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How to travel in Gurgaon if you dont have a car of your own.
Since the time i have shifted to gurgaon, I have had a harrowing time commuting. This city is a disaster when it comes to public transport. There is nothing in the name of decent mode of transport.
Thankfully i live very close to my office, a distance of 10 odd kms that are quickly covered in a car. It takes about 10 minutes in a self driven vehicle. Unfortunately i dont have a car of my own right now, so i am stuck taking rides and mostly the pathetic gurgaon public transport.
My experience has made me identify few of the modes that can be used to travel in Gurgaon (Government do something about this shoddy place)
1. Green Line Busses/ DTC Buses
These buses are a rarity. And more rare is when they actually stop at a bus stop. And bus stops there are none, people stand on the sied of the road and wait endlessly for a bus to turn up. They are ofcourse driven by high speed ex-truck walas, who are living their dream of mowing down people on the road. The few buses that I have encountered in my 7 months stay here, run at a speed of 80+ kms and are jam packed with people.
They never come on time and their frequency is an hour plus. They also dont run on the NH 8 road section and usually are more for the inner gurgaon or old gurgaon. Hence quite useless for me.
2. Short Distance Seven Seaters
These are a marvel. I could write a book on these amazing piece of engineering. They have been designed to seat a maximum of 8 people comfortably. But these seven seaters dont move an inch untill and unless there are 16 people in it (and that includes the driver, thank god for that!). It is shaped as a bigger autorickshaw that are very common in delhi. Four people in the back slab of the rickshaw, 8 in the middle and 3 more sharing space with the driver in the front.
The driver mostly is an underage kid, accompanied by someone, who keeps calling the customers. These seven seaters are mostly frequented by the lower class of people but I have quite often spotted well to do people also travelling in it (ofcourse out of desperation). As nobody in their right mind would like to be squashed from all sides and keep that position till the end of their journey and ofcourse not meet eye to eye with 8 people who are pretty much breathing down your neck.
It give a very “We are the world, we are the children” kind of a feeling that I would rather avoid. I was once sitting next to a lady with a kid. Shoulder to shoulder, leg to leg and the kid kept playing with my chunni and that just shows how close you are in that confined space. Ofcourse i couldnt care less about the chunni, all i wanted was the ride to get over.
Desperation makes you do a lot of things you rather not. The fare for these short distance seven seaters are Rs. 5. I used to take them regularly but avoid them like the plague now. Aviod if you can afford to.
3. Cycle Rickshaws
These are the cycle rickshaws with a driver paddling in the front and mostly with a covering in the back for the commuter. These rickshaws are very common in the Chandni Chowk Area of Delhi and will charge you anything from 20 – 150 depending on the distance. They are a big no no for me again as a distance of 10 kms on a cycle rickshaw is ridiculous. They are quite frequent in gurgaon as well and you can spot one anywhere on the road.
4. Random Taxis
The Random taxis are actually illegal and a lot of time it has happend that hte Haryana police has stopped them and told the commuters to get down while charging the driver some 200-500 Rs as a fine. But these taxis are effective. They are basically random taxi walas that are going from one distance to another and have a bit of spare time and would rather ferry people than go the same distance and not make money.
So these random taxi walas will pick up people and drop them according to where their destination is, like Dhaula Kuan, Nehru Place, Shankar Chowk (Gurgaon) and even Noida and ofcourse the starting point is Gurgaon. They charge anything from Rs. 5 – 20 (but not more than that). I usually take these.
5. Car Pooling
Car pooling is ofcourse the best option. I use it quite frequently, though the only issue here is that I take a ride more than I give a ride. Me and my friends are trying to get in a Corporate Car Pooling Service that will benefit a lot of people and make our roads less congested. Lets see how that works out.
FYI- The stretch that i travel on is on the NH8.
My trip to Leh, happened a year back. I am still hung over that trip and all i can do is sit in Delhi and dream about an almost heaven on earth – Leh.
I would love to go back and experience the serenity that surrounds those beautiful rocky mountains. The landscape decked with absolutely flawless blue sky. The happy peaceful faces that greet you in the market place. And in some places the landscape that is absolutely devoid of any human existence for miles and miles.
There are places in Leh that don’t have even a single person… you can look in every direction (and i am serious here) and you will not find a single soul. Stand there… do a 360 degree turn around and wait …. wait for hours and you will not see anyone !!!
It used to be our jeep and the rocky terrain… and that’s all. The silence and the vastness of the place is what i am amazed with …. cause i have lived in a metro for so long that the vizzing past of traffic is a very natural sound and the honks and the screeching of tyres are as obvious as the existence of oxygen.
In Leh, we visited a few monasteries and it baffled me …. the coldness of the place… the air seeped in histroy …. you can almost feel the prayers of the buddhist monks on your skin. The quite … the stillness … the rocky mountains … the monastries … the dusty roads …
Leh is calling me back … I need to pack my bags ……
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