The Accidental Trip :: Bangalore-Chennai [13-16 Aug 2005]

              I had decided to go to chennai during the Independence day long weekend on my bike.....I definitely wanted to do something interesting-something adventurous.But, my bad back was deterrent enough and spoiled the fun for me. But, I was determined to go as Aug 13 was my mother's birthday.But, as
I was planning to go by bike, I hadn't bothered to buy tickets to chennai.I tried for tickets on friday(12th) but as expected, I couldn't get any.I was  wondering what to do when i saw this post in my Company's Bullettin Board. A guy was goin to chennai by car for the long weekend......and was looking for companions.We complemented each other other perfectly - He had a car but didn't know the route.I knew the route, but didn't have a car. So, i mailed him and we decided to start saturday (13th) morning at 5:30.As usual in any trip, someone was late and we ended up starting only at 7:00 AM.The car was a black Maruti Wagon R.Very very new.....just 1.5 months old - so was the guy's driving experience which i found out later -to my horror. We decided to take the scenic route to chennai Bangalore -> Kolar -> Chittoor -> Ranipet -> Chennai. The road meanders through lush forests with lots of nice curves - in fact perfect biking road.But not the best road for a car drive as i learnt.We bikers like to ride at a nice and easy 80-100 with the wind on our face and nice green scenery all around us.The road should be having lots of nice curves.....banked ones if possible.Taking the curves at a constant 90 KMPH gives u a kick like none other.U gotta bend along with the bike with only ur momentum holding u on the seat.Its a rush that i can't fully explain...but what other kindred spirits will surely
recognize.Thats why bikers just love mountain roads.If the road has traffic, then nothing better...traffic is the tangy avakkai oorga (pickle) with food....we can manage without it - but the food is much more tastier with it.  We tend to go to sleep when faced with a long plain road which is  arrow straight and with no traffic.Its as boring as doing documentation for a program someone else has written. But as i evidently saw, car drivers don't conform to this idea.They
need a straight road.....with as less number of sharp curves as possible and with no traffic.They just want to go fast...and i do mean FAST!!  Imagine this small car with a measly 64 BHP (or should i say PS) engine and a tall body prone to turning turtle if not driven properly hurtling over the highway at 140 KMPH.Thats exactly what we did.We didn't just touch 140 KMPH.We actually cruised at 120-140 KMPH - with the A/C on the  whole time.And ended up reaching chennai from bangalore in 5 hours with a 40 minute breakfast break.Thats a trip of 360 KM in 4.2 hours......which is really really damn fast.I was happy.

At chennai, I wished my mom happy birthday and took my family to Delhi Dhaba on Cenotaph road for a treat and overall, we had a nice time in chennai.Except for the heat which as a bangalorean still find irritating. Then, on monday (15th August) our esteemed country's independence day,  i contacted this guy and we started back to bangalore arnd 3 PM.It was the same high speed this time too.....but with an element of passion added.

We were racing with another Wagon R of Karnataka regn, that guy was goin really fast - with his wife & children inside. This was maddening to us. We were 4 kewl youngsters racing our car and there's this middle aged 'OLD' man coolly overtaking us.So, we put up a stiff fight. And then,it started raining too.....all in all, this scene had all the elements of a Mani Ratnam Film.

We were two cars goin at 120 kmph + on the road from Chennai to Bangalore. It was a nailbiting race.That guy would be in front of us, then we'ld suddenly overtake him by catching a small gap he left - either to the left or to teh right , didn't matter. I remember that we once simultaneously overtook an amblying amby (Ambassador) which was goin at a 'slow' 100 kmph - he overtook from the right, and we from the left. It was nice fun. And sometimes, we'ld be in front and sometimes he'ld be.....he never let go of the race.He would always be lurking behind us waiting for a small chance to overtake us.

In the stream of events, we overtook him at 100 kmph and just as we finished the manouver, we saw a petrol bunk on the left side of the road.Seeing it, the dude who was driving our car decided that he wanted to fuel up only at that bunk. The bunk was arnd 100 mts from the highway with a pebble stewn area between. Our driver made a sudden turn into the way leading to the bunk.All this travelling at 80 kmph.

 

Our car skidded on the pebbles and lost control.Neither the brakes nor the steering worked. We were travelling uncontrollably at a scary 60 kmph towards the bunk which was just 50 metres away. Thank GOD, there were some trucks parked in front of the bunk and we slammed into the front of a truck -just 5 metres from the bunk. If that truck hadn't been parked there, we'ld have hit the bunk directly and exploded in a spectacular fireball - and I wouldn't be here writing this !!

Coming back o the accident scene.I saw that we were goin to hit the truck and as there wasn't anything that i could do, snuggled more into the seat belt that i was wearing.We hit the truck and the front half of the car totally went under the truck. The bumper of the truck ended up just 3-4 inches in front of the driver's face. JUST because the driver was wearing a seatbelt, his face didn't hit that and so, he escaped with his life.

Amazingly, none of us were hurt seriously.The driver just had some cuts due to the shattered windscreen. The front part of the car was destroyed beyond recognition.

Then, with the climax being over,we did the cleanup.We stayed there for a day negotiating with the truck driver for the damages to his truck. From his initial estimate of 15K, we negotiated it down to 2K that we paid happily and took the car to the nearest Maruti dealership. The engine was fine, so the next day, we removed the windscreen and all of us bought a pair of cheap goggles each and drove to bangalore with the car like that. It was really nice. We were again travelling at 100 kmph and as there was no windscreen , wind filled the car along with all sorts of debris flying in the wind.

 

All in all , it was a nice 'near - to -death ' experience that I had.But it had a happy ending.As the car was new, the guy ended up paying just 20-30 K of the total 1.8 lakhs spent on repairing the car.And we were all ALIVE.

The only take-away message that I have for u is : NEVER UNDERESTIMATE THE IMPORTANCE OF A SEATBELT. ALWAYS WEAR THE SEATBELT WHILE TRAVELLING ON HIGHWAYS.

-Cne

7Cne -The Coolest Dude8