Monday, August 06, 2007

Ee desertum kadannu

Talk about being jobless! Just because you own a 4-wheel drive doesn't mean you know how to drive one, properly that is. Well, here goes one of the many mistakes that I've committed down the line. Sometimes, it's just better to sit at home and #$@#$.... you know what i mean..

I came back home from work in the afternoon when a work call came up and I had to go to Seef Mall to get the job done. It wasn't much really. Nothing got done, so i had nothing to do. heheh.. as usual..
So I checked the time, it was around 5pm. The time around which Soney, a very good friend of mine, gets off work. He wanted to check out the prices of some portable music players. SO.. we went around Manama to check the prices. All the while , I was thinking why don't we go for a drive somewhere. It sounded like fun so we called the few other people who would be interested in hanging out, namely Rajesh and Shilpa, two other very good friends of mine. They were interested. So we picked up both of them and set out. No direction really, but the basic bearing was south. We were on the usual route that led to the Tree of Life. So we decided why not make that our destination, and we all agreed. Big Mistake.. My fault really. By the time we reached there, I was already in a good mood. So I decided to test my vehicle. It's a 2002 model Hyundai Galloper. Not bad but not good enough. heheh. So we're off-road. Soney and Shilpa get out. It's just Rajesh and me in the car. Looks ok so far. Take the car for a few sharp turns in the sand, up a few dunes, and down some more. So far so good. In between, all this I try to engage 4WD. No use. Doesn't work. Must be stuck or something. Now I get even more stupid. I take even more turns and end up in some very loose sand. Heheh.. Now starts the real drama.. I put the vehicle in drive, and accelerate. I hear only the sound of sand flying away. The car doesn't move an inch. Great!. Reverse gear time!. More sand flying away. Forward! Reverse! Forward! Reverse! Nothing helps. We just keep throwing out more sand. All this while, Rajesh is holding on to the dashboard, thinking," Shit! What the hell have we got into now?" And finally,I turn around and look at his face and say,"Dude, I think we're stuck!" and he's like, "Fuck! man!". I'm like," Yeah, man".Also the 4wd doesn't work, so shitto dot com man. SO.. I get out and start pushing the car.. Me and my weird ideas.All the while, asking Rajesh to shift the gears back and forth. So I call Soney over and he starts to help me, before which, I think what must have been going on his mind, was the thought " Why me?".. Because, I'm sure I heard Soney swear some sort of profanity when we were practically eating sand that was being thrown out from under the wheels. We do some more reverse gear driving, all the while listening to the transmission screeching, trying to balance the load and the drive. My heart sank while thinking about the cost of changing the transmission and automatic gearbox.

SO.. After a few push-pull scenarios and with Rajesh directing the driving, we managed to pull the car out of the loose sand in reverse gear. And Soney got in and took it a far away spot, just to make sure everything's ok .heheh..

We take the car out a little more back to the highway and I started to get a very weird smell. I got out of the car and see animal droppings all along which kind of got mixed with the real smell, which I'll be telling you about soon. So we got confused as to what the real smell also. To add to the confusion with smell, there was a gas conversion plant just close to where we had stopped the car. So with accusations flying everywhere, as to where the smell had originated from, we got back into the car and started to head home. After I dropped the others at Rajesh's office, they got into Rajesh's car and headed home. I,too, was on my way home, when I stopped at a cafeteria to get a bite. When I got out of the car, I heard a hissing sound from under the bonnet. I thought the car was doomed. So I opened the bonnet and the sound got louder. Due to the previous history of over heating, I checked the radiator and overflow tank, for tell-tale signs of steam or boiling water. Nothing.. Shit! Then I resigned to the fact that my transmission has got really screwed, and that it was heating up really bad. And thats what the smell was really about. The burnt acrid smell of a really heated up gearbox. It's a wonder that it didn't break down. I took the car out for a small drive and confirmed the fact that the sound was really coming from the gearbox. Because you could feel the heat from inside the car by touching the area under the gear lever. Oh man! Now I'm in trouble. But there still is one thing, which I cannot understand. Even with all this, there is no leak from anywhere. Anyway, the vehicle is going back to it's workshop, for changing of the gear oil and transmission oil. Hope it lasts for that journey. And as a personal note to Soney, Rajesh and Shilpa, I deeply apologize for any trouble that you faced. I was just bored out of my brains and wanted to have some fun. My only intention was for everyone to have their fun. If I caused you guys, to have a bad experience, I'm really really sorry.
Maybe I'll think of a better idea next time.

2 comments:

  1. Dude I enjoyed this one.. U're a great story teller.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Dude, you know what happened at that workshop? heheh.. I finally figured out how to engage 4WD. You have to press the brake. Only then will the 4WD gear stick move. Ente Ammo!!!

    ReplyDelete

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