Thursday, July 25, 2013

NH45 .. The Road Trip

Trying to pen down some peculiar experiences of my life in recent years, I try to accumulate my thoughts. 
 
Trips to Chennai 
Going to Chennai from my college in Thanjavur-Trichy highway was always one big time interesting experience to me. While my other friends were too busy in packing planning and booking tickets, I was almost half the way in the journey. I had company with few likeminded people who loved traveling. I am a traveler who travels without a proper plan encountering adventurous thrilling and even bizarre experiences. Travel has always been my passion and I never planned my journeys.  In the initial first year I have faint memories of my dad booking a train ticket to me. Then on, it’s my decision about the mode. I have come in buses, trains, tempo traveler; lift in cars and even in a truck. Only thing left to try out is the first class in train.
I take up the day journeys like the mission Chennai trip where I would aim to reach Chennai at the earliest. I used to get down in Chennai Trichy highway in a place called paal pannai which is the nearest stop from my college in the highway. I block the buses on the way to Chennai and board them and this particular day I met one childhood friend of mine from my village with whom I was talking for some minutes in a tea stall there. When enquired, he said he works as a cleaner in a lorry agency and he offered me a lift to Chennai that afternoon.
I instantly accepted and I made the driver as a friend and we started towards Chennai. With Illayaraja songs on the way and interesting discussions, it was made one of the best ever journeys I had ever taken up. The lorry driver was narrating his experiences of a typical lorry driver encounters. He was a Rajni fan to my surprise and we were eagerly discussing about the ROBOT movie too. And we had a Tea party in a shop and before I offered to pay the bill the driver already has finished with that.  He got so excited that he was introducing me to everyone whom he met in that route in which he drove regularly. I was even shocked about the amount that a lorry agency pays in toll booths.
My friend, the cleaner of the lorry dropped his schooling in 6th standard and he worked at various places in and around Trichy. I realized the recent droughts of the decade from 1999 to 2009 played a worst impact on delta farmers and their kids were being sent to work. 
It was about 9:30 in the night we crossed SRM and he said in an apologizing tone that he had to take the Chennai Bye Pass road and he cannot drop me in my area, which is Chromepet. I was caught by his love and I had just realized from my friend that he had a son who passed away recently.  To my surprise, the Lorry driver was stunningly knowledgeable that he had read Sci-fi novels of Sujatha, a tamizh writer and he could even narrate an incident from that.  One day’s journey has taught me so many things.
When I happily narrated these to my roommates, they started laughing and I could not react anything. But this news had spread like anything to all that even the newly met friends identified me with this incident. I am least bothered and all I could feel is everyday gives you a new lesson. My passion to travel still continues and lot many new adventures I encounter. I even met a group of one MLA supporters sarcastically passing comments about the Govt in an unreserved compartment journey in guruvayur express. Hoping for many such experiences, I still travel…

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