Four Lane Highway
This is a story of a series of unfortunate
events. And true to Murphy's law, everything that could go wrong, did go wrong.
I know this seems like a concluding statement, but I’m an impatient guy, and
hence should be given some liberties as such.
A trip to Bheemeshwari; rumoured to be
beautiful, a place of green and blue. Anticipations were high, after a
stressful week at work, a chance to unwind and relax. Four people, two bikes.
One rented FZ in reasonably good condition, and a old rickety Discover 150,
which ran more on faith than on petrol.
First item on agenda naturally for me, was
breakfast, for which we confidently went to MTR. It opens at 7:30 am , I
assured them. As a prelude to the rest of the day, it was not open.
We waited about 15 mins, after which, to my
relief, they opened. We had a sumptuous breakfast. Deepika chose idli vada, Ken
got some sweet Chandrahara, Sandeep settled for medu vada. I wanted wheat dosa,
but the cashier looked busy, so I also settled for idli instead, to make his
life easier. Meh.
Straight to petrol bunk at Kagalipura. We filled
up the tanks. Bonjour then. Deepika was only used to driving an activa, and Ken
was used to driving people crazy. Leaving me & Sandeep as bold risk takers,
by letting them both take a try at riding geared bikes. Deepika actually was
driving pretty well, once she got the vehicle up & running. The biggest
challenge with FZ was finding the ‘neutral’ which the company decided to hide
inconveniently somewhere.
All was going well until we reached Kanakapura
town. Then we couldn’t find Sandeep and Ken who were on another bike. And
Deepika pointed me in the direction of Sangam. We took a left turn. Then we get
an angry call from Sandeep, informing that we had taken the wrong turn.
Bowing to his superior navigational skills, we
came back to meet them where they were waiting. Leaving nothing to chance we
decided to trust google maps to guide us henceforth ( You will see the irony of
this soon).
We travelled around 70 kms, and the journey was
breathtakingly beautiful. Scenic mountains, cold morning mist, slight drizzling
rain, not too much traffic, out of network coverage, mostly even roads. Ken’s
flailing attempts at riding the bike.
Life couldn’t be better.
We reached the police check post at “
Bheemeshwari Nature Camp ”. The security guards were friendly enough, a cursory
bag check, and we were in. Another trail to wherever was the destination. Seeing
that we were off the main roads, we decided to give the bikes to the novice
riders. I was on pillion, Deepika was driving FZ. And we were moving smoothly.
Encouraged by Ken & Sandeep’s claims of wildlife sightings (Deer, Wild
Boar, Mongoose), we decided to find some wildlife of our own. Other than some
‘wild’ cows and ‘wild’ goats we saw nothing. Then I heard a sudden exclamation
from Deepika “ Vishnu, look at that bird”. I looked, and found the road rushing
up to meet me. And in a split second Deepika was having a bloody face, and i
was wondering where the bird was.
Predictably, she and even me , were first
searching for her brand new Oneplus 6 mobile. Once the mobile’s safety was
ensured, I saw her face again. There were at-least 2 cuts which were bleeding ,
and she was spitting blood too. While I have seen my share of vampire diaries,
the sight of blood was still unsettling. People who were driving by stopped
their vehicles and were offering help. Imagine my surprise in finding so many
helpful people. By that time Sandeep & Ken came back looking for us. And
Sandeep was promptly shocked to see Deepika’s blood streaked face. I’m sure Ken
was also very concerned, and he was keeping emotions well away from his face,
so as to not frighten Deepika (duh).
And i was of course calm and composed and
speaking to Deepika in soothing voices, she however looked like she was going
to hit me . Some people, eh. No soothing them.
Anyway, we slowly climbed onto bikes, me riding
the discover bike this time. And then we waited for Sandeep to catch up. Only
to go back and discover the FZ was not starting, and had more people crowding
around concerned. I joked to Deepika there were more people concerned about the
bike than her. Again she refused to see the humour in that. I know she cannot
laugh out aloud with bleeding teeth and lips and all. But at-least she could
have made an effort. Again, some people, eh.
On the way out the security guy was screaming at
us “ I had told you not to give bike to the girl !” .
We just rode on.
Finally we found a govt hospital after much
looking around. People on the street were actually volunteering directions to
the hospital looking at Deepika. However there was this one gentleman who
asked what we were looking for . I mean, a girl is bleeding from her face
very visibly, did he think we were looking for a party place?
At the govt hospital, the nurse seemed very
experienced. She cleaned up Deepika’s wounds and gave her a TT & Pain
killer injections. And now that Deepika was safe, I knew that my smaller wounds
could use some cleaning up too. The nurse was very persistent on painkiller
& TT injections for me also. In the end I accepted , because there was
still riding back to conquer the place that had rejected us once.
With Deepika’s face sporting many bandages, we
set out on a noble venture. To hunt for lunch. We found what seemed like a
“beer & chilli chicken” kind of place,
with small huts to have food. With my only
vegetarian friend having broken tooth
and scant appetite, I felt one place is as good
as another. There was 2 plates of
chicken godavari, chicken biryani & sprite
bottles for Sandeep, and the rest of us
also ordered some little food. The lunch was
uneventful.
With grim determination we set out again. Only
to find that my bike wouldn’t start.
We pushed and kicked and called it many names.
But the bike seemed adamant.
Then after a while the bike gave up , and
started. We rode and reached the
check posts again. The same security guy with
strong opinions on girls on bikes.
He looked scoffed and still dismissive. I waved
at him cheerfully and said “ It’s us again” .He had a small smile while we
moved on. I like winning over ignorant people, will be useful if I ever go into
politics.
Then we pass the monkey feeding geniuses, only
to find Sandeep & Ken’s bike missing again. Deepika was concerned,
“Was there a diversion, a smaller road or something we missed?”, “Did they
fall off the ledge” , “ Nah, we would have heard at least Sandeep’s
scream”. I was having some doubts of my own, but acted nonchalant. But
after a few kilometres I also got genuinely concerned. They should have stopped
somewhere...If they are dead, how will I explain to the police! How would we
find the bodies. Aren’t there wild animals anyway, maybe I need not worry about
bodies. There was no mobile network coverage anywhere.
We thought we will get to another checkpost , or
some main road. Only to find these gentlemen sitting on a stone , after a
curve. I turned off my bike and got off for some well-deserved shouting at them
and then rest.
This stop over was also beautiful. Set in a
valley between two great mountains, lush green, and the light rains
visited us again. A small personal piece of heaven. Envying our unexpected
good fortune, lady luck spurned us again. We were ready to leave, and
again my bike wouldn’t start. Everyone tried everything. Half an hour of
pushing, kicking, praying. The bike wouldn’t budge, like it’s revenge for the
rough roads.
I was imagining ways to fight off wild animals.
Meanwhile, Sandeep showing some sense, stopped some random strangers for
help. And help they did! There were six people on three bikes. They spent
another half hour trying to repair the bike with some tools they had. A
lot of time and effort.The rain returned. This amazing bunch of people kept
trying.
My whole world view was challenged.
The verdict was that the bike wouldn’t start. I
thought maybe they will leave, they had tried after all. Reality doesn’t
care much about my predictions apparently. Much of their conversation was in
kannada. And i was proud to be a person from kerala, who understood kannada
best in our little group of misfits. I gathered they were concerned of our
survival. Apparently my bike didn’t believe in half measures.
It was bent to kill. We were stuck in a trail
famous for wild elephant crossing.
We four engineers were thinking furiously on a
way out. Meanwhile a middle aged man, on their side, found a discarded
cycle tyre, found an ingenious way to join our bike to their bike, and tow it
away. They offered to tow us till the check post, where there is mobile
signal and a way to call for help. One of our bike being out of commission
we had to be transported in batches, Deepika and Sandeep left first,
Ken being the second got to see some shaking
trees, as for me i was glad i could see some elephants at some distance. Before
they could stomp us all, we left the elephant zone.
We reached the check post. I was thinking of
what next. When the leader of their gang started discussing with the group. “
These guys are going to be stuck here. Especially on a Sunday, which mechanic
is going to come from the city ?”..
I gathered from my limited kannada knowledge.
They finally decided to take us to a mechanic in the city , 10 kms away. I
started thinking, nobody will help so much without some incentive, they should
be expecting some money.
How much should I pay? What they did is invaluable.
We could have been stuck in the forest with an injured girl. With rains, no
food or water, and quite away from civilization. We could be dead or worse -
wet and cold.
So what is the price of life, safety and
comfort? Rs.500, I decided.
The ride back to city was enjoyable. Now that
the problems were sorted, albeit temporarily. We reached the mechanic’s shop. I
whispered to the leader of the gang ( I found his name was Shiva), “ Can I give
you guys some money, we would have been stuck without you people “.
Imagine the guts of the bloody nice person, he
refused me with a smile. I was so offended. But hiding all that , I smiled and
bid goodbye to our benefactors.
The bike would be finally repaired now. Right?
Weren’t you following our day? Of course the
bike couldn’t be repaired. And we are 78 Kms away from home, and it 5:30
PM. We managed to get it started temporarily . Sandeep drove the troublesome
bike, with Ken. Me & Deepika on FZ. We decided to surrender the quest to
Bheemeshwari. Better to recuperate and fight again.
On the road to Kanakpura our nearest
civilization, which is 18 km away from us and still 55 Kms away from Bangalore,
I enjoyed the roadside scenery,..” man lost in the desert must take such water
as he is offered, no matter who it comes from.”
The day was over, we were on our way back. No
more challenges. Or so we thought. We travel some distance to find Sandeep
and Ken on side of highway kicking the bike again. The sky is dark, though it
is hardly 7 pm. We have some tough decisions to make. Sandeep voices what i
thinking. Maybe it's time to dump the bike, for now.
We go on to pipeline road, which is a smaller
lane parallel to main Kanakapura road. Almost deserted. We dump the bike onto
the road side. I try in vain to hide it with grasses, to make it less
noticeable. Ken comes in drops some grass on his own,
like flowers at a funeral.
As deepika laughs through all the pain, at our
valiant efforts. Ken marked that location in google maps, so that we can come
tomorrow to find it ( Marked as, Vishnu’s bike - RIP).
Now we need a way to get back , four of us, with
1 bike. Sandeep again shows
his ‘street-smarts’ by flagging down an ape
truck. They agree to take us to Bangalore. So Deepika, Ken and me go on the
truck, along with the bike. Sandeep follows on FZ. There was a moment of
confusion near Harohalli, where the truck people asked us to get off. They
thought they were going in a different route than where we wanted. After
sometime they resolved the issue themselves, as all of us, were too tired to
argue.
Remember the irony with google maps and
navigation from the beginning of the story? So the maps led us to a beautiful
enough location, true enough, but that was not the location we had planned to
go. The Fates and nature screwed up even technology. But all that is in the
past. There was some rain again. And I was smiling and laughing throughout the
journey back.
Everything that could go wrong had gone wrong.
But I was just feeling so happy.
I had never faced so many problems in one day.
The very survival was an achievement. In the end, we didn’t go into the river,
we didn’t splash around in water. But I’ve done all that before, we all
had. But I had never had six random people help me wholeheartedly without
any reason, never had to lift a bike to a truck, and travel in one, at night
while it was raining. Never had I ever felt more alive.
On second thoughts, I think the pain killer they
injected in the afternoon contained something like morphine.
May be the happiness was more of drug high.
Yeah, that should be it.
After all, I can’t have all of my worldview
rewritten in a day. Now you see why the title makes no sense, life sometimes
doesn’t.
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