Trip to LONAVALA

I was just remising an incident in the first year of my engineering when a group of my friends decided that we should go to Lonavala. And that incident I can never forget in my life.

It was 11:00 p.m. and the day was like any usual day. We were all involved in bakar (a classic term meaning gossips in student parleys in India). Suddenly one of the friends said lats enjoy the night in Lonavala. It is a famous hill station near Pune. We were all first years and most of us did not haves bikes. So they were arranged from the seniors on the pretext of going to some local places (they would never have agreed to lend it for Lonavala). At nearly 2:00 a.m. we all were ready. As the next day was a holiday, missing classes was not an issue. Now let me introduce you to the star of this story. His name is Rahul (name changed to protect identity) but was popularly known as “Bade bhaiya”. Bade was a classic character of our college. He was the Charlie Chaplin. No, no don’t misunderstand me, the guy is well built, 6 feet tall and dashing but somehow due to his comedian attitude acquired this title. Incidentally he was also my room mate.

So finally we had 7 bikes and fourteen people. I was the pillion with Bade bhaiya. We were on a splendor. After the journey finally took off in the wee hours of the night, some problem occurred and we were separated from the rest of the group. Our bike was lagging behind. Bade bhaiya who was overconfident of his knowledge of highways interpreted the directions given by our batch mates incorrectly. We were directed to take the road going straight from FOOD Junction. Incidentally Bade bhaiya knew the road till food junction, but an overconfident brat that he is got lost twice before actually we could reach there. Finally at the food junction he took a turn that led to a narrow road which was not remotely looking like a highway. I asked Bade, “Dear are you confident that we are going right as this does not seem to me as the correct path” to which he said “yes dear. I am sure, this is a short cut to Lonavala” to which I said “Man, you are great, you know shortcuts to Lonavala too.” Finally after moving at 80kmph for 15 mins we could finally see lights and traffic. I said “wow bade, you are the best, Lonavala in 15 mins?”. Then suddenly I saw E Square Multiplex (a multiplex of this name exists in Pune), I said “Bade look, there is E Square in Lonavala also” to which bade said “man this is not the E Square of Lonavala but of Pune”. I was furious on him. I abused him badly and forced him to ask directions or we would be circling Pune till dawn. Finally he acquiesced to my demand and then we were again on the right track.

Let me describe the highway. It was completely dark as it was the new moon day and there was no one to be seen on the highway. I was confident of the driving skills of bade bhaiya (something which I repent till date) and we were moving at 90kmph (way beyond the capacity of Hero Honda Splendor). He was going this fast as all the group was ahead of us and we wanted to catch up. It was around 3:30 a.m. we overtook two bikers and were moving ahead with confidence and high spirits. Suddenly we say huge rocks in front of us which were a product of a recent landslide. The distance at which we saw them was barely 20 m (thanks to the dim light of Splendor). Bade’s first reaction was “Oh! Shit” and then in barely no time our bike hit the largest of the rocks. The change in speed was 85 kmph to 0 kmph in approximately 0.005 sec. The rear wheel of the bike was in air as a torque was acting on it with the front wheel being the center of rotation. The impact on my buttocks was large enough to kick me as a projectile and I was thrown in air. The words which Bade uttered were “Sorry” and while in air I said “*********” ( sorry will have to censor it as it is a public post but you can count the letters and guess the feeling to make out the word). As I fell of the opposite lane on my legs, I was going unconscious and a truck was coming with speed in the same lane head on. Thanks to Bade he shouted “Anvay , bhag” and I saw the truck in front of me. I guess my subconscious mind told me to get off the road. But it was also not a comfortable option as adjoining the lane was a trench deep enough to have ended my life had I made a mistake. Finally the bikers we had overtaken came to us and fetched us the first aid and soon my friends were also back to the accident site and drove us to Lonavala hospital. This was my closest encounter with death. The incident became a joke after words the way I narrated it but let me tell you, it was truly horrifying.