I spent a week in Japan recently. This was the first time in my life that I drove outside India. And, the first time in my life that I drove a car with automatic gears. I am sure those of you read this must think - Where the bloody hell have you lived, fellow??
Anyway, spare me. We don't live in the lap of luxury in India, you know!! But, life is good there.
Anyhow, driving in Japan is great. Great scenery, especially when you move into the hills. The scenery in the place is great. It's really beautiful. Especially if you are driving in the rain and, you see the mist in the hills. It's almost mystical. If it was not for the fact that the country is so damned expensive, I'd go there every year and, spend a week driving around the country.
But, what you miss is a good cup of tea on the road!!
Aha, now that comes with the experience of driving on an Indian highway. We too have great scenery. Sometimes, almost mystical as well. In a different way. Sometimes - mostly, you end up on a dusty highway, with a truck or a bus, hurtling at you in a delirium of mad abandon. And then, of course, if you leave your window open, you are likely to get a blast of smoke or, you may get splashed with mud as well.
But then, you stop by on the road, at a friendly roadside dhaaba, stretch your legs and have a great cup of tea. Thick, sweet, milky tea (chai) that would be the delight of a pharmaceutical firm selling diabetes medicine. Anyhow, to sit on a charpai or, on a bench and, have a yarn with a truck driver. Maybe, about politics, maybe about his, or your sex life. Or, the sex life of a film star. Or, any damn thing under the sky. And, to have chai and biscuits. Or maybe, even a spot of black daal and roti for lunch.
The pleasure of the dhaaba make it all worthwhile. It keeps you in touch with humanity and, allows you to understand what goes on in the world at large.
And, this little touch of humanity is what is missing from the Japanese roads. Even European ones for that matter. Maybe, the US does have it's own version of the dhaaba.
But, nothing, nothing really can replace the magic of an Indian dhaaba. I believe that, with the construction of the super highways in India, the dhaabas may disappear from India. In the next 50 years, maybe. And, if this happens a little bit of the soul of India will disappear as well.......
May the Indian dhaaba live forever!!!