Homeward Bound

Back in January 2010, I had written about my experience in Prudhoe Bay, North Slope, Alaska. My return journey from North Pole, Alaska to my native town of Jorhat, Assam covering more than 5000 miles is the longest I had ever travelled to reach home. But I guess the term "distance" can have it's unique connotation sometimes. Tennessee Williams once said "Time is the longest distance between two places." During this continued lockdowns, when my mother was unwell, my 11days journey seemed like the longest i have ever travelled to reach home.

On March 24, when India went into the first lockdown 1.0, my wife and kid were in Tezpur at my in-laws for vacation, my mother was in Jorhat and I was in Thane. During this 6 weeks of lockdowns, I had accomplished quite a few personal achievements. I learnt to cook a few exotic recipes - from Sushi to Korean Bibimbap to Honey glazed Chicken. I worked out religiously and was 2 weeks into intermittent fasting. I had even made wine at home. However, it was during one of my routine calls with my mother, i learnt that she was not well, and I decided to be with her and my family. In the first week of May, Health Minister of Assam, Mr. Himanta Biswa Sarma had tweeted the email address to apply for e-Pass to travel to Assam. Additionally I requested Mr. Harmeet Singh (ADGP, Assam Police) for the e-Pass to travel using my personal vehicle.

📌 Important information -

People who are willing to return to Assam using their personal vehicles or conveyances need to send us their details on following link to get passes 👇

assamtransportrelief@gmail.com#AssamCares

— Himanta Biswa Sarma (@himantabiswa) May 2, 2020

On May 9th, as soon as I received the e-Pass, I was on my way to the nearby hospital to get myself checked. While I was excited to go home, I wanted to ensure that I do not carry the virus with me unknowingly. Once I got the doctor's clearance for the travel, I made a checklist of items and activities to prepare myself for the journey. I got some vital informations for the journey from the Assamese community based out of Mumbai and Thane. From the same community, Mr. Parth Gagan, approached me for a lift till Guwahati. As much as I wanted a company for this long journey, as he was a complete stranger to me, I ensured he had an e-Pass and a Medical clearance to travel.

On May 11th, equipped with sufficient Water, Hand-wash, Sanitiser, Food and other essentials, I picked Parth from Mumbai and started this one of its kind journey to Jorhat, Assam.  As the solo driver for the 3200 km drive, I decided to take Mumbai - Indore - Guna - Kanpur - Gorakhpur - Siliguri - Sreerampur Gate - Guwahati - Jorhat route.

So far I had only heard about the plight of the migrants in the news. The moment we crossed Thane and Bhiwandi, we faced an unexpected traffic from migrants trying to leave Mumbai in whatever means they could get. We crossed cluster of trucks packed with Migrants with their families. While some migrants were seen riding bicycles all the way to their homes in UP and Bihar, while some others were leaving cramped in tempos. We further crossed thousands of autos that travelled all the way from Mumbai carrying families along with their luggages. These travellers were directly exposed to the Sun and the hot wind (loo) that hit their faces and bodies. To their rescue, many social workers/NGOs distributed water and foods to them at various places. We were deeply saddened to see their condition. The helplessness and emotional look on their faces reflected their disquiet of the future.

 

Due to lockdowns I felt the traffic will be minimum and we would be able to cover 800 to 900 Kms every day easily. However, I was surprised to see the harrowing traffic all the way till we had crossed Bihar. All along the route there were only few restaurants that were open - and those too were overcrowded. On top of that, people get alarmed when they meet anyone from Mumbai, as Mumbai had become the epicentre of Covid cases in India. Occasionally, our friends or acquaintances had come to meet us on the highway and gave some warm food for the road ahead. But most of the time, we ate whatever supplies (breads, biscuits and fruits) we had from Mumbai to beat the hunger. Similarly, to attend to Nature's call, we opted to use the larger open washroom by side of the National highway, once you find a suitable bush to hide yourself if possible. Most nights, we either parked the car by a Police Station or Petrol pump to sleep. Due to mosquitoes, it was difficult to get sleep for more than 1 or 2 hours. By the second night, I had got used to 1:2 sleep-drive schedule - sleep for 1 hour and drive for 2 hours. However, at any circumstance, when I  was too sleepy to drive, I will park the car and sleep for a while. On one such occasion, we got stuck in a terrible traffic in a place called Kalpi that was around 80km before Kanpur. It took us almost 6 hours to cross a 10km stretch. Although my patience in dealing with slow moving traffic was quite high as I used to cross SCLR to reach BKC in Mumbai every day, but this stand-still traffic coupled with tiredness made me park the car by the roadside and sleep for a few hours.

At every state border, there were check gates where either temperature or e-Pass or both were checked. On the afternoon of 14th May, we eventually reached the Assam border at Sreerampur Gate. Over the years, every time I landed in Assam, I felt emotional, however, this time, the feeling was far more stronger. On seeing the sign boards written in Assamese and Police officials of Assam Police, I felt I was already home. We were pleasantly surprised to see the efficient process that was put to screen the travellers. At the border, first we were sanitised using the Sanitisation tunnel. There were various booths for different categories of travellers - travelling by personal car or by bus. Booths were further segregated by districts. The entire process seemed quite streamlined and automated.  Once the paperwork was done, all the cars were sanitised and then the cars travelling from outside North East to the region were convoyed together by  the Police all the way to Guwahati. Police officials from each district took turns in taking the convoy from one district border to the next border. As there were around 18 cars in the convoy, it took almost 8 hours to reach Guwahati, a journey that normally takes 4.5 hours. However, this way the government had ensured that all the travellers were taken straight to the Quarantine centre before they go to their families. Around 10.30 pm on 14th May, I dropped Parth at the gates of Sarusajai Quarantine facility in Guwahati and continued the last leg of the journey to Jorhat. As my car was the only car in the convoy travelling to Jorhat, I had to travel alone for the remaining 300kms.

At 10.30am on  15th May, 2020 I reached Jorhat and was taken straight from the border to Jorhat Covid testing center. At the center, my Covid swab test was done and the information was recorded. Till Covid test results comes, I had to stay either in a government provided facility or a designated hotel. I chose to stay at the Hotel closest to my home. The next 3 days at the hotel was agonising. Although my mother sent home-cooked food everyday, the idea of staying in a hotel in Jorhat and still not being able to meet my mother was difficult.

On 17th May 2020, I received a call from the Covid center that my test result was inconclusive as the swab sample got misplaced. I was shocked, perturbed and furious on hearing the news. To make things worse, Government authorities came only on the second half of the the next day to collect the swab again. I felt like venting my frustration by tweeting about it. But on seeing the health officials taking almost 30 min to put the special suit and collecting my swab, my frustration turned into gratefulness. Human errors can happen with anyone at any profession. Moreover, taking swab sample is not easy, leave alone the risk these officials are taking to control this pandemic. Further, if the government allowed me to leave based on inconclusive result, I might put my mother's life at risk. Government officials throughout the country has been working tirelessly only to safeguard the life of the citizens. Government's stringent rules are necessary to protect ourselves and our loved ones from this pandemic. I would thank the Assam Government for their proactive and stringent measures in controlling this pandemic so far. Further, I would like to thank the Police department who has been helping us at every step. From providing the e-Pass till convoying people from border to Hotels and maintaining law and order, the department is working tirelessly in this fight against Covid19.

After 7 days of Hotel quarantine, on 21st May 2020, at 4pm, I received a phone call from the hotel reception requesting me to come downstairs to get myself stamped as my test result came negative. I was put under Home quarantine for another 14days as per Government guidelines. I packed my luggages, took a slow bath and checked out of the hotel to go home, thus ending my 11days Homebound with elation.