The Gujrat Road Trip ...and the 3 things

“Looking Back, 3 Things I would do differently”

It was day 2 of our planned road trip from Delhi to Gujrat and Diu through Rajasthan. Post lunch, we were cruising the stretch from Udaipur to Ahmedabad. Except for my wife Priyanka, in the front seat, rest of the travellers including my mother in law, our two daughters and our maid Moromi quietly fell asleep. Priyanka changed the track from an old Kishore Kumar melody to “Karari Chai” of Papon suiting to the occasion. The highway was smooth, there were patches of clouds towards the western sky bringing about occasional shades. Going slow on the curves, we were enjoying the breath-taking landscape of the Aravali ranges.  Me and my wife were happy to have taken the right decision of travelling by road.

As we were speeding ahead, I glanced at the rear view mirror, the images of the road, the trees and the mountains seemed to be much more appealing than the one in front of us. For a moment I felt like, all the beautiful things of life are moving away from me.  I expressed my feeling to my wife. She smiled and consoled me “Don’t worry Abhi, just keep driving on the road, the beautiful things will keep coming back to you”. She continued “But yes, if you wish, you can stop and capture these lovely  moments on your camera”. She felt that photographs helps in rejuvenating our life, whenever we feel low. She reminded me of my days as a professional volleyball player. “You had travelled to more than 15 countries, you have almost been to all the states of our country, but you hardly had any photographs of those trips to share them with your daughters”. I never gave a serious thought about clicking photographs, as at that point of time I thought only self-obsessed people click photos . But suddenly I realized how much valuable a photographs in front of the Anarkali market in Lahore would have been today or for that matter a pic on the beautiful beaches of Constantine in Romania along the Black Sea. I wished to relive those wonderful moments once gain. This was first of  the three things, I realized,  I should  have done .

That day we covered close to 500km and finally decided to halt at a decent highway motel near Bhavnagar. After bargaining on the tariff, the hotel staff helped us with the luggage. A stranger standing next to the reception counter saw my Identity card and gave his unwanted opinion      “O Bhattacharya, you are a Bengali? but you won’t get fish in this restaurant”. His uncalled for opinion coupled with my tiredness instantly hit my temper. I ended up comforting him verbally.  But, before I could realize, my mood was spoiled. Anyway, the issue was quickly resolved and we had a delicious vegetarian dinner.

That night I recalled one such similar incident, where again people love  to create opinion on the basis of your surname or your appearance. (My wife is from Chandigarh and I am from Assam) While at Assam attending a religious family ceremony, my cousin brother introduced my wife to a lady belonging to a political party. Looking at way Priyanka was wearing the Assamese Mekhela, the lady sarcastically commented, “I can see, she is not from my state”. I instantly felt like responding to her in the same manner, but out of courtesy I politely put across my point of view by saying “But, she is from my country”.  I really don’t like when people of our country perceive or create opinion based on race or states. There were many such experiences, so I initially thought of not adding a surname to my daughters first name. But, out of my desire to carry my family tradition I went ahead adding my surname behind their name. Given an opportunity I would definitely love to name them simple Archisa and Rithvi, without giving them the burden of carrying the dangerous suffix of cast and region. This was second of the three things, I realized  I should  have done .

After covering a distance of more than 3500 km in twelve days, we finally returned back home on the day of Holi. The wonderful memories of the light house of Diu, the Lions of Gir, the sea facing Athiti Griha of Shree Somnath Trust, the sea contiguous  highway, the ancestral house of Bapu at Porbandar, the jetty trip to Beyt Dwarka, Ghandi ji’s memorial at  Sabarmati Ashram, Udaipur Palace, Meera Bai temple of Chittorgarh Fort and many more will remain with us for ever. We have met numerous strangers on the way, made friends with them and realized how much a smile and a little bit of humour can make your journey much more comfortable. Every day was a different experience. I remember few and forgot many. For instance I forgot how much litres of Diesel we filled, the name of the guy who fixed our flat tyre or the story of this young boy  who walked few hundred kilometre to reach Beyt  Dwarka,  but have  an  android phone, and how his elder brother earn more than  me selling milk from 4 buffalos.  I should have written or documented every account of my experience of not only that particular trip but all the road trips we have undertaken so far. We should have stopped at unknown villages, talked to the villagers and learned unique and unusual rituals.

Now that I am developing a knack for writing, I felt documenting all my earlier travelling experiences would have provided me with lots of interesting stories. This was the third thing, I realized I should have done.

I may have missed many opportunity but I hope the life ahead must have lots of surprises in store for us. This time I was lucky to have listened to my wife’s advice. I am sure those photographs along the highway will light up our spirit whenever we feel low.   

(Abhijit Bhattacharya)

Abhijit Bhattacharya