24th of May, 2023.
Hitchhiking in India.
What I am about to tell you, it will sound like a made up story, but I assure you it is true.
Hitchhiking outside Jaipur is not difficult. My plan is to go to Ladakh, to Pangong Tso, a very famous lake which gained more notoriety after the film 3 Idiots, with my dearest Aamir Khan. Yes, that’s the main reason why I am going all the way there. But also, it is a very nice lake, located deep inside Ladakh, with some incredible views. From Ladakh, I will go East, to Jammu and Kashmir, taking a very scenic route up North, through the mountains. It will be a loop, and I can come back to Rajasthan after about 20 days.
I get one or two small lifts and then a father and his son stop. They are driving a taxi all the way to Jammu. What? That’s about 16 hours driving from here. And they are going there today. Technically, it doesn’t really matter to me if I am going West / East or Eats / West, so I decide to come with them and save myself some many hours of travelling, with this very long lift, right? Right?
We start driving. The son can speak a little English, but his father not really. After a while, a light shows up in the control panel. The driver, not knowing much of this car, doesn’t know what it is, so he starts looking out for a mechanic shop around. It takes us a long time until we finally find one. And for that we had driven a lot out of our way, and then to come back again… When we finally get back to the road, in the middle of nowhere, the tire burst. They have a spare but not a Jack. Luckily, soon enough a car with two Sikhs stops and they help us, but the whole process takes some time. I know we haven’t driven that much as I was hope for today, with so many issues. We stop at a gas station to sleep. I stay in the last part of the car, with my backpack and the spare tire, the guys stay in their own seats.
Early morning we resume our journey. The guys tell me that their employee is telling them to drive to another town, before Jammu. I let them know that I can come with them until the further they go on the way to Jammu. After driving for a while, the tire burst again. At this moment, I know, I just know that it is time for me to leave. We are in the middle of nowhere again, and we still have to get help of someone with a Jack again. I tell the guys I am sorry but I will try to catch a lift because there are some cars passing by. They say that is totally fine because they know it might take a while.
As soon as I start walking away, a car stops. A young lady is driving. A woman! I like her immediately, just for the simple fact that she stopped for me. Akku is coming back from Delhi. She was driving all night, bringing merchandise for her new clothes shop, which she is about to open soon. Akku used to be in the army, which makes me like her even more. She is so cool and I am so happy that she picked me up. She told me before that she is not going to Jammu, but she’s going close to, so she can drop me off by the road.
After driving together for a while and having such a great time. She invites me to come to her home, so I can meet her family, have something to eat and rest a bit. I kindly accept. When we arrive to her town, I see the name of it in a sign by the road.
In her house, I meet her parents and her younger sister. Everybody is so lovely! And they all seem truly happy to meet me. Akku’s sister can also speak a great English and she is amazing, just like Akku. Her mother is such a sweet pie and she makes me aloo parathas. They are the best aloo parathas I have ever had! They are seriously delicious and I have it with chai and sabji. I also meet her lovely pug, Ben, and of course I fall in love with him.
By the time I finish eating, it starts pouring rain. Akku suggests we both go take a nap, and rest, because neither of us caught much sleep last night. She shows me a room upstairs where I can sleep and she goes to her own.
When we get up after a while, is still raining, and now it’s getting late. As it wouldn’t make much sense to start hitchhiking at this time, I kindly ask Akku if it’s fine for me to stay with them tonight, to what she promptly says yes! But because she is going to her shop now, to organize the things she bought, she tells me I can watch a movie on Netflix, and she arranges everything for me.
I invite her mother to join me, and we watch together the documentary Elephant Whispers, which I wanted to watch for a while now. But being such a short film, we decide to watch something else. Looking at the options, I find another film which I wanted to watch for a very, very long time: Laal Singh Chaddha. I had seen only a teaser, a long time ago, which hadn’t given away much, so apart of being an Indian version of Forrest Gump with Aamir Khan and Karina Kappoor, I knew nothing much of the plot.
When the film starts, as the feather flies around the train platform, it passes by the train station’s name: Pathankot. I freeze. My eyes are wide open. My heart accelerates. I can’t believe in what my eyes are seeing… Pathankot is where I am! Akku lives in Pathankot. It was Pathankot which I read in the sign by the road when we arrive to Akku’s town. Is that for real? Of all the places in India where I could’ve watched Laal Singh Chaddha, how come that it happened to be here, in Pathankot? I don’t know, I don’t have an answer for that. Trembling, and still barely believing in this huge coincidence, I keep watching the film, and Akku’s mother too, although she has already watched.
I am delight by the fact that instead of a bus stop, the main location for the story telling is a train. Whoever has ever travelled on a train in India, must know how much free time you get, and how many different people you get to talk during a trip. Which makes perfect sense for the plot. In my opinion, actually way more sense than a bus stop.
I loved, of course, and I simply cannot understand why it was a flop. The film is great, beautifully done, and the adaptations between India reality versus the U.S.A. are done perfectly. Like when Laal has to run from the bullies, when he is a young boy, for example, as in India, he is running through the mustard flowers fields, passing by the traditional houses and a cow (laugh). I loved it! Or the war in Kargil, between India and Pakistan, instead of the Vietnam war; the riots which took place in the same time frame which the film was settled, and many other moments.
Some relatives of Akku come over for dinner, as she also comes back. They are all so sweet and we have a lovely night.
Next morning, after another round of the most delicious aloo paratha of India and some chai for breakfast, I kindly ask Akku if she can drive me to the train station, so I can take a photo by the sign with its name. She says there’s no problem. The only thing is, because we are a bit outside of the town, I tell her we don’t need to go all the way back into town, to Pathankot Junction, which would take much time due to traffic, delaying me and also giving unnecessary trouble to Akku. Instead, we drive to the nearest train station, Pathankot Cantt, and I assure her it’s OK. Her mother also came with us, and after a photo or two, Akku starts driving me towards Jammu.
We drive together for quite a while. When we stop, they insist on getting me the most famous snack of this region: Chat. If you search online, you will find it written with double ‘aa’ (chaat), but the food stands write it with single ‘a’. It is a tangy snack, a fried pastry served (at least near Jammu) with grated vegetables and two delicious sauces. I’m still a bit full from the parathas, but I cannot say no or resist to it.
10 Years Around the World 