[rks]

Originally Posted by sbasak

I feel sorry to say that some people make their living by committing these nuisance acts!
You are lucky that you closed it by paying just Rs 100 - usually they demand Rs 500+

All these are organised. I can confirm that it happens in Calcutta also.... sometimes cyclists (usually 2 on the cycle) come from small alleys and suddenly falls in front of the cars. Usually it happens in port area or where lots of slums are there.

That is interesting. So these chaps don't mind risking their lives for making a few bucks. This is one of my worries now -- what if some bigger nut case actually injures himself deliberately and then demands huge compensation? Very little I can do to prevent such a scenario -- just hope it doesn't happen to me.

[Samrat Banerjee]

Originally Posted by rks

Giving a lift to anybody is a big risk these days. Glad you emerged safe from your experience. On each of my weekly Mumbai-Pune trips, several people try to thumb lifts and I refuse each time. Recently, a couple of the toll gate people, now fairly familiar with my car, have started pestering me ("Please give lifts to these *official* Expessway staff to Panvel/Katraj") and I have again flatly refused. How do I know who these characters are? They may be in uniform, but could be thugs for all I know.

Completely agree with you on this one... while other cities have their own unique issues-eg.- In one of my Delhi experience- some guys showing off their driving skills with a Sumo lost control and hit one of the girls-whom they were showing off to. Poor girl was chatting with her friends one moment the next second she was down a good distance off the road.. She must had had multiple fractures that day...

BUT giving a lift in Bombay specially on anywhere on the highway is absolutely a NO-NO. While the other smaller incidences take away some doe or even car, the wrong pick up on the highway is a surefire way to take chances with ones life...

[prabuddhadg]

Here's another story for you guys, about life on Bombay streets. A friend was driving down S V Road, Goregaon/ Malad, last month. The road was stop and go, 1st gear and stop. He was on the left most lane and pedestrians were walking past very close. He had a co-passenger in the front and one at the back. A/c off, windows rolled down. At one stop, one guy, a pedestrian, tapped on the boot and shouted something. My friend did not bother to turn around. A few moments of slow driving and that man tapped louder and shouted some more, about stopping too suddenly. This time all the three people in the car turned and shouted back at the man. The man would not walk past the car; he would remain there and shout. At the next stop, the man started banging on the boot and screaming at the top of his lungs.
The three people in the car were by now boiling with rage at the man, and they too shouted back at him to walk past. All this while, there was a steady stream of people walking past along the road.
Soon, the traffic eased up a bit and the car moved ahead away from the madcap. After a while, my friend wanted to call someone up and that was when he noticed that his mobile, kept on the dashboard, was missing.
So, the modus operandi was : - One man would distract the people in the car, and another walking past would whack whatever he could get his hands on off the dashboard. I guess the first few times the whack had not worked which is why the man kept at it for so long.

So, all you Bombayites, careful with what you have on the dash with the window down.

[speedsatya]

here is my experience in navi Mumbai
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian...d-roads-3.html

[rks]

Originally Posted by speedsatya

here is my experience in navi Mumbai
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian...d-roads-3.html

Navi Mumbai is notorious for crime, so getting into a fight there is a very risky proposition. Glad you survived without too much damage. Hope the deafness in one ear that you suffered was only temporary.

[clix22]

A similar thing happened to me at Andheri a couple of years ago. Was driving my Indica to Andheri from saki naka. Just past the International airport signal this chap from a crowd walking on the side suddenly falls down and starts screaming. I must have been doing around 20kmph. Suddenly the rest of the crowd also starts shouthing - maar diya etc. Stopped the car and saw this man lying on the road, holding his stomach and crying. The guys said my left side of the car had hit him. Benefit of doubt, ( tho I was sure there was no contact). There was so much rukus being created ther , took the chap and his 2 other friends to a "dispensary" 1 km away ( suggested by the " friends"). The doc was not there so chaps decided to wait for him. Gave them 200 bucks ( they wanted 1000 for xray and medicines but fort my wallet had only 300 that day) and took the doctors cell number from the compounder saying that i will call him and settle bills. Drove away and near popular car bazar / seepz cutting had a flat so stopped the car to change tyre. Surprise surprise - guess what I saw - the 3 chaps whizzing past me in an auto all happy and laughing. Realised had been conned. Called the docs number and he said no patients were there that day. In short ban gaya C*****a. Have been very carefull after that.

[rks]

prabuddhadg, the moral of the story is what drifter mentioned -- keep windows rolled up and AC on. Sometimes I roll down my windows at signals and even open the door to stretch my legs, but now after hearing about this experience, will stop that.

cilx22, not much you could have done in that situation. Best thing is to settle quickly and exit -- you are heavily outnumbered and will not win the argument. And I would suggest that you try to avoid taking people to hospitals unless they are genuinely injured -- they are looking for money anyway, so give them something, tell them you are in a hurry, and try to exit.

My most recent drive to Mumbai was in blinding rain. Just after Lonawala, found an individual walking in the left lane -- he saw my car in the middle lane, and then wound himself up and took aim as though he were about to throw something. I ducked instictively as my car passed him, but didn't hear any impact. Probably was a drunk, but didn't feel too comfortable.

[johy]

Originally Posted by speedsatya

here is my experience in navi Mumbai
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian...d-roads-3.html

Speedsatya- absolutely horrific - right out of the movies - too bad you got caught in all that singlehanded.

[2fast4u]

rks mumbai is one place where u could get mugged, thrashed or anything can be done and there wont be one person to HELP u. all rather MOST are too busy and chicken hearted when it comes to raising a voice.

(had come down to India in Feb 2006) Just an incident which happened at Bandra on railway station one guy was held against a pole and another guy was punching him in the face all were looking but no one wanted to get involved and it came so spontaneous to me and my friend avi to intervene and infact land a couple of punches on the other two to stop the fight. those guys swore at us, warned us of future consequences and disappeared. this dude was bleeding from the nose, seemed poor, didnt look like a potential thug (whether he was one is not the question) - gave the dude 100 bucks to get some medical attention.
after all this live "movie show" the people who were actually watching all this just turned their heads to see when their train is coming. wonder how they value human life.

btw my friend is a typical Maratha.

[rks]

Originally Posted by 2fast4u

rks mumbai is one place where u could get mugged, thrashed or anything can be done and there wont be one person to HELP u. all rather MOST are too busy and chicken hearted when it comes to raising a voice.

(had come down to India in Feb 2006) Just an incident which happened at Bandra on railway station one guy was held against a pole and another guy was punching him in the face all were looking but no one wanted to get involved and it came so spontaneous to me and my friend avi to intervene and infact land a couple of punches on the other two to stop the fight. those guys swore at us, warned us of future consequences and disappeared. this dude was bleeding from the nose, seemed poor, didnt look like a potential thug (whether he was one is not the question) - gave the dude 100 bucks to get some medical attention.
after all this live "movie show" the people who were actually watching all this just turned their heads to see when their train is coming. wonder how they value human life.

btw my friend is a typical Maratha.

You and your friend really went out of your way to help this guy and I appreciate that. But consider what would have happened if these crooks had pulled out knives and attacked you. Could have had a very unpleasant ending. What I would recommend is to call the cops and tell that to the attackers. It would have a very sobering effect on them and they might even run away. Of course the fact that our cops take ages to respond to such situations doesn't help. But there is not much more you can do, unless you are sure that the thugs are not armed.

[2fast4u]

Originally Posted by rks

You and your friend really went out of your way to help this guy and I appreciate that. But consider what would have happened if these crooks had pulled out knives and attacked you. Could have had a very unpleasant ending. What I would recommend is to call the cops and tell that to the attackers. It would have a very sobering effect on them and they might even run away. Of course the fact that our cops take ages to respond to such situations doesn't help. But there is not much more you can do, unless you are sure that the thugs are not armed.

agree with u on that but i didnt think much at the time. Normally I keep telling others dont enter into confrontations with unkown people and also make my self firm on this issue but then when two guys thrash one guy (that to punching the poor dude in the face it is absolutely brutal) and I simply cant control myself. Maybe its in my genes Dad too is the same at even at 70.

[sumeethaldankar]

This happened today as i was driving to my office to Airoli for a night shift. I was on the santacruz kalina road onwards to the newly created santacruz chembur link road. This incident happened close to the signal where at right we can go to BKC and straight goes to SCLR.

I had slowed down for a signal and the area was a bit dark. Suddenly out of nowhere 2 guys approach my car from the left side and one of them for reasons absolutely unknown to me started to hit on the side of the car. Now i was driving carefully and i am quite certain the car did not touch anyone or anything that could have provoked them to behave that way.

Thankfully the signal turned green and the i started to drive away with the guy still beating on the side of the car. I have no clue what their intentions were and i did not wanted to find out either. I hope i did the right thing here by not lowering the glass and confronting the guys or stopped the car. Upon arrival at my office parking i checked if there was any damage to the car and there was none.I don't even know if i was the victim of road rage , had i unknowingly did something to provoke these guys o , only God will be able to tell.

[Gotham_City]

Originally Posted by sumeethaldankar

This happened today as i was driving to my office to Airoli for a night shift. I was on the santacruz kalina road onwards to the newly created santacruz chembur link road. This incident happened close to the signal where at right we can go to BKC and straight goes to SCLR.

I had slowed down for a signal and the area was a bit dark. Suddenly out of nowhere 2 guys approach my car from the left side and one of them for reasons absolutely unknown to me started to hit on the side of the car. Now i was driving carefully and i am quite certain the car did not touch anyone or anything that could have provoked them to behave that way.

Thankfully the signal turned green and the i started to drive away with the guy still beating on the side of the car.

Sumeet,

You did the absolutely right thing. A colleague faced exactly the same situation on the same road (CST Road, Kalina) 4 weeks ago.

It seems that there is a gang active in the area looking to make some easy money off unsuspecting motorists (either by flicking some expensive item or by extorting money in name of fake accident).

It's an emergence of very disturbing pattern in a city considered safe otherwise.

Thanks for sharing the incident.

[sumeethaldankar]

Originally Posted by Gotham_City

Sumeet,

You did the absolutely right thing. A colleague faced exactly the same situation on the same road (CST Road, Kalina) 4 weeks ago.

It seems that there is a gang active in the area looking to make some easy money off unsuspecting motorists (either by flicking some expensive item or by extorting money in name of fake accident).

It's an emergence of very disturbing pattern in a city considered safe otherwise.

Thanks for sharing the incident.

Buddy i hope your colleague too got away. I thank my stars the signal turned green otherwise i do not know what would have been in store for me. This happened around 9:30 PM in heavy traffic. I think this is the modus operandi of these gangs. Pick on a sole driver/vehicle , make them stop and then i don't know what next ..extort money from them or whatever. I would also urge people not to stop in case of such cases. I don't know if i should even continue to use that road again.

[Gotham_City]

Originally Posted by sumeethaldankar

Buddy i hope your colleague too got away. I thank my stars the signal turned green otherwise i do not know what would have been in store for me. This happened around 9:30 PM in heavy traffic. I think this is the modus operandi of these gangs. Pick on a sole driver/vehicle , make them stop and then i don't know what next ..extort money from them or whatever. I would also urge people not to stop in case of such cases. I don't know if i should even continue to use that road again.

He too was saved by skin of his teeth. Thankfully he did not respond to taps on window. However, he saw the same set of guys flicking cell phone from a 2 wheeler rider (was using it during his stop at red signal). In the process, these thugs had hit him on his head. All of this happened at 9:00 PM at a place which is 0.5-1.0 kms from central business district of Bombay (BKC).

Scary