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A Monsoon Bus Ride to Uttarkashi
Travelling through picturesque, lush Garhwal on a rickety bus, this writer makes two journeys at once.
As I wait by muddy puddles on the lower Tehri road, its horn blares through the mist many minutes before the Uttarakhand Roadways bus emerges through the clouds. I am off on a five-hour journey to Uttarkashi, to talk to the chief medical officer (CMO) about access to essential medicines in the remote health centres of this huge and hilly district.
I sit next to paan-chewing Gopal, who is returning to duty after Raksha Bandhan. “The roads are better on the Kumaon side,” he observes. Two hours later, he tersely adds, “And the clouds are not so thick.” An hour later, he remarks, “But working in irrigation, the job is the same everywhere in Uttarakhand.”
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