Advocate covers 5 states to reach home, travels 2,500 km from Gangtok to Ulhasnagar

There is no place like home. And to return home, one wouldn’t mind travelling for nearly five days covering almost five states, that too in a truck. The fear of catching coronavirus and the scorching heat throughout the 2,500 km journey obstructed Amritpal Khalsa's journey, but failed to stop him with the determination he had to return to his home in Ulhasnagar from Gangtok, Sikkim.

Khalsa, an advocate by profession, was stranded in Gangtok for more than two months and wanted to return to his house as he was exhausted living alone in a room, which he had rented just a few hours after the Prime Minister declared a nation-wide lockdown in March. He had been there to appear in one of his cases pending before the Sikkim High Court. The case pertains to the desecration of a Gurudwara by a local community of Sikkim.

"I was here (Gangtok) to serve my community with no idea that I might have to stay here for two long months. However, I am happy that I have returned to my home in Ulhasnagar, though after facing a series of hurdles and a five long days journey, which was full of struggles," says Khalsa, who has been under home quarantine for a few more days.

It would not be out of place to mention that the Free Press Journal had reported last month on how Khalsa got stuck in Gangtok and was forced to eat only a few pulses, as the local shops refused to give him food grains. He, however, later received proper food items to eat.

According to Khalsa, he was ‘home sick’ and badly wanted to return home after the two months stay at Gangtok.

"It was on morning of May 11, I received a call that a truck would be leaving for Ahmednagar, Maharashtra from Siliguri, Sikkim. I was asked to get all the permissions before 7 pm, when the truck would move," recounts Khalsa.

Soon after the call, the advocate met the local collector, got the requisite permissions and reached the truck on time. "I had to skip my meals (full day) only to reach the truck, which itself was a task, as there were no cabs and only few of them were operational and not all were ready to drop me till Siliguri," says Khalsa.

"That night, we had our dinner at a local dhaba near Siliguri and proceeded on our journey. The situation was such that despite being exhausted, I was asked not to sleep until the driver halts the tempo, which was done only by 4:30 am. We took a nap for hardly two hours and again proceeded with the journey," recalls Khalsa.

The next day (May 12) proved to be quite difficult for him. “This was for the first time in two months that I felt the warmth of the scorching sun as the temperature was quite pleasant in Gangtok. The truck cabin too was hot," Khalsa pointed out.

Amid all this, Khalsa maintained personal hygiene and took bath in a tube well. "There were scores of dhabas and hotels but all were shut down. Unfortunately, the truck had stopped suddenly since there were some issues with the wiring and it took more than 2 hours to rectify the defect. Subsequently, we covered Bihar," Khalsa said.

The truck passed through field areas and even national highways, giving a pleasant view of nature. But not everything the duo saw was pleasant.

"I could see a huge cache of people walking to their homes, some were on bycicle and some on truck, desperately wanting to reach home. My heart hurt to see these poor laborers walking, what was more hurting was that ladies with young babies in their hands, too were walking," Khalsa pointed out.

On the third day, Khalsa directly ate dinner near Ganga Chat, after entering Uttar Pradesh. They spent the night on a petrol pump. Later on, Khalsa changed to a second truck from Allahabad (Prayagraj), which was directly going to Ulhasnagar. Fed up with no proper food, Khalsa contacted his friends in Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, requesting them for some langar. "I was served langar in Reva and in Maihar. For the first time in 55 days, I had a proper sumptuous meal, that too on a by-lane of a National Highway. We proceeded from Maihar, MP to Maharashtra," he said.

The advocate finally reached Maharashtra on the afternoon of May 14. "That feeling was something different, it cannot be expressed. We had a long way to go, I had to cover another 800 km distance from Nagpur to Ulhasnagar. Nagpur was burning, the temperature was 42 degrees. There was no dhaba or hotel open for food, we did not eat anything in lunch, it was terribly hot outside," Khalsa said.

After a series of hot weather, it was finally raining in Amravati with gusty winds. "I had reached a point where I couldn't sit further, the pain in my lower back aggravated, I couldn’t sleep as the cabin was extremely hot. I almost gave up, all hopes were lost and it became too difficult to bear with the situation," he said.

On May 15, they reached Aurangabad and had only a few more hundred kilometers to reach Ulhasnagar. "As the saying goes, man proposes but god disposes. The truck had some issues and we had to wait for hours altogether and could leave from there only by late evening and we reached Malshej Ghat by 10 pm. But by then, the truck driver was sleepy and we all slept on the road side. And started towards Ulhasnagar by early morning of May 16 and reached near my house by 8 am," he said.