July 11, 2001
Here
is another interesting of my adventures. Guess what? Yes, my car gave
up as we were on our way to B’lore. Stranded in the middle of
nowhere I had to spend the night in the car. The day began with a
puncher, but that was just a minor one that we had got rid of even
before we could begin our journey. It has been raining cats &
dogs out here. The roads are too bad for a drive. But I thought that
it would be wise enough to get out of the jungles before it gets too
late and the rains hold us there. It was a wrong calculation!
After
driving through all possible roads to get to the National Highway we
managed to only travel 60 kms in 5 hours. Traveled through all the
possible river floods and swirling waters. The currents were
dangerous though. All rivers were flooded and the water currents were
scaring. The waters had gone up by 5ft. We managed to get through all
the possible hurdles and now its time to cross the ultimate one after
which we could sail our way through to B’lore. We almost
did it. Unfortunately the word "almost" makes a difference! The waters
we had to cross was about knee height and for about 400 m. We got
through it but for the last 4-5 m. It so happened that some children
were playing by the road side and so my driver had to slow down in
the end. That was an excuse enough for the vehicle to stop ……..
and never to start again.
We
tried a lot but in vain. No one could help as well since the place
that our vehicle had been stranded was in a valley steep on both
sides. So pushing the vehicle in up direction was impossible. Of!
Coarse one cannot expect me to push the vehicle in the opposite
direction back into the waters. Here one realizes what it means when
they say in Hindi “AGAY
KHAI PEECHE KUWA.”
Now the only hope was Manoj, a collegue, who was 100 kms away in
Trivandrum. I did have his hotel no since it was the place I stayed
once upon a time. He did prove a “MASIHA.” His driver came to our
rescue. In the mean time the neighbors helped us. The hospitality
that they exhibited was worth a million. Not just tea but they
prepared dinner for us. And I should say that it was a blessing in
disguise. After having hotel food for so long I had home food. And
that too a Non-Veg diet! I shall never forget that family. They were
awake till 1:30 am till Manoj’s driver could come to pick us up. I
tried to bring some joy to those little children of that family as I
let them play some games on my Laptop. They wouldn’t go for dinner
but sat down with us in our Sumo. They were excited and asked their
Dad to buy one for them. These are one of the wonderful moments of
life where we realize that humanity still exists.
My
vehicle is now been transported to B’lore in a truck. It seems the
engine has been jammed up. I am now once again in Trivandrum with
Manoj. There is no work so we can rest for a couple of days.
No comments:
Post a Comment