The truck ride

Yesterday evening at around seven, it was drizzling and I was walking on the road looking for an auto so that I could get back to my office. But, there was no auto in sight. I saw a truck starting up and I asked him for a ride. He agreed!

Though the ride lasted only a kilometer and a half, but it took me all the way back to college when we used to take lift from trucks.

Radaur is a small village or atleast it was, in those days. To watch a movie, eat out or buy gifts, Yamuna Nagar was the only place one could think of.

The last bus that left Yamuna Nagar in the direction of Radaur used to be at seven-thirty in the evening which was quite early if you were watching an evening show.

There we stood on the highway, looking for trucks. There was never a hurry to reach Radaur unless it was raining.

The ride used to cost Twenty Rupees per passenger or sometimes it was free, if the driver was magnanimous enough.

Once in the truck, sitting beside the driver or the helper, one could enjoy the luxurious leg space, Punjabi or Haryanvi folk songs being played loud on a country made radio: its speakers fixed right beside your ear, its voice challenging your eardrums.

At night, the drivers and the helpers were usually high on country made liquor making one feel like puking. The most interesting part was to talk to these drivers and see them so confident on the wheel that every time a truck crossed by from the opposite direction, we thought it was going to be our last ride.

Anyhow, when I reached office yesterday, some car drivers coming out office would have certainly been surprised to see me alighting from a truck. The truck – its size insinuating its rudeness- stopped right in front of the cars blocking their way.

Back then, it was no big deal!