TRAVERSE 30
sacks of onions, or rolls of rebar. A tanker, its sides hot to the touch, sloshed with fuel. The smell of rotting vegetables seeped into the air, mingling with diesel fumes and woodsmoke from the truckers’ fires. Ghulam tapped the side of his trailer.
“ This flour is for villages further along the road. If it sits too long, the shops will be empty. And when bread becomes expensive, people suffer. The blockade is for justice, but it can also bring hunger.”
The truckers spoke with weary pragmatism. They were not against the villagers; they understood their grievances. But every day their cargo sat idle was money lost. Every day spent camped on the roadside was a day away from family. Some fretted about loans on their trucks, others
TRAVERSE 30