[ad75]

Its almost a 2 year old story.could be boring to some.but wanted to write this for a long time.somehow found time now.

In sep 2008 we had to visit manipal and from there to our home town kannur.the dates were fixed and had planned that we would visit mangalore and then proceed to manipal.thus the route was bangalore kunigal hassan sakleshpur mangalore udupi manipal.

We usually drive to places wherever possible.thus it was our esteem which was our carrier.Pax –Me,Wife and our 2yr old Son. And LOTS of luggage.

We were to start on a Friday night to reach on sat morning. Suddenly there was my boss and super boss visiting our office from Mumbai. Good thing was that they would leave on Friday evening,thus no change in my plans.My boss and super boss left by 8 pm and I reached home by 9pm.ealier I had planned to reach home early so that I can have couple of hrs of sleep and start by 11pm.

It was drizzling in Bangalore when we started and this rain(sometimes very heavy) and drizzle were our companion for the next three days. As the story progresses the you would realize that the rain had lot of bad to do to us….

After dinner I tried to sleep, some how didn’t get sleep (I guess it was excitement of the drive, though it was our Nth drive). We started from Bangalore as planned at 11. pm drive till nelamangala was bad with all the work going on there.

From nelamangala to hassan was a breeze and could do 100+ speeds at most of the places. Wife and son were sleeping comfortably in the back seat.

Some where before hassan (or was it after hassan) don’t recall well, the traffic was diverted though muddy road for half a km.i don’t know the reason.the muddy road was tuning into slush with all the rain and heavy traffic going through it.As usual people tried using their techniques to outsmart the other vehicle and there was a traffic jam which took about 45 mins to ease out.

due to slush had quite a few wheel spins at many places before we got on to the tarmac.

We were cruising comfortably through those twists and turns after hassan.should be @ 50s and 60s with occasional 70s.there was moderate to heavy rains in this section.

The roads after hassan had lot of puddles and in some cases the whole road was filled with water.i would avoid the puddle wherever possible

Somewhere around 15 kms before Sakleshpur, there is a smooth left turn with a downward incline(don’t have better words to explain) which I took and there was a puddle on the left which I could not avoid as there was a petroleum tanker passing by on the right side.

While passing through the puddle I hear a Loud “THUD…THUD” (typical sound when the car goes into a pothole(this was louder though))
The steering started shaking violently with ssss….ssssss….ssss...

[ad75]

I realised that its either a puncture or a tyre burst.

It would be 3am when this happened...

I could some how bring the car to a halt on the left side.since it was raining i didnt get off the road as fixing a jack in the mud would be difficult.

Wife got up and asked "kya Hua" ? she generally gets up whenever I park the car on our trips. I said "i think puncture.let me check."

Its pitch dark and looks like jungle(trees) on both the sides.the road is busy with heavy traffic mostly carrying petroleum products.I keep the blinkers and the headlight on, the car is idling.its raining heavily.i went to the left side to see and realise that the left rear tyre in punctured/burst.its completely flat.im drenched and run back inside the car.

sitting there thinking -- let the rain subside, will change the tyre.

the car is tilted towards the left.both front and back.in sometime the rain subisdes and i reach out for the emergency lamp which we always carry with us.take it with me and decide to check the rear tyre again.i pointed the light towards the front left tyre and to my horror the front left tyre was also completely deflated.

I thought we are royally *******.two tyre bursts/puntures in the middle of nowhere on a highway with heavy rains and the time 3 am.darkness all around.

I came back and sat in the drivers seat and told the bad news to my wife.

she asked "what do we do now"
me "hmmm.. lets wait" (trying to put up a bold face,though im cluless)

As we sit inside, the car would shake whenever heavy vehicles pass by.

we could hear whoosh...whoosh sound whenver the vehicles passed along with the car shaking.

We also had Percussion for our company for entertainment...
the rain was heavy and the sound was like shivamani sitting on top of the car and doing his magic...

for some time the road would be completely empty.only light would be from my cars blinkers.

with all these sounds my son gets up and starts to cry loudly.no amount of pacifying would help.probably he was scared of the darkness along with the sounds around.

it was terrifying to say the least...

[Bigzero]

Wow! I am hooked! Waiting for the next update.

Two tyre bursts at the same time? thats a really nasty thing to happen at 3 am!

[ad75]

We sat in the car staring into darkness and thinking why us??

I checked my mobile ad was glad to see that there was signal in the mobile.I thought something can be worked out. I dreadto thing of a scene without mobile connectivity at that time.

First thing I did was to browse through my phone book contacts.I knew someone in sakleshpur.got his number and dialed...

"the subscriber you are trying to reach is switched off"

called a friend(he picked up after calling twice) who used to visit these places to find out if he has some contacts who i can seek some help.he said he will try and call back

then it clicked that let me call MOS (maruti on road service) called the number, they gave a number in hassan.but they also said that they doubt if the MOS guy could do anything about the tyres.called the number, afer multiple calls someone picked up.

after explaining him the situation he apologised and said if was mechanical stuff he could help but cant do anthing about the tyres.I dont blame him..

In the meantime my fried called back saying none of his contacts are answering the phone.

the rain was incessant and the noise(rain on the car roof) was getting deafening

I thought of flaggin someof the buses which were passing by lot of KSrtc and pvt buses going towards mangalore were crossing us. it was raining so bad that we just couldnt get out.we had only one umbrella for the three of us.

We had kept the car idling and the a/c on to avoid mist in the glasses. we had kept the cabin light on to pacify my son who was canky but not crying with the lights on.

there were few vehicles coming from the opposite direction who would slow down,look at our car and then proceed.I did not want to seek help from strangers in the middle of nowhere.we realised that we were seeking attention with the cabin light on.fortunately my son fell asleep and we switched off the cabin lights.

[ElantraGT]

Nice write up ad75. You have covered the orderal & rains part, now we are waiting for the good cops and happy ending part.

[ad75]

Well then i thought let me inform the cops and see if they would help.i was sceptical though

I dial 100.

ring ring ring.....CONTROL ROOM (a strong voice answered the phone).
I asked for sakleshpur police station phone number.this guy was courteous and gave me the numbers (two landline numbers) along with the std code.

He did not ask why.neithr did i tell him.I thanked him and hung up.

Now called the sakleshpur police station immediately.

after may rings some one picked up the phone... it was already 3.30 am by then.

the phone conversation went like this (though it was in kannada,im putting it up in english for ease of understanding)

hellloo - sakleshpuraa pulees station.. ( a very sleepy voice answered the phone)

me - namaskara sir, my name is..... im somehwere around 15-20 kms from sakleshpur towards hassan.my car tyres have puncture (before i complete)

cop - stepney illva (dont you have a stepeny)??

me - i have sir but ..he interupted

cop - mattey yen bekayithu - then what do you need.??

im trying my best to be polite and courteous and humble..

me - sir, kindly hear me out.

cop - heli heli (ok tell me)

me - sir, we are in a car travelling from bangalore to mangalore along with my family and we have two simultaneous punctures thus iwont be able to use the stepney as iahve ony one stepney.im approx 15-20 kms from sakleshpur towards hassan.

cop - hauda??? (is it)???

me - sir, i need help to some how reach sakleshpur, is there is highway parol or some other police vehicle doing duty on this road so that they can drop us to town?

cop - illa sir, yavudu gaadi illa.goverment gaadi private kelsakke use madakk agalla.(no sir,we dont have any vehicle and govt vehicle cannot be used for pvt purposes)

me - sir, please its raining heavily here,we have a kid with us.

cop - ok nodthini,swalpavathu bittu phone maadthini (ok let me see, i will call back after some time)

he hung up..

now i had some ray of hope. that some help might be on the way.

[traveloholic]

Oh! This reminds me of the ordeal we faced during our Goa trip during the last monsoon. We were struck in the middle of the bypass road with a broken alloy wheel and flat tyre. All because of an unexpected deep pit, bang in the middle of the road.

Keep it coming AD.

[ad75]

after waiting for 20 mins no calls except my friend who called back to check the status.

I called the police station again

someon picked up the call - it was sounding as the same person, but his response was asif he doesnt know anything. probably the guy who answered my phone slept off thinking it was a dream. Or it was someone else who answered the phone.. Im not sure.

this time i had changed my script and used words like - I got your number from control room.and they said that i can talk to sahibru (the boss) to get help

any way i had to go all over again to explain my situation to him.

after hearing me the cop asks - so what do you want us to do?

me - sir my priority right now is to take my family off this place to sakleshpur and stay in some hotel.I will take care of the car later.I need atransport from here to sakleshpur.

cop - we cannot send any police vehicle but can send a taxi but you will have to pay for it.

me - sir, i will pay please send a taxi.

cop - hold on

He was talking to someone on wireless.i can hear the conversation in the background

"so and so come in"

the cop in the police station explains the stuff to someone and says ok.

cop - sir, please note so an so constables number.pls speak to him.he is in the taxi stand on his round he will send the taxi.

i note the number and profusely thank him for his help and hang up.

[ad75]

I call up the cop at the taxi stand.

me - sir, im so an so (he interrupts)

cop - gottu gottu, sahibru helidaare. (i know, boss has told me).

cop - where are you?

me - sir im approx 15-20 kms (he interupts again)

cop - are you near x village, y village, z village? (i have never heard of those places)

me - sir, i dont know the name of the place its completely dark and there are only trees around but i remember seeing a milestone saying sakleshpur 20 kms.

cop - Ok the taxi is a white maruti van, number ka......... the drivers name is so and so he is wearing a red shirt.please note his mobile number.im giving the phone to him you can explain where you are

me - ok

i tell the taxi guy to keep coming towards hassan and keep an eye for a car parked with blinkers on onto his right.

he said he will flash his headlight once near and i have to reply with a flash and i agreed.

[ASHISHPALLOD]

Its interesting.

By your post, it seems that there are some good cops in this country.

I have not faced any good cop yet!!!!!

[ad75]

the taxi arrives we load few bags with valuables,kid's stuff,one bag with mine and wifes clothes.

I lock the car and leave the blinkers on.

We reach sakleshpur by 5.30.checkin to a hotel and crash on the bed as we were tired.the taxi guy leaves saying he would come back with a tyre puncture guy as and when the shop opens.

he came back by 6.30 itslef and calls me on y mob.i had probably slept of 30 mins. i go with him to the puncture shop. i ask the pucture guy to carry a jack and spanners.

we reach the car, remove both the tyres and i could not believe that both the tyres had sidewall cut. front 2 cuts and rear 3 cuts.we take the tyres to the puncture shop. the guy puts patch and repairs the tyres.both the tyres have a bulge after repair.

We now go into town in search of a tube or if available buy new tyres.the taxi guy knew a spare parts shop which had staff sleeping inside the shop.we get the shop opened and buy the tubes.

the tubes were fixed in the tubeless tyres the stepney was used in the front and the repaired tyre at the rear.

went to the car and fixed the tyres and drove to sakleshpur.there was wobble due to repaired tyre.

on the way i asked thaxi guy to show me the police station so that i can meet the cops who helped.but they were off duty by then.couldnt meet them

we decided to proceed to manipal.checked out from the hotel.the drive was slow as i didnt want to take any risk.we stayed at udupi for the night.

On our way back from manipal we bought two new tyres(with tube) at udupi, tubeless ones were not available.didnt have the patience to scout around also.

we proceeded to kannur after spendign two days at home drove to bangalore.


the end

[blackstallion76]

Wonderful Naration!! We have to just call it a fate for such incidents. And, we would not know when & where & whom help will come by.

[akas_chauhan]

You have a good writing skill. Thanks for sharing.

[lohithrao]

ad that was an experience! and sure a scary one! this is one reason why i dont dare to drive at night

But your presence of mind worked yu out of this situation, people also can try yellow pages!

btw well written!

[Spitfire]

Hey nice experience. Helps to get your faith back into the system.