It was one of those days I abhorred as we were set to travel. Travelling has never been on my list of favourites and to be travelling on road for over 6 hours had a prejudiced mind as additional baggage. With little choice, I heaved myself on to the rear seat of the Innova while my friend took the navigator's seat on account of his extra long limbs. The middle row was taken by my bosses. Even as the morning sun was rising with benevolence on the travellers, I hmmed and hawed responses as I peered out of the sealed window panes. My friend was not being very helpful as he engaged in a conversation with the person behind the wheel. With a couple of stops for refreshments and taking nature into the stride, we were well on our way to reach the destination. Nature had something else in store as a large tree had yielded to the gravitational pulls and presented a hurdle which to be surmounted. The villagers displayed their belief in treating the crisis as an opportunity. While some went about sawing, a few others were exercising their rugged muscles on the roadblock. The urbane lot chose to pass the wry comments which ranged on the ineptitude of the people in not envisaging the tree fall, to some even helpfully instructing that trees ought not to be planted on highways while the others felt that by leaning on their horns they were adding their mite to the people at work.
As yours truly watched the entire theatre of the absurd, it took little time to realise that I was the leader of this urbane crowd being a mute spectator with little display of any proactive approach. Even as I pondered on this aspect, my friend had unleashed his GPRS enabled gadget and identified that a small pathway on the left a few yards away could act as a by pass. He spoke to the riders and drivers to create a pathway from where we were parked to the entry point of the bypass. Soon with the presence of his mind and the way indicated on the gadget. we were balancing ourselves on a bund like structure amidst areca fields winding our way to the destination of Shivamogga.
The journey had the elements of the thrills of a Himalayan expedition with the man at the wheel negotiating hairpin bends whilst cyclists challenged the right of path by negotiating from the opposite side without as much as even attempting to dismount. Hardpressed for the feast of the eyes which lay on both sides with areca in a straight line which would put a geometry expert to shame and their elegance enhanced by the laden plantain shrubs amidst them vying for attention with streaming canals and the nonchalance of the village folks, I had forgotten my urbane roots as well as my hatred for travelling.
Within minutes we had reached the highway and the nature's unrivalled feast merely lingered on in the mind. In contrast we hit on to one of the best patches of roadways I have ever set foot on. A total contrast within a space of a few kilometres. As we set foot on the land at Shivamogga, I did not fail to place my appreciation for the presence of mind of my friend and gratitude for the feast he placed before us. At the time of our return, he gave us another opportunity to sail through another set of such fields.
The travel taught me several lessons - the most significant one was the realisation that bereft of travel I was the typical kupa manduka - the frog in the well. Rejuvenation by nature is better any day compared to artificial methods. Months have rolled by but the experience remains fresh - nature fresh - in my mind.
No comments:
Post a Comment