My Journey in a Paper Van

Pic courtesy: http://www.imcdb.org/

It was July 1984 and Mangalore got a TV station to coincide with the Los Angeles Olympics. My brother wanted a Dyanora CTV(CT212) which was not available in Mangalore.

In Bangalore there was heavy rush as well but I could succeed in booking one through M/s Devi International on Madrtas Bank Road(St Mark's Cross Road). After much waiting that evening till 10:30pm, I got my piece, tested it, got it repacked and took it to my home in Malleshwaram. I also purchased 3 sets of 5 element antennae with mounting pipes and a full coil of ribbon cable for my brother and two other friends which was cheap compared to Mangalore.

Now the question was whether to book all that in a lorry or take it in the bus. A friend of mine told me that Hindu paper van(Matador) starts at little after 11:00pm and reaches Mangalore much before 7:00am to deliver paper and works out cheaper than bus/lorry. I booked a seat for the next night's schedule and also luggage space in that van at Sheetal Hotel in Gandhinagar which was the booking and pickup point.

Reached there well on time at 10:00pm and loaded the TV and the antennae plus my suitcase. The van was almost 50% loaded with heaps of cartons making chirping sounds that they told me are baby chicks that were being delivered to a Poultry. There were also 3 passengers seated in a cramped manner on the back seat! I wondered how they're going to dump the paper. That day being a Thursday, the weekly magazine Frontline was also printed and ready for loading. I got the front seat behind the driver on which I placed the TV box near the window and sat in the middle.

The van went straight to Hindu press on Cunningham Road, parked inside the compound and loading started. It was a never ending load and by the time they stuffed in all the bundles, the van was jam packed and even the back of my neck started getting hurt by the paper bundles! Besides, the birds kept chirping and I started getting a mild headache! From Hindu press, the van started at 11:45pm and the driver drove like a rally driver, screeching brakes at major towns like Kunigal, Chennarayapatna, Hassan, Sakleshpur, Uppinangady and unloading bundles of paper and Frontline. It rained cats and dogs almost all through the way and he entered every small town and was throwing them bundles expertly out of the window, without even stopping over! I had a doubt whether the paper remains intact in such a heavy rain but the driver said, someone will pick them bundles from the steps of the shops sooner, where he threw them.

Great network, that!

The chicks kept chirping nonstop. Two of the passengers behind me kept grumbling about chicks being loaded on paper van but I was tight lipped, as my load of TV and antennae were also questionable!

The cartons containing the birds were unloaded at BC Road and we all sighed in relief!when we reached Hampankatta little after 7:00am, it was bright and sunny. I sighed in relief that at least for unloading, I got an ideal weather! We reached Vyas Rao's Paper stall in Mannagudda near to my home, where I got down and unloaded the luggage, caught an autorickshaw and went home. The TV and the antennae reached safely.

My plight didn't end there. My head was reeling and I still heard birds chirping around my head with 3D surround sound like a baddie knocked down by the hero in some cartoon strip! I couldn't hear a word that my folks at home spoke and I was literally moving around like a zombie. I'd not slept a wink after getting into the van!

It took me almost two days to overcome that chirping sound and become normal!