We were about 20 KM's from Sholapur, when the Rain Gods again got furious and started lashing out with the fullest force.
All of a sudden the speed dropped from 100ish to 20ish speeds. We were being extra careful as the visibility was near 0 with just a few meters visible and nothing more than that. The rain wasn't lashing us head-on but was mostly angled towards the left. So, we at least were on a better side here. All the cars started tailgating each other with all the hazards on. It was a moment to remember and a scene to capture. We were about 10-12 cars, which were trailing each other with all the hazards on.
This is when we felt that things getting better, we were feeling a bit safe. Then out of nowhere, a bunch of stupid guys whiz pass by at the higher speed, overtaking from the right and then we see them stranded on the middle of the road, with all their hazards on. Hope everything was fine with them.
Ok, so at a very slow pace, we reach Sholapur. Once we were near Sholapur, all the vehicles kind of vanished and we never realized where and when they took the turns and vanished and by mistake we entered Sholapur City. Thanks to the heavy rains, all the roads were over flooded and we were very skeptical if we would ever make out of the city at all. There were many WHAT If’s going on in our minds.
We missed out Avi's route somewhere in the trailing session, we were trying to search for the bus stand and the petrol bunks as put forth by Avi. Thanks to the rain, not a single MAANUS on the road. We were struck in the middle of nowhere with no idea where we were heading to.
This is when we see a totally jazzed up Scorpio coming our way; we stop him and ask him for directions to Mangalwedha or NH9. This is where, things again turned murky. None of us knew Marathi and he explained us the way out in chaste marathi. We understood only one signal, where in he said "
STRAIGHT". We tried enquiring in hindi and he kind of explained in some form of Hindi, that we never heard in our whole life. However, following his directions, we reached one petrol bunk and asked for direction.
This is where we found a
GUARDIAN ANGEL, an auto driver. He asked us to follow him and he will show us the way out of city. We were very happy as well as apprehensive. Again a series of WHAT IF's, what if he is taking us to some secluded location to rob us of our wealth or what if... these questions kept cropping up till we saw a board which said "MSH something", we understood this was Maharashtra State Highway and this was something like a Bypass to the National Highway.
Thanking our luck and thanking the BHALA MAANUS, we were on the way to Mangalweda. The Bypass was all beautiful with moon like craters strewn all over the road. With exception of a truck or two, we did not find much traffic plying on this road. The Toll Gate/Booth was worth the memory, we drove down till the toll booth and the guy comes totally covered in plastic sheets. We hand over 5 Rs and then he moves the drums from the middle of the road for us to pass by. Highly sophisticated technology was used there.
Swinging like a pendulum, my friend was trying his best to avoid the potholes in the drizzle. With a few jokes strewn here and there, it was a wonderful journey overall, when lady luck vanished from our side and we heard a sound "
Thunk". We realized that we missed missing one of the potholes. Then we felt some metal jarring against something with a weird sound. We alight the car and look around expecting a flat tyre but none. It all seemed to be ok but the sound was still persistent. We slowly drove a few meters ahead and lo behold, we were a couple of meters away from the NH. We felt that if this would not have happened we would have been on the NH again.
This was when my friend kind of bent down to have a look at the problem and we see that the Alloy Wheels have given up and there was a huge dent in the alloy wheel due to the impact. We pull out the spare wheel and see that that too had a flat tyre. Even after we filled air in it before leaving. It was flat again and we notice that there were a couple of Construction nails lying in the area where we secure the spare wheel.
We removed the wheel and straighten it by using a hammer. We were careful not to hit it hard, lest it might break off leaving us stranded. It was back in shape and we started out journey towards Mangalweda. This is where we find a tyre shop, where we changed our tyre and the rim.
All the while it was drizzling and we were soaked in rain. We planned for a change of clothes and continue on the journey. Changed the clothes on the road and continued on the journey. Time was slowly ticking by and we notice that we have lost about 4 hours in this whole fiasco.
None the less, it was a great experience over all. There's nothing to crib, its just the way how you look at the whole thing. We overall enjoyed this whole fiasco as it was a good experience for us.
We were on the way to Kolhapur now, driving through Sangole, Miraj, Sangli and etc. Stopped over at Miraj for Breakfast as we did not have dinner the last night due to the rains at Sholapur. Had tasty Missal Pao and Poha at Miraj.
With jittery roads and all the scenic beauty around, we were slowly crusing at a very slow place.