Until now, road trips were all the same. We would pack bags of food and bottles of water, troop into the car, put on some music and head straight to the destination – the only pit stops along the way being for replenishing our food supplies and petrol and the occasional loo stop. Then I went on a couple of journeys over the last two weeks that changed the meaning of the word ‘road trip’ for me. Here’s what happened:
Dining with the locals
We were on our way from Chennai to Salem when mid-way, we had this sudden craving for home-cooked food. So we called a friend, who called a friend, who in turn called a friend, and before we knew it we had invited ourselves to Balaji’s house for dinner. Balaji lives in Tiruchengode with his parents, who generously agreed to host us for the evening. His mother faced the daunting task of cooking for eight hungry adults. I decided to pitch in by making chapattis for the entire team and thankfully, they came out in pretty good shape. And there we sat in the courtyard of a neat little house in Tiruchengode, feasting on rotis and local chicken curry.
The road not taken
We didn’t have much of an option on this one. We were made to take the road less taken as the road frequently taken was blocked by the locals. Apparently there was an accident and the villagers had decided to take the road laws in their own hands. They were even talking of stoning those who tried to ignore the roadblock. We didn’t complain. We simply took the road less taken. It took us through a long winding path. The road was so bad in certain places that we had to get off and almost push the car forward. At other places, we had to battle with cattle for some road space. All this, when one of us was trying to reach the city in the nick of time for a meeting.
Rain dance in a paddy field
This has occupied one of the top positions on my “Things to do before you die” list for a long time. So when we made an unscheduled stop at a farm and it started raining cats and dogs, I immediately abandoned the dosas I was eating and ran to welcome the rain. The others followed. And soon, a bunch of twenty-somethings were playing in the rain like we were all of five. What joy!
A walk to remember
This happened in an afforested land in the middle of nowhere. We drove to this piece of land on the back of a jeep, waving to the villagers and ducking stray branches along the way. When we reached, the owner took us on a short trek through the land. It being a hot April morning, we were exhausted by the end of it. So when we finally got the chance to relax and saw a stream flowing in the near distance, we immediately took off our shoes and started walking in it. That, coupled with the green mango-buttermilk combination, proved to be heady.
Working in the wild
Team meetings have always been a bore. Not this time. It was a hot summer afternoon. We had just trekked for two hours when our boss decided to hold a meeting right there, in the middle of a forest. But no one complained. So we all settled down on the mud floor under a thatched roof with two streams flowing by on either side, discussing managerial strategies — the only team meeting in my life when I didn’t fall asleep.
(The writer works for the eco travel company ecoLogin and can be reached at shilpa@ecologin.org)
