ABHA (About Best Himalayan Adventures) – July 2019

any inspiration in the symmetries illustrated by

nature. Or, the latter were uncopiable. Shabby

infrastructure was a complete mismatch. The

considerably cold and faintly fragrant spring

delivered sights of the pretty blooms that would

become refreshing fruits in summer, autumn, and

early winter.

Taxi Operators, Public and Private Buses

Each place boasted a taxi operator union following

a queue system at the starting and the destination

points. Passengers did not have an option to choose

a shared taxi, especially, in case

of the remote routes where

usually only one taxi plies daily.

The taxi did not leave the source

until it was full. Then next

taxi in the queue awaited the

passengers, then next, and so

on.

Some of the drivers claimed that they would lose

their spot in the return taxi queue at the destination

when they drove the non-shared vehicle. No one

mentioned by how many places they would slip in

the queue. They asked for return fare even driving

between reasonably big towns during day time on

the pretext of not getting any return passenger for

the former reason.

The taxi drivers serving the remote routes cheated

the passengers who preferred non-shared taxis.

Although the drivers extracted entire fare from the

passengers who hired a non-shared taxi yet the

former offered lift to their relatives and regular

passengers citing emotional excuses.

Along the remote routes, overloading was a routine.

The passengers even travelled on the top of small

shared-vehicles as traffic police did not visit these

routes.

Two of my drivers did not buy fuel from the only

petrol pump in Joshimath. They reasoned the

costly fuel bought from the petrol pump gave very

low mileage.

The unions decided route rates, highly inflexible.

Yet the members were flexible on one aspect of the

business. They allowed a passenger to buy two seats

in the shared taxi for extra space and comfort.

The taxi operators neither had competition from

government buses nor private buses on the remote

roads. For example, I did not see any bus on

Joshimath-Urgam and Joshimath-Lata routes.

Locals confirmed that the buses did not serve the

first route. Only one bus plied on the second route

up to Tapoban, approximately ten kilometres

before Lata.

The private buses like non-shared taxis generally

did not start before selling all the seats.

Overloading was a norm. Non-stop direct buses

were rare. The buses picked up and dropped

passengers every now and then. I travelled by the

private buses four-five times. The cramped layout

left very little legroom, an utter discomfort during

The television sets housed a pair of accomplices,

fuzzy pictures and sounds. Room boys could not

arrest the accomplices.

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Volume 4, Issue 1 | June 2019