Mayhem on the Expressway!

Photo credit: <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/luismarina/16627420965/">Luis Marina</a> via <a href="https://visualhunt.com/re/6d51ab">Visual hunt</a> / <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/"> CC BY</a>

Phew! That was some ride. A trip from Mumbai to Pune, which generally gets covered in 2 hours, taking 4.5 hours can be an absolute pain. Especially, when members of the contingent are sleepy, and the night has fallen upon us. 

It's got to be Mayhem, when one sits in the backseat of an SUV, with the hope that traffic on an Expressway, is just a notion. 

With a jam packed SUV, and traffic, that showed no sign of movement, we, the delegation try to catch couple of winks to feel fresh, whenever we reached. 

Those extra 1.5 hours in traffic, ought to have been the most sweatiest and stuffiest, I or anyone else had encountered. We'd only heard of expressways being choc-a-bloc, however this was the first time we experienced it. 

Our driver, generally an optimist when it comes to road clearance, switched off the SUV and stood still. I took the opportunity to jump out of the backseat and breathe some fresh air. 

It was like humanity coming to a standstill. A marriage delegation, traveler buses, weekend visitors and office troupes were stuck. Everyone just couldn't imagine their luck. 

The entire section of the road was smelling of petrol, diesel and kerosene. Also, human sweat, piss and the fogginess made a lot of us drowsy. Sleep was the last thing on our minds!

We learnt that a lorry had overturned and getting it out of the way, was a heavy task by the highway police forces. Watching that 18 wheeler being pushed towards the sides, was dangerous and choked us with fear too. I remember myself closing my eyes and saying a small prayer for the driver and his family. Just hope he was safe. 

The moment the lorry was pushed at the sides, engines started revving and a lot of us had substantial ground to cover to reach our vehicles, parked in the middle of the expressway.

It's was mayhem, indeed! This little stretch of land, was to decide who were fast runners and great body swervers. All of 100+ kilograms, I bolted, with the hope of finding my vehicle in pitch darkness. 

Luckily for me, I noticed my colleague, stretching himself and I couldn't thank him enough, for getting disturbed from his slumber, at the right time. I slam opened the door and frog-leaped into the back seat, as the driver revved the engine of our SUV. 

Watching all headlights go on, together was a sight from an action movie. Vrooom...went all vehicles, with no lane discipline and definitely no time to give way to others. 

As our SUV sped away, I looked back at the spot where we had stopped 1.5 hours ago, and kept looking at it, before the rocky hills covered it, after crossing a distance. It became a distant dream and an incident I'd not like to relive again. 

The Pune-Mumbai-Pune Expressway is a beautiful place, with rocky hills and green vegetation around. It can be a good friend or a mistress, if not respected well. 

This incident made me realize that life can be unpredictable and we must respect every path that we are on. Staying strong and weathering every storm becomes a bit easier. It helps gather experience to become a warrior from within. 

#StoriesOnTheRoad by @harryrockerz