My colleague B in
Clarion was a handsome Sardar, impeccably attired, who brooked no nonsense from
anybody. While I was
known as ‘Crisis Rajan’, he was nick named ‘Urgent Singh’, since every job from
his clients was urgent. An incident involving both of us almost cost me my life but helped me learn a
valuable lesson(!) in life from B.
After a couple of
months in Clarion he quit to join MCM, the hottest new agency Bombay those
days.,. As part of his salary package, B had got an advance from the company to buy a second hand car. He promptly bought
one without knowing how to drive. He rode a two wheeler those days.
Within a week of his leaving Clarion, I got a
call from B one evening, “Hey Rajan! Good news, I have bought a car and got
possession of the same this afternoon. And you are going to drive that car back
to
my home at Khar”. I
was rattled. I had gone to a driving school to get my driving license but I had no practice. Besides I had never driven a
car in the night. My loud protests were dismissed and he landed at Clarion promptly
at 6.00 pm requesting me to take to the wheel.
“It is my car, I know I am taking a risk. So
what is your problem?” I did not have the courage to tell him that he was
risking both our lives! Anyway, I drove the car very slowly and reached his
residence at Khar after 2½ hours — a distance a good driver could cover in one
hour in normal traffic those days. I was relieved when I delivered B safely at
his house, after a torturous journey. I thought the episode was behind me. It
was not to be!
Next morning, a
Saturday, it was pouring cats and dogs. Around 9 am, I
heard a knock on my door. I was shocked to find B standing with a sheepish
grin.
“Rajan, you are
going to teach me driving yaar!”
I screamed, “Are you
mad? In this rain you want me to teach? I could do with some practice myself!”
When I asked him “Where’s the car?” he said with a mischievous smile, “In front
of your house. Simple
yaar! I know how to
change gears because of my experience in riding the two-wheeler. So I managed
to drive the car up to your house!”
He literally dragged
me out, once again admonishing me for my lack of courage, so typical of a
‘Saala Madrasi’. With great reluctance, I decided to take the car in the
pouring rain to Carter Road in Bandra, a road running parallel to the sea front
with parapet walls. The road was fairly empty and when we reached one end of
the road, B took the wheel and I began explaining to him the gear system and
how to coordinate between the clutch and the accelerator. After the initial
briefing, B started the car.
I kept giving him
instructions, “Now change to second gear, now third and now fourth”. The car
picked up speed and suddenly, in the pouring rain, it started skidding. As a
novice myself, instead of asking him to slow down by changing gears, I shouted
for him to apply the brakes, which he promptly did. The car took several spins
and stopped after hitting the parapet wall. Due to the impact, my head hit the
wind shield and I passed out! When I came back to senses, I was staring at the face of B. I found my head throbbing
with pain with a bleeding gash on my forehead.
When he told me, “Rajan, everything happens
for the good, yaar”. I was livid! Here I was with a bleeding injury (while
nothing had happened to the Sardar, thanks to his pagdi (turban) and he was telling me that something good had
happened!
He explained, “Imagine, if this accident had
happened on Link Road, we could have knocked off a few other cars & people
and we would be in serious trouble.`
What logic! Though I
was very upset, B taught me an important lesson in life. Don’t get bogged down
by mishaps! Always look at the positive side of every experience and you will find life
interesting!
He was kind enough
to put me in a taxi and send me home. B never again bothered me with crazy
requests!
Excerpted from my
autobiography titled `Courage My Companion`
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