Arms Alley

Crossing the border from Bengal to Jharkhand, we were speeding down the Grand Trunk Road when we noticed that the road side shacks which normally housed dhabas or tyre shops were displaying a very different kind of merchandise. Lining both sides of the road were stalls selling sharp instruments of every conceivable variety. Spears, choppers, knives, swords interspersed with colorful baseball bats and hockey sticks for variety...a true anarchists dream. A much more genteel and watered down version of the famed Dara Adam Khel of Pakistan the roots of these shops lay way back in time when crossing the lawless stretches of Bihar was an arduous journey and people stocked up and traveled in convoys to tackle roadside bandits. (Even in this day and age it is advisable to only travel through the stretch during the day and nighttime trucks still travel in convoys.) Seeing our interest, the sales boys father went in to bring out his special stash which included commando knives and gleaming samurai sword knockoffs which are apparently big sellers with 'discerning buyers'.  After admiring these works of art, we big goodbye and continued on our way, not with any steel in our bags but with a few discerning photographs of the arms alley on G.T. Road...