The God, Me & the Karmic Connection

Long post with back and forth screenplay & introspection & good luck if you read it through.

A while ago, was on my way back home after taking care of some annual rituals.

The road leading to the home was blocked by four back to back heavy vehicles and
just in nick of time, I took a left turn so that the shorter cut can overtake the four heavy vehicles and the last Kilometre or so can be a smooth ride.

A Wagon r also swiftly followed me and I had a fleeting pride of being a pioneer in adverse situations, I reached the end of the road in no time only to notice a ditch with varying measurements apparently dug in to stop the usage of the road.

I promptly put aside my pioneer hat and donned the safety one, got down to gauge the width of the ditch and made a calculated assessment that the car would be safely negotiated if it's taken from the extreme right corner and tried the same, only to realize that the front left tyre was badly stuck in the Pit. When I got down for the second time within a minute, I realized that my sole follower was already changing his path to stick to the main route.

What followed next was both very gratifying and amazing experience and without jinxing, it was not the first time. A two-wheeler stopped to make the assessment & after a few futile attempts from our end, a young duo got down from a very new looking premium branded Sedan and started giving their insight. Within the next 7 minutes, there were around 20 people in an otherwise isolated area, parking their respective vehicles and assessing the situation. Some of them, who are professional drivers tried their own ways but to no avail.

They finally got some granite dug the ditch further to make a better grip for the front tyres and asked me to see-saw the vehicle a bit, made a U-turn of the original plan(which was reversing the vehicle) in the last minute & successfully got the vehicle out with me in the driver's seat.

I was overwhelmed to say the least for the obliging and accomodating nature that was on display for a lone unknown passerby & my battered ego received a minor boost when some of them said they knew where I stay. I dutifully handshaked all of them and before I got back into the seat, the crowd was dispersed by 80%.

I thanked the first two-wheeler gentleman who was there throughout to see this through and lastly, a stern-looking middle-aged man came with a piece of advise that the ditch was dug so that vehicles do not take this route & even if it takes few extra minutes, its ideal to stick to the main route.

Not that I had any choice in this matter but I obediently took his advise and rode back home & almost instantly decided to dedicate a blogpost for these helping Bowrampetians.. only thing which I missed, as am not a natural at it, is taking a victory picture of the 20 odd crowd of various age groups that gathered to help out a stranger.

Knowing me, I would have probably driven past my vehicle if I noticed others were already there or even if I got down, would have made zero contribution to the cause, but the takeaway definitely is to be helpful.

Now to the slightly sentimental/religious tailpiece: 95% of the cases with me(or most of us), the Karma is quite instant. As is proved in this incident. So there was an opportunity for me to overtake those heavy vehicles from the wrong root via an uphill road before I took the left turn but I could spot the head of the biker taking that empty road from the opposite direction thereby potentially blocking my way.

I gave a mouthful of expletives to him only to realize that the biker was on Ayyappa-Mala. I was immediately apologetic for my short-sighted reaction as I have a lot of reverence for the ordeal they go through and the devotion. (of course, he had no idea of any of this) and within a minute I encountered this 15-minute conundrum.

Interestingly, the misery of my stuck vehicle only ended when a 'Swamy' came and put some heavy granites in the path of my front tire and and orchestrated the revival.

Had another opportunity to apologize to my beliefs or fears, thanked all and him in particular and then moved on.