After
dinner, still me on the driving seat, we started the drive towards Hetauda. It
will be a short one-hour drive to Hetauda and we were at the Rim of the
Himalayan ranges already moving from the Terai plains to Ghat sections. The
roads were broad enough for a comfortable drive and very similar to the
stretches towards Madikeri in Western Ghats.
I was due
for the first surprise of my trip. There have been many number of highways,
national, state, district, village, pukka, kutcha roads I have driven and it is
quite usual to get a mix of driving experience. However, the mix has been
always biased with more arrogant drivers (arrogance by not following the rules
and the sense) than the ones who follow rules. It is usual, we move to a high
power head light than the vehicle stock ones only to counter this road
arrogance. We never get a driver (especially the Truckers) who shifts to a
lower head beam when you are head on with a lower vehicle and it hits you more.
Unfortunately, the Indian drivers are manufactured with these defects because
we are warranted with these behaviors all our lives. With all this experience,
do anyone of us believe that we will be the drivers who follow the rules. We
have been pushed to leave the high beam with the high power head lamps adjusted
on one side to point not on the road but to hit the high vehicles on the
windshield. So, my imagination of night driving in Nepal was also of the same
but things were completely different.
The first
truck, I had to overtake on that night changed my thought process of this small
nation hosting the biggest ranges of the world. It is surprising that only with
the driving behavior that is evident on the road; one can not only derive the
cultural difference but also conveniently judge the goodness in people. Once I
had conveyed my thought to overtake the truck by pushing the high beam on the
headlights, within 2 seconds, I got to see the right indicator blinking on the
truck. I had to come out of the surprise that the Indicator was in working condition
in a truck to realize that there was a closed communication with another driver
on the road. Usually, in India we experience lot of communication, some with
actions and some with the local slang, some with loud honking, some more
annoying the other. Nevertheless, this communication what I was experiencing is
completely different but not new (similar to US, Europe). So, then we crossed
this first truck and then I turned to Amit, started understanding the
discipline on road and the next vehicle coming opposite had lowered the head
beam at a distance when I could barely see the dots of lights. When the other
vehicle just crossed me, he flickered the head light once to ensure that his
way was clear of any slow moving traffic. Wow, this is really the biggest
surprise for my whole trip and I started visualizing the people and their
discipline on roads.
It is somewhat
fascinating when you as a whole get judgmental (for good in this case), when
the experience is good.
Very quickly, I realized that I should respect the
fellow drivers on the road, which I never forgot until I entered India again.
For the next 10 days, I shall be experiencing a change in driving habits, Keep
to the left, wait for indication from the ahead vehicle before overtaking and
the lower beam.
The short
and good drive ended at Hetauda at a place surrounded by shopping complexes,
which were closed for the day. Very early for the shops to be closed it was
just 8 PM wherein usually in Bangalore; I would be struggling to pass the 2 ecospace
flyovers and then the Sarjapur junction flyover. This place was already
peaceful at 8 PM, but not a chilly winter Bangalore evening weather but a cool
weather. Amit had enquired about a hotel and we quickly got into one of the
complexes. The security diverted our vehicle into a basement parking which was
deeply caved into the ground. After parking the vehicle, we booked a room and
were quick to sleep dreaming about the next day drive. Lot of adventures and
surprises ahead, I was still digesting the mix of culture first at the Yathayat
office and then the dinner, to end with the Road and its drivers.
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