July 17, 2016, 1028 hours.

And we have stopped again.

The wheels of the bus are going round and round but the bus just ain’t going nowhere. The slush on the road has entrapped the very essence of the bus, rendering all the horse-power in its engine powerless. Its tyres wailing, the body moaning, the bus is swaying helplessly as the impact of the power is transferred across its length since the tyres just can’t budge – in this moment, I understand physics a lot better than the professors wanted me to in class XII.

“Yaar, gaddi atak gayi. Uttarte hain.” Kaushal said as we prepare to get down and see what we could do to help.

“Oye bus se log uttar rahe hain. Pahadi khali nahin baithte,” The Wayfarer observed.

The bus passengers are out, gathering and strewing mud and gravel on the slushy road.

Parvinder has halted the car, engine running, and is watching intently.

But all this is a way of life. And what’s also way of life here is that everybody gets involved in working out the solution. Without sulking, getting irritated, venting or finding someone to blame, men and women just get on with the task of overcoming the obstacle and finding a way through cooperatively … it’s a way of life here, common sense, strategy – whatever you want to call it.

Am trying to figure out at what altitude down below does this humanity, this deep understanding that cooperation is the way to progress, this common sense, this kind sensibility, desert us human beings?

Btw, eventually, the driver and people on the bus waved us ahead. And Parvinder obliged, carefully driving through, paving the way for the bus to follow.