I am not shocked. I am not even amused. I am just wondering. Looking for an answer. The morning clock is ticking fast. The countdown has begun. They say the COVID conundrum is somewhat dropping off. Now I have to leave before it’s too late. I am rounding up my routine belongings, something which I had unlearnt since the years of the pandemic. Unease is gripping me. The dilemma is very disturbing. I know the destination. But I don’t have a road to traverse.
My four-wheeler is set for a strange journey. The jolts and jerks have already taken its toll. I can hear only thumps and thuds. The bumpy way has no sign of the end. Dust and diversion blur the voyage. And it all blurs me as well. Even after more than two years of halt, I realize that our roads are still not straight and don’t augur us our destinations.
I encounter big monstrous machines, growling up soil from deep, making mounds as muddy artefacts. I see scattered pipes and people. The scene accompanies my cruise. There is no road in sight. I am moving along the grimy path, in dilapidated lanes and by-lanes. The narrow lanes choke me for hours. My fuel is burning. My head is blazing. The honking horns are irksome. I can’t budge. A scratch here, a collision there. I am just frightened. What a journey!
I know the cycle may continue all through the year. The clock is pointing. I am a late-comer now. My journey is delayed forever. I am still in search of a road: A walk-able, a motor-able, a sustainable road.
Perhaps, the roads here are never finished. For if they finish, many of us will finish too. The Industry of Roads will be shut down. The show makers will peter out. Our surplus money will go. Our irrelevant jobs will walk off. The plans will flop. The projects will fail. The dust will depart us. The men on work will disappear. The diversions will diminish. Everything will change. And that is what we don’t really want to!
So, I imagine travelling in a vast sky, with no brutally mutilated macadamized thoroughfares, no traffic congestion. No descending poles, no hanging wires. The blue breezy highway will glide me to my destination. The white fluffy clouds will soak up the smog. In a twinkling, I will reach my end. And I won’t carry the hangover of the tussled mornings all day long.
Additionally, I will relish the bird’s view from above. I will see people grappling over traffic jams, machines pulling out intestines of deceased roads, and men watching the spectacle with utter frailty. And, interestingly, I won’t be the one down there, gazing at the situation so awkwardly. I will sing fusion in the skies:
Give me some sunshine,
Give me some rain,
I wanna grow up once again…
Give me a road,
Give me a way,
I wanna trek along once again…
Give me a dream,
Give me a destination,
I wanna live up once again…
Give me a vision,
Give me a hope,
I wanna take-up
my voyage once again.
My imagination breaks down. My wings can’t take this flight. I am back in my world. The actual world where the quality of life is getting inferior and life itself is becoming shoddier. I wonder how we live. How do we actually go on living?! No sane soul will tolerate this torment. Is a life lived this way? Can men of meaningful nations afford to fritter away their time in finding roads to reach their places? What a tragedy!
Not only this, even our bigger issues face the same fate. We don’t have roadmaps for anything at all. We are born to waste our time, waste our resources and waste our energies just this way.
There is no hope. There can be no bon voyage. Our roads are unpromising. They just lead us to ugly places through ugly pathways.
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are the personal opinions of the author. The facts, analysis, assumptions and perspective appearing in the article do not reflect the views of GK