Himalayas draw both of us like a magnet. It is the roads leading to the Himalayas that are a different story. The serpentine roads induce motion sickness in us and Avomine is a must. However, we are pretty used to the medicine by now.
But there is something else on the mountain roads over which I have no control. It is the tendency of the drivers to imitate Michael Schumacher (the formula one race car driver) or whoever may be the latest champion now, on the narrow curving roads.
We met Toni in Ladakh. He was the driver of the Toyota quails jeep that took us to Pangong Lake. He was not a rash driver but the way he would negotiate the curves on the road would make my heart skip quite a few beats. Snow, water on the road, nothing would deter him. When we would ask him to slowdown he would tell us, “I have done this route so many times, don’t worry.” And I would think, “You may have done the route so many times but for me this is the first and I hope not the last!”
This time in Sikkim, the very first driver who took us to Pelling from New Jalpaiguri was an aspiring F1 candidate and he would talk or listen to no one (but he was not really rash). He seemed to be in a foul mood due to some reason and I was glad when the journey was over. But apart from him, everyone else in the Sikkim trip preferred to drive safe, or so I thought, till we meet this real deadly person on our way out from Gangtok to Siliguri. He was driving rationally for most of the journey, not even a hint of F1 aspirations. But when the town of Siliguri was about 15 km away, god knows what went into him, he started accelerating rashly. All the passengers protested and he would slow down for a while and then try to overtake someone as if he had a death wish. And he nearly got it.
Indian roads are chaotic, to say the least. When a pedestrian might run across or a cyclist will materalize out of nowhere, you can never say. Many roads are single lane and that means you have to mind the traffic coming from the other direction too.
On such a road, this person once again went into an accelerating spree. Suddenly out of nowhere two young chaps on a bicycle came in front of our jeep. Now the driver was breaking like maniac. Still, he had a contact with the rear wheel of the cycle. The kids escaped just with a bent rear wheel but they were really really lucky. After a short while of name calling, everyone went their own way. But this time every passenger in the jeep had given a piece of their mind to the driver and the idiot managed to drop us safely to Siliguri.
Apart from this single incident, I have found the drivers in the hills really responsible, whether they are imitating Schumacher or not.
Rightly said. But all I can say is that, whether responsible or not they always try to show the passengers that they are supermen. Also they scare the new comers to such an extent by their tactics and talk that we from the plains can not drive in the hills. Apart from this the drivers in the hill towns are also very arrogant and bad tempered, its solely due to the Unionism.
Karnail, thanks a lot for your comment. After reading it I realized what you say is true to a large extent. But I thought Ladakh and Sikkim are better places for shared jeeps.In Uttranchal and Himanchal, it is quite possible to meet rude drivers, rather it is more of a norm. It didn’t occur to me because we travel by bus in both Uttranchal and Himanchal as far as possible. And we almost never book an entire cab for day trips at any place. But what you say about the drievrs is right about Uttranchal and Himanchal. I remeber having a very rude person for a driver at Dalhousie for one of the rare day trips we made where we booked an entire cab.
hi mridula,nice to see so many travel posts from you. look like you started really enjoying talking abt travel as much as you love travel :)PS: taking inspiration from you, I too planning a trip to Mangalore this long weekend.
Me too met a person similar to Toni, way down here in B’lore. On the way to Ooty from Mysore, there comes a ghat section where there are 36 hair-pin curves. He was just cruising as if he was drivingon a straight road. I was pretty much impressed with his driving.PS: posts are flooding these days in your blog… 🙂 PPS: Will read Sikkim post in the evening…
Well, the drivers have to be very responsible on those roads. Sometimes they think they are the kings of those roads and show off.Lots post these days. I like it. 🙂
Nilesh, I hope you will have a fabulous trip. I wish I could say come back and blog about it but maybe one day (looks long time ahead) you will blog.Prashanth, drive safe not rash. Or I will point out a lot of Himank (BRO project in Ladakh) sayings for you. And yes, the motto is one post per day :)Thanks Cuckoo, as I said, I am trying to put one post per day.
Er…actually…F1 races are run on a track constructed specially for the purpose, on flat ground and with a lot of safety precautions. So, the Himalayan Car Rally might be the right one to compare with…it has been defunct for a while now…so you might simply say that all these drivers you encountered were aspiring car-rally champions.Couldn’t resist making that comment… 😛
Sidhu, shall I say, Baal ki khal nikalne ka shukriya 🙂 Are you a big F1 fan?
I’m a motor-sport fan, to be precise, which includes Rallying as well as F1.To be able to understand the difference better, take a look at:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rallyingandhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Formula_One
Also, here is an interesting account by one Rallying enthusiast, who also happens to have participated in one such event, in the Himalayas:http://b-schooldijourney.blogspot.com/2005/10/himalayasso-inspiring.html
Sidhu, don’t tempt me with references, or else I am an academician and with ease I can bring in a few references every time I leave a comment at your blog. Don’t say I didn’t warn you :)And thanks a lot for the blog post link.
Drivers. We once were on our way to Recong Peo – in Kinnaur, Himachal Pradesh – in the middle of July of the year 96.. the roads were in a pretty bad shape due to the incessant rain.. and to add to that we reached a makeshift bridge – the original one having been washed away by a cloudburst. Since the bridge was weak the BRO workers made all the passengers get off the bus, except ofcourse the driver.. He was to take the bus across that bridge.As we were all getting off the bus I heard the driver comment – ‘sawarion ki jaan jaan hai aur hamari jaan kuch nahi’ and that was something that I couldn’t ignore.. ..so even though I was dead scared..I remained seated on the bus alongwith the conductor as the driver drove the thing across that creaky structure.. ..and once we were on the other side I felt good about the whole thing, about my conduct.. wouldn’t have felt the same had I gotten off that bus after having heard the comment that the driver had made..three cheers to all the drivers of the Himachal State Roadways fleet.Raman
OK…To put it plainly, in an F1 event, the cars are specifically constructed for the purpose and race on a track that is also made especially for that purpose, while in the case of Rallying, the race is held on public roads or dirt tracks and the cars taking part have not been made for racing only(though the participants might have made some modifications in the vehicles, in order to enhance performance, as permitted by the rules).:)
Thats a very interesting and funny narration, Mridula. I know, I know – I shouldn’t be laughing at your woes, but it was just a well meant, good humored smile. Hopefully, the driver on your next trip will be much better.
Raman, I wonder if you blog, because your wonderful comment is as good as a post, thanks a lot for sharing it. And three cheers indeed for the HP drivers.Sidhu, see because you are taking pangas, the blogger made you anonymous, and I really don’t know why it is happening because my email comment notification shows your name.OK Pooja, as long as it is a good humored smile …