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Not all the villages fall on assigned bus routes. Sometimes, people have to wake up in the wee hours of the morning and walk for hours to make it in time for the bus. During the heavy monsoon, not so firm patches of the road relent to ceaseless showers and cave in. Then the buses do not go all the way back to their original village heads and rest on safer ground, perhaps a neighboring village.

Even though the distance from Shillong to some of these villages is not much, maybe 50-70 km, the bus often takes about 3-4 hours time to cover the route, given the intermittent breaks where it waits for people to get on or for loading, unloading and transfer of goods by the handyman.

The road too, surprisingly smooth in parts, breaks out in long stretches to reveal freshly formed ditches or long ignored wear and tear, slowly gone from bad to worse. At times, the tar gets washed away by incessant rains and makes it difficult for the wheel to get a firm grip on the road. Perhaps that is why the drivers’ peer out of their windows, throwing side-long glances onto the moving wheels while their skilled, practiced hands maneuver the steering wheel. By studying the wheel and gauging its alignment to the road, the drivers steer their way through thick fog or rain, even if visibility is extremely poor. This comes with years of expertise and knowing.

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