This bumpy Indian road is leading you nowhere!

It was late evening when I boarded that bus! I'm used to bad bus rides; I'm an Indian. But this was something else. The next day when I reached my destination, it was 06:00 PM. 24 hours of non stop bus ride. And we covered 390 Kms. All of 390 kms and it took me more than one full day.

The bus trudged along. Often stopping. Coughing! Twice the tyre was replaced. Once there was an engine breakdown. We all got down every time it stopped; made friends, often over chai, sometimes over roti and dhal; Took bathroom breaks and finally reached home.Tired. Dead.

Not one spoke my language. Not many had the same belief system. Yet we all laughed! Some times at our own inability, some times we fought with the driver. Yes, we fought between us. It was one big complex family, whining along a complex journey.  

That bus drive often reminds me of our country's development saga!

We start, stutter along, stop, replace tyres and move on again. Every time the tyre burst another new tyre with a lot of promise is fit and we start again. Only to realise it is the same old tyre, painted black! So it got punctured again. And then we replace the new one with the old one. Suddenly we hear a noise and the engine shuts down. We replace some screws and bolts and move on again. Till we reach the so called destination.

And then one man came! He promised to fix everything. New tyres, he shouted from roof tops! Developed engines, he said. He wore a new cloth with his own name printed on it. We wow'ed! He named the bus 'smart bus'. Changed the colour of the bus. Taught everybody one language! Made us believe it is easier to travel together with the same belief system. He went around the world looking at various buses and asked them all to join us in the journey. Told us some animals are our mothers and boarded them on to the bus. And told everybody to pay the same fee for the ticket. We got all too excited! Obviously! we love men with white beard and he had the whitest of them all!

So the front seat of scientific education was slowly taken out! A new seat called culture was brought in! It was rather old. But he said without that old seat the bus does not look good. So we agreed! A few opened their tiffin box to have lunch! And was lynched. You cannot eat different food, he said. You should eat only things which do not harm the neighbours sentiments we were told. The new comers in to the bus, the animals were given privilege of seat. Anybody who touched the animal were thrown out of the bus. How do you touch an animal, said he. They are our mothers. The animals shouted a loud 'Maaaa' and we all agreed.

So we have palmists, astrologers travelling with you given privilege of seats. Oh, the old culture seat you see. The animal stench is now researched in the laboratory seats. The cancer patients travelling with you will be cured along the way it seems! By simply touching the animal during the travel. 

Oh, you are driving in the wrong direction my dear country! Albeit, in a bus newly decorated. Lots of colours of course. But the roads are still bad. The potholes worse. The tyres are in fact just painted black. The rubber has come out. The stench still exists. The body was built years ago and will fall off any minute. The brakes are failing; The conductor's bag has a hole. The driver has no support system. There are no police around. All the traffic is going haywire. Suddenly the terrorists are shooting at you and the driver has no clue.

And sadly, you are driving towards a deep valley! And there is no returning back if you fall in to it. For this bumpy Indian road is leading you nowhere.