Bihar! There is a certain 'something' to the way of travelling in Bihar. I have just returned from Dhanbad after spending the last four years of my life studying engineering and 'the way of travelling in Bihar'. The way of travelling in Bihar may vary from the very practical at times to the plain dangerous at other times. There is a marked difference in the way of travelling in Bihar as compared to say a metropolitan city like Delhi or Mumbai. Much of this difference stems from the sheer poverty that is rampant in the state and also the condition of roads in Bihar. Necessity is the mother of invention or rather innovation, and this is very clearly visible on the roads of Bihar. If you want to experience the way of travelling in Bihar just read on..

Till last year I was at a place called Dhanbad, a small mining town in southern Bihar. I was studying engineering there while the automobile maniac in me was busy gobbling up issue after issue of every Tom, Dick and Harry automobile magazine being published in the country. I was in misery; misery because none of them ever mentioned Bihar. It's true! Whenever any auto-scribe has to drive or road-test vehicles, he never ventures out of the Mumbai-Pune area, so while the whole country has a fair idea about the Mumbai-Pune highway, the Mulshi hairpins and the Ghat sections no one knows what driving on the GT road between Dhanbad and Asansol would be like. No one came to Bihar where the pot-holed roads would have put the vehicles to some real testing. Surely there is more to India than Mumbai and Pune. Travelling in Bihar had seemed difficult at first but as I got into the habit, I started enjoying it. The major differences that one gets to see in the manner of transportation are the modifications, which are very innovative as well as practical (?).

Starting with the basic transporter of the common man called the 'cycle'. The cycles in Bihar were mostly of the 'straight pulled back handle types' with black frames and colorful seats. With their usual pneumatic shock absorbers (the tyres!) they seemed similar to all other cycles sold in the country but looking closer and you would notice certain dissimilarities. The major difference is that these cycles do not use the normal coil springs as most other cycles in India do. Instead they have the springs turned 90 degrees so that they now act as torsion springs rather than helical springs. The frame area of the seats is quite large but the seats themselves are pretty small so that a large part of the springs is exposed. With minimal amount of cushioning the seats are a real pain in the 'derriere'. Another aspect of the cycles worth mentioning was their high seating position. Even a person with above average height like me found it difficult to balance himself while sitting on the saddle. I could never find the reason for that; maybe the folks there like to have a 'bird's eye-view' of the world.

I believe the bird's eye view bit, as even the Rickshaws in my town were a bit high. I asked many rickshaw-wallas the reason for that and the standard reply was "chalane mein aasani rehti hai". While I don't know whether this was exactly true or not but the high sitting position resulted in a high center of gravity, especially when loaded, and was often the reason for the high number of overturning of rickshaw cases in Dhanbad. Coming to the scooters, LML enjoys a good market share in Bihar, the reason being the pot-holed roads of Bihar, which prompted the folks to buy a 'better balanced scooter'. The petrol-thirsty hunk-of-a-junk Lamberettas (remember them) are still very much in existence in Bihar and appear as healthy as ever. One of my professors had one and no amount of coaxing by me would make him part company with it.
Among motorcycles Rajdoot and the Bullet are very much still in demand. The reasons are though different. The Rajdoot I found out was selling because it was cheap and could be run on cheap fuel (read kerosene-petrol mixture). The Bullet was neither cheap nor could digest cheap fuel but it gave the rider a certain respect (read muscle power). In fact the Bullet was the chosen means of transport of the 'goondaas' and 'sarkari goondaas'.

Be it scooter or motorcycle the one thing that intrigued me about Bihar was that most vehicles were very colorfully decorated. Decorative ribbons, multi-colored seats, flashing mirrors and four -five extra lights are part of the standard equipment on a Bihari's vehicle. But to give credit to them driving a two-wheeler on the roads of Bihar is nothing short of heroism. There are no traffic rules, not even the basic traffic sense for the well being of fellow riders. Traffic during rush hours represents total chaos, and during off-hours everyone tries to play 'Schumacher'.

Elevating from two to three wheels, i.e. to the auto-rickshaw. 95% of the auto-rickshaws in Dhanbad were the relics from the Triassic era-the Bajaj Auto three-wheelers. As compared to Delhi where two-wheelers follow the 1+3 or 1+6 format of seating, in Bihar the seating pattern is 1+9. Three each sit in the two rows of jump seats in the passenger compartment while another three keep the driver company in the front. After filling to this level the auto-rickshaw is 'up-for-grabs', i.e. anyone who can grab hold of any part of the auto-rickshaw and is able to hold on to it gets a free ride. Thus in effect there is always a trade-off between the 'suffocate to death in the cabin' and the 'fall to your death from the grab-rail' modes of transportation. Again the poor three-wheelers are fed on diet-petrol (Petrol+Kerosene) so that their drivers can feed themselves on diet-whisky (local liquor).

The most characteristic transport-modes that can be found in Bihar is the 'Trekker'. Here Trekker denotes the category comprising of the HM Trekker, Mahindra Jeeps and the Tempo Trax. Out of these three makes, the Trekker was the most popular. Hence the common name for the category. In fact Bihar must be the largest market for the HM Trekker. The popularity of the Trekker can be attributed to the ultra-modern, cutting edge technology (c'mon! I'm just being sarcastic) being used by HM which enables 33 bhp to pull 33 people. Yes, that's true! You see, the front bench carries the driver and five others, the middle bench carries six, while the rear rows of jump seats carry three each. Another half dozen hang on to the rear door and roof rails while a similar number cling to the side rails. Then another three may sit on the roof if it is solid enough or may sit on the bonnet. It is the unique, Eco-friendly design (pun intended!) of the Trekker that makes it possible to carry 33 people. After all, had there been doors in the Trekker then it would not have been possible to seat six people on a bench seat meant for three. Had the body been aerodynamic; implying a sloping bonnet, then it was not feasible to seat three people on the bonnet. This is what you call a 'space styling' concept. Bihar's transportation system follows the one-up law. So the auto-rickshaws carry the passenger load of a Trekker, the Trekkers carry the load meant for a mini-bus, while the minibuses carry the load of a full sized bus. This system continues for the buses also as they carry the passenger load of a train bogie. No the train bogie doesn't load an airplane! Riding a bus in Bihar is surely an experience of a lifetime for me. I boarded the bus from its starting point so that getting a seat was not difficult and I was comfortably seated by a window seat. However my comfort soon evaporated as the bus was packed to the hilt in a matter of minutes. The whole journey was miserable what with 150 people packed into the bus. However my real troubles were yet to arrive. It was only when I had to deboard from the bus that my misery really started. Moving from the fifth row from the back to the door was nothing short of heroic, what with trying to make a way through jam-packed people. After all my heroics, which in other circumstances might have fetched me an Ashok Chakra, I managed to get down from the bus two kilometers after my destination.

Buses in Bihar don't need horns because every component worth its name is trying to break free from the body, which in effect creates a 'symphony of pandemonium'. The buses are also sheathed in protective armor from head to toe what with every conceivably breakable part of the Bus like headlamps, tail-lamps, turn indicators, window panes and the rear wind-shield all covered by protective grills. This is quite necessary in the 'Land of Laloo' where political parties freely admit fielding criminals to contest the polls and burning and damaging buses is considered to be a fundamental right.

Coming to the cars of Bihar. As with the case of Lamberettas, Willys Jeeps were very much alive. My institute (ISM Dhanbad) had one of these specimens. However much it rattled and rolled, somehow the mechanics still kept it running. The population of cars in Bihar was thankfully low. Some credit of this also goes to the roads, which due to the inherent characteristics of the plateau region not only twisted and turned but also went up and down. So after sometime the suspension and the engine of the car give up.

Travelling in Bihar was one of the most important learning experiences of my life. It taught me the skills of survival in today's fast moving world.