Country roads

In late 2013, I made a crazy trip to Arunachal Pradesh. Crazy because I dislike long road trips. Being cooped up in a vehicle for hours together does not hold any appeal for me. In most cases, the journey on the road is not broken by enough rest stops. The day's travel as planned invariably is a long one and the destination must be reached at a reasonable hour in the evening/ night.

It proved to be all this and more on the trip to this North Eastern State. Before I tell you why, I must mention beforehand that the trip was worth every jolted and jarred bone, ridiculously early starts (such that I'd never call it a holiday) and sometimes missed breakfasts (thanks to the early starts!). The views were beautiful, the hillsides green and silent, the roads free of traffic and the people ever friendly and cheerful. Though a bit surprised that 'Indians' were visiting their state. The majority of tourists they encounter are foreigners.

Roads as we know in our urbanised lifestyles (where potholes & puddles take on larger than life proportions), are non-existent in this state. They are merely tracks cut into the hillsides and if they was ever any tarmac on them, it's long gone. Almost every day I & my fellow travellers had to travel 5-6 hours on an average to reach our next destination, which on regular roads (as we know it) would have taken us half the time. As it's the eastern most part of our country, the day begins early and night falls early too. As early as 4 AM and ending by 5PM. Therefore, for practical and safety reasons it was crucial that we started and ended our road trips while daylight lasted.

 

Nightfall by 6PM enroute from Guwahati to Tezpur

 

Our first sight of the roads in Arunachal Pradesh as we crossed into the state

  

The road is carved out of the hillside while a river flows at its foot

  

Streams flowing down the hillside continuously erode the surface of the roads leaving mud and stones in its wake

The network of roads are the lifeline of this state. There are no railway lines since the state lies in a mountainous region. The closest rail heads are along the state border in Assam. Villagers are able to connect to the nearest towns only via this network of roads. During the monsoons, landslides and flooding block parts of this network isolating people for weeks on end. While travelling through just one small part of the state, even in the good weather we had, we could not escape the realisation of how cut off the lives of the people here are.

We had great mobile connectivity (imagine that!) in the towns where we halted and we saw almost every household with cable television (thanks to satellite dishes). But travelling from one place to another is a daunting task. The state transport buses plying these roads are few and far between. Days went by when we would pass at best one state bus a day on the roads we travelled. There were no private buses that we saw of. Taxis and vehicles for hire cost a pretty penny. So, they take to walking long distances in the hilly terrain which is probably the reason they have the reputation of being a hardy and resilient people. Obviously, this affects access to schools, healthcare services, jobs, markets etc.



Well maintained roads like these were few and of short stretches but very welcome!

A 'minor' landslide being cleared on the route out of Arunachal Pradesh

One must admit that a fairly commendable job is being done by the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) who maintain and keep roads and bridges motorable in this border outpost despite inclement weather, soil erosion and the remoteness of the area. Nevertheless, even they seem to be able to manage just the bare minimum.

On their election campaigns, when the politicians talk of development in the North East and lifting the region from its isolation, one can only ask them to travel and experience these roads instead of air dashing from one helipad to another making fancy promises they never intend to keep.

Rishikesh 2010 A.D.

My first trip to the hills immortalised in the writings of Ruskin Bond and my geography lessons in school, was one of shock and awe.

It was towards the end of March 2010 and I was eager to see the hills that were said to be thick with forests, wild animals and the hillsides dotted with remote, picturesque villages. Instead, I encountered landslides and brown hills devoid of forests. There were trees, yes, as brown as the hills, so much so that they seemed to be in camouflage.

It was a short 3 day trip, mainly spent river-rafting down the Ganges. All along the 50 km stretch of river the scene was the same. Brown and myriad shades of the same. The only green you could see was closer to the river at it's edge.

Dehradun, the town made famous because of its salubrous climate, proximity to the national capital and its numerous schools was busy & crowded. In certain areas that I drove through, it still retained a semblance of old world charm one hears of hillside towns but they were few and far between. The main street boasted of a Nirula's, pizza places, MNC brands like Bossini, UCB and more. I guess, free-market India had sunk its root wide & deep into this Himalayan town. Not to mention the boarding schools provided ample customers for these outlets.

The Rajaji National Park just outside of Dehradun had...good guess... brown trees. The few rivers or streams I drove past along the highway were dry and the beds were parched, thirstily awaiting the monsoon rains. It appeared to me (though I didn't check on it further) that these rivers might have either been dammed or the river waters diverted into canals, else it was hardly likely that snow-fed rivers would be completely bereft of any water.

While I loved the river-rafting, the dips in the icy-cold Ganges, the gleaming white beaches along the river bank, I realised that the Ganges was perhaps the only draw to this piece of (erstwhile) paradise. Over-harvested forest and hills seem to have given up the struggle and why not? Now more work-gangs are employed just to wall the hillsides so sudden landslides don't endanger roads and motorists along the heavily travelled route from Haridwar to Rishikesh, Devprayag and beyond.

It made me wonder if, Ruskin Bond's poem would hold true for Dehradun & its hills in the years ahead or is it already too late? (I would like to believe it isn't and the people of Uttarakhand will once again restore to its pristine glory, the valleys, hills and forests of the state.... if not for the fear of the Gods in these "holy" environs but at least for the fear of Global Warming!)

Living with Mountains
Once you have lived with mountains
under the benedictory pines
And deodars, near stars
And a brighter moon,
With wood smoke and mist
Sweet smell of grass and dew smoke
......
You will return,
You will come back,
To touch the trees and grass,
And cimb once more the windswept pass
~Ruskin Bond