There are a few actions that we perform, which force us to take an oath, at some point in our lives. Well, dragging your moped in the rain, along the water clogged streets of Bibwewadi, Poona, is surely one of them. It made me take an oath, to always keep a check on the petrol tank of the vehicle I drive.
It all started with a teeny weeny "road trip" from Prabhat Road after watching 'Inception'. Those of you who've been to Prabhat Road, surely know the feeling you get when you leave an area like that to go to an area like Bibwewadi. That's right, I too, was totally hesitating to go to Bibwewadi, but, since I didn't really have a choice, I set out, braving the rain. Things were running smooth for most of the trip; I never took a wrong turn, I didn't violate any traffic rules, none of my notorious "stunts" happened...
Then, all of a sudden, as though Nature was conspiring against me, the clouds roared... The sky became overcast and gloomy... Huge rain drops began to hit me like hailstones... But none of these had any effect, until, my scooty began decelerating!
I was in the middle of a huge, indisciplined traffic, and my only means of escaping the rain had abandoned me. I had already passed the only petrol pump in the area ages back and there was no way I could find my way out of those haughty illiterates who were honking for no reason. Now, I began to think what a seasoned moped rider would do, in such a situation. He would probably get down, shake the vehicle a little, and after one or two kicks, he'd be riding it all the way home! Wow, this I could do, I thought. But then, there's a huge different between an "I thought" and an "I did"!
Trying to ape my hypothetical "seasoned moped driving dude", I got off my scooty, only to find myself knee deep in a dirty, muddy river, that was carrying everything that had been lying on the road before it had turned into this mini-Brahmaputra. I don't really remember what I yelled out, probably because the traffic was noisier than my swearing. So, in order to follow the next step of my hypothetical guideline, I dragged the scooty a little ahead to get enough space to kick start it, since the self start had already given up.
But, that day had to be the one with maximum street hawkers covering most part of the sidewalk! A Sunday evening for God's sake! After what seemed like a century of "dragging and cursing", I finally found a place with ankle deep water and tried almost EVERY position of kick starting. Each one of them would send the engine roaring, but as soon as I would accelerate, it would die down! And this would be followed by the usual "swearing-covered-by-noisy-traffic" routine. Finally, I did what my hypothetical rider, oh wait, I did what ANY moped rider would have done when his moped stopped... I checked the fuel tank. THERE WAS NOT A SINGLE DROP OF PETROL IN IT!
But on the brighter side, home was just a few minutes away and I had already dragged the scooty a lot, so I thought "What the hell?! Let's drag it further!". After that, all I had to do was get a bottle of petrol from the gas station, and I'd be happily riding my way to college the next morning! I decided to feel optimistic that time, and my usual "optimist" moment is- 'looking at the sky and smiling'. And I did it.
Remember those times when, during bad weather you look at the sky in desperation and suddenly everything becomes bright and sunny again? Well, this wasn't one of them. It seemed like the sky was mocking me. It sent another shower and filled my mouth with more water than it could contain. I HAD to look at the sky with my mouth open, didn't I? And all this HAD to happen a day before the dreaded 26th July! Just because I was indoors 5 years back when Mumbai drowned, was Nature getting back at me? Home was hardly a five-minute-"drag" away now, so I started again, with my hands occupied with the handle and my mind occupied with a building hatred for rain, and petrol, and littering, and global warming, too! And to make matters worse, home was on the opposite side of the road, oh that busy road! With death approaching from both sides in the form of speeding buses and racing trucks!
How on Earth was I supposed to cross the road?! I saw a few people crossing the road on foot. Suddenly walking seemed to be so convenient and much more fun! The hatred in my mind just passed on to Nightcrawler from the X-Men. Why couldn't I teleport like him? I would have tried my hand at Apparition by spinning around, but it would only get me dirtier, and deeper in mud.
It all started with a teeny weeny "road trip" from Prabhat Road after watching 'Inception'. Those of you who've been to Prabhat Road, surely know the feeling you get when you leave an area like that to go to an area like Bibwewadi. That's right, I too, was totally hesitating to go to Bibwewadi, but, since I didn't really have a choice, I set out, braving the rain. Things were running smooth for most of the trip; I never took a wrong turn, I didn't violate any traffic rules, none of my notorious "stunts" happened...
Then, all of a sudden, as though Nature was conspiring against me, the clouds roared... The sky became overcast and gloomy... Huge rain drops began to hit me like hailstones... But none of these had any effect, until, my scooty began decelerating!
I was in the middle of a huge, indisciplined traffic, and my only means of escaping the rain had abandoned me. I had already passed the only petrol pump in the area ages back and there was no way I could find my way out of those haughty illiterates who were honking for no reason. Now, I began to think what a seasoned moped rider would do, in such a situation. He would probably get down, shake the vehicle a little, and after one or two kicks, he'd be riding it all the way home! Wow, this I could do, I thought. But then, there's a huge different between an "I thought" and an "I did"!
Trying to ape my hypothetical "seasoned moped driving dude", I got off my scooty, only to find myself knee deep in a dirty, muddy river, that was carrying everything that had been lying on the road before it had turned into this mini-Brahmaputra. I don't really remember what I yelled out, probably because the traffic was noisier than my swearing. So, in order to follow the next step of my hypothetical guideline, I dragged the scooty a little ahead to get enough space to kick start it, since the self start had already given up.
But, that day had to be the one with maximum street hawkers covering most part of the sidewalk! A Sunday evening for God's sake! After what seemed like a century of "dragging and cursing", I finally found a place with ankle deep water and tried almost EVERY position of kick starting. Each one of them would send the engine roaring, but as soon as I would accelerate, it would die down! And this would be followed by the usual "swearing-covered-by-noisy-traffic" routine. Finally, I did what my hypothetical rider, oh wait, I did what ANY moped rider would have done when his moped stopped... I checked the fuel tank. THERE WAS NOT A SINGLE DROP OF PETROL IN IT!
But on the brighter side, home was just a few minutes away and I had already dragged the scooty a lot, so I thought "What the hell?! Let's drag it further!". After that, all I had to do was get a bottle of petrol from the gas station, and I'd be happily riding my way to college the next morning! I decided to feel optimistic that time, and my usual "optimist" moment is- 'looking at the sky and smiling'. And I did it.
Remember those times when, during bad weather you look at the sky in desperation and suddenly everything becomes bright and sunny again? Well, this wasn't one of them. It seemed like the sky was mocking me. It sent another shower and filled my mouth with more water than it could contain. I HAD to look at the sky with my mouth open, didn't I? And all this HAD to happen a day before the dreaded 26th July! Just because I was indoors 5 years back when Mumbai drowned, was Nature getting back at me? Home was hardly a five-minute-"drag" away now, so I started again, with my hands occupied with the handle and my mind occupied with a building hatred for rain, and petrol, and littering, and global warming, too! And to make matters worse, home was on the opposite side of the road, oh that busy road! With death approaching from both sides in the form of speeding buses and racing trucks!
How on Earth was I supposed to cross the road?! I saw a few people crossing the road on foot. Suddenly walking seemed to be so convenient and much more fun! The hatred in my mind just passed on to Nightcrawler from the X-Men. Why couldn't I teleport like him? I would have tried my hand at Apparition by spinning around, but it would only get me dirtier, and deeper in mud.
I finally made up my mind, and began to cross the road. It seemed pretty clear then, but just like everything had gone wrong that evening, my judgement went wrong as well. A PMPML bus was approaching me, the driver clearly auditioning for the lead role in 'Dhoom 3'.
They say that whenever you see Death in the eyes, your entire life flashes in front of you. You know what, THEY'RE LIARS! The only two things I could see then were the two headlights of that stupid Red Devil! But then, all of a sudden, a silver Honda CR-V overtook the bus to go for a nearby U-Turn. I'd never appreciated reckless driving so much! The bus stopped, and the CR-V turned. It must have been God-sent for sure, although I'm not really sure the driver was an admirer. Just as it turned, it splashed a whole swimming pool of muddy water on me. Again, a round of "swearing covered by noisy traffic" followed, and I was covered with what seemed like Earth's puke! Something had entered my shoe and I desperately hoped it was a piece of plastic, BECAUSE IT WAS MOVING!!!
Well, what followed wasn't eventful at all. I reached home safely, walked all the way back to the gas station making duck-like noises with my watery shoes, and the weather was normal again. It's rightly said, "All's well, that ends well!". I mean, sure I was stranded in the middle of the road with my vehicle out of petrol, sure the weather had gotten worse and worse during the entire ordeal, sure I looked like a dirty Chimpanzee wearing human clothing, and probably had a whole colony of bacteria growing under my foot (please remind me what was it that went well?), but at the end of it, when I got home, I had two legs, two hands, one head, and all other organs in the exact number as I possessed when I had left home. So, I guess, it wasn't too bad after all! On the plus side, I got a chance to empty half a Dettol bottle just to wash my feet! Oh wait...that's not a plus side!
They say that whenever you see Death in the eyes, your entire life flashes in front of you. You know what, THEY'RE LIARS! The only two things I could see then were the two headlights of that stupid Red Devil! But then, all of a sudden, a silver Honda CR-V overtook the bus to go for a nearby U-Turn. I'd never appreciated reckless driving so much! The bus stopped, and the CR-V turned. It must have been God-sent for sure, although I'm not really sure the driver was an admirer. Just as it turned, it splashed a whole swimming pool of muddy water on me. Again, a round of "swearing covered by noisy traffic" followed, and I was covered with what seemed like Earth's puke! Something had entered my shoe and I desperately hoped it was a piece of plastic, BECAUSE IT WAS MOVING!!!
Well, what followed wasn't eventful at all. I reached home safely, walked all the way back to the gas station making duck-like noises with my watery shoes, and the weather was normal again. It's rightly said, "All's well, that ends well!". I mean, sure I was stranded in the middle of the road with my vehicle out of petrol, sure the weather had gotten worse and worse during the entire ordeal, sure I looked like a dirty Chimpanzee wearing human clothing, and probably had a whole colony of bacteria growing under my foot (please remind me what was it that went well?), but at the end of it, when I got home, I had two legs, two hands, one head, and all other organs in the exact number as I possessed when I had left home. So, I guess, it wasn't too bad after all! On the plus side, I got a chance to empty half a Dettol bottle just to wash my feet! Oh wait...that's not a plus side!
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