Hitchhiking on a truck

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Cycling in the night has many advantages; you don’t have to face a chaotic traffic and merciless sun. According to my calculations I should be reaching to Tilyar somewhere around 7:30AM (if I can cycle 40 KM in 3 hrs, I should travel 100 KM in 7.5 Hrs plus an hour of grace time. Good haan..) But this wasn’t the day when I was feeling the strongest. By the time I reached Akshardham, my thigh and knee of the right leg started aching. A thought of making a U-turn flashed my mind but fortunately I didn’t give it much consideration. It is one thing to study a route on Google Maps and quite another to actually drive on it – a bifurcation came and I was stuck. Thankfully, a truck was standing few meters ahead. I asked the driver if he knows the way to Rohtak road or NH 10; he declined. It was only when I said ‘Peera Gadhi Chowk’ did he say “yes” and continued “main bhi vahin jaa raha hoon, aap apni cycle truck main daal do, peera gadhi chowk vahan se do kilometer door hai” (I am going that way too, u put your cycle at the back, peera gadhi chowk is 2 KM from where I’ll drop you). I was too skeptical to accept this gesture of help of a truck driver at midnight but then I thought, “It can’t be that bad as I am thinking it to be, after all, what I have to lose anyways”. So I hitchhiked. I was sitting like a king in the cockpit of that mean machine which, till that day, I used to think can’t go beyond a speed of 40.! He was zooming at speed of 70 and the entire truck was creaking as if children were jumping on a broken charpoy or cot (u can think of a better analogy yourself, can’t u? just let your Imagination go wild). A truck is very much a home for these guys. There were clotheslines crisscrossing the back part of the cabin and few clothes stuffed forcibly into a bucket. I am sure they haven’t worn ironed clothes since ages. Both the driver and his helper were in Delhi to work while their families were in a Village of UP in Mainpuri. The Driver was in the job for the past 20 years! “Cant think of doing anything else now” he said. 12:30, it was time to part our ways. I thanked him for all the help and offloaded my cycle with the help of the helper guy. I had only moved an inch when I realized that my back was feeling quite light. Where was my bag? Oh crap, I didn’t’ take my bag. I immediately turned my cycle, baffling the trucks coming behind and stopped in front of my truck (though not exactly mine), took the bag and thanked them again.

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