Team-BHP - Unusual / funny / heartwarming experiences on the road

Some months back, while driving to work in a Safari, I was approaching an intersection which didn't have any stop-lights as it was under a flyover. Now, around the same time, there was another biker coming from the right side and if we both hadn't stopped we would have crashed into each other. We both thought the other would stop. Eventually, both of us had to come to a halt about 6 inches apart. He would have hit the driver-side door if he hadn't stopped. Net-net, nothing happened. Apart from his ego that was bruised. A brief conversation followed (Translated from Hindi/Gujarati):
Him: Can't you see my bike coming and you should stop!
Me: Ditto. If you can't see a big Safari coming then forgive me for not seeing a bike!
Him: What do you think you are? Spoilt rich father's son.
Me: Nope. I bought the Safari myself (with a grin)
Him (Angry): What do you think of yourself? I am a cop (pointing to his lathi attached to the bike).
Me: So what?
Him: I'll make a single call and cops will come and you'll be in trouble.
Me: What will you call someone and say? That nothing happened. Nothing was hit and nobody was injured? (Sarcastically)
Him: Stop on the side. I'll teach you a lesson
Me: (Was getting late but wanted to have a laugh so stopped at the side and stepped out with a wide grin). Ok, Chalo you call whoever you want and tell them nothing happened. I'll see how much trouble that is.

He tried making a few calls and as usual there was a small crowd gathered who I guess were wondering too about what the argument was about! Soon he decided to drive away warning me that he'll find me again (Thanks to my Safari number: 8888). I graciously told him I look forward to it.
Its the oddest conversation I've had with someone I haven't even bumped into. Just goes on to show the aggression people carry around!

This episode occurred when I was in Germany. My parents were with me to spend few days and we had been to Obestdorf and Breitachlamm near the Bavarian Alps. Breitachlamm is kind of forest area where there is a canyon and a trek along the water stream.

To make sure, we are not stuck, I had noted down the timetable of the bus which would take us to the train station. We returned and waited for the bus to arrive. It was supposed to arrive at 5 pm. Being October, it was already getting dark and cold. There were no visitors left except me and my parents and the reception was closed. It was around 6, when I saw a light bulb glow through the thick vegetation. I walked up there and saw a person preparing to leave in his truck. I tried to explain him my situation in my broken German but that guy was in a hurry and sped off! I started panicking and was worried about my parents. Then I see a lady in a car stopping beside me and asked me what was the issue. I again explained her that we were stuck. She said she will drop us at the nearest bus stop. All of us hopped inside her car and I was finally relieved! She dropped us at the train station (around 7 kms) instead of the bus stop and we had a good chat also. We thanked her and resumed our journey back to Stuttgart. It was so great to see her help us in that dire situation. :thumbs up

A few days back I was heading to the SBI branch on SB road. Had borrowed a colleague's Activa and soon came to the signal opposite the passport office. Waited for the signal to turn green, and took the (U-)turn accordingly and moved on to the left-most lane as the bank was just a few blocks ahead. As I just completed my turn, I notice a biker on the opposite lane (without any helmet) dis-regarding the (red) signal and heading towards my direction. The road hardly had any traffic (being mid-afternoon) so he had an almost-empty road in front of him.

Meanwhile a Figo that was standing at the corner of the junction (on the left side) suddenly spurts to life and cuts right in front of me a few feet away. Too late to brake, I swear slightly towards the right, towards the lane of the oncoming bike. Thankfully he has the rightmost lane all empty and he moves accordingly. But not before shouting some expletive in Marathi at me while he zooms ahead. Without thinking twice I show him the middle finger :D and continue to turn into the parking area of the bank.

A few seconds later, and the biker is back - apparently my action didn't go very well with him! He shouts at me asking what did I mean by the finger. I am so amazed by his reaction (and corresponding action), I start laughing at the comical aspect of the situation. It doesn't help - he gets more pissed off. I immediately say sorry, remind him that he too did shout at me and explain the Figo being the reason I swerved towards his lane. The magic S-word cools his temper in an instant and in a huff he gets back to his bike and goes back on his route.

So much for his being in a "hurry", for which he broke the traffic signal. lol:

After a grueling session at the gym yesterday my back gave up on me today. It hurt a lot and I could not bend down at all. Until when it was needed :

Today at 7.45 pm I left my home (Sector 7, Dwarka) to pick my mother up from the metro station. I didn't take the usual route and decided to go from Sector 6/Golok Dham to finally Sector 11.

On my way what I saw shocked me beyond belief. There was a young girl lying in a state of unconsciousness on the right most lane of the road Her bag and other belongings were all over . She was suffering from a seizure. I stopped my car immediately and rushed towards her.

I demanded for her phone but this dude didn't want to part with it. This guy will not let go of her and his diagnosis was let her put her on the side of the road and she will be okay.

Along with me some other man argued with him and I got hold of her phone.

Her phone was locked with a password and I tried fiddling around with it but it didn't help.

I did whatever I know about seizure control to help her. People who were gathered around her didn't want her to be taken to a hospital. You see nobody wants to get into 'trouble' such apathy towards young women/human beings.

Finally a lady came (had a baby with her she could have ignored but she didn't) who asked the men to back off..those who weren't helping. I massaged the young girl's feet and along with some help put her in the back seat of my car and the lady sat alongside the girl almost hugging her.I took her to Ayushman Hospital about 4 kms away. The girl regained consciousness in the car and after a tad bit of confusion we finally managed to contact her parents.

Her parents came along after 20 minutes and the girl looked okay. I told the father exactly the condition she was in. Also the fact that she was lying on the right most lane on the road.

I request/beg people to help those who need urgent medical attention. There are laws protecting you now.

I had a rather bizarre encounter with a biker on Friday evening :uncontrol. I was on my usual return commute from office at roughly 7 PM. I was approaching the choc-a-bloc Silk board junction on ORR from HSR layout side. As is my usual style, I stayed on the right most lane to avoid criss-crossing bikers, cabs and their just-miss antics.

I had crawled to a stop at the signal and was busy browsing through the music library on the car's ICE when one biker on a KL registered Victor (squeezing between the lanes) touched my Punto's left mirror and went 2-3 cars ahead, where he finally had to stop with no space left anywhere. My mirrors are completely secured with 3M's paint protection film, so no scratches are possible to put on it anyway. Also, the Punto's mirrors when hit will just turn around to the other side. All I actually had to do was turn it back into the locking position in the centre.

I still wanted to discipline this guy and got out of the car, went to him, showed him the 'bent' mirror (turned in the opposite direction) and blasted him on how his careless driving caused me heartache and expenses for no fault of mine. He was in formals, looked like a usual techie returning from office. He apologized immediately, to which I hurled some more lectures on how he can just stay patient instead of squeezing, blah blah. I told him casually to either pay up 3k for the mirror replacement damages or I will report his offense to the traffic police. lol: He said his bike was non-KA registered, and he didn't have any license, plus the bike was his relative's apparently. Wonder of wonders. See what kind of riders we have here. They commute to and from office on a bike which doesn't belong to them, and they have no license or papers. Wonderful!

I was about to just end the lecture and go back to the car, hoping he had learnt a lesson. What he did next amazed me totally! He pulled out a couple of 1000 Rupee notes from his wallet, apologized for the damages, asked me to keep that for the repair expenses and let him go *ROFL*. The signal went green meanwhile and traffic started moving. I walked back to the Punto, turned back the unharmed mirror to its locking position, put the 2000 bucks into my pocket and went home a happier and richer man! Thanks dude, whoever you are. I just enjoyed a wholesome dinner at Barbeque nation with my family yesternight, thanks to your contribution!

I'm shocked that such weirdos even exist! Throwing money even without arguing much about anything - first time I came across such a cash-rich nutcase on a bike. I guess he just wanted to avoid the trouble due to no license, non-KA vehicle and all that. Bizarreness to the core!

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Originally Posted by KarthikK (Post 3171606)

I still wanted to discipline this guy and got out of the car, went to him, showed him the 'bent' mirror (turned in the opposite direction) and blasted him on how his careless driving caused me heartache and expenses for no fault of mine.

Weird incident, this one! lol:

Though I do not agree on either ones behavior, in my opinion, you should have just let it go rather than trying to escalate it to a different level. You would never know whom you are messing with and how stressed the other person is. Once you leave the safety and protection of your car, you are at his mercy. People when confronted can act in many unpredictable ways and can lead to untoward incidents. So please try to avoid such situations when there is no real harm done to your car. You clearly mentioned that your car didn't even suffer a scratch. So was the whole episode worth it?

He was at least apologetic or guilty of nudging your car. I think he deserved the 2K back with a word of advice rather than a lecture :D. Don't let anyone's obsession to his/her car rule their brain in such situations. Like they say in advertisement, "our roads are filled with morons".

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Originally Posted by Latheesh (Post 3171662)

Karthikk - (His version)
He reaches home and explain the incident to his friends: "Arre yaar I accidently hit a ORVM of an expensive imported hatch and it broke. Somehow managed to fool the owner by paying just 2K. I am sure it is going cost him a bomb to replace the mirror"

*ROFL* That was funny!

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One request: Please share his vehicle number, I will wait for him at Silkboard signal in case I need some cash

It was some KL 07 something, though I doubt he will try going near cars anymore after Friday's lecture.

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Originally Posted by jayded (Post 3171664)

True. Maybe next time, I'll think twice, hehe.

Quote:

So please try to avoid such situations when there is no real harm done to your car. You clearly mentioned that your car didn't even suffer a scratch. So was the whole episode worth it?

The "harm" was visible in the twisted mirror for him. Now that Latheesh mentioned, maybe the guy freaked out for hitting some unknown brand car. Was it worth 2 minutes of arguing for 2000 bucks?? Absolutely. :uncontrol Jokes apart, I don't see anything wrong in reprimanding the biker if he made a mistake. I can't keep replacing mirror assemblies for 3k everytime someone tries to squeeze through (from a general car owner's view, forget about the Punto's retractible mirror for a second). Its about time riders learn to respect others' belongings. What's more, this chap had no license, no papers for the bike and was by all means illegally plying on the roads, in addition to hitting my car mirror negligently. Serves him right!

Quote:

He was at least apologetic or guilty of nudging your car. I think he deserved the 2K back with a word of advice rather than a lecture :D.

Maybe in hindsight, I guess you're right. But with the general angry feeling I had that day for him hitting the mirror, I gladly accepted it as a way of teaching him a lesson. I don't regret it now, I can't actually. The 'guru dakshina' has already been digested, literally! :uncontrol