Friday, October 08, 2004

Accident, escape and settlement

8:25am October 6th 2004, Bangalore
It's always a problem to go thru the traffic of BTM layout, one of the busiest spots of Bangalore. Our new cab driver is fast and has a skill to drive in zig zag path in busy traffic. In one such zig zag drive, an auto in front applied sudden brakes (for whatever reasons). My cab was so close to the auto, that even with a sudden brake the kiss between the auto and cab could not be avoided. Immidiately mom and sister abuses sparked off from the auto driver. Our cab driver promptly got down and checked the bumpers. There was a small dent on the back bumper of the auto and the front of the cab. By this time there was a huge traffic jam behind us. The police came and asked us to leave the junction and go ahead and have the settlement!!! My cab driver promtly came inside started the vehicle and drove in his zig zag mode without stopping till the Silk board junction signal even in the heavy traffic. None of us thought that our driver has planned an escape. The auto driver frantically followed us. But the traffic and the driving skills just did not let him come near us. The escape was perfect. But was it the right thing to do? Who cares?

8:30am October 8th 2004, Bangalore
The same spot, a police man along with the autodriver stops the cab. The police man calls the driver out and some hard talking seems to go on between the 3. After 10 mins, we got down from the cab and asked the police to leave us as we were getting late to office. The police asked us to go in and said that it would get solved. Afetr another 5 mins, the driver came in and we left the place. The settlement went this way. The police asked our cab driver to pay Rs 500 to the auto driver. After some bargaining, our driver coughed out Rs 150. The autodriver paid some undisclosed amount to the police for having helped him catch our driver!!!

I am not stunned by the events. It's usual thing in Bangalore and my driver deserved it.

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