ROADTRIP: @ Bhim, Rajasthan

The only Bhim I knew until recently was the Mahabharat character, renowned for his muscle power and his unending appetise for food. Not to forget the glorious fight with his cousin Duryodhan in the epic battle of Kurukshetra in the climax. All this changed when the 38 year old Driver Vikram Singh permitted me to travel on his Mercurio Pallia car carrier from Gurgaon to Bangalore. A few hundred kilometers from Gurgaon, Haryana, he said he would like to halt at Bhim, a village nestled among the hills nearly 100 km away from the Islamic shrine Ajmer. It is where his ‘parivar’ (family) lives for several generations. That is when I became aware of the existence of such a village named after the Mahabharat character.

It took us 20 minutes on a sardine-packed general purpose vehicle (Geep) from National Highway 8 linking Delhi with Bombay via Jaipur and Baroda to reach Thaneda hamlet in Bhim. With Raju Singh, Vikram’s younger brother and a co-driver, in tow, we walked half a kilometer through the hilly terrain with plains in between where locals grow wheat, pulses, vegetables, lemon etc. whenever possible. Water is a scarce commodity given the desert conditions in Rajasthan.

Sriram Singh, in his sixties, greets as we enter his world. Three rows of houses – made out of sliced rocky mountain slabs. He and his huge family – five sons of whom four are married (through child marriage), their respective wives and the clutch of children in various age groups. Each one of them come and greet me in typical Rajasthani fashion. Besides his family, the patriarch has over 30 goats, half a dozen cows and bulls.
He is a BPL (below poverty line) card holder and thus eligible for electricity which lights up his house with two low voltage bulbs at night as and when power supply is available. Nobody is bothered about absence of power. There is no TV. No radio. But there are mobile phones aplenty through which they hear filmy songs.
Tea is made from goat milk only. As and when they want tea to be served, one of the family members approach their flock and get it on the spot! The flock is healthy. It is bound to be because Singh senior, shepherds them daily for a minimum of 5-6 hours in the neighbourhood. There is a thick forest cover just over the mountain that boasts of all kinds of wild animals. He he had met many panthers, wild bulls and what not. Luckily no harm had befallen him.
Children go to the nearby school which boasts of 300 students from primary to eighth class but has only three teachers! For higher secondary education, children travel down to Bhim town. But most of them give up education midway because they cannot cope with no proper coaching at school or at home. Either they take to farming or do small chores. Some become drivers – like in the case of Vikram. Three among his five brothers are working as drivers of heavy commercial vehicles.

Though the parivar is vegetarian, the driver-sons have taken to non-vegetarian. They cook their stuff in separate vessels, eat and wash them on their own. There are no grudges.

Though hilly terrain, the family has a backyard well and with the help of motor, they are able to irrigate their farms. Vikram and his second brother Soham have got their pucca houses (2 rooms each) already. Raju is hopeful that his would be ready once he makes money out of drivery.

Vikram buys his family’s grain needs form various parts of India during his sojourn and brings them home during his twice a month visit to base. His route plan ensures that he crosses Bhim twice a month definitely. Just a day in between pick up and delivery, he completes his duty to his family.

Interestingly there is a road built under Prime Minister Sadak Yojana that ends just behind his house. This stretch of say 2 kilometres is a boon because a neighbor who has a tempo helps him cart his family requirements from NH8 whenever required.

Interestingly, the private tempos insist of additional Rs.100 to cover this uneven PM Sadak. If you don’t want to shell out that extra, then walk down half a kilometer with a heavy load through the ups and down of the hilly region.

After a long time, I slept in the open on a cot watching stars on a dark, moonless night. It was a pleasure, no doubt.

But there was a downside to this unique experience. Wild insect bite during the night under the whisky induced undisturbed slumber has created rashes all over my body leading to a sudden halt at Halol to go for medicare. No regrets. I will never forget Bhim. Thank you, Singh parivar!