I generally leave for my office at 9am or 8.45am. Today, I got delayed … I left from my home at 9.30am. A matter of thirty minutes and the entire western express highway was swamped with traffic. One huge moving traffic jam from Andheri (my place) to Goregaon (my office). Thank my stars that my office is not any further!
Somewhere in the midst of this huge traffic jam, a street urchin rushed past my car … I had to immediately push the brakes in order to hit her. Stop I did, but the car stalled. In the middle of a traffic … on a slope.
With seconds ticking by … and what seemed like an eternity, try as I may, the car simply would not start (there is some problem with the starter in my car). So I relaxed, turned off the ignition, put the car in neutral … and hey!! I am moving back … (grrr … I had forgotten that I was on a slope!).
Thud!! I had slammed right into the vehicle behind me (an auto rickshaw carrier). The driver is boiling now, and his accomplice has gotten off to check the damage. At that point, the words of Baba dawned upon me –
- Relax and take it easy
- Let the traffic go and do not care about them
- Focus on getting the car started
So I switched on the hand brake, put the car in neutral and turned on the ignition. The car started!
Luckily, the auto was not even scratched (it was just a bumper to bumper bump). Also, the driver was now cooled down and we exchanged a few pleasantries (apologies from my side and advice from his) and I moved off.
That’s what happens when you get a license through bribing!! :P
On another note, is your car automatic gear? If not, I would suggest spending the extra bucks on getting an automatic gear, especially since you are driving in Mumbai. The reduction in mental stress far outweighs the extra cash you will spend in fuel.
Aina, I would have already gotten it, but the car I am driving is our 6 years old Wagon-R. Might as well do all my mistakes on this one before I buy a new one :)
One time, everyone has to go through this. Another crash here: http://stackhopr.com/blog/2009/near-life/
BTW, did I say all that?
Yes you did, when we were returning from Sai Palace and were stuck in that bumper to bumper traffic and the car had stalled :-D
buuttttt, why were u driving in the first place? Driver kahan gaya?
Driver resigned after taking a long holiday over the new years. Thanks to that push, I can now comfortably drive my family to wherever we go.