Unusual / funny / heartwarming experiences on the road

condor · 2nd February 2021, 08:53

Had gone to our native last week, and while we were going around to meet relatives, we were at one taluka HQ place. Evening around 6 pm, on the main road, I was heading to pick up my mom. Traffic is as usual random. I saw a not too old bull crossing the road coming from the right. Stopped very close to it. It just walked into my right fender and then stepped back. It looked a bit shocked the way it stepped back. I just waited. Then I realised that it was very likely vision impaired. Feel bad for it.

Then waited a bit, while it went a little further and crossed the road. There was one car behind me, and he too waited till I moved ( he too had seen the bull stepping back and then going further).

Driving in small towns is far more leisurely than in cities as many of us are used to.

Spinnerr · 2nd February 2021, 15:57

Heartwarming one.

This happened a few year ago (about 6), I was on my first visit to Dubai, was a casual visit to meet a few relatives. I was new to the city, I have heard about Dubai umpteen times, have seen it on TV, YouTube, movies, but seeing it all first-hand was different. I will say, it was a lot more colorful in the movies… 😉

Since I was visiting, my transportation is generally taken care off, in fact most of the agenda is also decided by the family hosting me for that day. One day, my cousin asks me to take the metro and meet him at a station closer to his work-place. I figured it shouldn’t be difficult, and it wasn’t, thanks to the excellent signage and pretty good system that was in place.

It was post lunch, early evening time on a Thursday (almost their weekend). There were no empty seats, I stood resting on one of the poles. I was peering out, looking at the buildings, sometimes inside, looking at the commuters. The number of Indians one sees in Dubai is unbelievable.

At Dubai Mall metro station, lot of tourists enter the compartment. There were these 4 senior citizens, 2 couples, mostly from USA from their looks and their accent. One couple was slightly older the other. All the seats were full, they too stood along with the rest of us.

After a minute or so, one of the Malayalam speaking teen from the seat, close to where the older couple of was standing, gets up and offers the older lady his seat. I knew he was a Malayalee from his non-stop chat on the phone. She smiles and thanks him and sits down, after a couple of seconds, the person seated next to the lady gets up and offers the older man his seat. He says, “For you” , points to the seat and then proceeds to make ways for the older man. At this point the older man say “I don’t know what to say, we are not used to such level of courtesy. Thank you very much young man, my knees were killing me”. I am not sure, if that chap understood all that from the accented english, but their smile to each other said it all.

It felt really good, to just watch that kind gesture unfolding in front of me.

GTO · 2nd February 2021, 19:24

The love for cars surpasses all ages & all budgets. Here is a 76-year old neighbour lovingly washing his S-Presso. Couldn't help but smile & respect this gentleman. I have never seen anyone even washing a supercar with such care & affection.

Unusual / funny / heartwarming experiences on the road-20210130-11.45.19.jpg

abhi_tjet · 2nd February 2021, 23:51

This happened in April 2015. I was coming back to India temporarily after the completion of assignment in Oslo, Norway. My wife's assignment wasn't finished. So, she was coming to just drop me at airport. Now, I, generally am a guy, who keeps his belongings very carefully. It may be short travel, long travel, office, leisure visit, vacation, etc.

On the planned day of my departure, we left(me & my wife) from home towards the airport along with all my luggage. Took a public bus and reached Jernbanetorget(central station). Took a regular train(NSB) to airport. Now, big luggage was kept at the designated place. My backpack which I always keep with me(generally on lap or below the seat near legs), I kept it on the rack above on my wife's advice. I never do this. Be it plane travel or public transport, I never do this. Inevitable happened. We reached Gardermoen airport, left the train and forgot to take the backpack from top which had the passport along with other things.

On entering departure hall, I realised about the mess which I have created. My wife immediately got hold of an airport staff, got the NSB helpline number, called them and told them the problem. Helpline staff immediately assured of help, got the train details and connected with driver in train. We were given a callback 5-10 mts later that driver will find the bag, give to a train coming from opposite direction towards airport. It will reach there in an hour and you can collect it from them. Without any more surprises, I got a call after some time that train will reach airport in 5 mts and please come down to collect the bag.

I ran downstairs towards platform and I saw a man holding my bag

. Thanked the guy profusely and took the bag from him. The guy was calm. He probably didn't knew how much big deal that was to me, getting a lost bag back with all valuables.

Robbery/accidents/gunfire/cheating is unheard of in Norway. They hardly fire couple of bullets in a year. Yes, no exaggeration here. This explains why the guy was very calm.

I rescheduled my flight to next day since it wasn't possible to complete formalities due to delay created from this mess. I have visited some 33-34 countries for vacation after this ordeal and I never take advice from my wife on where to keep my hand luggage anymore.

condor · 16th February 2021, 18:43

Btw, interesting experience over the weekend driving an over-loaded vehicle. Overload was 100% of rated payload. Vehicle pulled fine, but had to baby it over every speed breaker and even small 1.5" steps (road work was in progress). The load at the rear meant that the leaf springs were under lot of strain. A little fast (even 5kmph) and the load body bounces. Would have been trouble if even leaf had snapped.

And then after dusk, insufficient lights from the headlamps.

Managed to drive it for the 100+ km. Once in a way alternate side bouncing, but overall got the stuff safely to where it had to go.

Lessons learnt: cant stop others from overloading, esp the goods vehicles. Better give them way when they are on the road. And not to overload.

Another one last year was: these LGVs with the container box at the back: they will have absolutely no view in their mirrors. And they wont anyway use RVMs. So one needs to keep that in mind when overtaking them. If you are driving one of those, then again - your view is restricted. So do watch out.

viXit · 20th February 2021, 11:14

Quote:

Originally Posted by condor

Btw, interesting experience over the weekend driving an over-loaded vehicle. Overload was 100% of rated payload. ....

Which vehicle was this sir?

condor · 20th February 2021, 20:55

Quote:

Originally Posted by viXit

Which vehicle was this sir?

Just a pick-up truck .. nothing heavy.

condor · 27th February 2021, 22:40

Sometimes you do find nice auto-drivers too...

Was driving on KR Road yesterday, from KIMS hospital side towards Basavanagudi. There is an intersection near the Jain association, where the Metro line transitions from overhead to underground. As I approached this, saw an auto driver coming on my right. He had stopped, and was waving his left hand. Was wondering what was the trying to do. Then I saw it - there was a young girl, about 8-10 yrs, on a cycle. Looked like she was trying to cross the road. And this auto-driver was trying to guide and escort her across. Since both had stopped, I cross the intersection. Honked trying to get his attention, and then waved to him. He may not have seen it, but either way - a very nice gesture from him. Hope there are more like him.

condor · 19th March 2021, 14:48

The Devil's workshop:

Unusual / funny / heartwarming experiences on the road-img_4142.jpg

saisree · 19th March 2021, 17:57

Quote:

Originally Posted by condor

The Devil's

I will never go and give my vehicle to a idle brain

condor · 19th March 2021, 18:13

Quote:

Originally Posted by saisree

I will never go and give my vehicle to a idle brain

My wife warned me not to take her car there ..

DriverR · 19th March 2021, 18:53

About a month back, I was driving on a lazy weekend afternoon near the Financial District. The traffic was quite less. At a ORR underpass near the GAR building, I was taking the turn to go under the ORR when I came across a guy on a scooter stopped about a meter from the right kerb on the road. I wondered why is he stopped in the middle of the road and that to on a turn. I gave one long honk in irritation and moved to the left to overtake. And that is when I saw a small puppy in front of the scooter about to cross up to the kerb. I realised the scooter guy had stopped to protect the puppy from vehicles while it was crossing the road. Felt like an idiot for honking, so I just sheepishly raised my right hand as I passed him as apology.

darklord · 26th March 2021, 11:39

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvGVaMJE8vI&t=108s

Tamil Nadu cop stops biker on highway, the kind reason is winning the internet

Quote:

It’s not unusual for commuters to be stopped by the police on busy roads but a Tamil Nadu biker was surprised when a traffic officer gave him the reason why he asked him to pull over, in a recent incident. It turns out that the officer’s ‘unexpected’ action was motivated by a Good Samaritan spirit as he wanted the biker to help an elderly woman who had dropped her medicine. A video that has gone viral captures how the medicine was returned to its owner.

https://indianexpress.com/article/tr...viral-7244763/

Dhawal20 · 9th April 2021, 16:54

Han an amazing interaction on one of our Uber trips a couple of weeks back. The driver was an amazing singer and had gone "viral" a couple of years back on social media. Check out the heartwarming discussion here.

Wishing him a great future ahead and a big thanks for our most memorable Uber ride yet.

https://youtu.be/JKzTlWNhj9o

Jaguar · 12th April 2021, 16:36

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dhawal20

Wishing him a great future ahead and a big thanks for our most memorable Uber ride yet.

Could you add a link to his channel in the video description?

2nd February 2021, 08:53	#1051
condor Distinguished - BHPian Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Speed-brkr City Posts: 15,864 Thanked: 16,014 Times View My Garage	Re: Unusual / funny / heartwarming experiences on the road Had gone to our native last week, and while we were going around to meet relatives, we were at one taluka HQ place. Evening around 6 pm, on the main road, I was heading to pick up my mom. Traffic is as usual random. I saw a not too old bull crossing the road coming from the right. Stopped very close to it. It just walked into my right fender and then stepped back. It looked a bit shocked the way it stepped back. I just waited. Then I realised that it was very likely vision impaired. Feel bad for it. Then waited a bit, while it went a little further and crossed the road. There was one car behind me, and he too waited till I moved ( he too had seen the bull stepping back and then going further). Driving in small towns is far more leisurely than in cities as many of us are used to.
	(11) Thanks

2nd February 2021, 15:57	#1052
Spinnerr BHPian Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Bangalore Posts: 417 Thanked: 487 Times	Re: Unusual / funny / heartwarming experiences on the road Heartwarming one. This happened a few year ago (about 6), I was on my first visit to Dubai, was a casual visit to meet a few relatives. I was new to the city, I have heard about Dubai umpteen times, have seen it on TV, YouTube, movies, but seeing it all first-hand was different. I will say, it was a lot more colorful in the movies… 😉 Since I was visiting, my transportation is generally taken care off, in fact most of the agenda is also decided by the family hosting me for that day. One day, my cousin asks me to take the metro and meet him at a station closer to his work-place. I figured it shouldn’t be difficult, and it wasn’t, thanks to the excellent signage and pretty good system that was in place. It was post lunch, early evening time on a Thursday (almost their weekend). There were no empty seats, I stood resting on one of the poles. I was peering out, looking at the buildings, sometimes inside, looking at the commuters. The number of Indians one sees in Dubai is unbelievable. At Dubai Mall metro station, lot of tourists enter the compartment. There were these 4 senior citizens, 2 couples, mostly from USA from their looks and their accent. One couple was slightly older the other. All the seats were full, they too stood along with the rest of us. After a minute or so, one of the Malayalam speaking teen from the seat, close to where the older couple of was standing, gets up and offers the older lady his seat. I knew he was a Malayalee from his non-stop chat on the phone. She smiles and thanks him and sits down, after a couple of seconds, the person seated next to the lady gets up and offers the older man his seat. He says, “For you” , points to the seat and then proceeds to make ways for the older man. At this point the older man say “I don’t know what to say, we are not used to such level of courtesy. Thank you very much young man, my knees were killing me”. I am not sure, if that chap understood all that from the accented english, but their smile to each other said it all. It felt really good, to just watch that kind gesture unfolding in front of me.
	(22) Thanks

2nd February 2021, 19:24	#1053
GTO Team-BHP Support Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Bombay Posts: 70,534 Thanked: 300,737 Times View My Garage	Re: Unusual / funny / heartwarming experiences on the road The love for cars surpasses all ages & all budgets. Here is a 76-year old neighbour lovingly washing his S-Presso. Couldn't help but smile & respect this gentleman. I have never seen anyone even washing a supercar with such care & affection.
	(39) Thanks

2nd February 2021, 23:51	#1054
abhi_tjet BHPian Join Date: Jul 2020 Location: Pune Posts: 705 Thanked: 3,462 Times View My Garage	Re: Unusual / funny / heartwarming experiences on the road This happened in April 2015. I was coming back to India temporarily after the completion of assignment in Oslo, Norway. My wife's assignment wasn't finished. So, she was coming to just drop me at airport. Now, I, generally am a guy, who keeps his belongings very carefully. It may be short travel, long travel, office, leisure visit, vacation, etc. On the planned day of my departure, we left(me & my wife) from home towards the airport along with all my luggage. Took a public bus and reached Jernbanetorget(central station). Took a regular train(NSB) to airport. Now, big luggage was kept at the designated place. My backpack which I always keep with me(generally on lap or below the seat near legs), I kept it on the rack above on my wife's advice. I never do this. Be it plane travel or public transport, I never do this. Inevitable happened. We reached Gardermoen airport, left the train and forgot to take the backpack from top which had the passport along with other things. On entering departure hall, I realised about the mess which I have created. My wife immediately got hold of an airport staff, got the NSB helpline number, called them and told them the problem. Helpline staff immediately assured of help, got the train details and connected with driver in train. We were given a callback 5-10 mts later that driver will find the bag, give to a train coming from opposite direction towards airport. It will reach there in an hour and you can collect it from them. Without any more surprises, I got a call after some time that train will reach airport in 5 mts and please come down to collect the bag. I ran downstairs towards platform and I saw a man holding my bag. Thanked the guy profusely and took the bag from him. The guy was calm. He probably didn't knew how much big deal that was to me, getting a lost bag back with all valuables. Robbery/accidents/gunfire/cheating is unheard of in Norway. They hardly fire couple of bullets in a year. Yes, no exaggeration here. This explains why the guy was very calm. I rescheduled my flight to next day since it wasn't possible to complete formalities due to delay created from this mess. I have visited some 33-34 countries for vacation after this ordeal and I never take advice from my wife on where to keep my hand luggage anymore.
	(27) Thanks

16th February 2021, 18:43	#1055
condor Distinguished - BHPian Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Speed-brkr City Posts: 15,864 Thanked: 16,014 Times View My Garage	Re: Chai, Coffee & Chat Btw, interesting experience over the weekend driving an over-loaded vehicle. Overload was 100% of rated payload. Vehicle pulled fine, but had to baby it over every speed breaker and even small 1.5" steps (road work was in progress). The load at the rear meant that the leaf springs were under lot of strain. A little fast (even 5kmph) and the load body bounces. Would have been trouble if even leaf had snapped. And then after dusk, insufficient lights from the headlamps. Managed to drive it for the 100+ km. Once in a way alternate side bouncing, but overall got the stuff safely to where it had to go. Lessons learnt: cant stop others from overloading, esp the goods vehicles. Better give them way when they are on the road. And not to overload. Another one last year was: these LGVs with the container box at the back: they will have absolutely no view in their mirrors. And they wont anyway use RVMs. So one needs to keep that in mind when overtaking them. If you are driving one of those, then again - your view is restricted. So do watch out.
	(6) Thanks

27th February 2021, 22:40	#1058
condor Distinguished - BHPian Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Speed-brkr City Posts: 15,864 Thanked: 16,014 Times View My Garage	Re: Unusual / funny / heartwarming experiences on the road Sometimes you do find nice auto-drivers too... Was driving on KR Road yesterday, from KIMS hospital side towards Basavanagudi. There is an intersection near the Jain association, where the Metro line transitions from overhead to underground. As I approached this, saw an auto driver coming on my right. He had stopped, and was waving his left hand. Was wondering what was the trying to do. Then I saw it - there was a young girl, about 8-10 yrs, on a cycle. Looked like she was trying to cross the road. And this auto-driver was trying to guide and escort her across. Since both had stopped, I cross the intersection. Honked trying to get his attention, and then waved to him. He may not have seen it, but either way - a very nice gesture from him. Hope there are more like him.
	(7) Thanks

19th March 2021, 14:48	#1059
condor Distinguished - BHPian Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Speed-brkr City Posts: 15,864 Thanked: 16,014 Times View My Garage	Re: Unusual / funny / heartwarming experiences on the road The Devil's workshop:
	(4) Thanks

19th March 2021, 18:53	#1062
DriverR BHPian Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Hyderabad Posts: 414 Thanked: 526 Times	Re: Unusual / funny / heartwarming experiences on the road About a month back, I was driving on a lazy weekend afternoon near the Financial District. The traffic was quite less. At a ORR underpass near the GAR building, I was taking the turn to go under the ORR when I came across a guy on a scooter stopped about a meter from the right kerb on the road. I wondered why is he stopped in the middle of the road and that to on a turn. I gave one long honk in irritation and moved to the left to overtake. And that is when I saw a small puppy in front of the scooter about to cross up to the kerb. I realised the scooter guy had stopped to protect the puppy from vehicles while it was crossing the road. Felt like an idiot for honking, so I just sheepishly raised my right hand as I passed him as apology.
	(6) Thanks