Till last
Sunday, I had only two connections with F-1 or anyone/anything remotely associated
with F-1.
The first was the name “Michael Schumacher”. Not that I am a big
fan of the champion driver, but because we have nicknamed one of our friends in
office as “Schumacher” out of sheer respect for his ability to drive as fast as his 2nd hand Maruti 800 engine could deliver and that too without a record of hurting any living being.
The second, was a phone call I had received;
when Jaypee Group was in the process of sourcing Bitumen for the track in 2010.
I still don’t know finally who supplied the bitumen for the track.
Otherwise, whenever I hear the word “F-1”,
a question pops in mind….. Is it 13-F-1 or 308-F-1 or 5-F-1? This is of course
in reference to the furnaces in Bitumen, NHT and Sulphur Recovery Units. Last
Sunday changed all the above and genuinely connected me to the world of motor
sports.
The roads leading to the Buddha
International Circuit, from Mathura, couldn’t have been more contrasting. For
the first few kilo meters, the roads are typical Indian roads with the
omnipresent pot holes discretely and evenly distributed. Probably only on
Indian roads, Mr. Sebastian Vettel can be challenged by an Indian. After
entering the Yamuna Expressway, it’s the entire express way is a smooth concrete
paved road till Noida. On long straight stretches, if you are driving fast,
you can feel like flying if you can ignore the noise generated out of friction.
If you love speed, you won’t be disappointed. There are however, caution signs indicating
presence of speed detectors to
discourage rash driving. But we Indians just love to break rules.
So, we over sped on the highway and drove at a maximum speed 1.5 times higher
than the speed limit. But this period was brief and was done primarily to satisfy the urge of our friend
behind the wheel, who wanted a picture of his speedometer reading at 150 KMPH.
 |
| The Picture |
For
that picture, he was ready to pay the penalty at the toll plaza for over speeding (which was partly because
it was supposed to be toll free). At the toll plaza, we were disappointed. Not that we were fined for over
speeding, but because the toll attendant refused to believe that due to F-1,
the tolls were supposed to be free. Our four F-1 passes also didn't convince him either.
Finally out of frustration he told that, had it been a toll free day, he would
have been on a much needed weekly off. Knowing the importance of a weekly off, we
could easily now empathize with him and without disturbing him further we paid the
toll and moved on. And for the first time since in my life, I doubted the
credibility of “The Hindu”, where I had read the news about the toll free day.
On the Yamuna Expressway, I could see
two contrasting facade of India. On the road, it’s the new India, riding a tide
with its economic growth potential, attracting investors around the world, using the latest technology etc. But
when I look around the villages and farm lands far across the horizon along the expressway,
I can still see the stamp of backwardness. Most of India is still decades
behind few part of India. As if the villages moving backwards through my point
of view from the window seat were representing the increasing gap between an
India we dream of and the real India. Sadly, most of us are just a mute spectator.
