JOURNEYS & JOURNEYS -32

Road side Dhabas and Midnight Tea

While travelling by road in many states like Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh etc. you can not find any hotels or shops or even houses for miles together. After an hour or so, you may see a dhaba , usually in a temporary shed. That is the resting place for the driver as also the passengers and for refreshments.

After stopping the vehicle, the first thing is  simply lying down on the charpais ( Wooden frames with coir or jute woven bed) and take rest for some time. After 10 – 15 minutes ( according to the requirement) , go to the toilet / wash  room, refresh oneself, come back and order food required. Usually the menu will be roti (Chappati), subji and other  vegetable dishes. You get it very hot immediately after preparation, which  will be very tasty and fresh. There may be other travellers also. Most of the time , there will be customers, with vehicles parked on the road side.

You get refreshed , pay the bill and continue journey. These dhabas will be opened 24 hours. You get the service in night also. They are a great help during long journeys.

I remember one such journey. We were going through Chattisgarh in the night. If my memory is correct,  Com. S.C.Bhattachajee, Cicle Secretary, BSNLEU, Com.  Atmapoojya and some other comrades were there in the vehicle. The young driver was the son of one of our comrades. Even after  two – three hours, we  could not find any dhaba or hotel. I somehow wanted tea or coffee. Already we had told the driver to stop at any dhaba. But nothing was to be seen.

After some time, at about 02.00 in the night, the  driver stopped the van near a small building which was closed. He went to the front door and knocked. A middle-aged man opened the door and seeing the driver asked us to enter the house.  It was a residence-cum-cloth store. His wife also got up and joined. Driver told that we could not get tea on the way. Tea and biscuits were  served within no time.  They were not irritated at all. Instead they seemed happy to see us and offer tea.

After tea, we got up and continued the journey. We asked the driver how he knew the store-keeper. He told that the store owner is his friend and used to help him in bringing cloth bundles and other necessities  from the city for him.  Anyway, his  friendship helped us.

V A N Namboodiri  01.11.2024