"Tiring tale of a flat tyre"

                                                        “Tiring tale of a flat tyre”

                                          

It was just last evening that I had wound up work and went to gym at the office (just started a few days back 😀 I was exercising in a hurry as I had invited my dear friend Kavya for dinner at my place. I left around 7:30, chit chatted with 2 of my colleagues on my way down to the parking and then left office thinking I will be home just in time for an early dinner, just the way Kavya and I like it. So here I was listening to loud music in my Alto and suddenly I felt that the steering wheel was extremely heavy; I checked the handbrake; as I sometimes forget to undo it 😃😃😃. But that was not the case.  I felt the car wobble and I decided to pull over and stopped the car on the left hand side of the expressway. I figured I had a flat tyre. I was irritated as I had recently got fuel filled and got the air checked. It was dark and I was alone so the first person I called was Kavya and told her I will be late and that I had had a flat tyre. She said she is coming with my father to the location. She asked me where exactly I was. Here’s the thing while driving on the expressway, sometimes you lose track of where exactly you are as it’s a long stretch with a few patches in between where there are no signboards to refer. I was stuck in such a patch. I told her I shall send her my Whatsapp location and she said she doesn’t know how to figure that out. In any case I told her to leave with Papa and look for my car with hazard lights on just ahead of her old office building.

Meanwhile I had texted my colleagues that I am stuck on the road; they did offer to come but I did not want to trouble them as it would have been a complete detour. I called my friend Sachin who owns a car accessories business; I told him the situation and he immediately offered to come to the location; I told him not to. He asked me “which tyre is it”? I said I don’t know as I haven’t got out of the car. I was scared. He asked me to get out and be on the phone with him and to tell him which tyre was it. I did not understand the logic; it could be any tyre, the point is it’s a flat tyre. So, I told him it’s the front right tyre. He said “ fine, now you sit in the car and lock yourself and wait for uncle”. I told him you please be on the phone with me till they come. He agreed.

I also called the roadside assistance that I was registered with. They said they would take an hour to reach so I decided against it.

Suddenly, out of nowhere I see two bikers approaching me and one of them said “Mam hum puncture wale hain, window down karo”. I acted bold and told them to go away. I was narrating it simultaneously to Sachin, he told me not to roll the windows down. I started driving with the flat tyre; I thought, to hell with the tyre let me see how far I can reach. They came again and I again told them to go away. Maybe they genuinely came for help but I couldn’t risk it.

Till the time Kavya and Papa were reaching the spot Sachin was chatting with me to calm me down. He asked me if I had an inflator; I asked if what that was. He explained to me. I said no I don’t think so I have it. Then he asked if I had a hockey stick or anything for my protection; I said no. He said – “do you have a pepper spray”? I said I did have it but it’s at home. I could visualize him controlling his anger as that was the last thing he could have done - scold me. So, all he said was – “you should have all these things in your car; I being a boy have all these things in my car”. I said –“ok I will take care in future”. Then I could see Kavya’s call waiting; so I hung up on Sachin and called Kavya and told her about the bikers. She told me to just keep sitting in the car. She couldn’t locate me but she found Minku Bhaiya, who was an owner of a grocery shop near her office. She told me that she is sending Minku Bhaiya to look for me and only if I saw someone on a bike wearing a black and white check shirt should I roll down the window. I kept waiting and kept looking at each and every biker hoping it to be Minku Bhaiya; checking out their shirts if it fit the description. I never imagined I would ever wait so eagerly for someone called Minku Bhaiya in my life. But, there he was my knight in shining armour. He stopped the bike and said – “daro mat, main Minku hoon”. Then he called Kavya and told her that he had found me.

Finally, Papa and Kavya came and Papa gave me a light hug. I told Papa, that Sachin was saying we should get an inflator for both the cars. Papa looked at the tyre and he said” Beta, nothing on this earth can inflate this tyre”. The rubber of the tyre had MELTED 😀 I didn’t know where to look😶. My father asked me “How did you manage this”. I just told him let’s change the tyre first and then let’s talk about it when we are home as I was feeling embarrassed in front of Kavya and Minku Bhaiya.

Finally, we all left after thanking Minku Bhaiya for his help. Reached home, had dinner and slept.

This morning mom woke me up and asked me if I got scared yesterday; before I could answer she said that Papa couldn’t sleep the whole night thinking what if……

Lesson learnt from last night – always have something to protect yourself, be it a rod or a pepper spray, your phone should be completely charged or you should charge it on the move, have an inflator in the car and you should know how to use it, have friends who you can call in such situations and have some friends like Minku Bhaiya who are god sent angels💝