Photodiary - Jharkhand Roadside

Though we were only for a week in Jharkhand - the melange of memories continues. Having been away for so long we were assaulted with a mixture of the familiar and the strange. Here are some iconic images seen along the road during our trip from Nav Jivan Hospital to Ranchi.

The 'local trains' of our area is the trusty Jeep. Tough, open - they are crammed full of people and goods - and then more people are added. Some squeezed in, some hanging out.

We are reminded again and again that we are in farm country. Though there are still many bullocks who till the fields, the motorized oxen - in the form of tractors - continue to increase. Needless to say, they can be quite dangerous to other traffic on the high-way.

The other staple of the road is the trusty truck. Most are built on chassis supplied by the manufacturers - and then have their body work done in local workshops.


When trucks move at any speed, we have accidents. This is all the more so since the drivers often put in inhuman hours - and will take alcohol to keep themselves going. This wreck is standing outside the wall of a heavily fortified police station in town of Kuru. All along the road, we saw evidence of the low-level but intense war going on between the security forces and the Maoists.


Roadsides are great. They offer a literal slice of life. A long line that connects people - and around which webs of relationships can be built.

Roads can be used as a market place:

As a gambling den:

As a rest place (especially after drinking too much):

As a place for heroic stunts on bicycles as you drive to school:


But even more than that - roads give us brief glimpses of people's lives.

be it children skipping rope

or an old woman walking slowly to an unknown destination

roads take us places - and offer up opportunities
- as this biker uses his mobile phone before taking the next stage of his journey

these mute ribbons of tarmac take us past people living out their lives
be it threshing grain or fetching water

Roads bring people from far and near to dig in the dirt for coal -
and then soot-swathe the country around till all the coal has been dug up


















but most of all:

roads take us home.