The Road to Sawai Madhopur

The Road to Sawai Madhopur

© mulshankar13.
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The road journey from Dholpur (Dhavalpur) to Sawai Madhopur is a total of 6 hours which can be divided into two phases. The first phase starts from Dholpur and ends at Gangapur City covering a distance of 139 kms which ideally can be covered by a car in 3 hours but a public bus would take 4 hours because of a detour for predesignated halts which included Bari, Sarmathura, and Karauli. The second phase of the journey would start from Gangapur City and end at the final destination of Sawai Madhopur, the famous district of Ranthambore and its famous tiger reserve, the Ranthambore Tiger Reserve.

“Sir, is there some space to place the luggage? Or should we manage it inside the bus”, I asked earnestly only to receive a lukewarm response which meant “as you may feel convenient”. Thus, started the first phase of our journey to another district of Rajasthan.

The sub-urban transport facilities in India have not changed much since quiet long except that the roads are a little less bumpy and the crowd a little more digital. Otherwise the roadways depots are still having the old damp look and the garbage having a larger plastic footprint than ever before.

The Rajasthan roadways in many ways reminded me of the roadways back home in Uttar Pradesh. The buses look the same as in Uttar Pradesh and so do the roadways depot and the stalls around it. The toilets if any are still a terrible place to use. Though the ticket had our seat numbers legibly enough for us to make where to sit yet we preferred to follow the local custom and sat where we felt our legs could stretch a little longer and the window gaped a little wider at our faces.

While my team-mate Vishwa decided to opt for the window seat and had his ear phone on with the music app playing out “Songs to hit onto the road” as soon as the bus throttled forward I was content with the middle seat. The aisle seat was still expecting a passenger who might board on during the journey. I preferred to plug into the symphony produced by the noise of the throttling engine, the vibrations of the weathered steel frame of the bus and the wind smothering your well-arranged hair. To me this was the music to hit onto the road unless you are driving. This meditative symphony drifts you to your musings of the days gone by and the ones yet to come encompassed with thoughts which at times make a smile beam across your face or make you swear with a sigh.

No sooner did the bus start Vishwa slipped into a trance with his ear phones on. I pondered if the seating arrangement also had a catalytic effect to that. Maybe the window seat was of those who preferred to be left to themselves during the journey analogous to the priests spending time alone to reach their Zen or inner calm. Extending that analogy, the middle seat then must belong to those who strive to seek a balance in their daily endeavours; not too close to the pleasures outside the window neither too involved to the events inside the bus. Further to that, the aisle seat must belong to those who are in the thin and thick of things happening around them as people brush aside their shoulders to move in or out of the bus.

A journey is a wonderful thing! 

It helps you to connect to thoughts which were hitherto elusive. Or maybe lingering there in your mind but not yet clear. I could connect to my ten months old daughter far off in Bangalore. A new soul in our lives whose purpose and future we don’t know! Would she live happily ever after or go through the ups and downs we have already been through? Would she be able to come back stronger from her falls? Would she grow up to realize that the world is not perfect and neither is she or her father? Would that make her stronger or break her down? Would she remember the sleepless nights we spent for her? Would she feel the same way I feel for her after she grows up and I become old? Would she ever realize that her smile epitomizes success and happiness to me more than anything else?

Ah well, true love or friendship is always one sided. Unconditional. You never expect the return from the other end yet you keep on doing everything even if it means beyond your line of duty. Your parents did it for you. You do it for your children. And they would do for their children. And so, it goes on. Love like water flows downwards.
 

While I was lost in these thoughts the hours passed pretty quickly and the conductor announced that Gangapur City had arrived. As we peered out of the window we realized that this place had no well-defined roadways depot apparently. However, the real shock was yet to come. We enquired at the dark and decrepit ticket counter about the connecting bus to Sawai Madhopur only to be told that there was none. No government bus goes to Sawai Madhopur from Gangapur City. And that we have to take the train.

Ah, there is no road to Sawai Madhopur! Didn’t I tell you that?