Article published in the Hitavada, Middle Space

                                        Dream or Dreadful Drive?                  By Jyoti Patil

                 Apropos to the Hitavada’s talented lens man, Satish Raut’s eye-catching pics of the Nagpur-Betul highway, which ignited my imagination and at the same time opened up the Pandora’s box of reminiscences. These really out of the world scenes and picturesque pathways provide a velvety experience. But it reminded me of my own recent experience on the same route. As I often visit Bhopal, more often by train since convenient trains are easily available between these two progressive cities. (But I should admit candidly, though I belong to Nagpur, in many respects Bhopal is far more beautiful and progressive than Nagpur.)

                 Sometimes I am expected to visit the city at a short notice and then I prefer to travel by car. I have been visiting Bhopal since 2005 and between 2005 and 2010 the roads were pliable, comfortable and hassle free between these cities. There were many ghats on the way with unparalleled scenic beauty, full of valleys and vales, hills and hillocks, flora and fauna, fields and grasslands, rivers and rivulets, twists and turns. Even many reserve and protected forest areas were on the way and the sight of wild animals like foxes, deer, bisons, wild boars, snakes, monkeys and different types of  birds were an additional treat during the road journey as Satpuda ranges are full of such picturesque scenes and scenery. 

                 The roads were not wide at that time but smooth to the extent that one could drive with comfortable speed.  I remember quite often I stopped on my way just to enjoy soft flowing rivulets which run parallel to the road and some times cross the road with transparent glow. Beautiful rocky terrain with rocks and pebbles of different shapes and sizes attracted me to hop over them. This road journey always made me rejuvenated and refreshed.

                 But during the recent past, the experience has been just the opposite as the roads were broken and damaged, torn and tattered, illmaintained and unkempt. It became a torturous and arduous task to traverse. The roads were so bad at some places that it became difficult to recognize the pathway. Gradually the work of four-lane of these roads started and huge shadowy trees were ruthlessly uprooted, all the natural scenes were smashed and removed. The construction work with heavy machines and excavators made the once smooth roads, into bumpy rugged trouble walk.  It turned out to be dusty, smoky and murky. The road journey became a hellish experience with jerks, bumps and wobbles. Once it took almost twelve hours to reach Bhopal for six hours’ drive. And I stopped travelling by car.

Very recently in the first week of Nov, forgetting all the previous experiences I ventured on to travel on this road again. When I started my little tour to Bhopal, I was pleasantly surprised to see the entirely professionally erected signs and signals all along the broad, black and beautiful four-lane roads. It was heavenly. Things were all on the right track. I could not believe my eyes to experience a kind of ride with proper and perfect signals, directions and dividers. I wondered as if I were travelling in Hongkong or Singapore. The pics taken by Satish only tell the ten percent perfection of the ride between Nagpur and Betul. There are other notable things such as bus bays, truck bays, side walks, midway plantations, colourfully painted road crossings, reflectors, railings, road side facilities etc.  Green sign boards with appropriate directions were just an additional feather to already a perfect looking HIGHWAY. Oh!! What a highway! You can swiftly glide on these buttery roads with the speed of 100-150 km per hour.  Such a road was absolutely unexpected after such disrepute of these roads. But what a transformation! I was immensely happy, driving on such a smooth road. I took pics from my mobile like Satish Raut and posted them on the whatsapp with a chirpy comment “Heavenly ride…can’t believe…feeling to be in Singapore...” But the Nagpur- Betul ride was just the half way. The moment I crossed Betul I realized that the roads are not of international standard, not even the local standard. They were not roads at all. The real journey began after Betul, and in place of running, my car was jumping and twisting. The speed came to down to pathetic 0-10km. I could see rows of trucks, very heavy vehicles, cars are moving at snail’s pace to avoid ditches and craters on the roads. I saw as many as three heavy vehicles broke down at different places. Five trucks met with ghastly accidents and few cars were lying on the side of the roads all smashed and mangled. It was not a two-wheeler’s ride at all. Till Bhopal there was hardly any respite from churning and jerking. And I remember concluding lines of  Robert Frost’s  poem ‘The Road Not Taken’ it runs like this “Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.”