[Crow]

I had a scary experience in Delhi last night. I was returning home in the office cab around 2 am, when we were attacked by six-seven drunk louts on Guru Ravidas Marg, near Govindpuri Metro station, South Delhi (see image for rough location). One of them was carrying a knife and the others had beer bottles with them.

Our driver, who has a habit of dozing off while driving, was not in his most alert state. He nearly rammed a parked car before we reached Guru Ravidas Marg (took a right after crossing the gurdwara in Kalkaji). In that area, there are DDA flats on the right and slums on the left. These louts were from the slums.

Back to the point, they shattered the window panes of a car in front of ours. The driver saw this and did not think of stopping and reversing. I was in the rear seat, looking out of the window, so did not see this happening. Suddenly I saw that the driver stopped the cab near the louts, giving them a clear shot at us. They threw four beer bottles at the car, three of which hit the doors on my side. Now for some strange reason (probably to prevent the window pane from shattering), the driver rolled down the front passenger side window, where the guard was seated.

One of the bottles entered the car and damaged a bit of the plastic shade outside the window. Luckily, the glass bottle did not shatter and no one in the cab was hurt. As soon as they started throwing bottles, the driver accelerated and we escaped without further damage. One of the louts waved a knife at the car, asking us to speed off or face his weapon.

The car took minor damage, just four dents/scrapes on the doors and that broken plastic shade. We found a policeman near Kalkaji DDA Flats and told him about the incident. He said he would send the patrol vehicle there. We had to reach home (since it was post 2 am), so we left without insisting on a formal complaint.

It was indeed a lucky escape. I would advise everyone to avoid this stretch at night. The same road is very safe once one is near Alaknanda, near the market, till it hits Mehrauli-Badarpur Road. However, the stretch near the Govindpuri slums is horrible. It is always dirty due to slumdwellers and shopkeepers dumping garbage on the road. That stretch always has heavy traffic jams due to encroachment by shops and parked cars.

[Safety is Param]

That is one unforgettable incident, I must say that.

If possible, please start taking alternate routes to your home so that you can avoid such incidents in future. If an area is known to be notorious, it should be avoided at any cost.

If the cab driver doesn't agree for a de-tour, please bring it to the notice of your employer, and the potential danger it can pose to your life.

Please concentrate on things and tasks that interest you more in order to overcome the ordeal.

There are only 2 things possible in our country -

1) Ignore , avoid and walk away if you don't have any connections. Personal safety is of utmost importance.

2) Make the other person repent for his entire life if you have connections. But make sure you were not on the wrong side of things just because you had / have connections.

Waiting for our country's administration to improve is not going to get anyone anywhere. 2 generations have passed and there has been no improvement; 2 more will pass and there won't be any either!!

The only thing running this country is Hope(personally I don't have any of it left anymore)...

[Enigmatic]

Please watch out and try avoiding the area next time, specially if you would be travelling by the same office cab .

I am aware of the area near Govindpuri metro station, last may I was interning with Amarchand which have their office in that vicinity. I clearly remember the walk back at night from the office to the metro station used to be horribly frightening.

Be safe.

[drmohitg]

I think you should be more worried about the driver dozing off while on the job! What are you still doing travelling in that cab when you are saying he has a habit of dozing off , implying that it has happened more than once.

Regarding the map, I am unfamiliar with that area but as a precaution I usually stick to the main roads while driving in the night.

Also what was the guard you said seated in the front doing? Even he did not spot the miscreants or try to scare them off? Does he carry a weapon? Or was he dozing off too?

[anjan_c2007]

Please try another route since you travel at odd hours during the night when no one is around.
Even if the alternate route is longer, it should be traversed for safety reasons, if nothing else.
One must never land into any adventures or encounters with history sheeters, come what may. It is their day to day profession. For us, maybe its a once in a lifetime experience.

As they say, "If we touch and filthy and dirty water flowing, our hands will get dirty."

And in Bengali there is a saying " Naeda Beltolaey ek baar i jaaye."

(means - a bald person goes below a Bael (Aegle marmelos) Tree only once.)

[k_nitin_r]

Originally Posted by drmohitg

what was the guard you said seated in the front doing? Even he did not spot the miscreants or try to scare them off? Does he carry a weapon? Or was he dozing off too?

Typically the guards are from the same locality as where they work so likely knew the miscreants and therefore did not intervene. Also, they try to avoid trouble and are only responsible for the building/property they are guarding. And, yes, they usually doze off - they have other jobs during the day so the night is the only time they get to sleep.

[joybhowmik]

I live near the area in CR Park, and can vouch for the rowdyism in the neighborhood. Surprisingly, this is not only the drunks, but even the kids have the typical swagger and the devil-may-care attitude.
Whenever, I take my car to the local fish market in Govindpuri (it's cheaper here than in my colony), I ensure to park near the taxi stand - I have a nodding acquaintance, with the proprietor.
Once I had made the mistake of parking the car near the fish market (on the slum side). When I returned to the car after a good 45 minutes, it had been badly scratched with a sharp object. I have myself seen fights break out - an area to avoid as much as possible.

[Crow]

Originally Posted by Safety is Param

If possible, please start taking alternate routes to your home so that you can avoid such incidents in future. If an area is known to be notorious, it should be avoided at any cost.

Originally Posted by Enigmatic

Please watch out and try avoiding the area next time, specially if you would be travelling by the same office cab .

I am aware of the area near Govindpuri metro station, last may I was interning with Amarchand which have their office in that vicinity. I clearly remember the walk back at night from the office to the metro station used to be horribly frightening.

Originally Posted by anjan_c2007

Please try another route since you travel at odd hours during the night when no one is around.
Even if the alternate route is longer, it should be traversed for safety reasons, if nothing else.

We've been taking that route at night for over a year and a half. This is the first time such an incident took place. As for your suggestions, the office cab drivers have now been advised to avoid that route as far as possible. We now enter the locality through the much safer CR Park route.

Originally Posted by k_nitin_r

Typically the guards are from the same locality as where they work so likely knew the miscreants and therefore did not intervene. Also, they try to avoid trouble and are only responsible for the building/property they are guarding. And, yes, they usually doze off - they have other jobs during the day so the night is the only time they get to sleep.

I think there has been some misunderstanding. The guard in the office cab is stationed in office and he accompanies us in the cab every night when we return home. The cab driver was dozing off that night, not the guard.

Originally Posted by joybhowmik

I live near the area in CR Park, and can vouch for the rowdyism in the neighborhood. Surprisingly, this is not only the drunks, but even the kids have the typical swagger and the devil-may-care attitude.

I forgot to mention one thing. These drunk louts were very young. I'd say not one of them was over 19 years old. All of them appeared to be aged between 16 and 19. Yes, that fish market is terrible and so is the slum area just across the road. I'd suggest you buy fish from CR Park itself. The quality is much better and so is the locality. Why compromise on quality of food to save money?

Originally Posted by drmohitg

I think you should be more worried about the driver dozing off while on the job! What are you still doing travelling in that cab when you are saying he has a habit of dozing off , implying that it has happened more than once.

Regarding the map, I am unfamiliar with that area but as a precaution I usually stick to the main roads while driving in the night.

Also what was the guard you said seated in the front doing? Even he did not spot the miscreants or try to scare them off? Does he carry a weapon? Or was he dozing off too?

Our office has five Innovas, and just one driver has this habit. The drivers are all overworked, so didn't insist on a formal complaint because I do not want to get a poor chap fired. However, we have alerted the person concerned and corrective action has been taken. Haven't seen the driver over the weekend, which usually means a suspension.

That road is the main road connecting Govindpuri to Alaknanda, so it can only be avoided when the cab drops people in Malviya Nagar/Vasant Kunj before Kalkaji. As for the guard, they don't even have a lathi. Usually they just accompany women to their homes when the cab cannot enter a small lane. They carry no weapons and are mostly overweight and extremely unfit. To be fair to this guard, he did nothing wrong. Stepping out of the cab and trying to be a hero would have resulted in serious injuries because he would have been outnumbered. The driver should have reversed the moment he saw the other car being attacked. Quite why he stopped right next to the drunk louts is beyond me.

In such situations, presence of mind can save a lot of trouble. The driver clearly had none.

[phamilyman]

With due respect, you may wish to distinguish a bunch of drunks going on a one-time spree (which looks to me to be the case) versus crime hotspots (like the recent mentions of certain hotspots in BLR where mugging incidents were repeated).

There are only so many roads - how many can you avoid basis one-off incidents?

Lastly, like you say - presence of mind has no substitute, esp if your job needs you to be on the road at those hours everyday. Crap can happen anywhere.

My POV comes from doing the reverse - in GGN one-off incidents of mugging on Golf Course Road (towards the end) and its extension led to my friends suggesting sticking to the really busy routes. However, for someone whose cycled on those parts alone even at 4am, I have my own independent assessment and I would take all routes when by myself. of course, while coming back with wife and infant son, I stayed on the really busy sections after 1am.

[hellmet]

If you see trouble ahead but cannot reverse due to any reason, always increase speed when you see miscreants trying to stop you. They must not, for a second, assume you're going to brake.

However, given that the vehicle was being driven by someone else (plus in sleep mode), there's nothing much that could have been done here.

[behaln]

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