after that day, i was trying my best to avoid the grey one, but my badluck got me into trap once again. my parents were out of the city and the grey one was on my disposal. but instead of using the grey one, i kept using cab, because i knew that the grey one doesnt like me. i knew that its just waiting for the right moment to stop in the middle of the road to insult me. and finally, the grey one got the chance it was waiting for. my sister told me that she is tired of the routine, and wants to go to college abit late. unfortunately, i agreed. i had to reach office around 10, and could easily drop her to the college.no one had used the grey one for days, and it was in a terrible state (or to be more accurate, it was in more terrible state than it normally remains in). so, i gave it a bath, hoping that it would get happy and wont create problems for me. after the "shower", i saw it in its real color after months!! anyways, we left for her college next morning. now luckily my college and my university were - and now my office is - at such locations that i normally dont need to travel on busy roads like Islamabad Highway in rush hours. but that day, i had to. after crossing the I-8 signal we soon became part of a very large queue of cars waiting for the zero-point signal. the traffic had come to a dead stop. it would move a few meters after every 2/3 minutes. and with the signal atleast a kilometer away, i soon figured out that it would take atleast half an hour to cross it. but what really irritated and worried me was the temperature - both overall and of the car. the grey one was getting angry. the temperature was rising, and both the grey one and i were losing temper very fast. the time was running out, and i had to pull over to the shoulder to "nagotiate" with it. i opened the bonnet, only to find out that the reserve coolant bottle was full, but somehow the radiator was really hot. i was releived to know that i had some good supply of water with me in the car. i needed to open the radiator cap, but how?? all i had was a piece of cloth abit larger than a handkerchief. right when i was about to twist the cap, i remembered a teacher of mine who had ruined his face trying to open the hot radiator cap. so, i stopped. i had to allow the water to cool down. about thirty minutes had passed when a motorbike stopped just beside me. it was mohsin, whose sister was my class fellow in school. he asked me if he could be of any help. to tell you the truth, i did need help, but did not want him to tell his sister about this. so, i told him that everything is ok.
finally when the grey one had cooled down, i thanked god, and twisted the key in the ignition to start the car... nothing happened. i tried again, nothing happened again. another try, but no luck. now this was too much. standing in the middle of nowhere, on one of the busiest roads around, the car could not be started "manually" (through dhakka i mean). i called my brother, who was supposed to pass through the same road in a while. he said he is coming, and another 30 minutes passed before he finally arrived.
till then, the rush hours were over, and the road was not THAT congested. first, we thought of towing the car, but "rope" we found in the car could be used to immobilize some kid, but not to tow a car. so, we requisted another person who was sitting at a distance besides his malfunctioned van to help us push the car. i sat in the driving seat, and that person, along with my brother (in a suit) started pushing the car. luckily, the car started in a few meters. so, we decided that i should "directly" go to office, and my brother will drop my sister. i started praying, and kept praying untill i reached within walking distance from office. i thanked god, atleast now i could park it anywhere in case it breaks down, and could reach office on foot. approaching the office building, i slowed down my car, and as soon as i turned left to get off the road, i heared a BIG collsion! and when i saw there, the car behind me had tried to overtake me, and collided head on with another car coming from the opposite side. as i was indirectly involved in the collision, i feared them dragging me into the "dialogue". so, i parked the grey one as soon as i could, and walked towards the building, avoiding eye contact with any of them. fortunately they did not involve me, and i finally reached office two hours later than i had planned!! but more importantly, i DID reach office!
i thought enough mockery has been made of my poor self, but the grey one was not over yet. after the office when i tried to start it to go home, it did not respond again! now what? i thought about asking the guards to get a push, but then the problem was that i had never talked to them during the past six months! so, i went into the office again. it was about 10PM, and none of my "friend colleagues" were there. usman - my team member - was sitting there. i was thinking of how to ask him to help me, when he asked that why i was back. i told him why. one more person was needed. so, i spotted a fastian - rizwan mubarak. both of them were about to leave, and were without a car. so, they packed up, and came along me to the grey one. it was second time in a day that the grey one was being pushed by people in suits!! they had to run for about 200 meters before it finally started! so, now i had to drop both of these to their homes. that was easy i thought, bec i knew that rizwan lives in G-9/4, less than a kilometer away, and usman lived in g-10, about two kilometers to the opposite side. it was usman's turn first, and i dropped him in G-10. but then, rizwan asked me to drop him to F-11, and i had to!! (didnt that push cost me too much?) when i finally reached F-11, i noticed that the temperature guage was rising again. OMG... i started praying. this is the last time Allah mian, i will never user this car again. i kept praying, and the guage kept rising. but luckily, the guage did not go far enough, and i finally reached home.
it was an embarrasing day, but luckily my family accepted the fact that there is some "chemistry" between me and the grey one. now they do try to keep that car away from me!! thank god!!!
moral of the story:
always keep a rope and some good water supply while travelling in such a car.
keep some fire-fighting equipment with u.
keep good relations with the building guards.
keep two persons in the car who can push it, whenever and wherever required.
if u cannot follow the above instructions, then never drive the grey one.!!
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