That was Spooky

There are times when a strange incident occurs and you tend to ignore it. What if a similar incident occurs again? It happened with me a few days back, while I was learning to drive at Ballard Pier in Mumbai. Some of you might already be aware about this place being a commercial area in south Mumbai housing a lot of offices since a very long time. A very high count of people from town, suburbs and adjoining towns visit this place on weekdays. In the evening, however, this place is very lonely. Wide roads, zero crowd make it a perfect for rookies to learn bikes and cars. Well, that's what they say but I really doubt that now.

About 2 weeks back, Pushkar and I reached this place and I started practicing. Everything was smooth for some time. Later, Pushkar got out of the car and asked to try the reverse gear. The moment he got out some stray dogs looked at him and started barking intermittently, as if they have seen something abnormal. We ignored them, although Pushkar was a bit scared, and I continued. Things were fine for some time and then suddenly the car stopped! We tried hard to get the car running but were unsuccessful. Some cab drivers, who helped us, suspected it to be a battery issue. We had to drag the car down to Pratik's place, thankfully he stayed close by, and then left for home. The next morning, Pushkar returned with the mechanic to get the car. To his surprise, the car started in the 1st attempt itself! Apparently, there wasn't any issue with the battery. Just to be sure, the mechanic took the car to his garage. He double checked the battery, changed a few spare parts like the starter, battery belt and gave us the car next day. Again, it was working fine.

In the last week, again we had been to the same place for driving. I practiced reverse gear for about half an hour. Pushkar was tired by that time and wanted to leave. Just then he saw a cute puppy by the side of the road. He asked me to come play with it for some time. I love dogs, and couldn't resist playing with it. We hung around for some time. We set out to leave when I said, "One more. Then we'll leave." Just then, the puppy started making weird noises, as if he's crying or seeing something abysmal. The car, which was doing so fine till now, was not ready to start, again! We tried a lot but to no avail. Looking at each other, we knew we had to drag it back to Pratik's house, again. Both of us got out of the car, and started pushing it. It was when we realized that a stray dog, who had been sleeping till that time, was following us and barking intermittently. The puppy continued its weird noises, which we ignored at that moment. Pushkar decided to jump start the car, and asked me to push it. The 1st attempt was unsuccessful, which made us tense. The dog following us was still barking, and the weird noises of that puppy could still be heard. We tried again, and luckily the car started! I got in and Pushkar drove me back in no time.

The other day, we were discussing this during lunch break. Pushkar told me that once he reached his place, he tried starting the car and, to his surprise, it started instantly. I complained about his car being a spoilsport. Suddenly, he realized something about that incident. There was a significant similarity in both incidents. It was the same area, around the same time of 12 am, the car stopped working suddenly and was fine in sometime, dogs were barking in a weird manner and the car stopped when I was driving. Was any paranormal activity involved here?

It feels spooky to think about it. But, there may be logical reasons about those incident. The car being a very old model, it might have stopped. Maybe the dogs were barking as it was very late in the night and they suspected us to be troublemakers as we were dragging the car. But, why did the puppy started making weird noises and continued it when just minutes back he was playing gleefully with us. During the 2nd incident, the car started when we were almost out of that area. The same area and similar time cannot just be a coincidence, can it? I do believe in the concept of spirits and so It would be thrilling to visit that place again, probably on a new moon day or a full moon day. On second thought, do we really need to take that risk? What say?

What a (Mis)Adventure!!

31st Jan 2011 - It was Day 4 of my driving lessons. Pushkar had been a good tutor (so far) and I had been an even better student. Today's agenda was to learn reverse and half clutch. As usual, we finished our dinner by 10:30 pm and left for Ballard Pier. I rehearshed whatever I had learnt in the last 3 days for some time, feeling more confident than before. Then, it was time to learn the new tricks. Pushkar told me about reverse and asked me to try it. 1st attempt was ok, 2nd one was slightly better. Confidence was seeping in and then it all began - the engine stopped and refused to start!

This had happened before as well, on my Day 2. That time, fortunately, we were close to Pushkar's place. When the car broke down we dragged it to his house, took us around 15-20 minutes. We got the car repaired again, replaced the battery as well. In spite of this, it happened again. It looked to be a battery problem. For those who know less about Ballard Pier, it's a commercial area and has a lot of offices. At that time in the night, the place is empty - ideal for activities like driving. In fact, Pushkar learnt driving there itself, so I had to follow him. So, the battery was down and the engine was unconscious. We looked at each other wondering what to do. Pushkar called up Hari bhai, the mechanic, and told him about the problem. He was available only in the morning, which left us the option of leaving the car there itself.

There were a few cab drivers there and we thought they could help us. Pushkar approached them and they oblidged. They inspected the problem and confirmed it to be a battery breakdown. We tried a few techniques to get the car going but it was not going to be. The cabbies told us to leave the car there as it is safe and we can come down tomorrow morning to pick it up. We agreed, and we parked the car. We asked one of the cabbies to leave us to our house - at Mumbai Central. Just when we were about to leave, a teenage boy approached us. He asked us, "What happened? Did your car breakdown? Should I have a look?" We were looking at him, thinking what to do. He asked the same thing again. We said, "Yes. No. Actually, we have.." The boy replied, "That's OK. If you don't wish any help from me, that's fine!" He left, leaving a deceptive smile on his face. We left, and all the way Pushkar could not stop wondering about the safety of his car. Our cabbie was telling us things like which battery to use, what he did before driving cabs, why were the earlier batteries better, and so on. We were not listening to him at all. I was disheartened, as I had decided so many things to try that night. Pushkar was tense, quite obviously. We reached our house, and then suddenly we decided to go back. Back then, we did not realize that Pratik's house was close by and we could park the car there, where it would be certainly safer than the current location. In tense situations, we tend to overlook sensible things. We paid the cabbie, and I went to my house to get my bike keys and helmet while Pushkar was waiting, impatiently, below my building.

My family stays in 2 separate rooms, my parents sleep in one and my sis and me sleep in other. I knocked on my door and my mom opened it. She felt I had came back from driving. I took the keys, as the lights were off and went to my room. There, Sayali was busy watching her favorite tv program. I seized the opportunity of quietly getting hold of my helmet without her realizing anything. I had to do all this to avoid my parents from knowing what had happened, as they would have nagged me for it which I did not want.

We left from my place and reached Pratik's house in 15 minutes where we parked my bike. We left to get the car. At that time, it was confusing to find the car as the roads and buildings seemed to be similar. Just when we were about to panic, I saw a glimpse of Maruti 800 from a long distance. We approached, feeling better and better when we came closer to it. Yes, it was the car we were looking for! I tried opening the door and it opened. By that time, Pushkar had not even keyed the car. I had forgotten to lock that particular door! Thank god, we came back. Again, we dragged the car for about 15-20 minutes and parked it below Pratik's building.

We were sweating and felt hungry as well. While going back home, we stopped at Say Cheese and Fruit Juice corner at Churni Road. It was already 12:30 am by then. We ordered chilly cheese sandwich, cocktail juice and water melon juice. All the while savouring these, we were thinking about the incident. Pushkar claimed that whenever I would drive it happened. I argued that his car is old, and had been lying uselessly for months so it happened. Our snacks were over soon and it was time to leave for home. I dropped him, came back and quietly entered my room. Sayali was sleeping by then, and my parents were already asleep. I changed, and was in bed real soon. I am glad nothing bad happened that night. All this did leave some good memories of a wonderful misadventure!