‘We were stuck’ can be three words that probably define what happened on my trip to Ratnagiri. ‘We sailed through’ are three words that precisely tell the full story.
As planned we leave on Friday night in two cars to Ratnagiri to cover maximum sea forts. We have breakfast on the way and reach the first fort on list, Ambolgadh. We explore the fort and come back to see one tyre of our car flat. We change it with a spare tyre we had and move on.
I was sipping water when I see a mud storm in front of me and after we stopped I see our second car extremely off road to the left. We all run towards the car. Everyone, trying to see if all are alright. Luckily everyone was fine, except the car.
There was only one person with a wound near his brow. We made him wash it and apply some cream. The car was amidst rocks, we had to take it back on road. But when we started the car we realized there was a bad oil leakage. Hence, we pushed the car and got it back on road.
A man approached us and looked at the car. He told us that probably by mistake the driver put the car off with the key but due to power steering the car kept going to the left. He said that he experienced similar issue with power steering but not to so much effect as his car was at low speed. He lived in a bungalow across the street, he asked us to sit in shade, have some water and think what to do next.
As we all sat in shade, some started to call emergency numbers, some tried to google and call nearby garages and some did the most important thing of the moment, lighten the mood. In the next few hours I realized why the group I travel with is the best.
We figured that there is no garage nearby. Either a mechanic would have to come here or we would have to tow our vehicle 40km to Ratnagiri. Few of us worked on finding garages and mechanics and others on ideas of how we could tow the vehicle.
The beauty of this moment I realized later was that none of us played the blame-game. No one pointed fingers on anyone saying it was the fault of one causing the group. No one wailed and cribbed about what had happened. Instead everyone was trying to lighten each other’s mood. And lunch was on no one’s mind.
We borrowed ropes from the village and few kept searching a mechanic. We tied the ropes to both cars and were all set to tow the vehicle. After a little distance the rope broke, breaking all our hopes too. In this moment I could sense it that the mood had gone down. There was a kind of frustration in the air with some nervous smiles.
Since we weren’t receiving any help from calls we decided to go to the next village for help. To find a mechanic or a towing vehicle, any sort of help to get our vehicle to Ratnagiri. I, Sanish and two others leave in our car in search of help while others stay back in the shade outside the kind man’s house.
We ask for help to some relevant people but to no avail. We start asking help to anyone willing to help. This is when we meet a guy who works on generators. He gets ready to come and see the car and help us with whatever he can.
He follows our car on his bike while we ride back to where our vehicle was. On the ride back Sanish asks a question which leads to a beautiful conversation ‘What do you think was the purpose of what happened?’ Thanks to this conversation I was finally able to register in my mind the last few hours.
I have taken a leap of faith leaving my job and enrolling for my masters. I don’t know if this masters is going to lead me to something good in life or just waste my years. I don’t know how difficult it is going to get. And for me therefore the purpose of all that happened was to show me the depth of difficulty I am about to face.
We reach the vehicle and the guy checks it and tells us that we need an oil filter and oil to fix this car enough to ride it to Ratnagiri. He might have the oil filter but we would have to go and buy oil. If he doesn’t have the oil filter we might have to go Ratnagiri to buy the oil filter.
Luckily he finds the oil filter and we get the oil. He fixes it for us and we ride to Ratnagiri. We find a place to sleep. Everyone takes bath turn by turn while I sit in one corner and jot down pointers of the day. We all doze off after a while.
Next morning we give the car to Maruti Showroom to work on it. They say that it would take until evening for them to give us the vehicle back. We use the time and explore Ratnadurg fort and also visit an aquarium on the way. We also get to time to have a calm evening walk on the streets of Ratnagiri which had delight of its own!
We come back to our car and finally begin the ride back home. Just when we thought all challenges were done the tyre of their car punctures. We get it fixed and move on with a hope that the ride till home is smooth.
It wasn’t the usual trek that we have had instead it was the most unusual trip we all have had. It was a good learning experience I would say as I learned at least a bit of the big complex structure of a car. Just as ‘we sailed through’ victorious from this trip I hope I sail through with my masters too!