Four men in a car – Part 1

Dedication : To JKJ, who wrote that wonderful book that gave me a side sprain from all the ROFLing I did while reading it. 

Last weekend, Vin, HJ, AB and me had gone to Coorg.

The plan was to start at 0300 hrs in the morning and reach Coorg by 0930 hrs. As usual, the car had just enough fuel to stall on reaching the nearest fuel station. Filled diesel the previous night itself, got some stuff to eat, made a few phone calls, set an alarm to wake me up at 0200hrs on D-Day, and then sat in front of tv watching cricket till 2330hrs. Hit the sack when the following scene materialized in my mind.

Self (Dusting dust off my clothes) : Whee , the last thing i remember is climbing a hair pin bend. What happened ?

Vin : Not much. One second we were cruising at 60 on this straight highway with a 10 km visibility, and the next second we were in a ditch.

We got up when HJ called Vin at 0240, asking us whether we were ready. Vin told him that we were on our way, and we finally got to his place at 0340. 

Vin : HJ, we are here. Come, lets make a move.

HJ (Coming out) : Hey… did you drive with your foot on the accelerator or the brake ? Took you an hour to cover this distance of 500 metres.

Me, after checking, sheepishly : Er, that I did, and the parking brake was on too.  

HJ : AB had called me up at 0230hrs. He might have gone back to sleep by now.

Luckily for us, AB was still awake, although in a slightly sour mood. We picked him up and proceeded on our way to Coorg. Self was driving, and in the first 30 mins, I had perfected my patented technique of driving over speed breakers, which is,

1. Spot the speed breaker when it’s two inches away from the car.
2. Drive over it at 60 kmph
3. Apply the brakes just as the car crosses the speed breaker.
4. Stop the car, wipe the brow, and check whether the car’s damaged
5. Continue the journey
6. Goto step 1 at the next speed breaker.

I also got to practice the art of missing turns, and also sampled the art of taking the wrong turn.

Like a 100 test veteran guiding a novice bunny-esque No:11 to hold out for a draw on the fifth day, HJ guided me through a 100 km stretch before throwing in the towel and asking Vin to take over. We had the following conversation soon after.

HJ : blah blah, I am a good driver. Even I drive into potholes sometimes.

Me : Oh.

HJ : But till date, I have never seen anyone aim for 100% pothole coverage.

Me (Red faced) : eh. Heh heh. Takes a bit of practice. 

Vin, the cool driver that he is, drove for another 100 km or so before the expert, HJ, took over. Unfortunately for HJ, the stretch that he got to drive on was pretty bad. The road was just a collection of potholes connected by small stretches of mud. However, I got a chance to return the compliment I got from HJ a few hours earlier .

We reached coorg at around 0930 hrs, and managed to reach the farmhouse at around. One more funny incident happened enroute, but that will be the subject of the next post.

Been a while..

Been a while since my last post. Had a bad attack of writer’s block, during which I wandered around trying to write about something, but without anything funny to write about.

New year started with a bang. Me, NN, PSS had gone on a car trip to Palakkad. We stayed at NN’s house and had a fabulous time there. V should have joined us, but he pulled out at the last minute because he expected a mild attack of cold.

It was my first long drive in the car (one in which i figured amongst the drivers), and enjoyed every moment of it. Managed speeds in excess of 120kmph in select patches. .

Discovered a new author – Terry Pratchett. Morphed into a bookworm and have been devouring his books. Just one word to summarize him – Funny. Never thought anyone other than PGW could write stuff that makes you go ROFL like this.

Read “House Atreides”, the prequel to Dune, a marvellous book that lays the foundation for the events in Dune. Tells the stories of Shaddam IV, Leto Atreides, Duncan Idaho, House Vernius and, of course, “The Baron”.

Read “The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy”. If you have read it, then you know what I am talking about, and I wont describe it further. If you have not, then you will not understand what I am talking about, and hence I will not explain it. . Another funny book, to say the least.

World cup ‘07 has started. Promises to be the most boring cup ever. Might watch some matches from the Super-gazillion stage, if interest still remains.

Going to a trip (car, of course ) to Coorg tomorrow. Intend to start early morning. Will post some photographs once I come back.

Have a good weekend.