[ninjatalli]

So this (shramik special train reaches rourkela instead of gorakhpur) happened recently; with many commenting on social media this being a rare case!

Actually this is not new to Indian railways. While the railways generally work like an well-oiled machine, cracks appear during testing times. I have experienced it twice in the last 20 years, the most recent being last year.

Date: July 2019

Situation: Heavy rains lash the west coast; water has overflowed above the tracks near Surat (towards Bharuch IIRC) causing the whole WR into disarray. I was traveling from Bangalore to Vadodara with a 2-day halt at Mumbai. While heading to Vadodara, the train was stopped at Surat at 2 AM and all sorts of confusion happened with all passengers offloaded. Along with hundreds more, I waited at the station and boarded an early morning train that was allowed to go ahead while many more were not (at the same time!). Thankfully we weren't asked to pay any money and I reached Vadodara a few hours later.

Two days later my return train got canceled as many more did. The rains had intensified in Maharashtra causing every train passing through MH to be canceled or delayed. Surprisingly at the last minute, I got seats on a special AC train from Ahmedabad to Bangalore (via Pune), which got setup last minute. The train left Ahmedabad a few hours late and I boarded around 8 pm in the night.

Around 3 AM, all of us were woken up; we had reached Vasai road, and the train attendees were informing all that the train would not go through its' original route via Pune - Solapur - Wadi - Bangalore but was to be diverted via Igatpuri - Manmad - Jalgaon and onwards. A majority % of the passengers had Pune and Solapur as their destinations so they asked if the train would catch the original route later. The attendees and TCs confirmed, yes it would later be re-routed reaching Solapur.

About 20%-30% of the passengers got down at Vasai; most did not. I told a family around me that the re-routing seems highly unlikely as if it reaches Jalgaon, the most probable route would be to go via Akola and enter Telangana/AP instead of the route being suggested. Didn't make much of a difference as the family decided to stay on.

The day proceeded as we passed Jalgaon and Bhusawal by afternoon. The attendees were again and again asked by the Pune/Solapur passengers on the route ahead and they kept parroting the same as earlier. But then the train went on ahead towards Telangana passing Akola and reaching Wardha when things got interesting. By now everybody realized Pune and Solapur were left long behind.

The remaining Pune and Solapur passengers got down at Wardha and headed towards the stationmaster cabin; while a few stood near the engine, not allowing it to proceed. A huge argument/shouting/crying fight happened; the ~300+ passengers demanded the train be sent back towards Solapur and Pune immediately. Another demand was made to arrange for a special train which also wasn't really very feasible.

The poor stationmaster had absolutely no idea what to do, but somehow with the help of some railway cops he calmed these folks down. After nearly 30 mins of discussions a few options were given; passengers could stay at Wardha and board trains that are heading towards Mumbai; the stationmaster would try hard to get them available berths. Else they could arrange buses and taxis for themselves by road to their destination. But the train was to go ahead on its' original decision.

The majority of the passengers got down; and the train went ahead on it's journey. Later on, asking the attendees, I got to know there were probably only ~100 passengers on the entire train; we had the luxury of sitting/sleeping anywhere we wanted The train went via Warangal, Hyderabad and then finally reached Bangalore, a well 22+ hours beyond its original timelines.

[Amrik Singh]

Year : 1986
Place : Doha, Qatar

I was driving near new, 4 Door Datsun Pick up Car. Approached a Roundabout and slowed down as appropriate. Just before exiting the R/A, I got a bump from behind. Did not take much time to understand that I have been hit by a Land Cruiser. Exited the R/A and pulled over on the side. The LC also followed and instead of parking on the side, sped off. Despite this antic, I had enough time to jot down it's Number. While I was thinking of next course, another passerby, who had witnessed the accident, came to me with the number of the offending vehicle. Cross checked and found that there was no error.
While pondering over the issue, we heard sound of Horn and saw the same vehicle on the other side of the road, having returned from next R/A, young local lads, waving us to forget the accident and leave.
I came to office and took a Palestinian colleague with me to assist in language and went to Police Station.
The Cops heard our complaint, took down the number of LC and asked us to check after two days.
Two days later, we got a call from the Police Station asking us to reach the Station. Again I was accompanied by my same colleague.
At station all discussions were held in Arabic which I did not understand, though a Keralite man sitting there was also involved. It seemed the result was amicably settled and we all came outside ready to drive off. When I told my colleague that this man was not behind the wheels of the LC, he asked me to remain quiet and smiled. We all went to a workshop where the mechanic inspected the damage and quoted his fees which was promptly paid by the Keralite. I was told that since the repair charges have been paid, I was free to bring my Car for repairs any time.

Behind the Scene - The LC was found to be owned by the Police Chief and some Lad of his was driving it. Despite this folly and the position he held, he sent his representative driver to pay for my damages.

[ABHI_1512]

Adding one from my end:

It was a drive back from Itanagar in the year 2017 and I was with my better half and a friend returning to Calcutta through NH 31D and were about 40 kms from reaching Boxirhat( Assam-West Bengal border) when one of the rear tyre got busted. It was already dark around the evening time when it happened. Now, got my Ecosport by the side of the road( which is two lane ) and the first thing I saw that I have parked the car beside a culvert where one guy is already sitting with his bike in front. As the security thing comes to the mind first, I locked my car with my better half inside after taking out the tool and the jack and also told my friend to hold the light along with a baseball bat that I always carry in the trunk.

The guy sitting on the culvert was staring at us continuously while talking on the phone and that kind of made me jittery somewhat. So, I just went up and just told the guy to move away from the car a little. After a while around 10-12 guys came in their bikes and started to surround us two while staring at the change of wheel that I was doing. As I know the language Assamese, I started to converse with them slowly while being attentive to their actions . One of them even offered to help me in changing the tyre but I politely refused. They didn’t move and continued to surround us. Change of tyre over, I kind of stood up and asked them why were they surrounding us in the fashion that they did which made us jittery( I somehow got the feeling that the guys were not harmful).

One amongst the boys told me that the area was not that good and that the culvert was their evening spot for gossiping. Seeing that we had a tyre going flat, they kind of thought of providing security to us and hence they all came by and surrounded us. Realising my folly, I told them what was going through my mind. They kind of laughed and I introduced myself and also got to know their names. All of them were students who studied in various colleges across India and were on their holiday break. One of them is still in touch with me through FB !!

Moral of the story- everything is not what it looks at the first place

[Thermodynamics]

Many years ago, I was on a road trip accompanied by my wife and daughter who was a toddler then. I crossed bison valley and was driving uphill on Gap road, Munnar. Those days, the road conditions were bad. It was a narrow dirt road with scary steep climbs. The Swift Diesel I was driving got overheated only made worse by a dead battery. It isn't cranking and I am stuck on a steep incline. Hand brake wasn't enough to stop retreating. There was a deep gorge next to us.

Stuck between bison valley and Lockhart Gap.

No one around, No signal in mobile, I was scared. 10 minutes, 15 minutes passed, no sign of vehicles. Finally I spotted a jeep, it stopped and said, give way. I replied the car doesn't start. Look at his level of empathy, he said, you are on an incline use gravity to give way. I did, they passed and I waited.

Darkness was creeping in, soon we were blanketed by thick mist. The deep jungle noise was reverberating louder every passing minute. My otherwise talkative wife was in full mute. We say in Tamil "Ee aadala" means flies freeze panick struck.

A motorcyclist came by. Looking at our car with bonnet open, he stopped. We were even scared now. I was preparing my dialogues like take everything, please leave us. He said, allow it to cool and then crank. He waited with us for about 10 minutes and I tried to crank, it was faint but I managed. The car had barely any power to push itself. I don't want to stall one more time given the state of battery. It felt worse than a CPR to a patient in ICU. With great difficulty, managed to climb the steepest path I was on and parked on a level ground to idle the car, so engine can get cooler and battery could gain some critical juice. All this while the good samaritan followed us in his motorcycle like a bodyguard. I thanked him generously for the beautiful gesture.

[humyum]

So 2 days back my glasses broke and anyway from the looks of it, it felt like my power had changed as since sometime while checking out stuff on my phone, if pictures or objects were extremely colorful, it appeared like they were a little 3d, so my friend who has an optical store called me today morning to get my power checked and new glasses made for my frame.

Mumbai still being under lockdown, Ghatkopar to Chembur was a breeze with hardly any traffic and only some private vehicles running for errands.

While getting back from the store and after crossing Amar Mahal into Ghatkopar, I saw this old uncle with a typical white cap which Maharashtrians sometimes wear and uniform(looked like someone who worked for BMC from the color of it) who was running on the opposite side of the road diagonally about to cross the road and from the looks of it, he was chasing the BEST bus which was just ahead of me. The BEST was already ahead so I doubt the driver could have seen that uncle and I passed him too.

I had two questions running in my mind, should I open the door and give him a lift till the bus stop which I knew was near Shopper stop which was at least 600-700 meters away or should I ask the driver to stop, but then with that tall window he was sitting on, how could I have even asked him to stop? And with Corona, I somehow could not muster the courage at that point to give an unknown a lift. One thing I knew for sure, that buses run at very low frequency because of Corona and only operate for essential service people like this uncle, if this was missed, next one will be alteast 30-45 mins away.

In this dilemma, the third option came to my mind, I downshifted, went ahead of the bus and slowly slowly applied the brakes for the bus to stop. From the left rear view mirror I could see the uncle had crossed over and was still running towards the bus on the left side of the road, the bus guy was frantically honking with his manual air horn and trying to bully me to move. The uncle reached and boarded the bus, I released my clutch and we were on our way.

I don't think the uncle released how he managed to climb the bus, I don't think the driver realized why a Swift randomly stopped in front of the bus, either ways, it felt good that uncle got his bus

[gunin]

An all night solo ride:

In the year 2014, the only mode of public transport between my posting in Pasighat, Arunachal Pradesh and my home in Guwahati, Assam (a distance of around 600 kms) was via buses. These buses would take around 15-16 hours to complete the journey and on one particular occasion, I was on the bus for nearly 20 hours. During that bus journey, I had decided never to take the bus again in any situation and would commute some other way: My Royal Enfield Classic 500 being my only vehicle was the way. I used to complete the journey in 10-11 hours on my bike from then on.

I was home for the weekend and had to join office on Monday. I lazed around the whole Saturday and Sunday and delayed my departure for as long as possible. Finally at around 4 pm, I knew I had to leave for Pasighat soon if I were to join office the following day and started on my bike. I had some really funny experiences on that all night ride:

1. After 11 pm, the roads became totally deserted. It was just me and my bullet thumping along with paddy fields on both sides of the road. I stopped for a while for a break and switched off the engine. The silence and darkness that immediately engulfed me is something I cannot describe in words. For the rest of the journey, I kept the bike running even when I stopped for a break and felt like I had a friend in the bullet.

2. I had tea at a Dhaba near Silapathar and decided to sleep for a little while. This was around 1:30 am and soon the kid at the Dhaba complained to his father that a man (me!) was asleep and he was unable to close up. I took the cue with a smile and resumed my ride.

3. I have grown up on legends stating ghosts inhabit the bridges over rivers. On one of the many bridges on the way, my heart skipped a beat when I saw a woman dressed in what seemed like white clothes. I prayed to the Almighty that the ghost would not hitch a ride behind me . Then I saw a guy and realised they were just a harmless couple out for some fun.

4. I passed through many sleepy police check-posts throughout the night and the cops looked at me as if I were some kind of apparition riding through at 2 am.

Finally at 3 am, 11 hours after I started from Guwahati, I was in Arunachal Pradesh when a closed bamboo gate (villages in Arunachal have such gates even on Highways) blocked my way. I honked and the sleepy gate attendants slowly lifted the gate and welcome me to Pasighat .

[pganapathy]

Many years ago I was on a drive from Johannesburg to Maputo or possibly vice-versa. Anyway, four of us in the car and I was driving. Somewhere around 120 to 140 kmph and had a tyre burst. Luckily had the presence of mind to control the car without stepping on the brakes. Safely maneuvered it to the side of the road and being late evening/early night, got to putting the spare tyre on without much light. This is when cell phones like the Nokia 3310 etc. having a torch was a big deal. Anyway, half way through this had a pick-up pull over and ask if we needed help. Two Afrikaaner college kids who were returning from visiting a girlfriend. They were low on petrol and the lights didn't work in their pickup. The passenger was leaning out of the window with a hand-held torch connected to the cigarette lighter and they were driving at an efficient speed to get home with the remaining fuel.

They seemed happy to help us replace the damaged tyre and were thrilled when we gave them some money for their help. They then insisted on driving with us on the highway till they reached their destination off-ramp.

As soon as they found a petrol bunk they used the money to put in some fuel. That then turned the driver from a hyper miler into Michael Schumacher. Fortunately I was able to keep pace and help him out WRT light as he still had the handheld light

[saisree]

Year 2011
Place - Casino Theater, Ritchie Street Area, Chennai


I used to own a beater scooter TVS Scooty ES 1998 model and is generally parked in the Egmore Railway Station. Years of parking had a toll on it and was literally in a very bad shape. The side fenders were almost gone, but, it still had some pieces to tell, I'm a Scooty. Rides like a rocket and no wonder it used to be best selling model in those days. Tried taking it to Tambaram for general service and bring it back to shape couple of times, but, it never happened.

On the eventful day, I had a purchase to be done at Ritchie Street and so, parked my Scooty near the casino theater among other vehicles. Only to know that its NO-Parking side later. As like someone has informed, the CCTP brought their towing van and started to pull all the vehicles that were parked in that area. Seeing that, I ran towards my vehicle to pick it up. I was hardly 10 feet away from my vehicle and by that time the helper was laying his hands on my beloved. What I listened next from the Traffic Cop was pure bliss.

"Andha vandiya viduya.. Fineku worth illa" (Leave that vehicle, It's not worth the Fine).

Took the Scooty the same day and got it serviced and restored to its glory. Sold it to a neighbor and its still running on the Selaiyur by lanes.

[INJAXN]

We are living in Pune for about 10 years, but we had recently moved to a totally new locality in Pune and were not aware of all the roads, so took goolge maps help to reach home.

It was 11 PM in the night, I was with my wife and daughter. we were following google maps through narrow roads of the area named Hadapsar. Soon we reached a slum area, but trusting the google maps we kept moving, in hope to reach a wider road.
within few 100 meters, the road we were travelling was so narrow, that both ORVMs were almost touching houses/huts on either side. Street dogs were chasing the car and were barking at top of their voices. Within few meters we reached a dead end where 5-6 men were having few drinks.

Now no where to go, Stuck on a very narrow road, street dogs jumping outside and bunch of tipsy men coming towards us, we were a lot afraid now. With no other option, I rolled down the window a bit and asked for help. Couple of guys started shouting at us at first that why are you here and what not, but then a gentle man offered to help, they moved and rearranged 5 hand held carts and created some room for us to take a u-turn, with multiple times moving forward a few inches and then taking reverse , we finally managed to take the U-turn. We thanked everyone, closed the maps, and managed to come out of those narrow roads, took a longer route and reached home.

Cursed google maps, Thanked God and went to sleep.

A very interesting learning we had that day: My wife and I were talking normally through out the incident, and were keeping our calm , so we don't scare our daughter sitting at the back. But our kid some how knew that we are in trouble and she too was scared. Though were not saying that we are stuck, kid absorbed the vibrations of surroundings and understood the situation, we could see the fear on her face. Next few drives she kept asking me whether I know road , are we stuck again? We eventually got this out of her mind and now she is happy again whenever we are travelling in the car.

[Amrik Singh]

Late 70's, peak Summer of Delhi, I was waiting for a friend of mine on GT Road from Karnal side, a loaded 'Rajdoot' Scooter nearing me started misfiring and stalled. The driver tried to kick start the Scooter, but in vain.
It appeared that he had been driving the Scooter long distance, with load tied behind and it had overheated.
I asked him if he needed help and he nodded in affirmative.
I wanted to open the Spark Plug, clean it and re-install it. Took me some time even to locate the Plug as I had never seen this Scooter from close, leave aside trying my hands on it.
The Plug was quite hot to handle and full of soot. Cleaned it, fixed it back and kicked it. It did start up quite well.
Short conversation that followed between us :

"Are you a Mechanic ?" he inquired.

Not offensive at all, but his tone did not appeal me.

"Not exactly, But as an owner, one must know these basics. However, if you have borrowed it from someone, you are excused." replied I walking away, not expecting any thanks from him.

[warrioraks]

So this happened just an hour ago. I was out with my parents and wife driving around for a few kilometers as a weekly chore to keep the car in running condition. Suddenly saw a couple of traffic cops and got a feeling in my stomach that something was amiss. To explain better, this is the sort of feeling you get when you are caught doing something wrong.

As an instinctive reaction, immediately reached out for seatbelt to buckle it up but found it already in place. Could not figure out for a few seconds on what was wrong/amiss. And then finally it struck me. The mask I was wearing was not covering face but was hanging around my neck.
Not funny or heartwarming but sort of unusual how human mind has accepted mask as an essential accessory and not having it on can trigger a reflex guilty reaction.

[sgm]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i2DBXUNZwh0

There are a few videos on the internet and this has become viral.

https://www.ndtv.com/offbeat/kerala-...ressed-2292338

I would say, this is very dangerous thing and any minor mistake can be costly.

Someone else tried to imitate this with a Merc and ran into trouble, may be he wanted himself to become popular with this stunt, that too he is not even trying a reverse parallel parking , looks like he didn't run into any mishap.

https://www.manoramaonline.com/news/...ils-video.html

[sgm]

Originally Posted by sgm

https://www.manoramaonline.com/news/...ils-video.html

Someone else tried to imitate this with a Merc and ran into trouble, looks like he got trapped between the slabs.

https://www.manoramaonline.com/news/...ils-video.html

[naveen.raju]

Watch the pedestrian wearing the white/orange t shirt soon after he is on the other side of the road

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51I9M9FfuKM

[Sarvodaya]

**MODS please move to appropriate thread**

Found this video in Facebook. Premier Padmini Car was driving by itself without driver and an old man in Passenger seat. But how is it possible?

https://www.facebook.com/tagore.cher...32934903603458