re: Driving through a hartal / bandh As if hartals were not enough, in GOC they have now started blocking NH for party conventions. And this is in violation of a court-order that specifically states that this is not done.
28-Dec-2011 : SIL has to catch the 10:40PM flight from TVM to S'pore. Airport is 75kms from their home in Kollam and we leave at 5PM - I expect to reach by 7PM or worst 7:30PM, but then I am not aware of what is in store for us. Around 6:30PM we are at Attingal and maybe just 30mins or so from destination.
That is where the trouble starts. Cops have blocked the NH47 and ask us to take a right, drive for few kms and then rejoin the NH.
Reason : CPI's state convention.
Irritated we are, but since it is just a detour of few kms, we take the right, cursing the crappy guys who inconvenience the public.
We have not even driven a km when we find ourselves at the end of a loooooong traffic jam of all vehicles diverted off the NH. And it is a standstill. Time is running out fast and after cooling our heels at the same place for close to an hour, I can sense that she will miss the flight if I wait for divine intervention.
This is where the small car advantage stood out. I drove the A-Star on the left-most side of the road (untarred) dodging telephone poles etc and after some 20mins managed to get to the head of the jam, where the road is clear, but is the typical country road - just about wide for 2 vehicles and no lighting. Raced through the road as best as the car could manage - the A-Star in all of its previous 7K kms would not have been driven like this. Finally when we reach the NH again, we think our troubles are over, only to be dejected to see heavy traffic at Kazhakoottam.
It is 8:30PM or so now and we have given up hope to catch the flight. I decide to give it a last try and race through the traffic, occasionally driving on the lane for oncoming traffic, whenever possible. FIL sitting in the front seat wants me to drive slow, MIL in the rear wants me to keep this pace. I am oblivious to both and just concentrating on the driving. Finally reach the tollroad where things are better. There is an i10 ambling along on the middle lane and I overtake him, among many others including some Q-series Audi etc.
I see a car in a hurry behind me and assuming he has an emergency, I give way, only to know that it was a mistake. It was the i10 guy from before, who got insulted that an A-Star overtook him and wants to side-swipe me - he comes sideways to hit our car. At another time, I would have been game, but this was not the occasion, so I gun the car, get ahead of him and never gave him way to overtake after that. So much for A-Star being underpowered.
We reach the airport at 9:15PM, having taken more than 4 hours to cover 75kms of NH. The place is empty - because many have missed their flights and could not make it. There were the usual Gulf-returnees who reached after their flight took off and were literally crying. Anyway, SIL checks-in and boards the flight which takes off at scheduled time.
I don't remember the last time I drove under such stress. The puny AT got us (5 adults, a 4-yr kid, and infant & 27kgs of baggage) through , but if it were the MT version, would have been better. Only regret was that I had chosen to stick the "I drive safe" sticker on this car, since wifey/FIL/SIL drive it and they are safe drivers. But given how I drove that day, the irony would not have been lost on those who could see that sticker and saw me drive.
Last edited by supremeBaleno : 4th January 2012 at 13:45.
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