We all love rain.Rainy days bring in their own share of fun with them,no doubt.
But this was a harrowing experience I had with rain one day.That day i had to leave for home from Gurgaon.
It was a Friday, I still remember.I had a last EMEC lab when it rained quite a bit(enough to be called rain!).I decided to postpone my plan for the next day.I thought it would be better to leave early in the morning next day.But the weather cleared so well that I decided to leave for Faridabad on Friday itself.
Problems started cropping up one by one.The first one came when I was unable to find my helmet in the pg.I recalled Vikas had borrowed it form me,so I went to his pg to find it.But as it turned out, it was not there also!Finally, i managed to borrow a makeshift kind of helmet from Ankit and decided to leave for Faridabad.It was 6 pm at that time.I called up my mom and told her that I am coming home.
I commute to Faridabad from Gurgaon via the Mehrauli route(MG road).As I reached the malls, I noticed a slight drizzle.I ignored it as it was very less in magnitude.Next, came another problem:Due to the metro construction work, I followed a wrong diversion sign and landed up driving on the wrong side with all heavy traffic coming towards me, head on.
I barely missed colliding with a Maruti 800, and by God's grace I managed to come on the right side,somehow.Now things seemed fine,I was proceeding towards the border.But to my dismay again, the drizzle started getting heavier as i neared the border.And when I reached the border, the drizzle was a thing of the past, it had become a full fledged rain.
For once I thought of turning back again.But, somewhere in my mind I had a thought "Dekh lenge, aage kya baarish hogi....lets take the risk!".
And mind it, if I were to write a novel on 3 mistakes of my life, THIS would be the first one.
So, the journey started from the border,with a rain of course.By now, it was raining cats and dogs.But I was still moving.To top it all, this was my first experience of driving in the rain so I wasn't aware of the precautions.So I was riding at around 50 kmph,in a heavy rain, a thing one should never do in heavy rain, especially on a two wheeeler.Moreover, the makeshift helmet I was using had no visor and the rain was lashing on my spectacles, making my view blurred.
So, with so many things on top of each other, it happened what shouldn't have:
I was trailing a Pulsar which suddenly braked(acually a red light had come as I observed later),I applied the disc brake to avert the collision,another thing NEVER to be done in rain,and my bike stopped but skidded.
I was fortunate although, that I just managed to maintain my balance and did not fall over.It came as a lesson well learnt but through the hard way, I learned that I should go a bit slower to avoid skidding on braking.
So, I proceeded.By this time, night had fallen in and my blurred vision through spectacles had become even worse.I have a power of more than 4, so riding without spectacles was also out of the question.
But now I was proceeding cautiously and in my mind, praying to God that please make me reach home safely.
As I proceeded, some areas were all clear from rain while at some places it was still raining cats and dogs.
By this time I was all wet with rain and another problem cropped up.The oncoming gust of cool wind, which we generally enjoy was making me shiver.Even my teeth had started clattering a bit.
I recalled having watched a program on discovery channel where they told that if your teeth are clattering, then it means your body is fine, because it is the body's mechanism of generating heat to fight the cold.
So, I was relieved a bit.But my fingers had started becoming numb and I was a bit scared.On the way, I saw people stopping their two wheelers at bus stops to avoid the rain.I contemplated on the idea but dropped it because I thought if I keep riding, atleast my fingers will keep working and will not become completely numb.
So, fighting the rain(of course with strength from the almighty),I reached Badarpur.
Now, there was a small jam there but I was happy because I knew home was only 10 km away.
So I waited patiently but when my bike moved ahead, I got to know the cause of the jam and i was stunned to see it.
There was a big waterlog under the Badarpur overhead railway bridge.Moreover, to heighten my fears, there was a bus which had broken down under the bridge due to the excessive water.
So, I thought of turning back and calling up my parents to ask for an alternate route.But I observed most of the bikes were able to cross the "pond" although with a bit of difficulty.
So, I gathered my guts and moved ahead, thinking that I would try not to stop midway, so as to avoid the breakdown of my bike in middle of a pond like waterbody.
But to my dismay, I had to stop inevitably.I looked at the silencer to see if water was seeping into it because that is the major factor(as I knew) which causes a breakdown.
The silencer was just a bit above the water level, but it seemed it may go underwater if the water level was a bit more at any spot.
But fortunately and to my great relief, the bike got through almost effortlessly.
I was one of the happiest people on earth to get out of that great mess.
Finally, I reached home with a bit of more rain-facing.I reached home at 8:30 i.e it took me 2.5 hours for a journey of an hour or so.
But, I was very thankful to God that I reached home safe and sound, all in one piece because I knew how it felt like while riding with an absolutely blurred vision. I took a pledge that day not to repeat such a mistake again.Thank u God ji!
