Truck de India!: A Hitchhiker's Guide to Hindustan

by Rajat Ubhaykar

Shortlisted for the Sahitya Akademi Yuva Puraskar

"...a travelogue rich in feeling and insight." Mint

"The share auto I squeeze into next seems unusually vulnerable after a night in the truck - too compact, too low down. Perhaps, these are the usual side effects of prolonged riding with the king of the road, I think to myself. But it is only when I fill in ‘truck’ as my mode of transportation in the hotel ledger at Udaipur does the utter ludicrousness of my endeavour truly hit home"

Think truck drivers, and movie scenes of them drunkenly crushing inconvenient people to their gravelly deaths come to mind. But what are their lives on the road actually like?

In Truck De India!, journalist Rajat Ubhaykar embarks on a 10,000 km-long, 100% unplanned trip, hitchhiking with truckers all across India. On the way, he makes unexpected friendships; listens to highway ghost stories; discovers the near-fatal consequences of overloading trucks; documents the fascinating tradition of truck art in Punjab; travels alongside nomadic shepherds in Kashmir; encounters endemic corruption repeatedly; survives NH39, the insurgent-ridden highway through Nagaland and Manipur; and is unfailingly greeted by the unconditional kindness of perfect strangers.

Imbued with humour, empathy, and a keen sense of history, Truck De India! is a travelogue like no other you've read. It is the story of India, and Indians, on the road.

Genres: India, Nonfiction, Travel, Travelogue, Indian Literature, Journalism, Adventure

309 pages, Paperback

Published October 22, 2019

About the author

Rajat Ubhaykar trained as an electrical engineer at IIT Kanpur, and went on to study journalism at the Asian College of Journalism after a stint in management consulting. A recipient of the PoleStar Award in 2016 for his reportage, his work has appeared in publications such as Mint, Hindustan Times, Scroll.in, Outlook Business, Roads & Kingdoms, and Madras Courier. He lives in Mumbai, and spends his spare time reviewing books, collecting trivia, and exploring India's archaeological sites. Truck de India!, published by Simon & Schuster, is his first book.

Reviews

[Seemita · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I was young, I used to look forward to my summer vacations and the trip to my hometown – this trip was such a big deal not just because it would take me to my grandma (aaie) and allow me to binge and smother my face with freshly plucked home-grown mangoes but also because it would take me through the highways and the little known roads of Orissa, bringing its teeming vein to delightful, eclectic life.

A wanderer’s elixir. A vagabond’s shelter. The road.

And it is a towering member of this very road that finds centre stage in this book – the majestic Truck.

Rajat Ubhaykar undertakes a journey across the length and breadth of India, choosing a very unusual mode of transport - hitchhiking with truck drivers. For those not privy to the ‘general opinion’ on truck drivers in India, it may suffice to say that a truck driver’s life is oft-quoted by Indian parents as a parallel when giving a dressing down to their kids .

So, what was found in the heart of a seemingly crude-mannered, loud-speaking, beedi-smoking, drug-snorting, rash-driving, uncouth generation of truck drivers? Dollops of goodness!

As the author goes from Mumbai to Jaipur, Chandigarh upwards to Jammu, he is taken in mostly by kind drivers and treated to a generous peek into the truck-business. Through their unceasing conversations, I got to know how permits are given, how tolls function, how overloading gets normalized, how learnings are passed on from a ustad (teacher) to his khalassi (student/ intern). As he moves to the north eastern heart at Nagaland and Manipur and then, dives straight down south to Salem and Vijayawada, his journal spreads its eager wings, sometimes unsteady in trepidation, and collects the sprawling melange of truths nestled at the sharp road bends and colourful truck art, naked tragedies and shrewd trades, gregarious dhabawallas and wronged childhoods, street smartness and apparent debauchery.

I wonder if their long tryst with migration has something to do with why Punjabis took to driving trucks with such enthusiasm, because what is trucking, but a form of constant displacement.

I soon find out from a Bihari paanwallah that it’s in a curious creole tongue called Nagamese—the love child of Assamese, Bengali and Hindi. Why, that’s the first time I’ve even heard of it.

I, for one, know, that after this trip, I will always remember this sunrise when I think of Nagaland, and not insurgents or headhunting tribals.

Travelling with this unique bunch gave me what my travel trips give – new eyes. And through new eyes, I saw the same picture as one of the truck-drivers endorsed - Phone khoti, sakshaat bheti [The phone’s a false friend, it is better to meet in person.]

So, go on, emerge from the emitting screen of your mobile phone, set afoot anew, face the sun and its children in the eye; you never know which splendid piece of sunshine on the black tar of your bias can light the canvas of your memories.

--

Also on my website.

[Em Lost In Books · Rating 4 out of 5]

My first travelogue and what a way start reading books from this category. In a country where food, culture, and language changes every hundred kilometre, who knew it better than people who drives night and day to keep this billion people country work. Their work remains unappreciative at most of the times and they are looked down upon because of the misconceptions we have about them and this line of work. So this book was an eye opener on many levels in terms of these drivers' lives, what makes, breaks or halts things for them.

At times I was envious of the author having this great experience.

Highly recommended.

[Rakhi Dalal · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Gaddi jaandi ae chhalanga mardi
Mainu yaad aaye mere yaar di”

(The truck goes hopping
And I miss my beloved)

The one image that I have always associated with the thought of truck/ goodscarrier on Indian roads is a boisterous Punjabi driver driving the truck in abandon while singing this song in full throttle. Part of the reason lies in my spending my early childhood years in Punjab and part in being enamoured by the bitter sweet song which is as much about love as it is about lamenting the distance between lovers.

But apart from this sweet image, one other image that has been deeply ingrained in my mind about these trucks is that of a formidable giant body on wheels which must never ever be overtaken on a highway.

This was one of the first lessons I was given while learning to drive – Don’t ever overtake a Truck or a Bus (especially Haryana Roadways) on a road. So while I have adhered to this rule most of my life, sometimes I have indulged in the guilty pleasure of overtaking the giant on a highway, more specifically whenever I found it trudging painfully slow, but also, because it gives an exhilaration to beat the king of the road on road itself.

But other than this, the sight of a truck never evoked much contemplation. That was not until I came across Truck De India.

Really, I thought? A book on trucks? WOW.

And then I read the subtitle – “A hitchhiker’s guide to Hindustan”

In the prologue of the book, the author narrates the incident which kind of seeded the idea of discovering the country through road:

“Staring outside the window on that trip, the wind tousling my unruly hair, I remember being struck by a sort of epiphany, that India is bigger than the boundaries of my imagination, or anyone’s, for that matter. You didn’t have to go the scale of the cosmos to imagine something vast – India was enough.”

That the author chose Trucks to hitchhike to undertake the journey was at first kind of bewildering to think. But then as I read on, I realised what better way to discover a country if not through the eyes of one of the most vulnerable yet surprisingly one of the most underrated and suspected class in the workforce of the unorganised sector which forms the backbone of logistics across the country.

Another reason might be the mysterious air that hovers around the sight of a truck on a highway. It seems to be destined for discovering vistas unknown to commoners like us and so the experience of its riders may seem much richer than that gained through journeys undertaken by conventional means.

Rajat starts the journey from Mumbai, moving all the way upto Kashmir and then Far East to Nagaland before finally reaching Kanyakumari in the South. A journey across the country hitchhiking thus with truck drivers and their helpers, gives him a first-hand experience of the many tribulations and dangers that they go through while transferring goods which we don’t even give a single thought while purchasing.

What I find immensely likable about his hitchhiking with truck drivers is that he enters their world when taken kindly in and maintains a respectful distance while asking questions about their lives, their experiences. He finds that apart from paying “taxes” on road to braving harsh weathers, the threat of insurgents or evading highway robbers, the drivers also spend long periods away from family only to save a couple of thousands more. But none of the problems that they face make them hostile while talking about them with a total stranger. In fact, as opposed to the commonly held notion, he finds most of them very friendly and warm.

“Aap humare mehmaan hain” (you are our guest) How else can one define the gesture of paying for a stranger’s meal when even a single penny counts? Or sharing the already cramped space for two to sleep with someone they have barely met? Does what hold them together, just a common journey from one destination to next? Or is it the inherent human desire for the need to be understood, respected and treated kindly by fellow beings? In the journey of life each of us has chosen a path most suitable circumstantially and so a comparison materialistically is not only naïve but also degrading.

While on his journey to initially discover the unseen India, Rajat discovers what really counts in the transit which characterises life. We are fortunate that he has penned his experience in the form of a book for otherwise we might never know what really goes on in the life of the people who spend most of their lives behind wheels, away from their loved ones, to ferry the goods and materials which not only run our country’s economy but also bring comfort to the lives of millions of strangers.

I would recommend this book to everyone who wishes to explore how truckers brave the uncertainties of highways to earn their livelihoods and how their incomes are dependent on circumstances they come across.

[Veeral · Rating 4 out of 5]

Before I write what might pass for a review, there are a few things I want to confess:

The author, Rajat Ubhaykar, has been a Goodreads friend of mine for years now. But in no way this review is influenced by this fact. I was neither provided a copy to review (who would in their right mind?), nor was I asked for a review by the author or the publisher.

So how come I came across this book? Well, I remember Rajat mentioning a few days (months?) back on a general post by him here that his first book is coming out soon. I thought at the time that how good could it be, given that he’s an internet friend of mine? Then I forgot about the whole thing.

A few days back, I came upon his book while browsing in Indian section of an internet bookseller. I said to myself, what the hell, let’s get this. I won’t even mention about it on Goodreads if I don’t like it.

So, that is how this book came into my possession. Now, the review.

The theme of this book is unique for India. I don’t think anyone has done anything like this before. Hitchhiking with Indian truckers through India. I must also confess that I had many preconceived notions about the author as I started this book. I thought he might try to let a reader know that he has gone through a dictionary. I also thought that the book might only skim the surface of history of various Indian parts wherever the author found himself while travelling.

Wrong on both counts. Rajat can write. And he knows the history of the country better than most. As I read and read, my reluctance turned into admiration (mixed with a tinge of envy). Rajat’s first leg of truck journey starts from Mumbai to Srinagar, through Gujarat, Rajasthan, Haryana and Punjab. In the second part we accompany him into the North-East. And this is where my only caveat of the book lies. At the end of the first part, the author is about to reach Srinagar. But suddenly the chapter ends and we find him travelling in the North-East India. I found that somewhat jarring. That is my only complaint with this book.

In the third and last part, the author travels to the Southern states of India. His interactions with the truckers throughout the book are honest, and he makes some genuine friends along the way.

What I gleaned from this book about the state of this country as far as truck drivers are concerned is that South India is generally good for them. But Kerala is the best. Gujarat is also good. But West Bengal is the worst when it comes to harassment by the RTO. In the North-Eastern states, various groups would harass truckers for money. The rest are a mixed bag.

Truck de India surprised me in such a good way that it reminded me of one of my favourite books with a similar theme, Looking for a Ship by John McPhee.

Do we have our own John McPhee on our hands? Only time will tell. But I certainly hope so.

[Anushree Rastogi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Before I write a review of this book - let me make a few things clear. I have known Rajat for the better part of the last decade. However, books are my first love and I take each one very seriously. Hence, this review is my personal and hopefully, objective belief.

When Rajat told me he is planning to travel with truck drivers across India and write a book about it - I was concerned and sceptical. Concerned for his safety, comfort and sceptical because what if the book is not good enough - no one has ever written a book about truckers, maybe there is a reason for it.

Four years after the first conversation about this book, I now hold a copy in my hands and read it with trepidation. I am proven wrong on all counts.

Truck De India provides a rare glimpse into an alternate reality of our country for the millions like me - with their cushy jobs making excel spreadsheets on things that mean very little in the real world. It is about the unsung heroes of our economy - the truckers that make sure everything we purchase - from our morning toothpaste to our beloved Amazon parcels reaches us on time, every day, year after year - battling everything from bad roads to highway robbery to corruption in a country which is not known to look kindly upon them.

More importantly, it is not just a book about truckers, but also about the history of how these beasts of burden came to be in their present color and shape - dotted with catchy slogans and beautiful artwork - and also, about the country they ply through.

The history of India - this vast country of Kashmir with its treacherous roads, North East with the misty hills and ever present sense of danger, fertile land of Punjab plagued by drugs and the lush south with its myriad faces - all are beautifully captured.

Overall, after a long time, I have come across a book that dares to talk about something we have never really talked about in our books - and what a wonderful way to bring it all together.

To me, this conversation in the book perfectly sums it:
“..Even educated people say that (truck) drivers are not good people. He gets your maal over such long distances, after tolerating the blow of policemen. Why are drivers not good? If someone ever says to you that drivers are bad people, you bring them to me. When he comes and stays with us for a few days I will ask him why we are not good people.”

[Gorab · Rating 5 out of 5]

"It only takes a yearning for adventure, after all, and a thumb, pointed in the right direction."

One of the best travelogues!!!
Wish the author indulges in more such adventurous ventures and shares more delight :)

Has all the elements.... non fiction... facts... trivia... food... emotions.... bribery and other underbelly... hospitality... background stories...different parts scattered across India.... and what not!

Highly recommended!

[Vivek KuRa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Truckers are like the nutrition carrying blood in the veins (Highways) of any nation. They keep that nation healthy and alive . Their stories are worth telling.

But Indian trucker’s stories MUST be told and I will tell you why.

I have been working in the US based Diesel Engine manufacturing company for the past 15 years and I have a little bit of insight on the trucking world here.Also I have a strong love for trucking and lot of respect for truckers. Unlike Indian Road transportation department, USDOT (US department of transportation) has lot of laws around the allowed operating time for long-haul truckers, overloading criteria, getting day offs, better pay, health benefits, fuel economy management system etc. Also, the roads and road rules are better here and are enforced without corruption. Their trucks are air conditioned with better beds etc. Some owner operators even have restrooms, kitchens inside their trucks. All these things make the US truck drivers life relatively easier. But our Indian truckers have none of the above. NONE.. But yet they keep the blood flowing in the veins of our nation. Their voice must be heard and their story must me told. Rajat just did that through this book. He becomes part of Indian trucker’s world for months at a time and participates in all aspects of their job. IMHO this is the best way to understand somebody’s way of life.
This travelogue gives you a honest, ground level observation about one of the many exploited voiceless proletariats of India. Indian truck drivers. We all have gotten only a brief split-second glimpse of their world through the windows of our speeding cars or buses on the highway, yet we have a very prejudiced understanding of their worlds through misinformation and opinions. Rajat goes on a mission to demystify their world and set the record straight by being a direct witness.

He didn’t stop at just experiencing but was kind enough to document his interesting odyssey it through his excellent writing skills and present it to us so that we can savor it. I couldn’t put the book down and also I did not want the book to end. I finished this book in a day. It gave me wings to fly to all the exotic places of India I always wanted to visit. I was constantly looking at the map to get a sense of where he was from chapter to chapter and it was a lot of fun. Unknown facts sprinkled all through the book and is is a treat for trivia junkies like me.
This is not your ordinary travelogue. It not only has all the elements of any enjoyable travelogue ,but it stands out in touching on some of the important current issues such as economic divide in rural India, labor exploitation, lack of trade union and its reasons, appalling working and living conditions, total disregard for the well being and safety of the workers in the name of profit, their destroyed work life balance , drug abuse and many more. Take the time to read through his tangents, they have more meat in it.
Indian City dweller very rarely get a glimpse of the inside world of a rural working person. From their POV they start to believe that the whole of India is modernized, and life is much better because everybody has a cellphone and access to information. They believe or want to believe all has changed magically in the current political climate. But this book reveals that it is far from true. It shows that very little has changed in rural India. The horrible living conditions, communal prejudices, prevalent caste and religion-based stereotyping etc etc. BUT… this book also shows that even not all is bad and the faith in humanity is not all lost. There are heartwarming beautiful acts of kindness to a fellow human being by complete strangers, friendship in unlikely places etc.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and I really wish Rajat will publish a sequel to this book by traveling to other states he did not touch in this book.

A must read for lovers of travel or trucking or India or all of the above.

[Udit Nair · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely loved the book from the very first line. First of all it is such a great and novel type of travelogue. The book helped me get into the world of trucking and the challenges associated with it. Trucks have an omnipresence yet the stories of those who drive it is scarce.

The very idea of hitchhiking on trucks without concrete plan or destination is such a fascinating way of exploring hindustan. It helps you to put things in perspective and helps you to navigate better in life. I liked how the author seamlessly deals with historical/sociological/cultural facts and stories without sounding mechanical. The book is dedicated to all the truck drivers and the author does a great service to them by being absolutely honest about their struggles and challenges on the road.

I resolve to treat these growling beasts respectfully which is unfortunately not the case around. Also travelling is much about unlearning as it is about learning, when long held prejudices wither away in the face of empirical evidence. This travelogue was also a reminder that India is a place where multiple centuries jostle with each other in plain sight. More importantly the book has been able to humanize the life of countless faceless people who precisely drive the economy of the nation.

[Girish · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Travelling is as much about unlearning as it is about learning, when long-held prejudices wither away in the face of empirical evidence"

Loved the concept and execution of one of the most novel travelogues written in recent times. Rajat decides to cover the country from Mumbai to Kashmir to Kohima to Kanyakumari hitchhiking in the most important and sterotyped transportation - Trucks.

I enjoyed the author's command over the language and the witty observations. Sample this
"Genuinely authentic food is more often than not, an acquired taste."

If anything, the travelogue kind of exposes that stereotypes exist for a reason - friendly sardars, corrupt dalals, material addiction, highway prostitution and lots and lots of dhaba food and tea. As I have visited many of the places he mentioned in the book - I was able to relate it to what I have seen and hence went on a nostalgic walk down the memory lane.

The book chapters end up exploring the trucking eco-system and in no less words exposes the corruption that is prevalent in the RTO system. Since it spans before and after GST, we understand there is some hope for Fasttags and GST. It is a sad state of affairs and I hope the book is able to make a dent in form of checks and balances - which will ulitmately reduce the prices.

A though provoking travelogue. Just felt the book was rushed more towards the end than the original detailing in the beginning. Maybe all the hours of travelling had caught up with him.

[Sairam Krishnan · Rating 5 out of 5]

A truly original travelogue. I enjoyed it immensely, and loved the way it does what only the really good travel narratives do - tell you so much more than what you dipped into them for. It deals with heavy subjects but does so with a light, human touch, not masking things and not sentimentalising them either.

The people we meet are a wondrous, resolute bunch, for whom life is an endless journey. The strength, resolve, and instinct for fun they possess are heartwarming, true, but in their tough working conditions, their addictions and their vices, we also see a side of humanity that we sometimes find too easy to ignore. In documenting them in this way, Ubhaykar does what he can as a writer. Maybe a much more accessible book like this can help do for truckers and our transportation industry what industry research and bureaucratic committees couldn't.

One can hope.

But what makes this book really special is the undercurrent of Ubhaykar's journey, something he alludes to but never explains, something a number of us who love this country possess too, but never find time and energy to indulge - the romance of India's open roads. Ours is a fascinating country, a great and unprecedented experiment in democracy and life, and yet so few of us venture out to dip into its unending riches.
Ubhaykar does, and the landscapes this opens up, the people he meets, and the cups of chai that he drinks - all are part of the same magic, and he evokes them so well.

Highly recommended. Good travel writing from and about India, at last.

[Deepika Sekar · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have been following Rajat’s reviews here on Goodreads for many years now, and they have always been compelling and more often than not I’ve found my pockets lighter after reading his reviews. This is therefore one book that I picked up with utmost confidence – who doesn’t want to read about a somewhat lost boy on a journey to discover India with truckers?

What I loved the most were the character sketches of the truckers he meets – warm, lively and vivid – it really brings alive the person in front of you. Some of them are so memorable, it’s almost like I’ve met them and known them myself – I absolutely loved Jora and would love to meet Rajinderbhai as well.

Right at the very outset, Rajat writes ‘you didn’t have to go to the scale of the cosmos to imagine something vast – India was enough’. This then is as much a journey to discover India as to escape the din of everyday life. And it shows in the little snippets of history and the sharp commentaries of the highway economy. I especially loved Rao’s comment – kyunki dalalon ka desh hai yeh – this is a nation of middlemen.

Perhaps the only disappointment I had was I wished there were more stories of the North East – it was something that I was really looking forward to, although one cannot fault a man for leaving a place after hearing a suspected gunshot.

And that phone call from Jora – what a tearjerker.

I just want to leave you with one paragraph that I keep going back to –

I can imagine why Jora finds bhukki useful – and ultimately indispensable- in driving trucks. His body, beaten into submission by the opium, operates at the resonant frequency, immune to heat, sleep, hunger and other biological distractions. His conscious mind is free to wander, while his subconscious mind is in the throes of highway hypnosis, going through the mechanical motions with practiced ease, spellbound by some unknowable spectre on the road.

So beautifully captures the thrills and travails of being on the road.

And Rajat, if you're reading this, tell Jora that he is a hero!

[Richard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Even though I have limited knowledge of the country through which Rajat Ubhaykar travels in this book, I was intrigued by the narration of his adventures as he gradually gains an inside knowledge of the lives of truckers. Rajat seems to have a knack for inspiring trust and friendship in others. He is also a journalist, which means he is able not only to record his experiences but also to analyze and research what has happened to create the various situations in which he and various truckers find themselves.

The life of the trucker can be good. If you know how to use the system to your advantage and avoid certain pitfalls, there is good money to be made. There are also the simple joys of friendship, good food, and inspiring landscapes.

Unfortunately a plethora of trials and tribulations must also be endured: weather conditions which are often grueling; road conditions which are sometimes life-threatening; conflicts or misunderstanding between those who have different religions, languages or political stances; police officers who are mostly corrupt and demand bribes; government regulations and penalties which routinely seem arbitrary and often prove to be unjust or unhelpful; authorities or middle management who turn a blind eye to risky practices and make them practically impossible to avoid.

In spite of these and other misfortunes which at times seem overwhelming, the truckers themselves often preserve a perseverance and positive attitude which are heroic, inspiring the admiration of both the journalist author and his readers.

Many travelogues in the West feature Europeans who visit faraway lands to sample "exotic" cultures as if someone were serving them up a type of soup they had never tried before. Thus you get medieval pilgrims making their way to Jerusalem, Marco Polo visiting distant Cathay or intrepid explorers making their way into "deepest, darkest Africa." Please note that in this book, although the comments of foreign visitors are brought forward where appropriate and instructive, the dramatis personae are almost exclusively Indians. Rajat is able to explore a country which is his own, but which is at the same time so vast and varying that he can experience many things that are new and unknown.

[Vartika · Rating 4 out of 5]

Travel is always fascinating, doubly so when you've been trapped indoors for over a month — when all the comforts of home take the shape of exasperating confines. What makes Truck De India! the perfect read to dispel the quarantine blues is its bracing exploration of an uncharted and much maligned territory — the lives of India's truck drivers.

Equipped with journalistic curiosity and candour, author Rajat Ubhaykar sets out to travel the length and breadth of India by ingeniously hitchhiking with the kings of the road, writing a one-of-its-kind travelogue that brings together a heartfelt ethnography of a colourful and nomadic sub-culture with a crisp study of the political economy of the trucking industry.

Be it the informal sector's politics of jugaad and overloading or the web of extortion and humiliation that truckers are susceptible to;the art of truck-building or the ornate language of truck art itself; the allure of bhukki, chilled beer, and sex on the highwayside or the simple pleasures of very-sweet tea in the morning, Truck De India! navigates through all stops on the truckers' dangerous rout(in)es; a humanising account of the agonies, pleasures and tricks of the trade. Friendships are forged with colourful people on this journey — notably the brothers Jora and Jagdev and the secular trio of Rahul, David and Muhammad, amongst many others — inside cramped and customised truck cabins, hearty descriptions of their capers punctuated by the author's own observations such as the following:

I wonder if much of ‘unskilled’ India—like Jora—earns whatever little it does by being resourceful in small ways, which salaried folks then patronize as jugaad or contemptuously term corruption. Morality, after all, is a luxury when one struggles to meet basic needs. It is a construct created by the powerful to hold the powerless in check (...) Indeed, if a genuinely subaltern history of India were ever to be written, it would probably upend our self-conception of the nation, because while we like to harp about the fact that India used to be a sone ki chidiya ( a golden bird), how all that gold came to be hoarded is never questioned. Even today, the popular narrative around India centres on its rising superpower status. Its allure on the global stage is almost gravitational, subtly influencing the rest of the world through its sheer weight. But traveling through it, India essentially seems the same. Unchanged. Yes, the mud huts have given way to ugly bricked towns. But if we talk about the lives of its people, how much have they changed?

Just as it brings a nuanced study of the transport sector out of the confines of academic journals; this book with its vivid and observant writing and redemptive, even humourous, understanding of the lives of many a 'Road King' takes the reader on a memorable journey through highways, byroads and hinterlands of India. All in all, Truck De India! is a highly engrossing, important read — even when you've turned the last page, there is joy in remembering that the paperback or e-reader in your hand has likely journeyed the same way, with the same people you just read about, before it became your companion in these strange days. Isn't that something to be thankful about?

[Rakesh · Rating 4 out of 5]

To see India from the perspective of a truck driver is a fascinating journey.

[Mohit Parikh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rajat Ubhaykar’s Truck De India is fun, refreshing and sweet. Suitably subtitled ‘A Hitchhiker’s Guide to Hindustan’, the author escorts us on random truck rides across the ‘cheek of our nation’ in a spirit of journalistic inquiry but also with a childhood fascination and a sense of adventure. The result is a delicious cocktail that you want to both savour and drink down in a single sitting.
Highly recommended.

***

How much did I know about Hindustan? Every now and then I paused while reading the essays and tried to assess myself. Not factually, not in terms of general awareness quotient, but instinctively, thoughtlessly. It’s my land, after all. I grew up here imbibing its codes and morals, mirroring its body language, consuming its culture, art, politics and food; I have traveled through the heart of the land on buses and trains and bikes, have trekked to its pristine mountains, goofed around on its muddy beaches, weathered the severity of temperatures in its plains, and in the process I must have interacted with people from all walks of life. India must be known. What am I going to see anew about the familiar highways from a slightly unfamiliar vantage point?
As soon as I would resume reading the answer would come staring right in my eyes – I don’t know much. My sweeping gaze and limited comprehension registers none of its vastness and diversity, despite all the experiences and readings. The geography varies drastically with every few degrees of change in latitude and longitude, and with that changes the story of its people too. Every district has an ancient rich history recorded and lost and mythologised. Rajat, with a fascination for the subject, shares some of them to our delight and education. North-East – a one-word label by ‘mainland Indians’ like me – continues to be understood in clichés of silkworm and dog meat meals, of heavy rainfall areas, of exaggerated matriarchy and rock music by denim wearing guitar playing commoners. (There is, in fact, a section of the book titled ‘Almost-India’). Kashmir remains mysterious and distant too. This is where Rajat’s essays come in handy: the truck drivers sharing their mundane travails give a perspective. Mind you, the book doesn’t indulge in purposefully educating you. The author has refrained from gyan-baji, and has expertly handled politically complex topics, making the book so refreshing and approachable.
Which is why I read it without putting the book down despite my ignorance ;-) Paradoxically though, reading along, I do discover that India indeed is familiar in some sense. There is that quality, the ‘Indianness’, that can be promisingly observed from Mumbai to Leh to Kolkata to Kanyakumari. The ubiquitous traits that comfort a lost, enervated, bewildered traveler that he/she is still in a known terrain. Book highlights it - given-for-granted mehmannawaji, popularity of Bollywood songs, rampant corruption, deeply entrenched caste-dynamics, love for spicy food, frustration with government’s lack of will to take care of its most vulnerable and kick starting of the day despite everything with hope and sugary chais... beans in the thread that bind us together.
What does this paradox mean?

As would happen in every travelogue, what Rajat shows is filtered through his consciousness. What he captures is based on chances rather than some carefully, scientifically selected methodology for testing a premeditated outcome. The highways he visits determined by the driver’s professional assignment. Another author, another driver, another route, another day – and it would have been a significantly different book altogether.
And yet in its essence, somehow, somewhere, it would be unchanging, I postulate.

I remember watching a Carl Sagan video (or was it in a book that I read) where he gives an example of a tribe living in an island (pardon me if my recollection is off the mark here) – the European colonizers were marching towards the shore of the clueless islanders in a fleet of huge ships. The tribal-folks could hear the sound of the incoming soldiers but when they turned their heads towards the sea they couldn’t see the large metallic ships - not until they were extremely close! Why? Because in their minds there was no conception of this machine, this locomotive. That information passed from their eyes through their brains as Noise rather than Signal.
So it happens with 'seeing'. We notice as much as we know already. All travel books giving us a picture through the eyes of a narrator, sifted further in the channels of their minds.
Which is why it is fun to read Rajat’s work. While he is quite knowledgeable about his subject matter, as I mentioned before, he is not here to educate us – look you privileged book-reading adult, here’s a picture of the marginalized community that you give little thought to: now feel ashamed. Nor is he there to exoticise his subjects or do an anthropological study or to write an authoritative statement on India’s highway life and economy. In fact, some of his conversations are as mundane as those you might have with your chatty Uber driver while stuck in a traffic jam during your daily commute to work (and hey, Rajat, this can be an area of improvement). Rajat’s there because it is pretty much where he wants to be. As a child he says he was fascinated by trucking - in his innocent mind it meant ultimate freedom. In his twenties he decided to do something about it – travel with them and document their lives; he was doing it and having a good time while at it. That is the overall persistent feeling in the book which, to me, makes it sweet (never have I used that adjective to describe a book before).
The degree of separation between him and the truck drivers is never aggrandized. Nor does he humanize them effort-fully to get into the good books of the scrutinizing readers. His sincerity is palpable. So is the cuteness of his travails. The language, spattered with Hindi phrases, is rife with good heated humour and a gentle flow. I read the complete work in two sittings which is unusual for me (I usually read 4-5 books together taking months to finish them and finish them together).

Once again I highly recommend reading this book. It is not going to leave you thinking you know much more about India, truck drivers or the highway economy. It is going to leave you with a good feeling of how less you know about your own country. How, no matter how old, well-traveled, well-read you become, it is always going to marvel you should you be willing to keep your eyes and ears open.

[Suman Joshi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Most stories of the marginalised sections make it at best to academic papers or the one off movie . Here is a humanised account of one of the most reviled set of people - the truck drivers . The author does this not by sifting through documents or hearsay but by actually hitchhiking across the length and breadth ( almost) with many of them . What’s more - in the process of his journey he also chronicles the history, society, food and economy of the place . It is also interspersed with witty one liners you see on the trucks as well as those said by the truckers . “Phone khooti, saakshat bheti” was my favourite.
The caravan begins ( and through him we as readers begin ours ) at Mumbai ,travels through Gujrat, Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana ,and Himachal before it reaches Kashmir . The reader is treated to a brief history of all these places and the complex interplay of caste equations prevalent everywhere . The economics of the drug trade esp in Rajasthan ( where bhukki -opium is sold through govt approved stores) and the havoc chitta (cocaine) has wreaked on families in Punjab is specially heart breaking . He makes striking observations about women or the lack of them on the highways and the all pervasive misogyny in Haryana . By the time you reach Kashmir you’re waiting for more of all- history, society and economics .- all this through the stories of the truckers and their assistants called Khalassis - Shyam, Rajinder, Jora , Shekhawat all come alive . But here’s the disappointing part - it just ends abruptly !
Cut to part 2 - NH 39, probably the most dangerous insurgency manifested area in India .The North East or Almost India . The extent of insurgency, the influence of Korean media in these parts and yet the contrasting presence of women on the highways was quite a revelation for me . In some parts , I felt - how is this different from Kashmir ?
Part 3 of the book though is told in Southern India it deals more with the economics of the business
(perhaps because of the relative social and political stability of this area). Traversing from Mumbai across Bidar into Andhra upto Cape Camorin , the author gives you insights into the trucking business - freight, overloading, bribes, regulation and how all these are seen by the truckers and those in the industry- Vijaywada to Nammakal in TN . The tales of remarkable local entrepreneurship prevalent in these parts was a delight to read about . At the end of it - once you read about the intermediaries of the commission agents and booking agents , the system of “mechanicals” in AP or the regulations around fitting a/c into cabin - you see how govt action is counter productive and any remote belief that the rule of law exists in India is torn to shreds. You just want to tell the govt to do its primary job viz, maintenance of rule of law and enforcement of contracts right .
For all the contrasts prevalent across the country, the thread that binds all these phases is the line that resounds through the book “aap tho humare mehmaan hain” which reveals the inherent goodness in all humanity ( it could however be the diff in class)
Wonderful account of the lives and times we live in . The thoughts I’m left with are - 1. we’ll never know enough of this place we call home and 2- what will it take for a woman to undertake such a journey ? Sadly, I can’t see it in the near future : but one day we will !
Kudos for this well written, breeze of a book . A must read !

[Tanuj Solanki · Rating 4 out of 5]

It seems that Ubhaykar is the perfect mix of foolhardy and erudite -- foolhardy enough to undertake the adventure that is the wellspring of this travelogue, and erudite enough to lend weight to whichever observation he selects to include here. Recommended to all Indians on my list.

(More later)

[Nilanjana Haldar · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gosh, this writing is sooooo beautiful!!!So beautiful! Every choice of word and phrase are galatically accurate, the best one can decide on a moment-to-moment basis for a written piece. One more thing---> In my opinion whenever a review is made, I believe it must baseline itself from the starting point of what the author intended for the novel and then assess if the author fulfilled that. This in my opinion is the most understanding review ever, where one's judgements isn't exactly personal but are like a guide for the author and others. To this end, author Ragat Ubhaykar gets a huge round of appaluse from me!

After finishing the book the only thing I can describe has resulted in my experience is one of utter awe and admiration for this author’s creation and for his indescribable compassion and benevolence for a corner underprivileged sect of our country, without whose largely invisible presence we would barely have food at our tables!

I have never seen anybody from our own nation (probably because I am unaware) who has devoted an extensive portion of his life into studying humans that were never granted any consideration for the services they offered. The author literally hopped into a rugged journey, risked his own life several times , and denied himself the comforts we today experience, simply to create this masterpiece! Wow! Wow!

Hats off to Rajat Ubhaykar and this comes from my heart! You are one of the most admirable people I have heard about and genuinely I feel very honoured to have accidentally found your book!

I have scribbled all across my paperback novel underlying lessons, fun-parts, and the volley of attractive language that never ran out till the end of the book.


The most important takeaway from the book and this opened my eyes to the depths of my ignorance of truck drivers—> These men, as Ubhaykar reveals, have been subjugated into a life of extreme toil and the only escapade offered to this locked-in position in reality is through addictions, prostitution and for a few, music (eg. Shyam). We know scarcely ANYTHING about their lives and by the time you will done with this novel, you will be hitting your head against the wall going over your ignorance on a trucker's life.

Every time I travel around the city, these days, and truck drivers honk past the car door, or cross me, I raise the question of the invisibility of their hardships (thanks to Rajat Ubhaykar). I even told my father about it and made him aware of the things I learnt from the novel and dad began sinking deep in discussion around the topic, his interest heightened. We delve deep into the alarming importance of these people in our lives. If they suddenly go on strike, food won’t arrive at the markets!!!!!

So many lessons I learnt from the novel—> “Do not under any circumstances, wilfully ignore a honking truck driver. It’s very likely he’s driving an overloaded truck, which means that even if he wants to stop the truck, he simply won’t be able to, considering overloading reduces braking efficiency by as much as 40 percent.”

There was another very important lesson I learnt at one point—> that we must always grant space to the truck drivers when on the roads, because any delay and they may miss out on an extra on their salary. Allow them pass and they would have more food to eat and better clothes to buy. At least that’s the case in one place, as stated in the book, where reaching on time brings in more monetary rewards to the already meagre salary of the truck driver.


One important lesson taught by a driver: "Real friends are the ones who make an effort to meet in person, not over mobile phones."

But the overarching lesson that came to register within me is compassion for this sect of people. Their life is such a challenge every single day. They are powerless being located in the lowest rung of their transport economy which is pretty much governed by consigners and agents whose greed reserves very little salary for the truck drivers whose lives, as you will discover throughout the book, carry enormous risk of death, for several important reasons:

1. Racing for their destinations within the time-slot assigned
2. Low skills of driving, or drowning the mundanity of driving every waking hour into bhukki, the dried pod of the poppy plant, used as a tranquilliser.
3. thousands of money-extorters (many of whom have zero regard for human life) along the way----READ THIS PART AND IT CAN HORRIFY YOU. It did for me! Especially because I was reading the first-hand experience of the author himself. You will find yourself inseparable from it! I really feel sad for this insecurity in the lives of such an important batch of providers in the economy of my country! (because I eat because of them!!!)

There are many many many other reasons I have dropped from the review. You have to discover by reading yourself!


Another lesson: Travelling is as much about unlearning as it is about learning, when long-held prejudices wither away in the face of empirical evidence.

Now the writing is impeccably beautiful and I have to quote many lines which I could barely peel my eyes from:

“The guy’s a chimney, if I’ve ever seen one. He runs through forty of these Four Square cigarettes in a single day’s journey——lighting them with his treasured pink lighter, leaning against the wheel while steering the truck with his elbow.”

There is a beautiful description of addiction—> “ Jora no longer remembers why his body needs the bhukki”

“…..stab of slight impatience”

“Perhaps the theoretical framework of hierarchy in caste really has outlived its utility.”


Certain pockets in the novel made me laugh so hard, I found myself breaking into laughing all afternoon simply in the memory of the lines. I will share some of them but not all. The rest you will have to discover yourself :P:

1. He wakes up with a start and with astonishing speed, proceeds to pretend he never fell asleep, like the smack was not real.”
2. Bone-crushing bear hug
3. What combination of bad-life decisions had landed me in a driverless truck somewhere in Rajasthan?

That’s it!!! There are so many points in the book where I couldn’t help laughing my heart out otherwise!


The author has made tremendous effort to study historical details that very relevantly back the conversations and the experiences that come to pass him by. I learnt enough about different types of Sikhs——the Sahajdari and Amritdhari Sikhs, something that made me feel content in the closure of my experiences in Punjab (I stayed in Punjab for three years and have always felt curious about Sikh kirpans and the traditional garments they donned when coming to my clinic). But this is only a minuscule of the sum-total of his research inputs in the book. They merge so beautifully with the journey, a new truck driver every other time. Historical details, current affairs, tax-related stories, limitations of GST, Overloading of trucks and its unavoidable risks.


The author has left no stone unturned!

In the end I have to state——Truck drivers are such a wonderful humans inside. I mean my eyes are opened wide into a section of people I pass by every single day at work!
It’s a such a beautiful revelation one can derive by the time they are done with the book.


So well, I am definitely taking a sabbatical again (simply to travel far and wide) despite medical life—I don’t know how, but this has to happen! (That’s a inspiration Rajat left me with)

Something else….

Every human experiences a book differently because when we read a book we permit it through the mental filter of our own unique psychological space. So, with regards to this book, this has been the overarching experience for me:

In the process of reading this book, my zest for life ran multiple undiscovered laneways throughout not only my brain but also in the sea of experiences that this small life of ours reserves until the heart clock runs out. In a week full of the book’s memories, the author, Rajat was able to slay away unnecessary traits I diminished in me but still carried ——like perfectionism in writing (why the hell do you even need it?!) when experience and every fullness if it (even in writing) is the highest use of this life of mine. It slayed away another trait——worrying about what others thought of me. Amidst this expansive terrain that the author leads us through, how small and insignificant are we?!! What does it matter what we think and desire when compared to so so so so so so so so much going on around!

Somehow, the author was able to help me understand, through the stories of these men who wake up every day to begin rushing through the streets, playing the cards of life and death much closer than us…..the author was able to help me understand, that “Life itself is enough reason to celebrate!” Only that!

They say travelling alters the person you are. I realised this after my solo travel to Chennai and getting lost in the sandy shores over there. I realised how different I had emerged after returning.

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

I loved a couple of lines. It was stated at a point where the author is pretty alarmed at the bureaucratical corruptions that governed the lives of the truckers. But by the time you have arrived at THIS POINT of the book, you will probably be as inclined, as the truckers themselves, to resign in a quiet sigh around the insignificance of the truckers in the midst of this corruption. So here are the lines I so deeply loved:

“The truckers, who apparently knew the routine from experience, would mind their own business, either sleeping or catching up with the other truck drivers around. Never did I see a truck driver bristling with impatience, or complaining about an especially tiresome bureaucratic procedure. They seemed to possess an infinite talent for waiting, benumbed waiting in which they attained a zen-like state, unthinkable for entitled city boys like me with attenuated attention span.”

FELL IN LOVE WITH THIS PART. I THINK I TEARED AT THE PROFUNDITY OF THE LINES!

This is one Indian author I will recommend for everyone! I am genuinely lucky to have taken a chance on this book!

I feel this novel cleansed me in so many ways. I don’t feel like the same person who I was when I began reading it!

[S.Ach · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading a book by someone who you knew beforehand, albeit only via Goodreads, is quite an exhilarating feeling.

Rajat's CV is quite interesting. He was an IITian, but chose to be a journalist instead. Hitchhiked around India in trucks, which resulted in this fascinating travelogue. Now, he is civil servant, after cracking IFS. I wish him good luck in career and with the hope that many more fascinating books will come from his keystrokes.

Characteristically of a well-read man, Rajat indeed is a very engaging writer. With his vivid narrative style, he takes the reader along with him in this engrossing journey where he hops from truck to truck to travel via the treacherous highways of India, crossing multiple state borders, encountering harassing officials with equal share of law enforcers and law breakers, savoring Dhaba style Indian cuisines - some familiar, some exotic, and most importantly hobnobbing with interesting people behind those giant wheels.
Rajat appears to be in awe of the beauty of diversity of India in his journey, than many other traveler's accounts that I have read, where author's humorous sarcasms border immature condescension (Case in point - Pankaj Mishra's Butter Chicken in Ludhiana).
Commendable indeed.





P.S. A small suggestion to Rajat - please share a map for each chapter. Also add reference to date or at least to the month / season when the journey took place, cause the reader wants to not only see what you saw, but also feel what you felt.

[Geeta Ramani · Rating 1 out of 5]

Truck de India! by Rajat Ubhaykar.

This is a book about the truck - the king of the road. The author travels with the truck drivers across India. I found the going tough, the first two chapters were all about the truckers lies and the Truck Association which did not hold my attention. I was unable to read further.

[Parth · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am glad to have had the opportunity to read Rajat’s Truck de India recently. It’ll go down in history as a very important document on the transport business of this era, which in itself would be an esoteric document had it not also been an analysis of our corruption and the ways in which the informal economy offers employment to our countrymen today. Truly, for the working class, nothing has changed, though the roads have gotten better (in some places) from post-independence India.
I was fascinated by the lives of multiple truck drivers in the book. Starting with the love for music of Shyam, the bhukki addiction and magnanimity of Jora, the gypsy nature of the Gujjars, the friendship of Rahul, David and Mohammad and the pain of K. Srinivasa Rao. Through all these lives on the road, Rajat manages to paint a picture of India and why we love our country and its diversity so much.

But, truly, for me, the two things that really elevate the experience of the book are the meeting with Milind Sonawane and the experience in Nagaland. Without Milind, I would not be able to truly understand the plight of being a working class person. And I congratulate Rajat for meeting a person like that on the road.
And Nagaland, whatever I say about it would not be enough. When the book did not cover Kashmir, I was a tad disappointed. But that disappointment was more than made up for by the inability to find a truck in Kohima and general distrust for hitch-hikers that existed there. That truly paints the picture of the insurgency there without really meeting the insurgents.

Another interesting thing for me was the difference in attitudes of the North Indian and the South Indian drivers towards their trucks and their profession. That contrast probably also characterizes the general difference in personalities between the two sides.

All in all, really glad I got to read Truck de India. And will return to it again to understand working class India better. Thanks Rajat, I’m sure your book will live on centuries from now as a study in diversity, the informal economy and corruption of early 21st century India.

[Shyam Kodavarthi · Rating 1 out of 5]

It's a book about travelling through India by truck. The author comes across child sexual abuse by truck drivers. The author then proceeds to justify and normalise the behaviour. I found it disgusting. I quote a savage statement from the book - 'Infant mortality was common, so parents learnt not to get too emotionally attached to their children.'

The author should have called the police. If he was not in a position to call the police, then he should have walked out. That's what I did in Madagascar. I most certainly did not sit down, order dinner and finished it with light banter.

I stopped reading the book. Infact, I want a refund for the book.

This is the author's first book. I hope it's his last.

[Tarun Karamshetty · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book starts off really well but loses steam in the middle and the end.
All in all, a good book about a less talked about profession in the country, a profession I was always fascinated about.

[Ahtims · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best books ever this year, a wonderful travelogue, an excellent exploration of the various facets of our wonderful country .
I had this in my TBR for long , but opportunity arose only when this was one among a set number of books I was to read for a 2 month old team challenge with close biblio friends.
Bought it online and started the day i got it in my hands.
Was hooked from page 1.
This book totally changed my view of truck drivers ...who till now, especially in medical profession are hailed as harbingers of STDs and are viewed with caution.

I totally enjoyed delving into the slices of their lives which were evocatively described by the author.

My arm chair travel almost took me into the driver's cabin. I felt I was a part of it all .

In the midst of reading this book I had to go on a comfortable car journey ..which lasted 16 hours with a 2 hour break in between...and I was tired to my bones and had to rest for a whole day...and wondered how the author managed it for weeks together . Perhaps the resilience of youth .
During the trip I was looking at the trucks passing by with a new eye and mind.... and wondering who may be inside and what they may be carrying.

I too feel like standing on the roadside and flicking up my thumb at a passing truck... but ....circumstances forbid me to do so.

I would recommend this book without hesitation to one and all.

Wish I get to read more such books.

[Ashish Kharloya · Rating 5 out of 5]

Disclaimer: I have been a friend of the author since I first met him in 2008.

Truck De India is a colorful travelogue, peppered with interesting titbits of history and info about the trucking business, and seasoned with a range of memorable personalities. It is the story of one man exploring the massive landmass of India while hitchhiking with generous truck drivers. On this journey, the author and we readers learn about the nitty-gritties of the truck driving business, meet a variety of players engaged in this game, and see the diversity and beauty of the huge country of Hindustan.

It would’ve been totally normal for the drivers to shun the author as as a spoilt, highfalutin, holier-than-thou city slicker trying to act tough by joining them on a token trip. It’s a tribute to the candidness of the author that this does not happen. Instead, the drivers open up to the author, partake of food and conversation with him, and in general treat him as a guest, as a friend, and as an equal. Hence, we the readers also get to sample a delicious slice of the truckers’ lives, a raw and unfiltered look at their tough day-to-day trials and the dreams and hopes and temperaments of the people behind it.

If you remove all the romanticism from the equation, truck driving is a very punishing gig, both physically and mentally. And the author gives us a fascinating look at how different personalities deal with the travails of this profession. Some turn to drugs, some look at it as a means-to-an-end, some are very fatalistic about it all: the writer deserves kudos for putting the drivers in a comfortable position to have such discussions in the first place, despite being, as the author describes himself with an endearing self-criticism, a ‘nosy stranger in their midst’.

The book is beautifully balanced between first-person narratives and third-person historical backgrounds. The author does a solid job of condensing interesting and relevant snippets of history for the multitude of destinations where he leaves his footprints behind during his voyage through the length and breadth of India. The scenic descriptions are vivid and concise. The dialogue is crisp and playful. I appreciated the decision to include original Hindi/other regional language phrases along with the English translations. It’s a joy to read unfiltered Hindi and English and Marathi in the same book!

Speaking of unfiltered, it is also a breath of fresh air to see the many sordid matters of Indian society treated with frankness and dignity. Child labour and abuse, women exploitation, betrayal of monogamy, drug abuse, and other social ills are brought forth and discussed matter-of-factly without judgment or censure. The journalistic background of the author shines through here, and gives us a heartbreaking view of the many social ills plaguing Indian society without demonisation of the characters in the story.

The book is also a love-letter to travel, especially solo travel. It shows how much satisfaction can be had from a solo journey, as long as you have determination, an openness for new experiences, and a willingness to put your body though some physical labours. In this trip, the author sees new places, eats new foods, makes new friends, tries new consciousness-bending drugs, reads novels, makes notes, takes pictures, looks at places from a new perspective, has near-death experiences, and trades common notions about places with new, personalised notions which feel more true. That’s the kind of solo trip that any traveller can be proud about. There is a beautiful scene where the author finds sublime peace in an area ravaged by insurgency, and realises how travel is about redefining the common with the personal. As a solo traveller myself, I loved the many sections where the author just roamed around a new area, sharing his thoughts and trying to form some context for his epic journey.

It was also wonderful how, in retrospect, the whole trip ended up being surprisingly organised without an itinerary. Wherever and whenever the author searched for a lift, he found. There is something to be said about the big heart of the average truck driver, which shines through in this book. The book also deserves praise for bringing forth the problems of the truck drivers’ community to the public consciousness: this is superbly encapsulated in a poignant scene where the author looks up a trucker’s issue on Google and is surrounded by hopeful truck drivers in search of good news, which brought up images in my mind of Jesus surrounded by hopeful supplicants!

Overall, Truck De India is a fantastic debut, a rugged-yet-romantic journey, and one hopes that the author will continue on his writing voyage and will share the future fruits of his labour with us readers for many years to come!

[Mudit · Rating 5 out of 5]

A refreshingly honest account of a city-bred Indian's tryst with the unfairly ill-reputed community of truckers, Rajat's simple yet rich language virtually takes you to a highly perched cabin of a truck cruising through the highways. His conversations with the truckers give one a glimpse into the extremely harsh times that truckers go through on a daily basis and the bits and pieces of romance that they hang on to survive such a life. The book does a great service to the truckers' community by giving us mortals a chance to look at them with a humanized, non-judgemental perspective. Having read the book in a matter of days, the book left me with a sense of calm and peacefulness, which I guess comes along when you know someone a little better. I can go on and on about how entertaining and informative the book is and how the author's sheer honesty is one of the most stand out features of the book, but the readers are going to find that out anyway. One of the finest travelogues you are going to come across.

[Aditya As · Rating 2 out of 5]

Book did disappoint me. It lacks a sense of adventure as we always feel the writer is protected and out of danger in good hands. And almost all the stories and accounts are from the past of Truck drivers, so we mostly disconnected from the story happening.

[Anton W · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found Rajat Ubhaykar’s book in a small bookstore cum cafe in Delhi and almost instantaneously reaches for it. It turned out to be one of the best spontaneous decisions I have made.

As a stranger traversing India’s endless yet enthralling highways, you are oft to wonder about the lives lived along the arteries of this unending country, especially during the long darks of night. Rajat not only brings these individuals to live, but also elaborates upon the economic and social-economic intricacies of India’s transport ecosystem.

Truck De India is one of those books that manages to make you cringe, laugh and reflect within the span of five pages. As I finished the novel, I was left with a taste for more of these as of yet untold stories. As the author makes clear, these unsung people form an inextricable part modern and ancient Indian infrastructure.

Moreover, in my opinion, it belongs to the canon of Indian novels that for some reason or another lead you to rethink your own part in this vast amalgam that constitutes India and that again challenges prevailing perspectives you hold as an outsider.

In all, I was lucky to have found this novel by sheer serendipity (aided by its beautiful cover art) and I’m sure to recommend it to fellow outsiders and Indian friends alike. If only to humanise the innumerable elaborately decorated and commanding beasts-of-the-road traversing India’s endless highways.

[Indrani Sen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I LOVED this book so much

[Aman Bapna · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great book filled with facts/knowledge spread over a unique and exciting experience.