Saturday 21 July 2012

Pain in the Rain : Three Mistakes in one night...

They say Mumbai's monsoon is the worst compared to any city in India. Well Hyderabad experienced something similar on July 20th 2012. It rained non-stop for nearly 12 hours, and it was not just raining, it was pouring like crazy. I was cozy in my blanket watching the movie "Office Space" that friday night after a long day at office and nearly about 36 hours without sleep. Despite of feeling sleepy, at night 0230 hours i decided to go on a drive, my first mistake. I updated my facebook status which read "Going for a drive in rain... Wanna join anyone? ;)" and started,  not even 5 minutes later my phone beeped and one of my old school pal Arpit commented on my post to pick him. He lives close to about 25 Kms from my place, and i knew the roads were not all that great in that route but since its been really long I've met him i decided to go to Malaysian township, Miyapur. My second Mistake.
I took a U turn and headed back home to get my weekend survival kit, laptop, charger, pair of clothes etc as I might decide for a overnight stay. Started for Miyapur after a quick pit stop at my home, not even a kilometer i would have gone it started raining like cats and dogs. My cars wipers were at maximum yet i am unable to see whats ahead of me but i was loving it, the noise of rain on the roof was music to the ears. For a while  I even thought of stopping for couple of minutes and getting drenched, I was unaware of the fact that it will happen soon, by force not by choice. When i reached the road which leads to Maithrivanam (Aditya Enclave road), I saw an ocean ahead of me. I dint have a clue how deep it would be but since i am regular commuter on that road i decided to go. What i did not notice was scream from a few guards warning me not aron ralston to take that road. My Third Mistake.


I thought, now, this would be fun, I have to split this ocean like Moses did to the Red sea while rescuing the Israelites from Egypt. I hit my feet hard on the throttle and zipped thru the relatively shallow waterlogged road, slowly i noticed my car is going deeper and my speed is decreasing despite of full acceleration. Soon i came to a stand still, Engine seized and my brain too. I did not know what to do.  I tried to , again and again switch ignition on, no luck. rolled down the window to discover my tyres were completely drowned in water. I finally opened my door, and a wave of water gushed into car's cabin. With not even a soul around me in this Ameerpet ocean i felt helpless. There was no current and it was pitch dark, my car's lights were on but were below the water level giving a discovery channel's under water torch like footage. in that dim light I saw my car's wheel cap floating in the water, rushed to grab it and threw it inside. I had no other choice but to tow the car back to a higher land. One hand on steering other on the window i started to push my car backwards while the stereo played Emosanal Atyachar song, the lines fitted well "Ho gai dil ke paar tragedy…tragedy", i cursed myself and continued pushing. Thankfully it was relatively easy to push this 1000 kg sedan as it was half underwater. It took me almost 30 minutes to get my car back about 200 meters on a safer land. My wish of getting drenched was over-fulfilled. Sat back in and again tried to switch the damn thing on. It did not switch on but gave a hope with some noise from the engine. I thought of giving it some time so that the water gets drained out of the engine.
I walked upto  a shade where couple of security guards were sitting. They told me "Sa'ab, hum pukaare the nakko jao (Sir, we were yelling, don't go)" I told them i am sorry but i did not see or hear you guys. Waited there for about half an hour and then got back into the car, Prayed and and turned the keys. Prayer was answered, car started. I felt like a i am Aron Ralston of 127 Hours who escapes alive from the Blue John Canyon (LOL). Full throttle for 5 minutes, before i took a U turn and headed back home. Called up my friend and informed him that cannot make it to his place. I have never felt so happy reaching back home. It took me another hour to drain out the water logged inside the cabin. 0500 Hrs, gave keys, a 100 bucks to the watchman to drain the rest of water.
Spending half an hour with a car in knee deep water doesn't seem too big of a deal but (God forbid) if you go thru it you'll know how scary it is. The whole incident taught me that its cool to play with mother nature but not so cool to mess with it, coz it has a long memory and a nasty temper...

Later,
Samyt

7 comments:

  1. umdaaa pradarshan........ (fantastic performance) ...keep it up

    ReplyDelete
  2. Nice presentation of your and your car's encounter with Mother Nature.. I sincerely hope you become less adventurous now .. especially in avoidable circumstances.. :-) ... Sameer

    ReplyDelete
  3. Kya baat hai tum toh abhineta aur lekhak dono ek saath ban gaye! Shabaaas!!! :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Great piece of writing Samit...feel like reading a novel:-) Nupur

    ReplyDelete
  5. Great piece of writing Samit...feel like reading a novel:-) Nupur

    ReplyDelete