Jammu to Rajouri- A traveller's impressions

Vishal Sharma

It's difficult to write a travelogue. Not that one needs any different language or vocabulary for it. But because by very nature a travelogue requires a lot of information, a lot of interesting snippets of information to keep readers interested and make the damn thing unputdownable. As a genre, it is about seeing something and then getting behind it; detailing it almost like a playwright would proceed to flesh out his characters and set the scenes.

One may have a great deal of vocabulary, even a way with the words, but it is not enough. Language alone, however rich, does not make great or interesting a travelogue. It's not to say that one should not be deft with language. Well, it's an ineluctable prerequisite. However, if a travelogue does not contain the information about people, places, flora and fauna, with a bit of history of the area also thrown into the mix, it is everything but a travelogue. It will be poetry without a message. Conversely, a travelogue with a lot of information but bereft of effortless and evocative language would be reduced to being a chronicle merely relaying information but without the underlying language to enhance the reading experience.

Writing a travelogue thus requires as a precondition that the travelogue writer either has a minimum basic knowledge of the area he is visiting or he sets out to collect it from the people he meets in the area and has patience for it. Patience is the key as the information does not pour in; it merely trickles in. In some cases, the writer can seek someone's company. The only condition being that the co traveler should be conversant with the area being visited. He or she could be either a guide or a conversant driver. And yes, amongst other things, the co traveler should have the knack of telling anecdotes as well without which I am afraid the whole experience will be not much to write home about.

I have written a few travelogues; but they are not amongst my best works. But since I am always tempted to write about my travels, I make it a point to write a travelogue whenever I am travelling. Whatever few I have written, upon finishing, I have discovered that they made for good reads for they were written in a free flowing language and without any dose of exaggeration. They very nearly came out on the paper as I saw them on the ground. For my assistance, I usually rely on the driver, driving me around and acting as an explainer of my impressions of the area.

I got an opportunity to write a travelogue when I had to travel to Rajouri recently on an official assignment. Just so it is known, I have not visited the town since I last visited Darhal around twenty years back to attend the marriage of my colleague. At the time too, I breezed through the town and since I was accompanied by my friends, we were back in Jammu the same day. Return journey happened more or less in the dark. So not much could be seen. How much can one see in a day any way? Understandably, I had no recollection of the town from my last visit when I set to writing a travelogue on my Rajouri visit.

Jammu- Rajouri is classified as a highway. But is it really one? The name of the highway conjures up in our mind a 4 laned or 6 laned or 8 lined road way. The mention of highway, and we immediately think of guardrails on the road to prevent the reckless vehicles keeling over, service lanes and a well constructed and a distinct median, sporting the plants to add aesthetics to the road. This highway on the other hand is well constructed up to a few miles before Akhnoor town shows up. It is indeed a nice travel experience up until this point with very well constructed road, near straight alignment with a distinct median and signages.

Once you are past that point, the chaos of Indian roads hits you. The twists begin and the metalled road degenerates into patches of earthen road topped with gravel, and as ill luck would have it, these patches begin to appear too often. In fact these unmetalled patches keep appearing with such frequency that it is difficult to keep track when one is on a metalled patch and when the car slips onto gravel or grit topped loose bumpy surface, testing your spine.

The other bane of the highway around Akhnoor and further onwards is that it hardly stays wide enough for any significant length of time for two vehicles to pass each other without either of them slightly driving off the macadamized patch of the road to make the accommodation.

The ordeal seems to get more toxic for travelers whenever town centres or inhabited areas approach, as the road narrows into a village road leading to congestion. This is particularly on view while one's vehicles winds up the green carpeted mountains before reaching Sunderbani. As traffic lumbers through Sunderbani, the constriction of the road uncomfortably reminds the travelers that the highway is still some distance off from becoming a proper highway. There are plans to build a bypass around Sunderbani town. When completed, this will surely help the travelers give the chaos of the town a miss.

A few tunnels have been bored/ dug through the mountains. That's surely made the experience better. Old timers tell that absent tunnels, the serpentine journey up the mountains in the past that these tunnels have now helped avoid was extremely exhausting. Tunnels have helped to cut down travel time by more than 30 minutes. Frankly, these tunnels should have been a little wider. Mountains enroute are not as big and punishing as they are along Jammu Srinagar highway. Slicing a proper roadway through them, therefore, should not have tested our resolve as much and more importantly, should not have taken so much time.

All along, as you drive on, wild growth of bushes and trees by the side of the road and stretching further back to the slopes and tops of the mountains keep you company. It's difficult to figure out what are they locally known. But on either side of the road, green cover for the most part is indeed thick and deep. Since the roadway is not a proper highway, there is no median where eye pleasing flowering or other plants could be grown. Road's broken at many places, slowing the travelers and making the ride bumpy. You have to hold the back of front seat to steady yourself. Some road construction work is seen to be in progress. But it's more disjointed and being carried out in the manner that apparently makes no sense.

The stretch from Sunderbani to Rajouri is relatively easy on your eye as the road's alignment and integrity spares you the misery of sitting straight and being ever alert with your one hand holding the back of the front seat for fear of being jolted every now and then. You can quietly sit back and soak up nature's finery and the sights of the villages perched on the slopes of the small mountains on the other side of the river that accompanies you and enjoy.

I asked my driver if he knew the name of the river. The answer was in the negative. When I pointed to him that there was not presently much water in it. He retorted that it's the same river whose waters wreaked havoc in Rajouri recently.

As you approach Rajouri town the familiar sight of broken and narrow road again greets you. But by and large, relative to stretch from Akhnoor to Sunderbani, the travel experience on Sunderbani to Rajouri roadway is something that gives you moments to relish and cheer.

I did not stop at any of the eateries enroute. But I saw a few of them at Bhamla and Kalidhar, which are held in high esteem, and a few at other places too. My driver told me that the previously renowned eateries are no longer the toast of the travelers. His view was that the purity and the unique flavor that the delicacies at these places offered in the past have been lost as the local people were not involved in their preparation any longer. Also, increased commercialization has replaced the labour and time the people used to put in these niche preparations and the pride they took in them.

" Everything is about money these days," he said.