[Chetan_Rao]

Moments Before: I usually refuel at the Shell bunk on Mysore Road (just before Nayandahalli Junction, left side approaching from BHEL) early morning on weekends to avoid the rush.

I get up at 7 AM, curse myself for sleeping that extra half hour, and get going. The junction is already a mess by the time I get there (Where does everyone go so early on a weekend? Beats me!). Anyhow, refuelling itself is incident-free, and I inch back into the jam to make my way home. I pass by a bullock-cart driven by a really old guy (are bullocks carts driven, or is there another word for it?). I wonder passively as to what happens if the beast goes berserk in jam-packed traffic (kick myself later for destructive imagination)? The old guy is in good spirits, and is whipping the poor beast into a frenzy, which reacts the only way it knows, running as fast as it can. I'm watching from the safety of another lane (which a KSRTC guy has managed to bully me into, the idiot. What's with people not noticing indicators?) I hope I make it past the junction without a brush with the high-on-adrenaline Gladiator (wild imagination at work again!). But no such luck. (Serves me right for putting off brushing my teeth for later. The Universe conspires to balance things out with another kind of brushing!)

The Incident: I indicate and manage to get into the left lane without a fender-bender with the bus (which doesn't seem to like my car at all), but only manage to get a few car lengths ahead before another bus blocks the left turn (people just love stopping sideways on a signal, don't they?).

I settle down for the next cycle, and give the music a go. I glance around, and that's when I see it. The bullock is fast filling my left wing mirror, growing in size every instant. I hope fervently, willing the signal to turn green (not gonna happen for another few mins buddy!) or the bus to vanish (not gonna happen, ever!). My hopes turn to the gladiator (imagination going berserk right now), willing him to stop his beast before I get rammed. The wing mirror is getting smaller, and then I notice something that makes my blood run cold.

Note: All this while, in perfect irony, 'Entry of the Gladiators' (by Julius Fucik) is playing on the music system. I laugh about it later.

There's no cart behind the beast, No Sir! It's all on its own, and to make things worse, the tether (including the metal rods and harness connecting it to the cart) are still attached to the beast. I start thinking about my account balance, turn off the left indicator (Hyundai A.S.S is further ahead straight down the road!), and hope I have enough money to cover expenses without using the Credit Card (I hate credit with a passion).

I close my eyes and have a flashback (of polishing my car yesterday), and hope for a miracle one final time. The beast swerves to the left into a gap that ain't big enough for it, and I can't decide whether it's good or bad. I hear a loud screeching noise followed by a plastic pop, and assume the worst. The beast, meanwhile, surges ahead, bringing down a biker jumping the signal (Instant karma catching up there!), scaring the daylights out of a lady in an Estilo, before deciding it has had enough of metal beasts, and turns its attention to the people waiting on the road shoulder for the bus. Miraculously, nobody gets mauled, and some sand truckers grab the tethers and manage to stop the rampage (I've always cursed them to hell for their impeccable road-blocking, but they're the heroes here). The beast is tied to a post, while the Gladiator (remember him?) finally arrives in slow motion, cursing the poor animal. I decide to head home, and go to the A.S.S. later after assessing the damage (to the car and my wallet).


I can't hold it till I get home, so park on the service lane near PESIT College and get down to assess the damage. That's where I finally catch some luck. The beast's tether has badly scraped the mid-door plastic strip, then jabbed my left-front wheel cover (cracking it), and bruising the tyre itself, but has miraculously missed all the metal bits. Just a couple inches further on impact, and I would've had to run behind the beast to retrieve my front bumper! I heave a sigh of relief, and get back home to type this, so you guys can have a shot of adrenaline (or the funny hormone, whatever it's called) on a lazy Saturday morning.


The Damage: Nothing too bad (or too expensive). The door-strip will need some work (or replacement if unfixable), and I'll get the tyre checked out for wall damage, though it looks fine. The wheel-cover is cracked at the edge, but has held up. Will get a new one on next service maybe. My heart got a good workout though, and I had to spend a few mins to calm my poor car down. All izz well now.

[predatorwheelz]

Hmm. The thread title should have been "Bullock menace", since all the damage was done by the beast without the cart!

Don't worry. The wheel cover will cost you a pittance, and scratched plastic moldings are part and parcel of an urban car-driver's daily life. It could have been much, much worse. Enjoy your weekend!

[amitoj]

That was quite an experience for a weekend!! And quite funny narration too. The bit about instant karma had me in splits, since i was picturing all this while reading.

Good that the damage was minimal and you were able to write this in relatively good spirits!

[Chetan_Rao]

Originally Posted by predatorwheelz

Hmm. The thread title should have been "Bullock menace", since all the damage was done by the beast without the cart!

Don't worry. The wheel cover will cost you a pittance, and scratched plastic moldings are part and parcel of an urban car-driver's daily life. It could have been much, much worse. Enjoy your weekend!

It was the trailing cart bits that did the damage. The poor animal went straight ahead.

Originally Posted by amitoj

That was quite an experience for a weekend!! And quite funny narration too. The bit about instant karma had me in splits, since i was picturing all this while reading.

Good that the damage was minimal and you were able to write this in relatively good spirits!

Nobody's fault really (though the Gladiator could've avoided whipping the poor animal into a frenzy).

Wrong place, wrong time. Could've been worse, but had a lucky escape. Payback for taking good care of my car, I guess.

[Lukeskywalker]

Humorous writeup to an otherwise scary experience, reminds me of the horrible images of elephants running amok at Mysore, thank goodness no one was injured by the poor scared and tortured animal. The "gladiator" needs to be whipped for it though.

[KarthikK]

brilliant writeup with lots of humour. As I read this today morning, I remember an incident I had with a bullock cart around 3 years go. It was quite an alarming one. I was in my Swift, taking a right turn into my house crossroad and was waiting for a break in opposite direction traffic. There was a drunk bullock cart guy 50-60 metres behind me (I knew he was drunk only after the incident happened) whom I was faintly aware of, but thought he would proceed from my left as should be the case. Suddenly I hear a huge crash. Turn around, everything ok. I look at the IRVM, only to see the beast's horns in its entirety! The drunk guy hadn't noticed the vehicle in front and couldnt apply brakes on the bullock (or whatever it is called to stop the thing). The ox had crashed into my rear windshield headfirst/hornfirst. A couple of passersby caught hold of the guy and started thrashing him. I knew he was not someone who could afford the repairs and so, let him off after giving an earful. The rear windshield + sealing costed 30k and 2 weeks of waiting for the glass to arrive, luckily the whole thing was done through an insurance claim but I still had to shell out quite a bit on this unnecessary incident. Fortunately this is the only black mark in my 7 year driving tenure, touchwood

Moral of the story - Maintain a safe distance from any ancient vehicles without engines and brakes

[Fordmanchau]

Chethan, nice humorous and funny write up but I bet seeing the bull's rushing through would have given you a goose bump.
Glad that the damage is minimal and will not damage your account balance by much .
Well a exciting weekend start for you . Have a good one though!!

[Chetan_Rao]

Originally Posted by Fordmanchau

Chethan, nice humorous and funny write up but I bet seeing the bull's rushing through would have given you a goose bump.
Glad that the damage is minimal and will not damage your account balance by much .
Well a exciting weekend start for you . Have a good one though!!

You bet! My brain was multitasking, planning a trip to the A.S.S. in one section, hoping to avoid it in another.

Jokes apart, I was horrified when the beast made its way to the bus stop. Someone could've easily been mauled or killed.

[Samurai]

Funny story, but you were quite safe throughout. Once I had a head-on collision with a bullock cart. https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/india...tml#post171640 (Worst car on indian roads!)

Originally Posted by Chetan_Rao

refuelling itself is incident-free

This line really drew my notice. Usually what happens when you refuel?

Originally Posted by Chetan_Rao

Jokes apart, I was horrified when the beast made its way to the bus stop. Someone could've easily been mauled or killed.

No, I don't think so. These are no Spanish bulls trained to attack. It was just running away. I grew up around farms and have chased and caught enough runaway cattle.

This bull had a nose rope I presume. That is why the truck drivers could stop it so easily. Nose rope is usually put on aggressive cows and all bullocks and oxen used for pulling duty. Otherwise they can't be controlled at all.

When you get hold of the nose rope of the running cattle, it will stop instantly to avoid the pain. You just need the guts to get close and catch hold of it. People who are used to handling cattle know this well.

[libranof1987]

Bittersweet narration! Bitter because the damn thing still caused some damage.

Every time I see horses, donkeys, bullocks, cows (the list is endless, isn't it) on the road, I feel a lump a throat! I just pray the rendezvous is uneventful.

And yes, I'm multitasking too; wondering what is the credit limit left on the card and when would be the best time to take the car to the body shop.

Luckily, I.. sorry, my car has not been physically intimate with an animal yet; but yea, it has been spanked real hard twice by a cow.

What if the animal decides to have some fun - scary thought!

But you know what's worse - causing some injury to the animal through your car; PETA will run after you with hunters!

[rm_arjuna]

Back in 2004 my friend had driven his new indica to office,delivered only the previous evening . We all went out to check out the car , out of nowhere a herd of buffalos appeared by the roadside and in a flash one went berserk and banged on the left rear door denting it completely . He had to claim insurance to replace the door .

on one of our trips to my native village had to stop bcos of a couple of buffalos lazing in the middle of the road. i honked and honked for about 2-3 mins and lost patience ,then i decided to nudge the buffalo a bit to my horror one of the buffalo shook it head violently in the process breaking my H/L on my getz . Lesson learnt the hard way , i had to spend 4k to replace the h/L. . Now i am more sedate , i get down to shoo them off instead of taking any risk

[vnabhi]

Originally Posted by KarthikK

l. The rear windshield + sealing costed 30k and 2 weeks of waiting for the glass to arrive, luckily the whole thing was done through an insurance claim but I still had to shell out quite a bit on this unnecessary incident. D

Scary, but 30k seems very high for a rear windscreen!
Cretan--you really had a close shave!

[Chetan_Rao]

Originally Posted by Samurai

Funny story, but you were quite safe throughout. Once I had a head-on collision with a bullock cart. https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/india...tml#post171640 (Worst car on indian roads!)

This line really drew my notice. Usually what happens when you refuel?

No, I don't think so. These are no Spanish bulls trained to attack. It was just running away. I grew up around farms and have chased and caught enough runaway cattle.

This bull had a nose rope I presume. That is why the truck drivers could stop it so easily. Nose rope is usually put on aggressive cows and all bullocks and oxen used for pulling duty. Otherwise they can't be controlled at all.

When you get hold of the nose rope of the running cattle, it will stop instantly to avoid the pain. You just need the guts to get close and catch hold of it. People who are used to handling cattle know this well.

The refuelling bit was a back-handed compliment to Shell, nothing more to it. Incidents at other pumps need no explanation. I've got into endless arguments, just like everyone else. Got tired and switched to Shell permanently. I still can't help paying utmost attention though, no offense to Shell attendants.

As for the animal, I agree with you, but we need to figure in the the fact that the animal was frenzied and running loose in a crowd where most people were either college kids or urban working types, so they can't be expected to know what to do, or react calmly to the situation. It's very intimidating for someone who's never faced something like this before. Thank goodness for the truckers, who had the presence of mind to step in and avoid a possible disaster.

[k_nitin_r]

Originally Posted by rm_arjuna

i decided to nudge the buffalo a bit to my horror one of the buffalo shook it head violently in the process breaking my H/L on my getz.

I always thought that a gentle nudge would help clear the road. Perhaps you pushed too hard and got it angry? Or maybe you need a meaner looking vehicle. Most vehicles are built to minimize damage to pedestrians in the event of an accident so unless you have a bull bar or something similar, I would imagine that an animal as strong as a bull can cause damage to your vehicle.

BTW, blowing the car horn will do nothing when there's a buffalo in your path (probably why in Andhra Pradesh, when you want to call someone a fool, you call him/her a buffalo). It does work for dogs and chickens though. The driving licensing training I once took taught me to not blow the horn at animals because you might frighten them and make them cause another accident. Perhaps it is not the case with animals in India that have grown accustomed to vehicle horns.