Tyre puncture on the highway: How 2 young village guys helped me out

Contrast this to what I'd have faced in the city. Nobody would've helped and I'd be also hearing some choice expletives.

BHPian KrisTvpm recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Did a Thiruvananthapuram - Bengaluru trip just last weekend.

And what I dreaded & have successfully avoided for the last 10+ years on long trips - tyre puncture - happened

My XUV5OO has Continental ContiCross contact LX2 tyres on all 4 and has performed very well w/o any incidents so far.

It happened somewhere between Tirunelveli - Madurai route, just as I was starting to ascend a flyover. A Sarkari Bolero honked multiple times to alert me of the puncture on the LHS rear tyre.

Parked the car on the extreme LHS lane, placed a warning triangle some 10m behind my car & set about swapping with the spare tyre.

Just then couple of young guys - who must be in their early 20's - came by bike, parked theirs just beside mine and inquired if I needed help.

I told you I could do it myself, thanks!

But it turned out the wheel lugnuts won't come off so easy due to not being loosened in quite many years. Tried spraying a very small quantity of WD40 to loosen the dirt, still won't budge.

Almost 30-45min passed by then.

The guys then called up their friend, who came in a pickup Bolero, used his non-OEM wrench, even fell once while trying to stand on the wrench, and finally removed all 5 nuts successfully. Meanwhile, they called up highway patrol, upon getting to know they were held up somewhere, called up another friend who came with a "puncher" repair walla, took the punctured tyre, fixed up the hole caused by a rather large zipper closure bit, helped me fix the spare tyre.

I guessed they must be expecting "some" monetary gain, since they helped me extensively, and handed a ₹500 note to them, but to my surprise, they won't take it! Just asked me to pay ₹150 for the puncturewala for his efforts, told me they're like my brothers, don't expect any money, and said bye-bye with friendly advice to drive safe!

Couldn't but contrast this to what I'd have faced in the city! Nobody would've helped, and I'd be also hearing some choice expletives for blocking their way.

Thank God for those 2 young villagers, may you get repaid for your good deeds in some way! And may I repay my debt to you in some way to someone!

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