Last
night, as I was leaving for the hotel room, I requested Hetal, Rajiv and
Atulbhai to flag me off from the hotel the next morning. There wasn’t even a
nano second of hesitation from any of them despite the early schedule I had in
mind for the long drive from Surat to Ajmer. By the time I had loaded the
luggage and fixed the GoPro camera they were at the hotel. After ensuring that
all were in place for the drive Hetal flagged me off with gusto at 5.30 am from
The Grand Bhagwati after fond farewells from the three who had become closer
than family could be.
Rains over the past fortnight had spoilt road surfaces in
most places and horribly pot holed many stretches on the Ajmer leg. Inclement
weather also played truant on the 861 km Surat – Ajmer route. One of the
principles I follow while driving is to watch the road carefully, particularly
making full use of peripheral vision. It is critical while driving in India and
some other parts of Asia. Because, anything can come from anywhere. And, the
bigger the vehicle you drive, the greater will be the blame placed on you. I am
very conscious of this and hence, I am on full alert even on the highways. I
have escaped potentially fatal accidents following this principle. Another
cardinal principle is to respect the road condition – if the road surfacing or
condition is bad I take it with a lot of patience; on the other hand, if the
road permits speeding I do not miss the opportunity to floorboard the
accelerator, while at all times ensuring that the vehicle is completely under
control. I call this driving responsibly fast. It was my driving Guru, Mani,
who taught me that one should always have the vehicle under sure control. Being
a hero is not for the roads; one can become a zero in no time, even causing
death and damage to others.
The Godhra bypass was a newly laid out road, I gathered
from the settlement in some parts and poor surfacing in some others. Hence, I
took it with some caution, while at the same time being aware that there was no
traffic at all on the lonely stretch. When I am on such stretches I allow
myself the luxury of music, often singing along loudly because there is no one
to berate me that I am out of pitch, out of tune and completely hopeless with
lyrics.
These are times when I am a king to myself; sometimes
even wondering why so much of adulation has gone the way of Kishore, Rafi and
Yesudas without me getting my due share! I was in a mood of self-appreciation,
but nevertheless noticed from quite a distance a village access road linking
the four lane bypass road on the right hand side. I was more than 500 metres
from the cut on the road when I saw a young boy on a moped cut across the
bypass road from the village road and get on to my side of the road. I was on
the left most lane and did not assess any threat to my steady speed. As I was
about 100 metres from the moped rider he looked back, virtually stared me in
the eye, and cut diagonally across my path! I had very little time to react. I
had never thought it necessary to course correct at any point for I had assumed
that he had seen how close I was to him and would stay his original course. I
ferociously slammed the brake but knew I would hit the moped. I did and saw the
rider slip off the vehicle and slide in front of the car on the bituminised
road. The car eventually stopped just short of the rider and the moped had gone
to one side. Heart thumping and pulse racing I got out of the car, thanking God
that the rider was not run over, which had been a distinct possibility. The boy
got up, quickly composed himself and started blaming
me for the accident! He
claimed that I was on the wrong side of the road. The combination of factors
that he found the gall to make false statements and that there was no one
around I picked myself up full height and slapped him soundly on his right
cheek. That seemed to rally his senses and he started to profusely apologise! I
assessed damage to the car. The right side front bumper had come lose and the
fog lamp had been lost somewhere in the slide. This was my first accident in
five years of expedition and it had to happen on a sparsely used highway which
afforded excellent visibility. I was shaken for a while, but regained composure
soon enough to be completely in charge behind the wheel.
Despite the weather, poor roads and the
accident I managed to reach the Officers’ Rest House in Ajmer within 11 hours
of driving from Surat. The condition of the rest house was so bad that I even
thought of continuing onwards to Chandigarh! What spiked that thought process
was night driving, which I try and avoid to the extent possible. I steeled
myself with the thought that after all it was just a matter of one night. The
zillions of ants in the rest house kept up their merry march in and out of the
room and it disturbed me no end.
Deepak, the Commercial Inspector, had been
attached to me by the Senior Divisional Commercial Manager to ensure that my
requirements are met. He agreed to fetch me dinner, which I requested for early
so that I could turn in early too. By 7 pm he landed up in the room with home
cooked food saying that the hotels nearby would not be able to give me decent
food! He even brought fruits for me to have on the way the next day. I was
overwhelmed by the hospitality and felt I had imposed on him unnecessarily. But
then, such is the railway fraternity.
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