26 July 2015, due
to some emergency situation I took the call to start my journey towards Indore
by my “DZire” at 10:00 PM. It was unusual for me since I don’t drive in the
night. Almost everyone in my family and friend circle are confident and knows
about my driving skills but only few of my closed people know that I never prefer
night drive.
Any way I started the journey of about 600 KM,
with my GPS on. I just took some sachets of coffee to keep myself awake all
night during my drive way.
We have been
caught-up by the drizzling rain from the beginning of the journey but sooner we
were facing the solid water force which was creating the good noise outside. Visibility
was at its lowest; top of it, the turning of Kasara Ghats with heavy fog.
When you drive
at the speed of 60-70 KMPH in a dark night and heavy rain, you are fully awake
and your driving posture is almost like a video game player. Straight and
alert, eying on the road and suddenly a truck passes by you at the speed of 100
KMPH, splashing the road water on your wind screen, pushed you in complete dark
for few seconds and you are like complete blind for the moment. Every passing
Truck looks like killing you.
Finally we
passed through this and rains got little low. Now it’s time to take rest for
few minutes at about 12.30 AM…I parked my car at the highway petrol pump and got
out for some fresh air.
When I sat back
in the car in the parking, I just closed my eyes for few seconds and when
opened it, I had finished 15 minutes. This is the peak time when I am usually
in deep sleep so I opened the coffee sachets to take a pinch of it on my tongue!!!
It was bitter but was the only option to keep me awake.
Started after
the break, now the rain was pouring slowly and the music in the car was onn,
another way to keep me awake. Everyone in the car was sleeping, only my wife
was in half alert condition. I continued the drive by keep tasting the bitter
coffee and washing my face almost after every hour. Agra-Bombay road is getting
better day by day by good road conditions, barricades on both the sides for
unusual interruptions, wash rooms on the highways but with the big burden of hefty
tolls. Adding all this finally we reached to border of MP and then we took the
break at mid-way restaurant "foodies” on highway at 6 AM to get fresh and breakfast
to recharge.
After that it
was easy as morning sunshine gives me good energy and we reached Indore in next
2 hours
Although I drove
so much in the span of 19 years of my life, but this was one of the most memorable
rides of my life as “Night rider”.
