The Chaotic India Nepal Border Crossing On A Horse Drawn Cart
The loudspeaker blared in Howrah Station as I sat in the Mithila Express along with my parents and a huge group filled with strangers. We were supposed to be reaching Raxaul station early morning next day at India Nepal border. Our first overnight stop in Nepal would be Chitwan.
Travelling in Indian trains is an experience in itself, more so when you choose sleeper class. These come at dirt cheap price and guarantee a sneak peek into the true life of Indians.
The cold night in the train was soon over and I opened my eyes to find the dawn light already flowing in through the glass windows; Raxaul station was less than 5 minutes away. I had to choose between properly boarding down from the train and brushing my teeth. I obviously chose the former.
My tour was arranged by an Indian Tour Company who specialises in conducting group tours. We are not fond of group tours at all but things are judged differently when the owner of the company happens to be a close relative!
The day was extremely foggy and cold. As soon as we stepped out of the station several men surrounded us in order to sell us their service. Well, the service that I am talking about here is ‘riding a horse drawn cart’.
From what it seemed, in Raxaul town, most of the tourists who want to cross the border and enter Nepal have only one way of doing so: by riding on a horse drawn cart. I saw the managers negotiating over the price and soon we were shown our respective horse carts. Quickly we took our seat and also dumped our luggage inside the cart. Looking outside, however, I felt a pang of guilt.
The horses were malnourished and often beaten very badly. One horse is made to pull 4-5 people plus their luggage, not to mention the weight of the wooden cart. I was praying for the journey to end as soon as possible. However, the day had stocked more surprises for me.
The entire road looked like a huge dumping ground and stank like hell for most of the time. Then came a point where I found ox drawn carts, horse drawn carts, trucks, private cars, motorcycles, cycles, pedestrians were all plying on the same road in a zigzag direction at snail’s pace! I have never seen chaos to the same degree as that. I almost started to think I will lose an entire day stuck in this ‘traffic jam’! Even till date I have no idea how we escaped unharmed.
There was a short moment when I stopped noticing the chaos, turned my head right and started chatting with my grumpy co-passenger. The chat was cut short when I felt a warm gush of air touching my ankle; I straightened my head and found a horse breathing on my feet! I was sitting in the back seat of the cart with my feet dangling outside. This became a pretty much common occurrence over the course of the journey. Sometimes it was a horse, at other times-an ox.
It was lunch time when the cart finally entered Birgunj-the border town in Nepal, adjacent to Raxual. So, it took 3 hours to cover 9kms!
My Thoughts on Raxual-Birgunj : India Nepal border
From what I gathered through my observation is that Raxual and Birgunj are high on shady activities, smuggling being on top of the list. I believe such large scale shady businesses cannot run without the support of corrupt officials. I would not blame the horse-cart owners for not feeding the animals and making them overwork. I doubt if the owners and their family get to eat two full meals a day. It is wrong of me to expect people surviving under abject poverty to show care for environment, animal or anything but food and shelter.
I hope the government of both the countries take necessary step to combat the situation prevailing at the border.
Practical Information:
Trip Taken On- December 2014
Train- Mithila Express 13021 (Departure: 15.45 from Howrah Station; Arrival: 8.30 at Raxual; Duration: 16 hours 45 minutes; Frequency: Everyday)
*****
Love Traveling? Sign up to the free newsletter here to read our travel tales and inspirational tips!
Tania Banerjee
Tania is a freelance writer based in India who tinkers with words here and there but mostly focused on travel, food, arts and crafts. She writes for several Indian dailies and magazines.
16 Comments
Amitava Dasgupta
Seems nothing changed from 2009 when I visited, though we took a cycle rickshaw to cross the border and took a bus to Kathmandu via Hetauda. I must admit, Raxaul is the shittiest place I have seen so far…once you cross Birgunj…road becomes lovely as it winds up the hill.
Tania Mukherjee
Nothing has changed at all. Infact on the return journey we stayed one night in Raxual(so that we do not miss the early morning train next day), well, the ‘best hotel’ of Raxual was nothing short of a nightmare. It was dirty to the power infinity, the reception had a picture of a C grade movie, the women were told NOT to leave the hotel compound at all as it is utterly unsafe.
Amitava Dasgupta
on the way back, we entered in India through a Tanga and pre planned to leave this place at earliest. So took a passenger train to Muzaffarpur and Bagh Express at night from MZP back to Howrah. It was a weird, berserk journey, due to strikes and strifes, roads in Nepal were closed. We took flight from Kathmandu to Simara, Simara to Birgunj on a bike(3 adult male with backpacks on a single two wheeler for 30 odd kms), then tanga to Raxaul
Tania Mukherjee
Whoah! That’s one hell of an adventure you must have had!
Deepika
The photographs themselves present a shady perception of the place. Omg!
Tania Mukherjee
Thanks for reading Deepika! Yes the place is totally shady!
quirkywanderer
What a wonderful imagery. Lovely narration Tania! 🙂 I personally detest horse carriages. It’s the same almost every where in India 🙁
Tania Mukherjee
Thank you very much! 🙂 In 2015 I think I read a news headline that horse carriages would be banned in India. No idea if that rule was ever implemented.
vibesofacalcuttan
Exactly as you described, but on April, 2014, we crossed the border from Raxaul to Birgunj. Though we had reached a hotel for lunch in 2 hours, still the traffic jam was a mess with horses and ox plying through the road with motor vehicles. To be honest, Raxaul felt more unsafe than Birgunj. We then boarded on a mini-bus from the lunch hotel which was pre-booked by the tour manager, and went to Chitwan National Park. Nice writing! Totally upheld the chaotic image of the border.
Tania Mukherjee
Thanks for reading! 🙂 Yes Raxual is one degree more than Birgunj in shadiness. I have never been to another so chaotic!
ArtIs3Dots
Wow, great trip 🙂
Tania Mukherjee
Thanks !
incravingswetrust
I loved this post! Your struggles on the horse-drawn cart reminded me of my my rides on the rot-song-teeos from my volunteer village to the city center during my Peace Corps service.
Also love that you included travel logistics at the end of this post! 🙂
Tania Mukherjee
I am glad you enjoyed reading this. I just cannot believe that the border was chaotic and shady to this extent!
Pingback:
Pingback: