My clients noticed me moving around the office with an extra tinge of enthusiasm in me. For the first time, I had to excuse myself from the middle of a discussion - all to start early from the office @ Reading,UK to Bristol - to witness the day & Night match between India and England (2nd ODI of the Natwest Series).
After many arguments, our gang of 10 (9 of us from Reading and one friend from Croydon) agreed that driving to Bristol was a better option than travelling by Train. The only mathematics in our mind was - The last train to Reading that starts around 11PM at Bristol would reach Reading only by 6 in the next morning. The drive by car would take us only 3.5 to 4 hours.
We literally prayed as our friend drove the car (For the first time in the UK!) from Reading to Bristol. By the time we reached the stadium, the match had commenced. It would take another blog to describe the match hours. Im surely not going to do this as the feel is something beyond words!. India put up a brilliant score of 300 plus in its innings. The Brit began their innings with a few beautiful strokes. There were unexpected twists and turns in the last few overs and England lost the match after putting up a very decent show.
With the excitement still in our eyes, we departed from Bristol after witnessing the Presentation Ceremony from the first row. The excitement was not over and all the five in our car sympathised for Ganguly and Sachin who missed their half and full centuries respectively by a single run. Anyways we were quite happy and relaxed for we won the match. We were discussing the moments again and again as our car headed towards Reading. The roads were deserted as it was around 11.45 in the night and it gave us all the freedom to zoom onto the roads.
Bang! The car stopped. We heard a loud noise and experienced a jolt! For a second I could not realise what had happened. Our friend had hit the barricade on the road side. We just confirmed everybody inside the car were safe. The next set of friends in the other car halted realising that we had a problem. We got down and tried to identify the damages on the car. The right tyre at the front was of no use now. Except for that, everything was alright. We knew that we had a backup tyre below the seats and when we hired the car, the owner had confirmed that the car is fully equipped with the required kit. All these days we never thought the kit or the backup tyre would serve its purpose. How wrong we were! Today is the day to check that out. But how are we going to fix that? None of us had the experience of changing the tyres. We did not even know where to start!
We called the helpline. They promised to arrive within a couple of hours (!). Meanwhile we decided to try and figure out the problem by ourselves and anything that we could find out was only a bonus to the help team! We put our minds together. To be frank, I should say all of them except me put their minds together and started to explore the kit. Since I didnt know much about the cars or the kit, I was quite curious to know more. I would peep into the kit(where there are already 9 heads peeping into it), ask them questions about the items in the kit(they dont know the answer either!) and challenge their skills to get things fixed. The guys begged me to do just one help - and that was to keep my mouth shut and sit INSIDE the car. I had to follow their words as I felt the tension that crossed their minds especially as we now stood stranded in an unknown place in the midnight without help.
Seeing our cars with their help lights on, another car which passed by the roadside stopped. That stirred some fear in our minds. We were suspecting anything and everything that passed, as the place was very notorious. The occupants of the car realised that we were into some difficulty and came forward to help us. They gave us instructions on how to use the Car Jack and the other tools to change the tyre. We thanked them as they left and started working on their instructions. The situation eased. All the guys were fully engaged in trying to get the jack in the right position, raising a part of the car to the required level, undoing the tightened bolts in the wheels etc. I was given all the priviledge to just sit and watch what they were doing. The only task given to me was to keep the bolts safe and hand it over back to them when they get the new tyre in place.
I sat on the barricade, with the bolts in hand and started counting the stars in sight. The cool midnight breeze made the night more beautiful. The strange place looked more lovely now. I picked up the snack pack from the car, distributed it to the guys and reserved the bigger share for me!. To kill the time, I would imagine a line in the MIDDLE of the road and try to walk over it, photograph the damaged tyre, the barricade and the car. I should mention that my friends opened the bonnet and posed for the photographs - like real engineers in action (though that was not true!).
Finally the wait was over! (Or we thought so.) The new tyre was all set. And hurray, we are starting now! We jumped into our seats and started the car. OOps! the vehicle doesnt start. What could be the problem ?
The hunt for the car manual began. It was in a small corner near the dashboard. The guys located a section “Diagnose problems” and tried to comprehend the details given under the section. After some analysis, we came to a conclusion - since the car encountered a sudden jerk, the inbuilt safety measures have set the car to a “lock” mode. The manual also pointed out that the car can be brought to the normal mode by pressing the unlock button positioned @ the left side of the car just beneath the front window. My little brain could only understand that much. Probably car geeks can explain what would have really happened.The next thing to do is to look out for that magic button. The manual had a neat diagram of the car and a pointer to the magic button. The guys read the diagram, they were sure of the spot but… it drove them crazy - nothing like that in the left side beneath the front window!!!.
“Why dont you try locating this one? Girls are good at figuring out details from pictures!”. “Yeah, why not?. You guys cannot trace a tiny switch! I am going to get this for you in a jiffy!”. The picture was crystal clear. But… THE SWITCH IS JUST NOT THERE! What do I tell them? “Please put a full stop to your sanguinity in my comprehending skills”. We waited for the helpline guys to come….
We jumped into the car again and started playing dumbcharades to kill time. We emptied the snacks. Some were still trying to locate the magic button. Time was ticking. We misinterpreted a couple of cars for the helpline cars! I had a small nap. At 3 AM, the help arrived. We told them about the magic button. They promptly said “Gentlemen, its on the right side!” . Yes. the magic button was beneath the right front window. The manual was the same for the right hand and left hand driven cars (how stupid!). We had a hearty laugh and started towards Reading. We sang songs - yeah horrible it was! - yet we had to keep ourselves awake or our friend who is driving would slip into the sleep mode.
By the time we reached Reading, it was 6 AM! The train journey could have been better, but it wouldn’t have given us this unforgettable moment !
No comments:
Post a Comment