[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by sajo

I should add, it was after sunset , so possibility of that happening should be low, unless Bats eat Rats too. But then, I am no bird expert, so it could be anything.

I am yet another who is not an expert ...

But I know that owls eat rats. So perhaps it was an owl that went hungry that day.

[ecenandu]

Another ambulance video.

Respect .

Is this the case in other parts of India.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKaiV5P8wiw

[selfdrive]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

But I know that owls eat rats. So perhaps it was an owl that went hungry that day.

Owls are known in Hindi as 'ullu'
I am sure there would be a fair share of 'ullus' on that stretch of road

[DriverR]

Originally Posted by ecenandu

Another ambulance video.

Respect .

Is this the case in other parts of India.

While i applaud the efforts of the people who made way for the ambulance, i think it is the other vehicles that should have gone off road and not the ambulance. I do not think a critical patient needs any unnecessary bumps from non-tamac roads.

[ecenandu]

Originally Posted by DriverR

While i applaud the efforts of the people who made way for the ambulance, i think it is the other vehicles that should have gone off road and not the ambulance. I do not think a critical patient needs any unnecessary bumps from non-tamac roads.

Of course, going off road should be the last option, he had no other choice given the gridlock.

I have stuck at this particular stretch for more than two hours couple of months back. The situation is worsen by lane jumpers, especially the private buses.

[tharian]

Originally Posted by ecenandu

Another ambulance video.

Respect .

Is this the case in other parts of India.

]

Looks like Quilandy to Kozhikode stretch. There is an ambulance driver based in Quilandy who has a youtube channel and uploads videos of his trips. Looks like the same one.
From the way he squeezes through gaps, it has to be an Omni.

I did most most of my early highway driving on this stretch and by far one of the most dangerous stretch of highway even back then.

[ecenandu]

Originally Posted by tharian

Looks like Quilandy to Kozhikode stretch. There is an ambulance driver based in Quilandy who has a Youtube channel and uploads videos of his trips. Looks like the same one.
From the way he squeezes through gaps, it has to be an Omni.

Yes, it is the same guy. It is not an Omni but a Tempo traveller.

[Majumdarda]

This is definitely the heaviest from the HH stable, all secured and stable

[selfdrive]

This summer during our trip to Chail palace, we saw a board for the highest cricket ground in India. We thought it would be an interesting detour, so on our way back we asked the guard at the Chail palace entrance. He advised us to proceed towards Chail bazaar and then go further.

As we reached Chail bazaar, we saw two roads branching off and were unsure what to do. The Zoomcar we rented did not have any navigation, so we followed the Indian navigation and asked a person walking by. He was pointing with his hand to the left and told us ‘right lena’ (take the right). For a moment, I just stared back at him. Then I pointed my hand towards the right and asked again ‘right lena hai’? (do I take a right turn)
I seemed unable to process the duality of the information.

The helpful passerby continued to point to the left and said ‘nahi nahi, right lena hai. Yeh wala right’. Perhaps he was always right and didn’t know what was the other direction. Or all roads in the hills are always right?!

We don’t remember much of the cricket ground, but ‘yeh wala right’ is now the benchmark for us while giving directions

[V.Narayan]

Two armed men and Tata ka affisar

Dateline: January 1985; my birthday incidentally
Weather: cold winter night with mild mist
Place: state road in Chattisgarh
Road: narrow state road, lonely has hell, with intermittent jungles on the side.
Route: Korba to Bilaspur, Chattisgarh - not today's State highway 130 but the old road
Vehicle: A old M&M jeep with a bench seat at the rear and space for parts/baggage at the far rear.

Like a good 'Hawa Mahal' radio story this must start with a 'andheri sonsaan raat thee' (it was a dark lonely night) opening. It was my 25th birthday and here I was in the middle of nowhere trundling down at 11PM along with my trusted driver. I used to work for a famous Tata Auto company and my job was to sell trucks on hire-purchase. The jeep was provided for me to travel from one small town to another meeting humble and rugged operator with names like Chattisgarh Parivahan, Deen Dayal Transporters, Sadhu Singh Truckers and so on. Because I didn't know any better (about corporate life) I thought life was good. Being a manager of a sub-branch of Tata with independent charge and a jeep was a good life at 25. As there was no telephone my connection to head office was a telex machine - independence was in the air.

We trundle down this lonely road passing towns like Tarda, Baloda and such like non-descript places. I had already had a rather unsuccessful day collecting hire-purchase installments due from the three names mentioned above. Lost in my thoughts. The mist clears and we see two figures wrapped in shawls carrying old rifles signaling to us to stop. I remember to this day seeing their silhouette in the jeeps head lights. This is 1985 and in those days in these parts you don't try to run when this happens. So we stop and in firm Bhojpuri sort of local dialect they inform us they wish to be dropped to Konda village some 1 hour off our route and they are offering us the honour of dropping them. The rifles were the World War II Lee Enfield .303 sort. One was also carrying a machete about 18" long. Driver looks at me. I beckon let them come. I roll down the window and say 'Jai Ram Ji Ki' with all the courage I can muster. Their face lights up a bit and return the greeting. I beckon with my hand to enter and say (while almost wetting my pants) 'Namaskar ji main Tata ka affisar hoon' (Namaskar, I am a Tata officer). Almost as if an electric shock hit them they folded their hands and quietly went and squeezed themselves in the front bench with me sitting like a sahib alone on the rear bench. 3.5 hours later I reached my guesthouse in Bilaspur. Though these men were capable of being trouble makers the word 'Tata' meant Tata Steel and this is coal and steel country. The word carried so much respect that even in a moment of bullying they were willing to be respectful.

Driving around what is Chattisgarh today was an experience in the 1980s with its sparse population, jungles, simple people, terrible narrow roads and complete lack of amenities. I had a few unusual experiences including with a jailor and a convict but that one I'll keep for another day.

[Samurai]

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

I roll down the window and say 'Jai Ram Ji Ki' with all the courage I can muster.

As a former Jeeper, I am curious about this part. What kind of Jeep had rolling window in the early 80s, do you remember the model?

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

Dateline: January 1985; my birthday incidentally.....The rifles were the World War II Lee Enfield .303 sort.

Jan 1985 and Lee enfield .303 rifle triggered my own memory on the own. Mine was exactly a year later.

Originally Posted by Samurai

This happened in January 1986. I was still 16 and was a keen NCC cadet. I was training for the Republic Day parade at Bangalore, in front of the state Governor. While this training was nowhere as rigorous as the New Delhi RD parade training, we still had to attend rehearsals every alternate days at the Brigade Parade grounds next to M.G.Road.

As the D-day neared, we were asked to prep for dress uniform and attend the drill rehearsals in civilian dress. One such day, we got off the rehearsals and started cycling towards trinity circle. A fellow cadet and I were talking excitedly and I failed to notice the traffic signal turning red near Dickenson road. So I bumped my cycle hard into a cyclist in front of me and came to a halt.

The cyclist in the front was a big guy, he got off and turned towards me growling and ready to smack me around. I cringed and prepared for the fireworks to follow. And then he underwent a strange transformation. His face twisted from anger to confusion, and then to horror. He swiftly turned around, pushed his cycle and slunk away from the waiting traffic.

I was quite surprised by this strange reaction. With relief and puzzlement, I turned towards my fellow cadet, and suddenly the answer came to me.

Just like me, my fellow cadet in civilian dress had a .303 Lee Enfield Rifle slung across his back. We were actually riding towards the NCC Armoury to returns the rifles after the drill.

Now you can understand the reaction of that poor cyclist. Confronting a 16 year old cyclist carrying a rifle on his back must have been too much for his road raging mind.

[V.Narayan]

Originally Posted by Samurai

As a former Jeeper, I am curious about this part. What kind of Jeep had rolling window in the early 80s, do you remember the model?

Jan 1985 and Lee enfield .303 rifle triggered my own memory on the own. Mine was exactly a year later.

I cannot recall the model and not being a car aficionado I didn't know it even then. It had the old station wagon style body. I think it had the Willys badge (being quite old) but was made by M&M. Rolling down the windows is to indicate the gesture. It might have been sliding type. Bear in mind my focus was on not peeing in my pants and not on the window mechanism!

[dailydriver]

Just in case you missed reading it in the Introduce Yourself section, here is what happened to a fellow enthusiast on the busy streets of Mumbai.

Originally Posted by ashu0510

Before I introduce myself, I would like to tell you my recent and best experience of the popular saying "The world is so small".

So, on this Tuesday evening, I was returning back home in my Honda WR-V. While I was on Malad SV Road, I could see a Kodiaq in my rear view mirror, the headlights of which looked stunning at night. Around 10 mins later, I stopped at a red signal in Kandivali, which is a fairly long waiting signal. The Kodiaq also stopped besides my car but a bit behind. After a couple of seconds, I heard someone knocking on my rear left window. I turned back to see that the person driving asking me to roll my window down. I rolled my window down and below was the conversation:

Kodiaq person: "Team-BHP fan"? (I have a sticker on my car's rear bumper)
Me: "Yeah"
Kodiaq person: "What's your registered user ID"?
Me (sadly): I don't have one yet. I just follow it.
Kodiaq person: "I am GTO"
Me (surprising): "Really?!?!"

I couldn't believe myself that I have actually met GTO whose posts I always admired ever since I started reading Team-BHP. Later we had a small chat while the signal was Red and I mentioned to him that I had tried registering once without success. On this, he advised me to retry registering on Team-BHP and carefully filling all the information. With his encouragement, I decided to give one more best shot on registering on Team-BHP and Voila! the next day, I got a welcome mail from GTO.

Heartwarming indeed.

[petrolhead_neel]

I don't even know if this belongs to this thread. What I know is that this was scary, and unsafe! Spotted during our last road trip.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TEPA5P5a70w

[hrman]

Originally Posted by petrolhead_neel

I don't even know if this belongs to this thread. What I know is that this was scary, and unsafe! Spotted during our last road trip.

Turn indicators using wind power (Renewable source of energy) :-)