My Journeys to the Service Station

I work in a place that is about 2.5 Kms from my house. Now Many of you would think 'Lucky Fellow' and those who travel more would heave a big sigh...I could hear that

I live in bangalore. Now all the bangaloreans viewing this thread would think -'which road is she commuting anyways its all the same.'

My daughter was very small then when we had moved closer to both our offices on the outer ring road in bellandur. It was for the sake of her that we moved there so that we could come back bit earlier to home and spend soe time with her.

I never had a two wheeler then and used to travel by public transport to office. I used to carry nearly 10 kgs including my handbag, laptop bag , lunch box(thank god the list ended). The bus stop is at least a furlong from home and my office ( my seat exactly ) is close to a kilometer from the bus stop.

My husband would see me walking fast, panting all my way to the bus stop and could imagine walking in the hot sun in the morning all the way to my office.He felt that was cruel of him to let me do that ( believe me it was a good exercise- but for the hot sun). We decided to get a two wheeler and searched for all brands of two wheelers and zeroed in on the old model "Honda Activa"

We stay in a place that is out-skirts of bangalore and we will ahve to travel a long distance for any authorised dealer. Still we found one that was on a striaght road about 15 -17 kms from home.

My husband is a spondylolytic and cannot drive the two wheeler. Hence he ensured that i would and can be able to drive the vehicle to the dealer for every service. I was fine with that as I felt it was only a straight road.At last we got the vehicle and for first service i went on a weekend - it was pretty fast and the traffic was also very less that i reached the service station in 15-20 mins and got it done in another couple of hours and was all fine.The following service was also fine and did not find any issues as usual . Every time i would go leave the vehicle and come back home b y bus and then would take a bus to go in the evening to take the vehicle back from the service station.

I was happy flying on the road in anything above 60 kmph speed that once a guy on a bike came near me on the road to say " its not safe madam - you are driving in your 80s and its not safe with your type of ghaadi" I only smiled to myself thanking the guy and thinking that i am an amazing driver who was able to raise a few brows on the road [ many a time my DH says i am boyish and with this incident i realsied he was true to an extent ]

The blue days came in. I had to really work some times at office as the product was growing and it was sunset when i started from office. The road was jam packed and i have to cross 3 traffic signals before reaching home. I had to literally start y vehicle move a few inches and turn off. Ignite, move , turn off. It was an extensive exercise and it took only a couple of hours to reach home! :biglaughThe reality had struck me hard that day and i made sure that i evade that engine testing how much ever work load i had. I managed to come home and sit in a locked room to do some work without my DD troubling me.

A new flyover came in to proposal and the work started. The distance to the service station was increased by another 5 kms. the so called straight road became a bundle of wool soon and i will have to face a lot of twists and turns on the way to the service station. Commuting back by bus also took me more time than usual and i started losing half a day of the weekend for just dropping the vehicle for service. One more free service left and i kept postponing as i was scared of the traffic and the long journey.

MY DH boosted me to go for one last time. I gathered up all my energy and mood and started driving at my usual speed. I do not know what these bikers think of themselves. All those manufacturer of the heavy machines with more bhps would have really landed in hell if i had been blessed with some superpowers.The bratty guys alwyas go for the heaviest and most powerful of all engines, with some( inf act lots ) of additional fittings that no one can recognize that its a bike in the first look.

I continued my ride, It was all smooth through the twists of the HSR layout roads. Here comes the HSR BDA signal. the fly over work has started from the signal near my home and has reached till here. Forget about the real construction work of the flyover, the digging work is always fast in cities , especially Bangalore where in all the roads would be destined to undergo the digging only after they get a new makeover! The road beyond the BDA signal though called an outer ring road, cannot afford even 3 lanes of traffic [ I should become the CM of this state and do something about this some day:coffee ].I had to wriggle all the way till the silk board signal where the road is a bit broader only to house more vehicles near the signal. Now there were two guys with those heavy machinery ( i don't want to call them bikes- they are too heavy for that term ). One was dark black- looked classy, while the other was a bright yellow (ouch my eyes are aching ... god help:biglaugh). We stood in the first row near the limiting line.

The signal was on and the guys on either side of me were coming adjacent to me for some time and both of them decided to stay a bit behind my vehicle and at one point when i had to slow down and gear up both of them entered my track from either sides :boo:. Our vehicles just missed brushing each other!I really do not understand what fun these ppl get. Have i really accelerated i would have bumped on any one of them and it would have been a mistake on their side as they did not have any signals as they over took and came in to my track and would be caught even if it were to be under interrogation with the traffic police.

I was smiling now thiking of how these guys try to impress gals on road, poor things they hardly know that i am married and a mom of a 2 year old baby! I could only feel like laughing as what would be their expression when they come to know this I had more speed breakers to cross and at last i managed to reach the service station with a slow ride in the heavy traffic. What work on the earth do these ppl have on weekends , that to in the weekend mornings! :bang My God! where is the world heading?! Cant they all have some rest and give me a peaceful drive on the road?![ when I become a CM of this state i should do something about this too:coffee]

I had the feeling of reaching a great accomplishment when i reached the service station. It all drained off in the next few minutes when I saw what looked like some 500+ vehicles awaiting the service and have been there for service since that day morning only."It would take 2 days " the service man said. I was in no mood to drive those 40 kms up and down again. Thinking of that I left the vehicle in the service station after a good 1 hr wait to get it tagged with job card for the service. I had to have my breakfast in the hotel there the neighbourhood. I loved the long time missed traditional Idly vada with Karnataka sambar.I always used to make a big fuss to have that extra vada with te idlies . I started thinking only after I completed the idly vada and had a big cup of the traditional filter cofee msuing at myself as how my tummy could accommodate that much after being tagged a fussy eater by every one who knew me.

I was back home by lunch time( this is what gives bangalore a big city image:rotfl) in a cozy air conditioned bus . They usually play the newest of all new hindi songs in the Radio City every day in every other public transport. I was lucky by chance to listen to some kannada folk songs [ looks like the driver's collections] It was a very nice music and I was enjoying the music of the soil without any heavy metal sound or those new age songs with sound engineering done to mutate the voice of the singers.

The weekend was over and I had to travel on Monday to pick my vehicle from the service station. It was much easier then. Every one were busy in their respective work places that the road was free when i left office that day as early as around 3 pm ( thanks to those mnc 's with flexible work hours else one cannot have any personal life on weekdays).I picked up the vehicle and was back home happily riding back home in the next 30 mins.Who said that it was hot sun. Less traffic is more than a blessing for any bangalorean :thumbsup and I am a pakka bangalorean after this 6 years of dwelling here.

when I reached home I was happy that i need not travel to the service station again as we have a new two wheeler service station coming up nearby home. No more getting up early for the sake of traveling to the service station. No more hurrying back to cook for lunch. No more sacrificing weekend afternoon naps to pick up the vehicle, no more energy wasted panting in the hot sun not stopping by anywhere just to reach home soon. One day of my weekend saved for my other works and spending time with my beloved daughter enjoying her pranks and her narrations of her own discovered stories.

Above all,I would not be one of those who contribute to the weekend messy traffic anymore

 

Thanks for the FB ALPA! Very happy to see your comment being the first!

We do have a car. But then would not want to trouble my DH every time i want to shop something.

I love travelling alone and having my own fun If I take him along I will have to come back soon.

 

Thanks for the FB TL :-D

Houdu mane hathra andhre just 50 mts distance alli there is a service station now.

absolutely no tension now

 

Yes ashwini,

Bangalore , has been having some or other fly over or other infrastructure plans ever since i landed here 6 years back.

Thinking of this traffic only the govt has also a helicopter facility to the international airport.

Infosys already has a helipad cum fountain setup in its corporate head quarter in electronic city!

Namma metro not only has made the traffic bad. It has MG road is the least sought road. No more road side trees too! Green bangalore is slowly changing now ....

I love this city so much and its painful to see the city changing from its usual appearance sans most of the greenery.

 

Thanks for the feed back and compliments Mindi! however i am not all that pretty . Helmets decieve people

Yes agreed. Some colorful girls in sight is the only relaxation / entertainment for those one bikes

One correction - the traffic moves much slower than walking speed. Especially the service road in front of my house has a packed traffic after 5 :15 in the everning every day.