All For a Training

Are you nuts to drive down there tomorrow?

One question asked by anyone and everyone I told my plan about and my utter well-wisher, MYSELF.

Given the circumstances I had little choice on being present for a so called 'critical' situation for a niche training assignment we had bagged.

It was this day - 09 August - Maharashtra Bandh.

I have always adhered to staying indoors in case of such events for best part is your phones are jammed, internet at times is jammed too and you get a great 'me' time to spend.

But today was different and I had no choice but to be available in Pune.

So here I come zooming around from Lonavala to Pune (Kharadi) at 7 in the morning, only to be welcomed by deserted streets and meaningless traffic signals.

That otherwise annoying drive on a regular day which doesn’t let you go beyond second gear, was a bliss today. I made it in a record breaking time of an hour and 15 min.

So Far So Good!

Getting my work sorted by about around 1 in the afternoon, I called home and 'Ordered' what I wanted to eat for lunch!

The outskirts of the city were still the same as in the morning but hitting the heart of the city not the same story.

The same deserted roads in the morning had now turned 'Orange' with Some Spots of 'Khaki' in between.

Being aware of the inside 'Gullys' I steered through the jam of kids no more than aged 20, most of them drunk unto their guts and hypnotised by some external power.

Landing on the main road again, I was welcomed by a barricade of bikes and protesters who would not let you move an inch ahead towards the main highway.

I knew then I could be in big trouble as this was a place from where you couldn’t move ahead or go back.

Thankfully though the police resorted to laathi charge and cleared the place up and I sped almost a 100 meters to be dead locked again.

This time it was crazier and filthier than the previous jams.

Most of the 'innocent' commuters had abandoned their vehicles on the road, and took to shade nearby, watching the "FUN".

The fun will last another 4 hours as every other ongoing 'expert' on the road anticipated.

One biological discovery I made was that your fear and anxiety can take over your hunger and even your nature calls.

For being longing a while back for a sumptuous lunch I had almost forgotten that I haven’t even sipped on water for over 2 hours now.

The mob seemed to be in no mood to give in.

As they were recharged by the super motivating speech by one of the leaders who arrived in a black SUV protected (from whom?) by guards who looked like GI Joes.

Efficient orators have always amazed me, wondering where he took his public speaking class from.

As of now the thunder and roar doubled.

Just as he came in from nowhere without a hurdle so he went back.

It was the time for the cops to act.

I am not able to describe the sound a tear gas bomb makes with the limited power of A-Z alphabets.

I experienced it thrice that time.

With every blast a mob of protesters would run down the road towards the parked vehicles causing minor damage with every run.

A few of them landed just near where I stood, thinking I was safe!

This group started abusing the cops in sight profusely.

The cops who by now had clear orders to break the protest directly pointed the gas gun on us.

I have seen fear before, fear of failing in exams, fear of being bullied, fear of losing a deal, fear of confessing a mistake but this one,

I don’t even know what to call it.

Sitting back relaxed today I can take the artistic luxury of thinking what a soldier might go through everyday.

But yes, that cop did not fire and after a moment of freeze I took a sprint towards my car.

The road was cleared again after a 2.5 hour 'FUN'.

This time its was 120 on the speedo meter and I had no mood to slow down.

It was as if I was running away from something chasing me though it has already ended. (At least I thought so then).

This time not to my surprise the express way was jammed too.

"We are held for over 2 hours" said the last man in the vehicle queue and you don’t need animal instincts to take a call to turn around.

This was the same me who was clueless sometime back on what to do and was taking advice from everyone in sight had now decided within a split second to turn around for alternate road.

I only took to interact with the most dependable source - The Cops!

Call them heroes call them saviors, for that day they were no less than God if you prayed for rescue from the situation.

'The Gods' showed me an alternate route which I later confirmed with friend to be safe and the most appropriate alternative for now.

The final detour of 40 kms started and ended well, praying all the while like Kareena Kapoor from Jab we Met - 'Ab koi excitement maat dena.. boring bana do ji is raat ko ab!!'

Sometimes some things in your life are ought to happen no matter how prepared or aware you are. These times will put you in a test you have never been and leave you to write about it if you come out sound and safe :)

Moral's' of the story -

1. Your work is the one of the most important aspects of your life but not more important than life itself

2. If the situation demands you to stop then it is heroic to stop, trust your own judgement and only then act

3. A mad mob can only be avoided not controlled

and one last

4. Learn to Listen to your well wishers and your instincts or be ready to learn the hard way

And one more… It was all for a training and I did get trained ;)

Based on an un-exaggerated true event!