TOWING TALES
By Joshua Cherian Varughese
One day and two nights..it proved to me yet again that there are more challenges in life left to face, there are more mountains to cover and more problems to overthrow but still our hands are never too tired, our legs never too sore and our eyes never too heavy when it comes to defeating a challenge that towers up so high and boorishly ordering us to quit..
Smell of petrol, the sound of the engine sputtering and dying out filled the air that our world hardly seemed to consist of anything else. It was a journey that started as a trip to a friend’s marriage 80kms away and had eight people, our car’s engine fouled early during the journey when it stopped in the middle of nowhere with almost no help for us to lean on to. This never bothered me then because I knew I had eight strong pair of hands not those of fragile chicken-headed body builders, but that of workers who out of their need had made beating metal their way of life (They were hardened men who saw realities of life everyday and above all one of them(representing all) had once said to me “sir, hum aapke saath hain..aap jo bhi chiz keliye tayar ho jate ho, aap ko koi nahi rokh sakta”. I knew these exaggerated words will not stand with me in all times but I certainly knew they were with me on this). Our manipulations and “jugad” on the fouling engine got us to our destination with great difficulty but then the engine ceased, it just would not start. The night went by as thousands of mosquitoes from all corners of Hodal (a place in Haryana which seemed to be the supply house of mosquitoes to the ends of the world) feasted on our foreign blood while we were left to “sleep” in a road side shop and in the car.
The mechanic hunt started early in the morning and when we found one, he agreed to complete the work till evening the same day. The day passed fast while three of us slept on the dirty workshop couch and the others left by bus back to gurgaon. One day passed and so did half of its night; it was 1 o clock in the night when the mechanic said he could do nothing to make the engine right even after he consulted all experts in the town. Left on the road to the mercy of passing vehicles to tow us to some place near to home, we finally found a drunk but kind hearted old man who bothered enough to tow us to Faridabad. Although good enough at heart, he was a pest at towing (atleast when he was drunk) when he towed our vehicle at 80kmph cutting in between speeding trucks on Delhi Agra national highway. Our car followed faithfully like a string caught on the leg of a mad bull controlled only by me steering it off raging truckers in the pelting rain (no wipers too, remember!!). Two o clock and three o clock melted away in fright as well as exhilaration..two hours of leaning on to the car steering straining my eyes on to the only one working taillight of an Indica(our car battery completely dead..no lights..hardly any brakes: thanks to the modern power brakes which works only when the engine runs). Trying hard not to crash in a towed vehicle at the mercy of a drunk driver will surely add no value to my curriculum vitae..but it surely lets me realize that there are still challenges coming on and if I just don’t give up and go home, I can still overthrow them. I still can do it not because I have skills, but because there are kind hearted people who are ready to help, there still is a fire that burns inside me that wants to overcome, there still are friends who no matter what will back me up. So, no matter what, where or when.. our hands are never too tired, our legs never too sore and our eyes never too heavy when it comes to defeating a challenge that towers up so high and boorishly ordering us to quit.
