Traffic diverted to allow kanwarias!
LUCKNOW: “Is raaste kyon aa gaye? Kanwar ka season hai, road Gorakhpur tak jam hai (why have you come this way…it’s Kanwar season, the road is congested till Gorakhpur),” said a constable manning a barrier on the right side of National Highway-27, 30 km east of Barabanki. Some drivers had alighted from their cars to approach the constable with a request to pass through the route. “I only have to go till Badagaon, 14 km ahead, please allow my vehicle to go through,” requested one of the drivers.
“The road ahead is congested with kanwarias, you won’t be able to pass. Take some other route, I can’t allow you to go this way,” came the reply from the constable. With no visible option or information about alternative routes, some vehicles – only cars and two-wheelers – decided to go ahead by driving on the wrong side. We, on our way to cover the shelter home story in Deoria (317 km away) with hope of meeting the deadline, decided to follow them.
Driving on the wrong side is risky, but it becomes all the more hazardous when half of the road is encroached by stranded trucks and it’s pouring heavily.
The road on the other side was empty -there was no traffic and no kanwarias. “Khali road hai to jaane kyun nahi dete policewale (why have they blocked traffic when the roads are empty,” complained our driver, keeping his eye on the road as he moved ahead. For the next 40 minutes, we continued driving on the wrong side till traffic stopped again – another police barricading.
Six barricades covered both sides of the road. They were guarded by at least half a dozen police officials, with ‘no entry’ written on them. We were only a few kilometres away from Faizabad - an important place for the Kanwar procession. Kanwarias arrive there to bathe in Ghagra river and return home with some holy water. We were directed towards a town named Bhadarsa from where, a constable at the barricade said, “Take the road to Akbarpur and reach Deoria via Tanda.” With no options left, our vehicle left the highway for a narrow road towards Akbarpur. There were no street lights and the road was potholed. As our driver manoeuvred through the potholes, we searched for alternative routes on our cell phones.
After travelling for over an hour, we managed to find a road which took us back to NH-27. Though there was no barricade, we were again forced to drive on the wrong side as the left side was taken over by Kanwarias . Some of the kanwarias were walking, running, or dancing on the tunes of blaring music which emanated from large amplifiers placed on tractors moving along with the kanwarias. They remained on the right side of the road, as we drove for over more 90 minutes till Basti. The crowed of kanwariyas thinned after Basti, but we met another barricade just after crossing this town.
Our driver pleaded with a sub-inspector to let us pass through, stating that the traffic was not very dense and even the kanwaria crowd had thinned out. “Brother, go from the other route and you will reach your destination. If you go from the highway and you hit any kanwaria, who knows where you will reach),” warned the officer. We opted for another route, eventually making it to Deoria!