We'd got up at 4, went about our chores and could leave Raj Nivas by a half past 6. The keys were handed over to the caretaker and since I was keen to hit the highway, without any further delay, didn't wait to meet my cousin, Unnichettan, who was coming by for his usual morning sojourn at the tea shop on the main road. And it proved to be costly!
About 45' later, while on the Kayankulam-Punalur road as I was overtaking a tipper lorry, its tail touched my Chevy's rear end making another ghastly gash. By not meeting Unnichettan earlier I was actually keeping my tryst with the tipper, which had to happen! Lekha had observed correctly that I tended to get a bit impatient while doing such maneuvers and in the process, made errors. But something at the back of my mind said that I'd given adequate clearance for my car while overtaking, but the irritated driver(?) had given the final swing of the lorry's rear into my vehicle to 'teach' me a lesson or was it all my imagination?
But the 'teaching of a lesson' happened later on, too, while we're on the Alappuzha-Kochi stretch when an Innova taxi had overtaken my Chevy and slammed the brakes in front of me. I'd asked him, through my rear view mirror as to why he was continuously blaring his horn away when there was no space for overtaking! He was, thus, teaching me to behave!! Another example of road rage, perhaps?
The traffic through Kochi seemed to be going along fine, after we'd paused for a spot of shopping at the canteen and I thanked my stars for the absence of clutter because two 'yatras' - the CPM's Nava Kerala Yatra and the BJP's Vimochana Yatra - were crisscrossing the district today. But my joy was short lived as we hit the road block at Kalamasserry, thanks to the CPM's yatra. And the strange thing that I'd noticed was that it was in total violation of the existing Kerala High Court directives banning street side meetings! Combined with the Metro work, taking place beside it, it was chaos despite a posse of policemen trying to keep the traffic going. We lost more than hour in that madness! I was mainly bothered about mom who'd expressed a desire to release her bladder, earlier.
After two breaks for breakfast and lunch, besides the shopping interlude followed by the traffic snarl, we reached 'The Quarterdeck' before 4, in time for tea.
The evening walk was relaxing and was a necessity. Seeing my Chevy standing at the porch, badly mauled because of my poor driving, made me feel guilty.
Tailpiece.
The youngster, whose car I'd damaged, was asked to collect his Rs. 6 grand from me tomorrow.
About 45' later, while on the Kayankulam-Punalur road as I was overtaking a tipper lorry, its tail touched my Chevy's rear end making another ghastly gash. By not meeting Unnichettan earlier I was actually keeping my tryst with the tipper, which had to happen! Lekha had observed correctly that I tended to get a bit impatient while doing such maneuvers and in the process, made errors. But something at the back of my mind said that I'd given adequate clearance for my car while overtaking, but the irritated driver(?) had given the final swing of the lorry's rear into my vehicle to 'teach' me a lesson or was it all my imagination?
But the 'teaching of a lesson' happened later on, too, while we're on the Alappuzha-Kochi stretch when an Innova taxi had overtaken my Chevy and slammed the brakes in front of me. I'd asked him, through my rear view mirror as to why he was continuously blaring his horn away when there was no space for overtaking! He was, thus, teaching me to behave!! Another example of road rage, perhaps?
The traffic through Kochi seemed to be going along fine, after we'd paused for a spot of shopping at the canteen and I thanked my stars for the absence of clutter because two 'yatras' - the CPM's Nava Kerala Yatra and the BJP's Vimochana Yatra - were crisscrossing the district today. But my joy was short lived as we hit the road block at Kalamasserry, thanks to the CPM's yatra. And the strange thing that I'd noticed was that it was in total violation of the existing Kerala High Court directives banning street side meetings! Combined with the Metro work, taking place beside it, it was chaos despite a posse of policemen trying to keep the traffic going. We lost more than hour in that madness! I was mainly bothered about mom who'd expressed a desire to release her bladder, earlier.
After two breaks for breakfast and lunch, besides the shopping interlude followed by the traffic snarl, we reached 'The Quarterdeck' before 4, in time for tea.
The evening walk was relaxing and was a necessity. Seeing my Chevy standing at the porch, badly mauled because of my poor driving, made me feel guilty.
Tailpiece.
The youngster, whose car I'd damaged, was asked to collect his Rs. 6 grand from me tomorrow.
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