I had to travel to Pune yesterday, and I happened to take an ST bus which went over the older NH4 route through Khopoli. I haven't taken that road ever since the expressway became operational about 7 years back! So the sight of the Khopoli bus stand and the Tata Power complex brought back memories of old days, when that road was the only option available.
The road back then was not even as wide as it is now, and traffic jams were the norm. There were days when you could have spent 12 hours getting from Bombay to Pune (it's never more than 3 hours now!). The ghat section has roads with steep gradients, something the expressway has totally removed from the equation.
So no surprise that there was a small temple in Khopoli, just before the the really steep sections started. I don't know if people prayed, but nearly every vehicle that went past offered a few coins to the goddess ... just flung them out the window into the temple. If you are the believing kind, you might think it saved a lot of accidents back then; especially if you would have seen the number of overturned vehicles littering the roadside.
Sure enough, the bus slowed down and a few coins - although lesser than the earlier days - were tossed out the window. The tradition remains, and even though I'm not much of a believer, I like to see that these small things are still alive! In the age of homogenisation, they provide some relief and some color to life.
It's these small things that are missing when you travel on the expressway. Sure you've shaved a couple of hours off the travel time, but the journey is that little bit poorer for the lack of the temple. Maybe they could have built a temple along the expressway just to keep up the tradition ... but then, who needs God when you have ABS and airbags!!!
The road back then was not even as wide as it is now, and traffic jams were the norm. There were days when you could have spent 12 hours getting from Bombay to Pune (it's never more than 3 hours now!). The ghat section has roads with steep gradients, something the expressway has totally removed from the equation.
So no surprise that there was a small temple in Khopoli, just before the the really steep sections started. I don't know if people prayed, but nearly every vehicle that went past offered a few coins to the goddess ... just flung them out the window into the temple. If you are the believing kind, you might think it saved a lot of accidents back then; especially if you would have seen the number of overturned vehicles littering the roadside.
Sure enough, the bus slowed down and a few coins - although lesser than the earlier days - were tossed out the window. The tradition remains, and even though I'm not much of a believer, I like to see that these small things are still alive! In the age of homogenisation, they provide some relief and some color to life.
It's these small things that are missing when you travel on the expressway. Sure you've shaved a couple of hours off the travel time, but the journey is that little bit poorer for the lack of the temple. Maybe they could have built a temple along the expressway just to keep up the tradition ... but then, who needs God when you have ABS and airbags!!!
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