t
is the railways that hold the enviable distinction of being the lifeline of
India, this is hardly the scene in Rajasthan.
I personally like the Barmer Munabao train section as one of the
most interesting in India where this old train stops at every crossing for
one of its guards to lock-unlock the gates and there is an in-built ticket
counter too!
Still in Rajasthan, the highways prove to be the most enjoyable and
spectacular experience in travel.
Two reasons. First, Rajasthan is more attractive due its authentic
lifestyle and people than for its monuments, a fact very few travel agents
acknowledge, so spectacles on the waysides hold importance.
Second, traveling in Rajasthan in a lone vehicle is almost always
completely safe.
As a matter of fact the highways act more or less as an extension of homes
and workplaces for the people living by their sides.
So this is how it becomes a dazzling display of rural lifestyle quite
unaware of your intrusion.
Curious onlookers will be more interested in seeing your vehicle or color
of your skin.
More often it will be your turn of getting surprised by seeing the amazing
contrast in landscape, colors and character of places while you move on.
Full
of life
The highways in Rajasthan are otherwise very long, many a times seem
unending but never giving the impression of a typical desert travel.
It is very lively. Imagine what it will be when you see a few unclaimed
unknown bastions and cenotaphs, a few towns of different colors, a wedding
procession or two, a tractor-trolley full of singing-chanting rural folks,
one or two local fairs, groups of bejeweled colorful ladies and a
surprisingly amazing variety of wildlife for a desert; all on or by a
highway meant for transport traffic!
And to say about the traffic, the vehicles range from visibly ancient to
the recent ones.
Even the newest modern trucks are not spared of the bridal makeup;
ornamentations, frescoes and slogans covering its surface.
A real scene is to watch the overflowing fodder trucks which become
so FAT they never let any other to overtake.
Not surprising, most of my guests comment about the highway and traffic-
IT'S CRAZY!!!
I remember in my overnight bus travels, when the coach enters a town like
Kishangarh or Fatehpur through an impossibly narrow street, the driver has
to blow horn incessantly to drive away the men and cows standing on whatever
space left on the street.
I pity on the poor old havelis overhanging the street, almost touching my
window, that they were not originally meant to be woken up this way in the
dead of the night.
Right outside, the unfazed demeanor of the crowd even when the horn is
blown right over their heads surprises none, not even the driver!
And even when the men do FINALLY move to the side (though as ignorant as
they were a few minutes earlier), the cows just don't!
Colors;)
;)
Full
of life;)
Even the newest modern trucks are not spared of the bridal makeup;
ornamentations, frescoes and slogans covering its surface.;)
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