Persistence

The mountain road to Joshimath is treacherous, a mostly unpaved track carved out of the side of a very deep river valley. No guardrails, sharp bends and sheer drops of over 200m in places. Like many roads in India its basically one lane (by Canadian standards) but carries traffic in two directions. The shoulders make it possible for a truck and a bus travelling in opposite directions to squeeze by each other. Hopefully they do this slowly, but not always.

The people that maintain this particular road, BRO (Border Road Organization) have put up or painted on the rocks bright yellow and black signs in both Hindi and English that promote road safety. Things like: BRO wishes you a safe and happy journey. (Thanks Bro). The bus was juddering past these signs way too fast to ever get a decent picture of one, but I started writing them down to pass the time.

BRO says:

• BLOW HORN AT CURVES
• DONT NAG HIM, LET HIM DRIVE
  My favourite. I dont think this would wash in Canada, somehow. I guess political correctness hasnt made it this far up the mountain. It got me thinking though — are women allowed to drive in India? In 4 months I dont recall seeing a single vehicle driven by a woman. My new bus game will be looking out for them.
• AFTER WHISKEY DRIVING IS RISKY
• THIS IS HIGHWAY NOT RUNWAY
• REMEMBER YOU ARE ON A HILL ROAD
  You’d have to be taking hallucinogens not to notice. Its a grueling road along a massive gorge with sharp bends and steep climbs.
• MOUNTAINS ARE A PLEASURE ONLY IF YOU DRIVE WITH LEISURE
• LICENCE TO DRIVE NOT TO FLY
• IF YOU SLEEP YOUR FAMILY WILL WEEP
  Not if they’re in the car.
• NO RACE AND RALLY, ENJOY THE BEAUTY OF THE VALLEY
• BETTER LATE THAN NEVER
• NO HURRY NO WORRY BE FREE
  Wasnt that a song?
• THAT IS DEEP DONT GO SLEEP
  Wha…?
• PREVENTION BETTER THAN CURE. PRECAUTION IS BEST AND MUST

All this reminded me of my favourite roadsign of all time which I saw on an all-night drive to Chicago. It was somewhere in Michigan on a very quiet and dark stretch of the Interstate.
STATE PRISON – DO NOT STOP FOR HITCHHIKERS.