A few days back i had to make the trip to my mothers ancestral village located in one of the lesser known corners of sikkim, as always i was alone for the trip and had to go alone. I remember making that trip a lot of times since childhood and i realize that little has changed about the trip over the years. The road was completed in 1991 as far as i remember so i have been using that road from the early years of my childhood. Back then when the road came to be having a road in the village was a big thing in itself so i guess no one actuallly cared how good or bad it was as long as the odd vehicle was able to ply on it for most of the year. Thats how it started.
20 odd years have passed since , i've become older and many other things seemed to have moved on, a new generation of vehicles plies on that road, gone are the old jeeps, then came the "COMMANDER"", i take its name with respect, now is the time for sumo and maxx but all have the same old road to travel. The 11 odd kilometeres from PAKYONG the nearest town takes well over an hour that too if it is a sunny dry day otherwise you can expect to be in your seats for atleast a hour and half.
Now i know the era of the SUV has come in since a few years back, but unfortunately people from my moms village have none because i guess no SUV would have got a better road expesure better than travel on that road for a year or so, when you begin the trip itself you start to shake and sway and with potholes as good as small ponds and slush so deep that you could plant paddy on them without much effort you can just start imagining how good the condition of the road is. And add to that the numerous landslides and non availability of drains on the road and all the overflow passing through the road you get a bettter picture of what conditions are like, yet the people of the place still conmtinue to endure all that without any concern, why be concerned when all the system is pitted against you and you cannot grease the palms of the officials enough, imagine a road lying in dispair in our very own sikkim for over 20 years without any major mantainence, you begin to get an idea about the SIKKIM I COME FROM, the real sikkim far beyond the so called beauty and tourism potential of gangtok, far beyond the plastic exteripor of what most of you know about sikkim, the real sikkim, the true sikkim.
and BACK-BREAKER is a name dedicated to the road for every time i get back home to Gangtok all my bones are rattling and all my body aching, so if you guys have enough cash to BUY A GOOD SUV i would invite you all for a road trip to my moms village, trust me it will be worth the effort both for you and your machines for it is a shame to see the beautiful powerful and (so called) rugged machines not see any real action on the field at all.
this post is written as an ode to the ROAD(so called) and the people and machines who brave it everyday, a silent salute to all of you !!!
20 odd years have passed since , i've become older and many other things seemed to have moved on, a new generation of vehicles plies on that road, gone are the old jeeps, then came the "COMMANDER"", i take its name with respect, now is the time for sumo and maxx but all have the same old road to travel. The 11 odd kilometeres from PAKYONG the nearest town takes well over an hour that too if it is a sunny dry day otherwise you can expect to be in your seats for atleast a hour and half.
Now i know the era of the SUV has come in since a few years back, but unfortunately people from my moms village have none because i guess no SUV would have got a better road expesure better than travel on that road for a year or so, when you begin the trip itself you start to shake and sway and with potholes as good as small ponds and slush so deep that you could plant paddy on them without much effort you can just start imagining how good the condition of the road is. And add to that the numerous landslides and non availability of drains on the road and all the overflow passing through the road you get a bettter picture of what conditions are like, yet the people of the place still conmtinue to endure all that without any concern, why be concerned when all the system is pitted against you and you cannot grease the palms of the officials enough, imagine a road lying in dispair in our very own sikkim for over 20 years without any major mantainence, you begin to get an idea about the SIKKIM I COME FROM, the real sikkim far beyond the so called beauty and tourism potential of gangtok, far beyond the plastic exteripor of what most of you know about sikkim, the real sikkim, the true sikkim.
and BACK-BREAKER is a name dedicated to the road for every time i get back home to Gangtok all my bones are rattling and all my body aching, so if you guys have enough cash to BUY A GOOD SUV i would invite you all for a road trip to my moms village, trust me it will be worth the effort both for you and your machines for it is a shame to see the beautiful powerful and (so called) rugged machines not see any real action on the field at all.
this post is written as an ode to the ROAD(so called) and the people and machines who brave it everyday, a silent salute to all of you !!!
