Another Rainyday Story...

another near death experience

This story begins in Hyderabad. My brother left for his job in Delhi last Thursday. But before going he made sure I had a big royal White Elephant to feed. (AKA his Motor bike). My Brother managed to blow up enough Moolah to get it from Jaipur (on a Train) and now he expects me to do the same thing to Mumbai. I tried hard and cribbed a lot before even he bought it. But my parents bought his story and bought him this bike. Enough of this buying... Coming back to my story.

Now that I am taking it to Mumbai... I decided of not using the World's largest Employer's services. Instead, I took up the world's most unreliable transporter, a private Volvo Service to Mumbai. The best part about this was that the Volvo had enough space below the seats that we can actually park 3 or 4 bikes. The sad part is that I had to get off before reaching Mumbai to avoid Octroi and other Bleeeeeeeeeeping taxes.

Just when I thought that my journey was going to be fun in the third row of the bus, a girl got on with her brother (I assume). She was sitting next to me and just as her brother left, she cried like a 3 year old. OK not that bad... but bad enough. So I decided to keep my distance. After 3 hours of "Maine Pyar Kyun Kiya" and another 7 hours of bus ride, we reached Pune. It was raining and soon I found out that this was just a preview before the big Movie. After another 2 hours of "Taxi No 9 2 11", I reached Navi Mumbai.

Despite my repeated requests, the stupid bus driver and his assistant dropped me off in the heavy downpour at Vashi with my Bike (empty Fuel Tank) and no Petrol Pump insight. After dragging my bike for about half a kilometer in the rain, God decided to forgive me for a while. That forgiveness lasted 5 whole minutes (time taken to refuel my bike). Then I set of in the rain to reach home dressed heavily (No rain coat though) and with a helmet without a wind shield.

On the way, I had to face a couple of "Check Nakas" & thanks to the rain I sneaked my Rajasthan Registered bike past them. I crossed the "Mankhurd" Bridge (This connects Navi Mumbai to Mumbai) with only one thought on my mind, "Will I be killed on this bridge or not?" The bridge seemed to be never-ending just as the train of thoughts initiated by the previous thought. This felt like someone throwing sharp pebbles on my face and I had to keep my eyes open to see this and to continue.

I made it through somehow, then came the Mumbai Roads excellent (but extremely scary) at places and potholed & slimy at others. I felt the back tyre of my bike slip at least at 3 different occasions and I never knew what speed I was doing because of the Luggage I was carrying from Hyd. Just when I was about a Km or so from my house, the bike finally brokedown (or so I thought). I was petrified by the fumes from the engine but was more than relieved to find out it was just the gears.

It took about a football match's time (without additional time) and directions from 20 or 30 Auto/ Taxi drivers to reach home. Only to find out that the apartment doesn't have parking space for all. I somehow reached dryland but my Bike couldn't. After all the action and adventure, all I could do was to get back Office for work.