To catch an early-morning flight from IGI Airport, New Delhi, for a family vacation, I decided to act like a (pseudo) jet setter- by travelling overnight by cab from Ludhiana. The driver offered us two choices: the Grand Trunk Road, where congestion is compensated by high density of luminous deluxe dhabas or the newly opened Delhi–Katra Expressway, where emptiness is compensated by bindaas speed.
The vote was unanimous- expressway. New experience beckoned. I took the front seat. After travelling for sixty km on a state highway (with plenty of wrong side driving as a matter of right), we entered the expressway- and, with it, a special territory within our country. ‘The speed limit is 120 km/h. What speed would you like me to drive?’ the cab driver asked, as if presenting a menu. Customer orientation, I noted, had reached its last bastion, the cab trade. ‘Let us keep it at one hundred,’ I replied, choosing the unwinding option rather than the thrilling one. ‘One hundred and twenty is safe too! To tell you the truth, sometimes we do 140 too during the night—for busy businessmen and executives who believe time is money!’ he said.
After a pause, he added, ‘We charge them extra. Risk demands a premium!’ ‘I am not timid,’ I said, ‘But as a doctor, I have seen what a high-velocity road accident can do to a person- and to a vacation.’ ‘As you wish!’ he replied with a wry smile. There had been no back-seat conversation between mother-daughter duo for more than a minute and the only conclusion that could be drawn from this was that they were sound asleep. Post-dinner sleepiness began seducing me too, but I realized I had to remain awake.
The expressway offered none of the usual stimulants: there were no horns, glowing dhabas, potholes, or stray animals auditioning as traffic police. The best way to keep the driver awake, therefore, was to keep talking to him. After the classic opener- ‘Where are you from?’, I moved on to the vehicle. Learning that it was only six months old was reassuring. Suddenly, there was a jolt. The driver had swerved the vehicle to avoid a truck that had changed lanes without consulting anyone, including common sense.
The passengers in the back seat woke up. ‘What happened?’ my better half asked. ‘Think of it as a bad dream and go back to sleep,’ I said. Soon afterwards, we encountered vehicles coming from the wrong side in the service lane, presumably because the opposite road had been closed following an accident. ‘See? There are so many happenings on the road to keep me awake. Doctor sahib, please go to sleep,’ the driver said. Then we met a vehicle coming the wrong way in the fast lane, the driver behaving as if he had received the boon of immortality.
My sleepiness evaporated instantly after the thought- what if….? I changed the subject to the interactions between drivers and the owner of the cab company. He had evidently been waiting for this topic and supplied conversation laced with masala to fuel the rest of the journey. When we finally returned to a normal road, it felt as though I had awakened from a dream. Many of our newly built expressways are world-class. However, our driving discipline is still searching for the correct entry ramp. My advice to expressway drivers is simple: boast that you drive at 120 km/h but drive at one hundred!