Sunday, October 3, 2010

The Challenge

I woke up on Saturday morning to find out that there was a ticket to the second day second show of Enthiran. The movie unexpectedly turned out to be pretty good. The theatre was about 45 min from my place and considering the traffic on mount road n all, I was looking at an easy 1 hour drive. But I was not really worried about it. I love driving! So there I was, returning home after the show, and you know my driving skills, when I was challenged.

I wouldn’t have crossed a few of blocks from the theatre when a couple of guys driving a bike stopped right next to me in a traffic signal, right behind a huge truck. The signal turned green but without the truck moving, neither of us could move. I, not usually a patient driver, sneaked through the side making the car coming in the side brake and honk like crazy, but hey, I was gone by then. But I guess this impressed the guys.

I saw them watching me while I cruised through the continuous vehicles with speed and smartness and in the next signal, they again stopped right next to me. Though I was doing my best to ignore them, it was hard to do so when a couple of smart looking guys standing next to you are staring at you. So I looked back to see what the hell were they starting at (hoping it wasn’t me).

The green signal turned on and the cars in front of us rolled, and the guy in front gave me a look that screamed out “Go on, let’s see who is better!” Right then, I heard Ross Geller’s voice saying “Challenge extended.” and I accelerated, overtaking the car and them, which I think they heard in Ross Geller’s voice as “Challenge accepted.”

So there we were, driving in and out, overtaking as many vehicles as possible like crazy people all through the Mount Road, both of us enjoying the little competition, when it suddenly struck me that these guys were total strangers and I was almost nearing my place and I definitely didn’t want them to stalk me forever! So then I tried to slow down and let them go ahead, but they just wouldn’t! They slowed down too, and in the middle of the road with vehicles at high speed right behind them, they both (including the guy driving) started turning their heads and searching for me. It was so creepy (but in a weird sort of way, flattering too :P).

So after some time of this hide-n-seek of me slowing and hiding and them slowing down and seeking me out and me eventually catching up with them, I found a perfect way to outsmart them. As I was nearing Kathipara flyover, I slowed down and stuck to the right side so that I could climb the flyover. FYI, people who need to go towards the airport do not climb the flyover, they go left. So these guys, just a few vehicles ahead of me, turned back and saw me trying to climb the flyover and decided to extend their chase and took the flyover. When it was my turn, I took a sudden left (making the car behind honk like mad for which I was really sorry), and went down the flyover. These guys got a shock and applied sudden brakes, but they knew just as I knew, that the flyover was a one-way and it would take them more than 20-25 minutes to come back to the same place by when I would have safely gone. They knew they were outsmarted. So they started their engines, waved a goodbye, while I shook my head, laughed out at the ordeal and came back home!

What an adventure!