There is a rush to return home to Bihar on the auspicious occasion of Chhath Puja 2026, the great festival of folk faith. 'No Room' boards have been installed in all regular trains coming to Bihar and Eastern Uttar Pradesh from metropolitan cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Kolkata months ago. At the same time, taking advantage of the sudden increase in demand, the aviation companies have increased the air fares drastically. At the last moment, one-way flight ticket from Delhi to Patna has reached Rs 30,000 to Rs 35,000 per passenger. In such a situation, to deal with the emergency and huge fares, a Bihari family living in Delhi-NCR came up with a unique and economical way of traveling, which is now being discussed everywhere. Instead of buying expensive plane tickets, this family booked a private cab (taxi) for Rs 25,000 and reached Patna safely after traveling a distance of more than 1000 kilometers. Heavy air fare broke the back, the family made a smart plan for a road trip. Rajeev Verma, who lives in Noida near Delhi, goes to his native village Patna every year with his entire family (four members) to celebrate Chhath festival. Rajiv told that when he checked the flight ticket to Patna two days before the festival, the total airfare for four people was around Rs 1,30,000 to Rs 1,40,000. During the festival season, it was almost impossible to get Tatkal tickets in trains and fares for private buses were also being charged up to Rs 8,000 per seat. In such a situation, instead of accepting defeat, Rajiv talked to an Innova cab driver. The taxi driver agreed to go from Delhi to Patna for a fixed package of Rs 25,000 (including toll tax and fuel). In this way, Rajiv's family directly saved more than Rs 40,000 compared to the flight. Delhi-Agra-Purvanchal Expressway became a boon, 1000 km journey covered in 14 hours. India's modern expressway network proved to be most helpful in covering this long distance by road. Rajiv's family left Noida at 5 am and reached Patna by 8 pm via Buxar via Yamuna Expressway, Agra-Lucknow Expressway and Purvanchal Expressway. This distance of about 1050 kilometers was completed in just 14 to 15 hours. Rajeev told that the roads on the way were so excellent that he did not feel any fatigue during the journey. Four members of the family stayed comfortably in the car as per their convenience, had food on the way and also brought with them all the household puja material, which would have proved to be very difficult and expensive to transport by airlines. The story of transport crisis is repeated every year on Chhath Puja, increased dependence of migrants. For the people of Bihar and Purvanchal, Chhath is not just a festival but the biggest source of emotional bonding. Every year after Diwali, lakhs of migrant labourers, students and employed people return to their homes. Although hundreds of special trains are run by the railway administration every year, these arrangements prove to be inadequate in front of a population of crores. This is the reason why people are now giving priority to reaching their villages via expressways by booking vehicles collectively or by private vehicles. Seeing this jugaad and economical idea of Rajiv Verma, many other families around him have also adopted the route of group cab booking to go to Patna, Muzaffarpur and Darbhanga.
