The roads snaked in front of the car; the head lights picked up the curves in front of us and the wind blew cold against my face as I peered into the night. The darkness was all encompassing and the only thing I could see were the great big trees as the light swept past them. I waited with a hope that a leopard would cross the road and my night would be made!
As a child I was the favorite of my father so he used to take me on tour of inspection of hospitals and dispensaries as the CMO of the state. He had an Austin car 8 hp sedan and he adored it more than my mother! He never trusted it with any driver and drove it himself and he maintained it and repaired it himself too! Those days there were hardly four to five cars in the entire town, so he was rightly proud of it. I remember visiting Champua, Anandpur and Ghatgaon and later Narsingpur, Jeypore. Invariably we used to stay in dak bungalows and have our meals in the Asst Surgeons house. We used to travel mostly at night and whenever we passed through the thick forests I used to espy leopards, jackals, deer and once I even saw a tiger about which I bored everyone with for at least a month!
Keonjhar was a district headquarters but it was not very large so once in a while when we used to travel to the big city of Cuttack it was an event by itself. A lot of planning and preparation would go into it- This journey was normally with my mother and couple of brothers. I suppose our clothes were packed by someone in the house. We used to have breakfast very early in the morning (normally “chuda dahi’ – Rice flakes with sugar and curd) and then sat down in our favourite place in the car (some fight and arguments about the occupation of the best seat would take place). But soon we would reach the bank of Karsuan river- this was deep but narrow. There was no bridge those days so the car was loaded on to a barge. This procedure was repeated while crossing the Brahmani River, which is a much wider river. The travel then would consist of passing over canal roads and the main highway to reach Birupa. Again the car was loaded on a barge to cross both Birupa and Mahanadi Rivers to reach Cuttack. A very long and tedious journey for the adults but an exciting and interesting journey for us children!
There was no electricity at Cuttack, whereas we had a town generator at Keonjhar with dc current. Later Birupa, Brahmani and Mahanadi had fair-weather roads built below the anicut; this is when we used to take kichidi (delicious dish made of rice and lentil) after taking a second bath below the anicut at Cuttack. This was like a picnic for us and the flavor still remains in my mind!
Traveling during the rainy seasons was another new experience. The roads would be impassable and the rivers too so we used to travel by train from Jajpur Road for about 45 miles or so. I preferred the passenger train which was very slow and would stop at all the stations, where you can go out on the platform and get papad, peda, dahibada and many other interesting things and stretch your legs too! I used to argue that if time was no constraint then it is cheaper and better to travel in the passenger train! In those days each rail was 42 ft and the joints emitted a noise when the train passed over them. I used to calculate the speed of the train by the no of clicks per minute. Here too sitting by the window I would see the telephone posts with furlongs written on them whizzing past at regular intervals- all these occupied my mind very well and I never troubled my parents about being bored! As the engines were coal fired and there was no air conditioning the wind would blow the soot into the train and at the end of the journey our face used to be black as coals!
When Bapa was posted as the Civil Surgeon at Koraput I used to come by bus to the station and go to Vizianagaram by train. This was a very long and interesting journey. We would then take the bus and go up via the Salur ghat. This is much higher than our own Judia ghat and the thrill was much more.
College travel was a different kettle of fish! We were now independent we had to book our own tickets; handle the money to be spent during the journey and still contrive to enjoy it! Travelling to Trivandrum we used student concession ticket- this cost us 17.50 rupees. We then had to take a taxi from the Central station to Egmore station which took away five more rupees! The train from Madras to Trivandrum was meter gauge, the berths were very small and my long legs would protrude out and everyone passing by in the aisle would stumble over them!
It would normally be raining when the train would pass Senkota ghat with the backdrop of the forest of Western Ghats with dense foliage. This was a part of the long journey I used to enjoy the most. Since I was born in August I love the rain. We had to take our meals in meal stations and the nicest thing was that the train would not leave until everyone finished their meals! This journey was a yearly ritual with no prior reservation. You asked for a ticket; the clerk would enter the particulars in a register; he would punch a small cardboard ticket and hand over to you, a matter of five minutes. Now after computerization it takes 10 to 15 min to issue a ticket at the counter!
Travel is a metaphor of journey through life. I have enjoyed all my journeys both real and metaphorical but it is a little slow paced now- unfortunately my mind refuses to accept the necessity to slow down…….
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