02:15 am, National Highway 63, around 15 kilometers before Hubli…

A Mahindra Bolero screeched to a stand-still on the other side of the road. As we got out of the vehicle, I could see 2 burly guys in white shirts holding something that looked like a hockey stick. My skin went pale and I could feel a cold chill pass through my spine. Scared to death, but the first thing I thought of? ‘Finally, the “blog” incident I needed for this trip!’

Two days earlier…

This was going to be my third Goa trip in 6 months. But I was always thrilled by Goa’s atmosphere, moreover we were driving and it was my first chance to try the Scorpio. So I could safely say that I was all excited in anticipation.

For the onward journey, we had taken a rather unconventional route from Bangalore, via Belgaum into Maharashtra (Sawantwadi) and then to Goa. The roads were narrow and mountainous after we crossed the Maharashtra border. But it was decently maintained and had low traffic with the added plus of a scenic drive through the villages and mountains. We reached Goa by about 10. The next two days was spent on experiencing the things that you come to Goa for – the beaches and the booze! My co-travelers were also much luckier than me with the casinos and managed to win around 5k!

But the real adventure started after we left Goa. We took the more standard route back, via Karwar and Hubli. Somewhere on the forest roads towards Hubli, after Yellapur, our headlights started to dim out. We first thought the battery had gone weak and then realized that the alternator had burnt out. The electrical systems in the car started failing one by one and finally our headlights were gone and we were left with just one feeble park-light. There were no big settlements before reaching Hubli, which was still around 50-60 kms away. It was already 11PM and our best chance would have been to get to Hubli somehow and find a mechanic there. So we stuck to the first truck we could find with a proper enough backlight and tailed along with it, with no lights of our own at all.

After a few kilometers of tagging along, the truck driver in front of us stopped as he realized that we were in trouble. He came to have a look but there was nothing he could fix. Hubli was still 25 km away and the driver told us to keep following him, and that he’ll guide us to Hubli. So we went along. 10 km ahead and our engine cut off. There was not enough power to even drive the control unit of the engine. :( Tough luck. The same technology that is bread and butter for me via Bosch, made us get stuck in the middle of nowhere.

We asked the truck driver to carry on, since there was nothing more he could do. We pushed the car to the side of the road and tried in vain to reach everyone (the limited few) whom we knew of, in Hubli. We called up the Hubli traffic police and informed them of our situation. But they couldn’t do anything either till morning. We couldn’t even lock the car, because the battery didn’t have enough power to roll the car windows back up. We were basically stuck; without food or water till morning which was still 8 hours away. So we set up camp inside the car. The mood was still ok, with everyone joking about all that happened. Then came the Bolero; just after 2 o’clock while we were still sitting and chatting.

…

The two big guys rushed towards us and asked me something in Kannada. I told him I don’t understand the language very well. He gave me a cold stare, and then proceeded to go through all of our luggage. We (atleast me) were still scared to speak much. Suddenly as the Bolero moved to cross the road into our side, I noticed a green board with the lettering ‘Police’. I breathed a big sigh of relief! They asked us a lot of questions and still looked very intimidating. They told us that the road is not very safe, but what could we do – we cannot abandon the car there and go. They told us to stay there at our own risk and then get a mechanic in the morning. Then they took away 3 bottles of port wine that we had bought in Goa telling that it wasn’t legal (my @#%#)! But loosing a bit of wine was way better than what I had thought would happen initially; so it wasn’t that bad ;). We were terribly disappointed by the attitude they showed to us; though. Not even showing a hint of helpfulness.

After this incident I guess we all started to get tense. Only then we started to realize how much of a risk we were taking staying at that place. There were too many what-ifs running through my mind. What if the an overtaking truck knock us off the highway? What if a group of thugs come and beat us up? etc etc. I couldn’t sleep for even a bit, till the sun came back out.

Morning came as a relief of all of us. Ranjith suggested that we push start the vehicle. It didn’t seem a great idea to me; since the engine could cut off while running at any moment the battery dies out. But we decided to try and then limp ahead to Hubli some 15 more kilometers ahead. We pulled out all the equipment that could take away even a milliamp of power – the horn, the music system, the brake-light, the indicators – everything, leaving the engine control unit all the bits of power it could get to make the engine running for atleast 30 minutes. We push started the car and went as fast as we could to Hubli. And we made it! 8.30 am and we were finally back in civilization and in the Hubli railway station parking lot. We got a mechanic to repair our alternator. It took us 5 or 6 more hours; but finally we had the car repaired; all roaring to go. No worries left, we reached Bangalore, just before midnight.

All’s well that ends well! :)

Map of the route we took. Marker ‘F’ is approximately the place we got stuck.

Goa photos coming soon!

Goa has been in my mind for quite a long time and each time we have planned a Goa trip; something or the other would eventually block the trip somehow. So the other day two of my colleagues Arun and Gummy (Goutam) came and asked me whether I knew any place where to get a self drive rental car to go to Goa, I joked that I’ll get them one if they take me along too. In the end; we eventually left in Gummy’s Swift and not the rented car; but I still managed to get a seat along with Gummy, Mathew and their two room-mates Rakesh and Rakshak.

We started off from Bangalore in the evening; a bit apprehensive about the road conditions and driving at night. However almost everything went along smoothly except for some stretches of bad roads in between and some scary maneuvering by ‘some’ of the drivers just to make sure that the ABS works ;) We had begun a round of betting in the car as to when we would reach Goa. Bids ranged from 4.30 AM to 8.30 AM, but Rakesh got it perfect at 8. Once in Goa we had a brilliant government guest house to host us; courtesy Mr. Mathew. Along with an A/C room; a complimentary breakfast all for the price of Rs 40 per head. Now that’s what I call value for money!

After dozing off till evening; we were ready for our first (mis)adventure. We went to the Casino! I know you would be already guessing as to where this story is heading to… and yeah you are right! We went all-in and we returned all-out! But as we consoled ourselves after the fiasco; it was indeed a different experience. Now we can say that we have tasted sweet victory in a casino despite the bigger bite of bitterness in the end. Next destination was Baga beach. The shack restaurants on the beach were awesome. The atmosphere with the IPL matches going on in one place and karaoke in another one with people dancing all around was amazing. We had initially planned to go to a disc and even got entry into one (using Mr. Mathew’s influence off course). But then we were so comfortable at the shacks that we decided to drop out on that. The other reason could also be interpreted as the lack in willingness to go in a disc as a stag and drool over the hot chicks while they were dancing with other guys.. ahh.. no .. we didn’t want to look like losers! :p So we stayed at the shack very late into the night and finally came back to Panaji (were our guesthouse was) and crashed into bed.

Next day was quite the same pattern with us sleeping most of the day. Afternoon we went up to Wagathore beach where Aamir Khan and his buddies had done their gig in ‘Dil Chahtha He’. It was a short trek up to a fort near the beach. The view from there was spectacular; covered on three sides with the sea and nice looking beaches. After a few photos we headed back down. The scorching sun sucked all the energy out of us and at one point it seemed that it was impossible to move a muscle! But we overcame that and headed towards Condolim beach to do some water sports. But it was way too expensive there; so we headed to Calangute were the prices were much better. We did a round of parasailing (which is awesome; you should try it once) and also a trip on the water scooters (which is not so great; unless you convince the guy to let you drive the scooter). After that we crashed back to Baga which was not that far away.

We stayed on at the shack long into the night and then after we were convinced that we were drunk enough we headed back to Panaji. On reaching Panaji; Gummy and Mathew wanted to go back. Now that wouldn’t have been a crazy idea if Baga wasn’t 25 km away and it was already 2.30 am. But anyway I was game for it too; and Gummy, Mathew and I went back. We were caught by the police thrice; and I’m really impressed with the user-friendliness of the Goa Police. They just asked me for my driving license and when I produced it; one guy just quipped whether I was sure that it’s my photo in the DL (it was taken 6 or 7 years back you see). But that was it! They just waved us off. Cool! The trip back was really worth it and a feast to our eyes. The carnival atmosphere was still going strong even at 4′o clock in the morning! After a satisfying and ‘educational’ trip we headed back home.

Next day was our last in Goa and after filling up the car with the legal amount of liquor we were allowed to carry back we returned back to a mostly uneventful drive back. On the way we also had a short stopover at Old Goa were we visited the church of St. Francis Xavier. I had heard of this person in a Social Studies lesson in third standard and always wanted to visit his grave; where his body still lies preserved after 500 years. One more tick in my checklist. The guys also put on some temporary tattoos on their hands; I wasn’t that wild enough to do that; even though I should have tried something like that.

That was it. Our Goa trip. And in the end I can say that Goa is simply awesome. Don’t ever miss a chance to go there! If somebody asks you to arrange a self-drive car to go to Goa; always say Yes!