroughly. The driver sheepishly admitted having dozed off for a second, for he had had a little too much to eat. He is a person who usually avoids a heavy meal on long journeys and subsists on coffee and light snacks. Unfortunately, that day, he had been tempted to eat rice! Besides, the poor chap had just had a three-hour break in Madras.
Anyway, all’s well that ends well. We reached home safe and sound, well past two in the morning.
(I went for a ride again two days back. the roads are much better now)
(I went for a ride again two days back. the roads are much better now)
© Soumya Srinivasan., all rights reserved.
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