A journey from Lahore to India via the bus service is an adventure itself
Being the son-in-law of an Indian national, I have to travel to India at least once in two years. This of course is done with my wife and kids and the purpose of the visit is to meet our near and dear ones there.
This year, as part of my two-yearly pilgrimage to the in-laws across the border, I decided to commute by the much publicized, Lahore-New Delhi bus service. Sure I have been on planes and travelled in the neighbourhood courtesy of PIA and Air India. But being a little adventurous and not in too much of a hurry to reach the destination, I decided to experience it all firsthand.
Operated by the Pakistan Tourism Development Corporation (PTDC), our side of the divide has two buses that take passengers from Lahore to New Delhi and back. These buses operate five days in a week. The same schedule is followed by the Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC).
Our journey to the Indian capital began at six in the morning. Actually, it was two hours before that as passengers are required to report well before time for luggage security, issuing of boarding passes, loading of luggage in the bus etc. We were told that our estimated time of arrival in New Delhi was 5.30pm.
Our bus left for Wagah on time. Though the busses usually depart Lahore from the Faletti Hotel, ours left, accompanied by the usual two police mobile escort, from the Ali Complex. We arrived at our first pit stop 45-minutes later.
As passengers disembarked, we were asked to surrender our passports to the immigration department and go for a breakfast in a nearby, well-maintained hotel. Our breakfast is decorated with the usual: omelette, bread, jam, butter, biscuits, tea and coffee. In the meantime, coolies removed our luggage from the bus for customs checking. The luggage is kept in a big hall which has small cemented platforms, almost identical to the hall at Empress Market! Breakfast, lunch and evening tea with snacks are included in the ticket cost of Rs1500. The ticket price from New Delhi to Lahore is 1250 Indian rupees; the difference in cost being due to the difference in the international exchange rates.
Every passenger is allowed 20kg of luggage while all additional luggage is charged at a rate of Rs70 per kg (60 if you’re paying it in Indian rupees).
Soon after the breakfast, the passengers are asked to identify their baggage and the Wagha Customs officials begin checking the luggage. This process takes about an hour and a half. The immigration authorities return the passports to the passengers and the luggage is loaded onto the bus by the Wagha border coolies. These coolies demand money from passengers according to the number of baggage. One has to be a good bargainer at this point to deal with them. If they demand Rs100, offer them Rs30 and the deal is struck somewhere at Rs50.
Once the luggage is loaded, the bus moves towards Attari. The iron gates of the border are opened and when in India, the luggage is yet again removed from the bus, this time by the coolies at Attari. I found the immigration arrangements at the Indian border far better and organized than the arrangements on the Pakistan side. The immigration staff at Attari is also friendlier and cooperative, especially the Sikh officers. They are always available to assist you in filling the forms for obtaining RP (residential permit). A computerized printout of RP with colour photograph of the passenger is given to every passenger with all the details of the destination they are desiring to travel. There are huge luggage scanning machines and proper arrangements for luggage checking at Attari.
Once the luggage has been thoroughly checked and formalities completed, the coolies get to the work of loading the luggage in the bus. Most of the coolies at Attari are Sikhs and belong to the nearby village. They demand reasonable wages for their work and one doesn’t find himself haggling with them. As we were boarding, two security officials, who had accompanied us from Lahore, gave us chilled mineral water bottles, chocolates and newspapers, in English, Urdu, Hindi and Indian Punjabi language. Thereafter two armed police officials too board the bus from Attari. The bus was then escorted by Haryana Police jeeps and the journey to New Delhi began.
The escorting jeeps change at every district and by the time the bus arrived in New Delhi, the change had already taken about five to six times.
Along the way, the sights of the Indian countryside entertained us. And if that’s not acceptable, then the passengers were patronized with two of the latest Indian movies. The bus passed through various cities, Kartarpur, Ludhiana, Khanna and made a stopover at a hotel known as Floating Restaurant. The restaurant is built on a wide water canal which flows throughout the year. Kashmiri pulao along with two to three variety of grams and salad was served. The meal here, as in most other parts of India was invariably vegetarian.
After a stopover of about 40 minutes, the journey continued and at around 4:30pm the bus reached Pipli, a city of Haryana. The hotel in Pipli where the bus makes a stopover for evening tea, is managed by Haryana Tourism Department. Passengers are served with hot vegetable snacks like sandwich, pakora and tea. This is the last stop before reaching New Delhi.
Before the bus enters the Indian capital, the escorting jeeps switch on their sirens. It is a message to all traffic cops managing the New Delhi traffic signals, to stop all the traffic and clear the way for the Lahore-Delhi bus. Subsequently one gets to see all traffic cops standing vigilant and the entire traffic stopped to allow the unhindered passage of the bus. The scene I witnessed reminded me of General Pervez Musharraf’s convoy whenever he visits Karachi.
At last we reached our destination as the bus arrived at Dr Ambedkar Bus Terminus at Delhi Gate. The police present at the bus terminus makes sure that all the passengers get their luggage and leave the terminus within an hour as the entire compound of bus terminus is then locked till next morning when the bus leaves for Lahore at 6.00am.
The journey to New Delhi from Lahore by bus is about seven hours long. But additional four hours are consumed along the way by Customs of the Indo-Pak immigration department and the remaining time is spent in breakfast, lunch and evening tea. If you are to continue your journey to some other Indian city after reaching New Delhi and have plans to stay overnight in the city, then make sure that you obtain a visa for New Delhi while applying for Indian visa in Islamabad. No hotel in New Delhi will lend you a room without a valid visa for the capital. Hotel owners in New Delhi have strict orders from city administration that Pakistanis arriving in New Delhi can only stay in hotels if they have a valid visa for New Delhi. In case of noncompliance, the hotel owner as well as the passenger is taken to task for violating the law. Those who have been to India by air and rail must-give the bus journey a try.
A journey from Lahore to India via the bus service is an adventure itself 
