As an earning graduate student in 1986 (I had a research
assistantship at the ECE department of Syracuse University) I was able to save
a respectable sum of money (as the standard of graduate students in US goes!)
by the end of my second semester in Syracuse.
When I toyed with various shopping ideas, a thought came to my mind - why not
purchase a bicycle which would help me get around the
campus? The thought, in retrospective, was quite in line with my middle-class
upbringing. Fortunately, one of my friends, Sumer Gupta, at the time possessed
a much better imagination than I did. He proposed in a slightly irritated tone,
"Hey, what bicycle? Buy a car, man!"
(सायकल
क्या
खरीदता
है?
गाडी
ले
ले
यार!)
This new proposal was so dramatic and wonderful that right there my heart fell
in love with it.
So, instead of a bicycle I ended up buying a used 1978
Toyota Corolla. This
purchase turned out to be one of those momentous life-changing actions that you
read about in great people's biographies. My behavior after that day was no different than that of bewitched Romeo. It was a beautiful
compact car with perfect upholstery, flawless yellow paint, and a nice sporty
shape. I knew driving by then (I had started taking lessons soon after the idea
of buying a car had intoxicated
me completely) and had a driver's license too. And so, right
after I got the keys in my hands, I drove around the campus, proudly showcasing
my new love. Hours passed, but I had no thought of stopping. But, of course,
the car did. It suddenly stopped, just a short distance from my apartment. I
was on a smaller road, so there was no problem in terms of blocking the traffic
or attracting a cop's attention. But I was in panic anyway, and I started
turning the key repeatedly trying to bring the engine back to life. After 15 minutes of failed attempts, I was stricken with grief. I
summoned my car-expert friend Sumer (who incidentally was the previous owner of
this car!) for help. He, being a true-blue car lover, rushed to the spot and
within a few seconds of glancing at various gauges, he barked at me, "You idiot! You need to fill gasoline in the
thing, man! It doesn't run on air!"
The
car had run out of gas! Well, of course, I was surprised at my stupidity, but at
the same time I was tremendously relieved to know that there was nothing wrong
with my beloved.
Adventure 1: Summer 1987
During the summer break of 1987, Sanjay, Milind, and I
decided to do some sight-seeing. People recommended various spots and we zeroed
in on Washington D.C. I had my newly acquired companion - the
yellow Toyota Corolla, which we decided to take to drive all the way. Upon
reaching Washington D.C., we wanted to roam around and check out
the heart of the city, the place where the big shots - the President, the
Congressmen, etc. - played their political games and managed the affairs of the
nation. There was no street parking available, which wasn't a surprise. So, we
went for paid valet parking and got out for a long walk around the place. After
we had satisfied our curiosity about the White House and other government
buildings, we went back to the parking and got into the car. It wasn't dark
yet, so we drove around a bit longer, watching famous buildings and reading up
famous street names. Suddenly, I noticed that something was terribly wrong. The
brake wasn't working! I panicked and shouted, "Hey guys, the brake isn't
working!" At this time, I was cruising at a comfortable speed right on the
famous Pennsylvania Avenue.
Immediately I let the accelerator go, hoping that the car would slow down. At
the same time, I continued pumping on the brake pedal, hoping desperately that
the brake would miraculously come to life. But that didn't happen. Then I
remembered that Sumer
shifted gears to slow down his car, and I immediately changed the transmission
to the first gear. The engine made a terrific noise, obviously complaining
about the sudden change from fourth to first. Thank goodness, that worked, and
the car came to a standstill within a few seconds. I quickly took it to the
curb and looked around breathlessly. No damage was done, no one was hurt, there
was no police car or secret service in sight, and the faces sitting in the car
were regaining their color once again!
After a bit of scrutiny we quickly spotted the reason for
the brake failure. I had been driving with the handbrake ON! As a consequence,
the brake fluid had heated up and lost its viscosity. That's why the brakes had
failed. In just about ten minutes, the fluid cooled down sufficiently and lo
behold! The brakes were back in action. We drove on watching the famous
buildings and streets of Washington
DC as if nothing had happened.
Adventure 2: Summer 1987
Our Washington
trip was a great success. On our way up to Washington
we had halted in New York and Princeton to meet up with fellow graduate students. But,
on our way back to Syracuse
we drove straight without any long breaks. I was in a groove with my driving.
The beautiful scenic highways of the East Coast were so enticing that I never
felt like stopping. Even the occasional construction/repair zones marked by
glittering orange cones didn't deter me; I zig-zagged
along the curvy detours without slowing down even a bit. The car was totally
tuned to my style of driving; it appeared to sense my thoughts even before I
pressed any controls.
I drove through the night on Highway 81 and as the dawn
gave way to bright sunlight, we came near Cortland
- the last city before Syracuse.
My co-passenger Sanjay and the backseat passenger Milind were fast asleep by
this time. My eyelids were heavy and I had to occasionally bat them feverishly
to stay awake. Driving through those bright reflective orange cones in the
night had had a delirious effect on me. I didn't think I would fall asleep. But
I actually did!
The next thing I remember, I heard Milind
yelling loudly "Oy, Oy,
hey! Where are we going?" I jerked up from my sleep and immediately
noticed waist-high grass all around us. Sanjay was awake too and was shouting
incoherently. The car was still moving at a very slow speed. Just as I propped myself up to take control of the car it shuddered to a halt
and came to a standstill. We were in a field full of tall grass, and the sound
of the highway wasn't too far. Without getting out of the car, I restarted the
engine and slowly got the car back on the highway. I parked the car on the
shoulder. All three of us jumped out and reviewed the situation. Apparently,
after I had gone to sleep the car had slowly veered to the right. Since we were
in the slowest lane of the highway, the car had left the highway and driven
through the ditch on to the infinite green field that we had just seen a few
minutes ago! We shuddered at the thought of what might have happened if instead
the car had veered to the left of the Highway. The oncoming traffic was getting
heavier by the minute for the morning office commute; we would most certainly
have hit one of the oncoming vehicles. We also marveled at our good fortune
that we had slid gently down into a flat green-field instead of jumping off a
cliff or a bridge!
The three of us were, of course, quite all right and in
fact fresh from the brief nap. We reviewed the damage to the car. Two tires had
blown off - obviously due to the thorny path in the green-field. But, our
amazing luck hadn't run out yet. We had two spare tires in the trunk! We
promptly used our recently acquired skills of changing wheels and within
minutes were on the way again! Cortland's
first food exit was very close. We took it and laughed all the way to
McDonald's for a hot cup of tea!
Adventure 3: 11 December
1987.
Vikas had rented a car for his trip to New York. The trip was sponsored by a
prospective employer that had invited Vikas for an interview. Since the bill
was on the company we allowed our imagination to wander on the various options
available on the car, including insurance - we purchased 100% insurance
coverage! In hindsight this bit of splurging turned out to be a prescient move.
We returned from New
York very late in the night. The car had to be
returned to the rental company before 830am the next morning. We had no choice
but to throw our warm blankets aside and get up at about 8. After splashing
some water on our sleepy faces, we got into the car with Vikas at the steering
wheel. We got on Interstate 81 from the campus and started wobbling toward the
destination - the car rental company's office near the airport. Soon after, we
were cruising in the slow lane on one of the curvy sections of the highway that
had a high cement wall as median. At the next entry (near Pearl Street) to the highway we noticed a
huge silver American truck (it's called a Rig) entering the expressway. Within
seconds we were right next to it. Instead of settling on the merging lane the
truck appeared to come in on to us. So Vikas reacted and swerved the car to the
left and hit the median wall. As a reaction to that he swerved to the right and
the rear wheels of the truck collided with the passenger side! We were
literally tossing between a rock and hard place! After that collision Vikas
lost control of the car and the car once again rammed against the cement wall
and went belly up. Everything after that was a blur. The next thing we realized
we were hanging upside down under our seat-belts and peering through a smashed
windshield. The car had come to standstill. We quickly unbuckled our seat-belts
and crawled out through the front of the car. Astonishingly, we were both able
to walk to the shoulder of the highway with no apparent damage to our bodies.
Just a few seconds later we saw another car come from behind and hit our
mangled car. Within, what seemed like seconds, we saw a police car and an
ambulance screeching to a halt near us. The truck had
vanished. The police officers quickly got out and one of them approached me and
reviewed my physical condition all over and mumbled something about a bloody
elbow. He asked me if I had a preference with regards to which hospital I
should be taken to. I said I didn't. Quickly, the ambulance guys got into
action - they put me on a stretcher (I didn't know why, I thought I was quite
ok) and drove me to St. Joseph's
Hospital. Vikas also was similarly taken to the University Hospital.
In the brief glance before departing, we saw that our car was a total wreck
sitting in the fast lane upside down in a pathetic condition.
It turned out that Vikas had had minor injuries on his
foot probably because of the pedals. He was released after treatment the same
day. And I had smashed my right elbow because that's where the truck had hit
our car. The doctor attending to me - Dr. Harold Weichert
- was an elderly and kind physician. He spent a long time cleaning the wound -
he said it was filled with all kinds of muck. He told me I was lucky that all
the nerves were intact. Still, I had to park in the hospital for as long as 7
days! My India
trip was just days away and I was in no mood to cancel it. I did make the trip,
but unfortunately, I had to go with a sling in my right arm and a lot of lost
weight. All the nice fat I had put on through my first year and half at Syracuse in order to
impress my parents was all but consumed during the
hospital stay and I looked like a skeleton when I was discharged!
Yes, about the insurance part - since we had 100% coverage,
all our expenses - the ambulance ride, medical expenses, car damage, etc were covered completely by insurance, although it was
an interesting experience to go through all the paperwork to sort out
everything.
We had certainly escaped death or at least severe injury
by good fortune. The episode also clearly showed the value of using seat belts.
Adventure 4: Year 1999
We had bought a used Mazda Protégé after moving to Seattle. It was a nice dark
red car with automatic transmission and a sun-roof. Once, I was driving alone
in the Protégé on Route 520 going East towards its end
in Redmond
city. It was about 4:30 pm and the traffic had already started building up. The
zillions of Microsoft employees were now filing out of their offices to reach
their homes, and they were slowly clogging the highway. I got stuck in this
traffic jam and got into a long line of cars with an American sports car right
in front me. I think I was just cruising at about 5 mph and I suddenly had the
urge to look at something inside the car - most probably for a music cassette
that I wanted to play - and in no time I heard a big "dhuck"
sound! Startled, I looked ahead and saw that I had rammed into the SUV in front
of me. Almost mechanically, the driver of the SUV and I got out of our
respective cars and inspected the damage. The Protégé's front was badly damaged
since it had no protective fender, whereas the SUV just had a couple of
scratches on its rear metal fender. The SUV driver was not very generous, and
he took my license number and insurance number to pursue recovery of his
damages.
Anyway, matters took their own course as they usually do
in the US.
But, the above incident was just a precursor of something more interesting that
was to happen a few weeks later.
I got the Protégé front fixed to whatever extent that was
possible. But the hood remained a bit loose after all the repairs. So, it would
basically jingle a bit and heave up and down on rough spots. I couldn't care
less of course - since as students we had used cars in worse conditions.
One day, I was once again driving on route 520, but this
time westward. I was at about the same spot on 520 where I had hit the SUV, but
of course, on the other side of the highway. It was quite windy and I was
climbing the slope near the exit for Sammamish
Parkway. I was probably half a mile away from the
exit and all of a sudden the hood of the Protégé flew up in air and rammed into
my windshield! For a moment, I thought I was hit by an object from space! In
reality, the Protégé's hood had got unhinged from the front as if someone
wanted to inspect the engine and had opened it all the way! The hood completely
covered my view while I was driving probably at 50 mph or so amid a normal
afternoon traffic. I was stunned for a moment not knowing what to do. I
couldn't just stop on the road because there were cars right behind me. Nor
could I be sure of anyone in front of me. But, the next moment, I decided to
use whatever vision I was left with - which was basically of the lane right of
me - and gradually drifted towards what might be the Sammamish Parkway exit. Luckily I was
able to get on the exit ramp - driving on which was also a challenge since it
was curvy all through. But then, I slowly got on the shoulder and stopped. No
one had suffered any damage nor probably even noticed what had just happened.
There were no onlookers or police cars, and even my windshield was intact. I
got out, pulled the hood down and then slowly drove home with a loose hood
ready to fly up any time!
Adventure 5: Summer 1995
For our visitors' pleasure (my sister Seema and her
husband Subodh were visiting from India), we rented a spacious Toyota Camry in Detroit and started driving towards Niagara Falls. There were four of us - Tanuja
sitting in the front passenger seat and Seema and Subodh
in the back seat. As part of the routine, I stopped at a gas station to fill
the tank to its brim and also to buy some junk food to munch on during our long
journey. It was a beautiful summer day and it seemed as if life couldn't be
better! We were all cracking jokes and smiling at the beauty around us.
After filling the tank, I slowly drove out of the gas
station and stopped behind a large truck which also was on the highway entry
ramp, apparently waiting to get on the expressway. While we were waiting,
joking and chatting, I noticed to my shock that the truck in front of me had
started moving in the reverse direction - towards us! I was so taken aback by
this sudden twist of events that I just sat there staring at the rear of the
huge truck gently closing in on us. Like a slow motion picture, it inched
towards the Camry, hit the Camry and continued moving backward as if the Camry
were just thin air. It crumpled the front of the car and continued moving into
us! Finally my adrenaline kicked in and I started honking wildly. Others in the
car either didn't know yet what was happening or were also in too great a shock
to react. Like in a bad dream, the truck showed no signs of stopping and with
amazing power continued crunching the metal of the Camry and came within a
couple of feet of the windshield. And then it stopped! Apparently the truck
driver had finally heard my frantic honking or had probably felt a hint of
resistance from behind.
Once again, the truck driver got down from his high seat,
and in a typical American manner, coolly walked towards the meeting point which
was now all entangled mess of metal, inspected the damage with a chuckle, and
handed over his papers to me for me to pursue damages! I promptly called the
rental company, which in its typical American efficiency sent another car and
someone to pursue the paperwork of the accident. In less than a couple of hours
the four of us were back inside another shiny rented car and on our way to Niagara Falls!
My visitors were of course too stunned at this rapid
sequence of events. To date they can't decide what the highlight of this
episode was - the amazing power of the truck, our miraculous escape, or the
American system that allowed us to carry on with life with so short an
interruption!
Adventure 6: 1987 to 1990
After getting my first valid US driver's license, I collected a
number of traffic violations in a short time.
The first traffic ticket was awarded when I was going at
45 mph on a road in the Syracuse
University campus trying
to reach a movie theater on time. The speed limit was 40, but the police
officer was in no mood to forgive my petty infraction. He slapped me with a
fine.
The second violation was picked up once again on campus
in Syracuse
when I was trying to show off my driving skills to someone (most likely my
future wife). I took a sharp right turn without stopping at a STOP sign. There
was a lady police officer waiting just around the corner, who had no reason to
forgive me. She slapped another fine on me. I fought this ticket (even though I
knew I was guilty) for almost a year, even exchanged letters with the
Department of Motor Vehicles, and finally paid it off.
The third violation was picked up during our trip to Florida. There were four
of us - Sanjay, Nazeem, Junaid, and I - and we shared the driving duty. When it
was my turn, we were somewhere in North
Carolina on Route 95 South. As soon as I got behind
the wheel, I pressed the accelerator and touched 85 mph. The speed limit was 65
mph. By now, I should have known that my luck ran very low with regards to
violating traffic rules. Within almost seconds, I noticed flashing blue and red
lights in my rear-view mirror. Apparently, a cop waiting for a prey had found
me in the nick of time. I hadn't even enjoyed my high speed ride any longer
than 10-15 seconds! I was so upset at my poor luck that I decided, in
desperation, to try to evade the police! Can you imagine that - an Indian
graduate student trying to evade the American police in a high speed chase! I
drove even faster and started weaving in and out of cars on both lanes of Route
95. The cop of course was trained in chasing such novice evaders and he didn't
lose me. The traffic wasn't exactly light, and so I felt that I had lost the
cop. So, when I spotted an exit I immediately swung onto it in full speed
hoping that the cop would drive straight on ahead on the highway and I would
get away scot-free. But, of course, that was not be, and the cop, who now had
his siren blaring at full volume, came after me. I decided to give up and I
screeched to a halt on the shoulder of the exit.
This cop could easily have handcuffed me and sent me off
to jail. But, he was kinder, or let's say he was only
as harsh as the previous ones, and he allowed me to proceed with just another
fine. He did say to me, "Trying to be smart, boy?", but didn't press
the issue. He noticed the 3 other graduate students shrinking away in the
corners of the car with fearful eyes, and probably took pity on me.
My fourth ticket was picked up in Urbana, which I fought all the way to the
court! I went to the civil court on the day of the hearing, watched all the
court formalities with amusement, and saw everyone rise when the judge walked
in. It was a lady judge and she asked me to state my defense. I, of course, had
no strong defense, but just mumbled something about being new to the territory
and requested to reduce the fine. The judge was kind and she did reduce the
fine!
I might have actually picked a fifth ticket during this
time, but the cop probably was in a good mood. Once, Vikas and I were driving
from Syracuse to Rochester
as part of our monthly routine of visiting the Kanitkar
family, Parag, and others in Rochester. I was cruising along at 75+ mph,
and the speed limit was 55. At one point, I followed and closed in on a
slow-moving car ahead of me so quickly that the old lady who was driving that
car got frightened and veered off the highway into the ditch! Luckily she
wasn't harmed in any way, and I watched her in my rearview mirror coming up
back on the highway. We had a good laugh about it!
Obviously, we were dangerously high on adrenaline and
were whistling along, not particularly afraid of anything or anyone. We were,
of course, scanning the landscape ahead of us looking out for cops, but there
were none in sight so far that day. We concluded that they were all off in the Adirondacks enjoying the good weather. Just when I was
probably voicing this exact thought to Vikas, I noticed an ordinary-looking
large pale green American car standing in the low median between the two parts
of the highway. I pointed it out to Vikas and said, "Look, some fool is
stuck in the ditch!" We gesticulated and laughed with enough gusto that
the guy sitting in the car would certainly have noticed it! Of course, we
couldn't care less, and I continued cruising at 80 mph. Suddenly, I noticed a
new object in my rearview mirror. The guy who we thought was stuck in the ditch
was quickly cutting the gap between his car and mine! And he even had a
flashing blue light on his rooftop! Oh oh! So, it was
actually a cop hiding in the bushes for his prey. This time, I had the good
sense to slow down immediately and stop the car on the shoulder.
Within seconds, a tall and smart looking cop in dark
glasses walked over to us, bent over at my window, and said, "In a hurry,
guys?" Vikas had the inspiration to tell him that we actually didn't
notice the speed because we were having an animated conversation! He surely
would have noticed our animated gesticulation and laughing aloud when we passed
him, wouldn't he? The cop, whether because he bought
our story, or because he was in a good holiday mood, just gave us a warning,
and let us go without imposing any fine.
Adventure 7: Summer 2000
Tanuja and I felt like visiting our friends in the Midwest and taking Sarang along with us. So, we flew from
Seattle to Chicago
and drove in a rented car to Urbana-Champaign. We were on 294 South speeding through the sprawling suburbs of Chicago. This expressway
is a Toll-way and the toll is collected in amounts of 40 cents at every 15 or
20 miles. Most of the toll-booths are automated where you just have to drop
your coins in a nylon receptacle and drive on. At the very last such toll plaza
after which 294 merges with 90/94, I slowed down because there was a small line
of cars ahead of me waiting to drop their coins in the coin collector. Tanuja
was in the front seat and 4-year old Sarang was in his car seat in the rear surveying
the surroundings.
I continued to scan the various mirrors as a matter of
habit and noticed a pickup truck approaching from the rear. There were just one
or two cars now ahead of me, and so I was very close to the wide array of
yellow toll booths. At second look I noticed that the pickup truck appeared to
be driving as if it had not seen the stopped cars ahead or even the tollbooths.
It just came hurtling towards us at a high speed. I, of course, was in no
position to take any action in that situation, since I was literally a sitting
duck with nowhere to go. The pickup truck seemed to have selected the line I
was standing in and so he came straight in my direction! I started muttering
"oh, oh" and began to prepare mentally for a nice bang from behind. I
could now even see the guy driving the truck, who seemed wide awake and in fact
very agitated. Just a second before banging into our car, he suddenly changed
direction, swerved to the left and banged into the pillar separating my toll
booth from the one next to it. The pillar appeared to be rubber padded or
something because nothing happened to the pillar. Even the truck driver quickly
got out of his truck after the collision and seemed quite unhurt. He came out
and shouted to all of us, "Sorry guys, my brakes failed!"
All this time, Tanuja and of course Sarang were
completely oblivious to what had happened since the drama had all taken place
in the rear view mirror!
Adventure 8: Winter 1992
During my working days as well as consulting days in Chicago area, I lived in the Chicago
suburbs during weekdays and spent weekends in Urbana. So, I travelled between the two
cities almost every week. During that time, I tried all modes of transportation
- train, bus, even air. But, mostly I drove the distance of nearly 135 miles in
my car. As a result, I got to know every possible route between the two cities
and all detours and short-cuts along the way. The state route 47 was my most
favorite although it was a bit slow owing to lower speed limits. It offered the
most intimate view of the Midwestern landscape with miles and miles of fields
on both sides interjected by specks of villages boasting of populations less
than 500.
I also experienced all possible weathers and driving
conditions that Midwesterners themselves experience throughout the year. There
were tornado warnings (no actual tornado fortunately), snow storms, icy roads,
wind chill factors pulling temperatures below 0 degree Fahrenheit, hailstorms,
lashing rains, and also, many beautiful Spring and Fall days when everything
seemed just perfect. I remember one particular snow storm when the snow
appeared to have fallen in the form of big hard lumps. Driving on the highway
that evening felt like driving on a village dirt road in India.
On another such winter Friday evening I started from my
office in the western suburbs at about 2pm (it was already getting dusky), took
355 south which connected to 55 south and then to 57 south, and as soon as I
hit 57 South, I met with a massive traffic jam. I was tuned to the radio as
usual and was hearing warnings of severe weather, icy conditions, etc. But, of
course, none of that was going to deter me from my routine of driving to Urbana. It had been
snowing constantly since early in the day, and now there was a huge mountain
range of snow along the two sides of the highway built by the sweeping snow
trucks. The weather was bitterly cold, and every time I lowered my window to
get some fresh air, I was hit by a blast of cold subzero wind. That was enough
to keep me wide awake. The traffic was moving literally at snail's pace. I took
a nervous look at the gauges - fortunately there was enough petrol to last many
hours. The news on the radio was sounding worse every passing minute. They were
talking about highway closures in Indiana and Iowa
and soon in Illinois.
We started seeing many cars and even large trucks that
had decided to give up and were now stopped on the shoulder with blinkers on.
The ice layer on the road was getting thicker, and every time someone pressed
his brakes or accelerator a little too hard, he was condemned to skid off the
highway. Police cars and other emergency vehicles were constantly going back
and forth in the emergency lanes, helping people out of their cars, or helping
clear a lane blocked by a stalled vehicle. People were seen taking exits to the
villages on the way, but from what I heard from conversations - yes, every once
in a while people were actually getting out of their cars and chatting with
other fellow drivers - all hotels along the way were full. It was a very
thrilling time - I was scared a bit, but also confident that with all these
people on the road, some solution would emerge. Finally, at an exit before Kankakee, we saw police
cars blocking the highway completely and asking everyone to get off the
highway. They told us not to worry and just follow the vehicle in front. So I
did and reached a school in the town of Gilmour.
They had opened the gymnasium of the school and arranged
for overnight stay for all of us. It was quite amazing. There was this big warm
hall, with hundreds of folding beds lined up neatly, local volunteers smiling
and cheering us up, a couple of television sets showing Christi Yamaguchi's
medal winning performance in the 1992 Olympics, a large table on which sandwiches,
chips, and other snacks were lined up for us to eat free of charge. To me, it
seemed like a picnic. I chatted with a few co-drivers and local folks, watched
TV, munched on the food, and went to a comfortable sleep in one of the portable
beds. There were no cell phones in those days to notify anyone. The next
morning, we were served with hot steaming coffee and toast, and advised to
continue our onward journey with utmost caution.
As I got back on the highway, it was as if I was visiting
a war zone. The highway was still very icy, the air was still extremely chilly,
but with the appearance of the ultimate actor in this play of Nature - the Sun
- there was suddenly a lot of optimism in air and a feeling of promise that
things would get better. The ditches on both sides of the highway were littered
with cars and even big trucks completely buried under snow. It was incredible
that not a single life had been lost during that dreadful night of chill. I
heard on the radio that the O'Hare airport
of Chicago had to be shut
down late in the night. There were very few souls on the road and the flat,
wide, and immense landscape of the Midwest
looked white, serene, and peaceful. When I reached Urbana, I realized that everyone there had
some story to tell about the previous night. For me, the thrilling experience
of being on the road in such adverse conditions was outdone by the wonderful
hospitality I had enjoyed in the town of Gilmour.
Adventure 9: Fall 1989
Falgun Dave was my colleague in Lachman Associates (my
first employer in the US)
and he had recently bought a Honda CRX Coupe which, in those days, was a valued
possession. He was proud of his car and offered to give me a ride whenever I so
wished. So, one day I joined him for lunch. After a sumptuous Mexican lunch at
Casa Lupita he took me in his blue Coupe for a ride.
From the crowded Naper Boulevard Falgun
took a left turn into a side road which he said was good for driving. It was
quite empty at the time. We saw a STOP sign approaching and I automatically expected
Falgun to slow down. But, when he showed no signs of
doing so, I looked at him questioningly. He smiled and said, "Don't worry.
This next road is always empty. We will just zoom past the STOP sign." And
so, he did not stop, nor did he even slow down while crossing the STOP sign. As
soon as we had crossed the road a big American truck went roaring past our
behinds on that main road! We gave each other startled and horrified looks. We
had missed a terrific collision literally by a hair's breadth! Falgun, at that time, looked more relieved that his beloved
CRX had escaped damage!