Night

"Careful" shouted Prathamesh as the Car Skeetched to sudden halt. Everyone sighed a relief as it was almost edge of the Valley. The sudden stop sent a chill down the spine and Nainesh was shivering with fright now. He wanted a break from driving. Sujal knew to drive, so he went to driver's seat but the car failed to start. 

Being Mid-December and close to Amavasya, the night was darker and the watch clocked 8pm. Everyone got out of car, the road was empty and very few vehicles were passing by. The worst part was they did not knew their exact location as the GPS signals failed in all the mobiles. The chillness in the air compelled them to get back to car. 

The initial few moments passed away by jokes shared by each one of them. The jokes became stories and obviously, horror stories found the way of discussion. This put additional burden on Nainesh, who was already petrified and he requested others to stop the stories session. There was a disturbing calmness within the car.

Suddenly, Mayur remembered there was a village they had crossed some 5kms away. He suggested everyone to walk back to that village, but then Nainesh was not ready as Car was in the middle of no where. He would not leave the car for safety reasons. To push the car for such a long distance was out of question. Just then when the checked the watch it was 11pm. 

As it generally happens, hunger hits at wrong time. Everyone was feeling the hunger now as  they only had Tea, Biscuits and some snacks at a dhaba at around 7pm. But with no provisions in hand, everyone drank available water. Sujal warned them not to drink too much water for 2 reasons. First one, they might run out of water soon and Second one, more practically, they might have to venture out in the open to release the burst in the Kidney. 

Moments of silence and few talks in between to keep them busy. Each one was tired to the core, but they could not sleep at all and even if someone tried, Nainesh would just wake them up. As the time passed, and  no vehicle ready to stop for help, the forehead burrows started getting heavier. 

The chillness in the air grew and the boys understood that nobody would come to help unless they made efforts for the same. Avinash and Sujal, covered themselves fully with sweaters and headcap and ventured out of the car to ask help from passing vehicles. They looked for help of any kind as it was more than 2 hours they were stuck up.

The day was an eventful day for these friends who met after 6 years of their college and attended marriage of one their close friends in a remote village of Maharashtra. The day started pretty early too. Nainesh took out his Sedan and picked up each of them from decided places enroute and they were literally laughing out the whole day. The marriage was just an excuse but meeting friends gave them the needed kick. All memories were flowing throughout the day amongst them. Drinks, girls, cricket, politics, economics - literally everything was being talked and ended with a laugh. What a Paradox, The day which started on a high, has a testing night for them.

Avinash and Sujal walked for few kms to look for help. At such odd hours, there was no one except the barking dogs to welcome them everywhere. They tried to find any ray of light of help but unfortunately, nothing was available. Finally, both decided to return to car as almost another 2 hours had passed. It was around 2am.

In the meantime, Prathamesh and Mayur too stepped out of car and were trying to get help from passing vehicles in no vain. Seeing Avinash and Sujal coming back, they were hoping of some positive news but alas nothing on hand!!! Everyone was trying their luck and panic started gripping. They were no more laughs or smiles. They were worried, the ghost stories had added to their fear factor too. Hunger was killing them inside.

Just when they lost their hopes and were walking towards the car, a Bus driver stopped and asked the boys the reason for being on road, at such odd hours. The boys were overwhelmed, to hear a human voice and could not believe that someone had actually stopped on his own. To their surprise, the driver had worked in a garage before and knew the repairing of car. He asked the boys to open the bonett and put on some light. 

He immediately found there was a problem with funnel of the petrol tank. It had dust and fuel flow was not proper and hence the car was not starting. He Cleaned the same and asked Nainesh to key in, the car immediately started. While on one hand, all wrong things were getting into their heads, a simple man came and solved their problem within minutes. They had wasted over 4 hours pondering over the same.

The boys did not know how to thank this person who was no less than a God in the midst of the night. Nainesh drew a Rs.2000 rupee note and handed over to the driver. Actually, the driver could have quoted any amount and the boys would have made it available but the honesty and simplicity of driver rose to the occassion and he asked for Rs.100 only for next days lunch as his charges as he did not do anything special. He gracefully accepted Rs.100 and sped away in his bus

The boys were still wondering, they had struggled for almost 4 hours and they could not success, but a man stopped suo-moto, helped them and went away. Two important lessons learnt by boys - Learn the basic mechanism of Car before purchasing a new car and No man is big or small, his deeds gives him the desired position in life!!!