Guess what I had a game of Automotive Snooker today at cochin. The Cue was a Tata Ace pick up, The Cue ball was my Father-in-Law's Omni which I was driving. The Red ball was a red Santro Xing. (I was heading back home, alone after dropping some relatives at the rail way station and meeting a friend at the High Court and some work at our Cochin Office.)
So this is how we play the game. As usual its chaos and 4:15 P.M, Everyone wants to go first as usual too. So we have three lanes of traffic in a two lane road. I was behind the Xing from near the High Court and he was driving in the right lane and going slower than everybody else and holding up traffic a bit.
Almost all traffic behind me were pushing me to go fast and many vehicles overtook us both with a mix of acrobatics and Rajnikanthism. (No offence to The super star Okay.) After a while, we get into a snails pace in first gear for almost more than a kilometre. And then the traffic on our side gets into a three lane formation cause there are guys trying to get ahead through the left and the right.The santro guy still keeps to the right lane and I get pushed into the left lane and thats when the right lane gets stuck and I come alongside the santro on his left.
Now the game is about to begin. Santro guy gets a little ego issue on seeing a piddly Omni trying to advance him. And when his lane opens he accelerates ahead. While I'm trying to negotiate, the guy with the Cue(Tata Ace) blasts through the left where there is no space and he make s a cue ball out of the Omni hitting me from my left. I take the hit and the Omni passes it on to the Santro guy who has now become the red ball. I tried to get the Ace guy and overtake him somehow now that the traffic had cleared a bit. He looks at me and tells me "You have hit the Santro" and pulls away.
I look in the rear view mirror and see Santro guy all red and literally standing on his horn. I drive ahead looking for a space for him and me to stop and park my car. I walk out and ask him. What damage he has had. He starts yelling at me that I overtook him through the left and I have to repair his car. I said I was hit by the Ace. He says " Dont play smart, I dont want to hear anything,You hit me and so pay up for the repairs or let the cops come" I said fine and I call up our Cochin office to get the numbers of the concerned police station or control room.
While I was waiting he said to pay him money to repair and was pretty angry. (Now his car was just a year old, He's around 45 and there was another calm elderly guy along with some women and a girl.) I told him either you call the cops or I'm leaving and to take down my address and phone number along with the vehicle's registration number. He said "You wont go anywhere, That will be over my dead body and you will have to kill me to move an inch." Now this might get violent and ugly so I again call the office and my senior friend there says he's passed on the information to the nearest police station and that he has given my cell phone number to the cops and they will be on their way soon.
After over hearing me talking on the phone, The calm guy who had not said anything till then comes and tells me to pay them some 500 rupees and no need to call the cops and that the car is just a year old. (I had looked at the Santro and ther was burnt plastic from the Omni's bumper on the left fender and the lower portion of the bumper had a small dent with paint gone around two inches. My Omni just had a minor scratch on the right side of the bumper,but it has a lot of scratches all around and that scratch was not good enough to prove that I hit him at all. ) I said that I was not paying anything as I did not do it purposefully and that he could get an insurance claim. He said that he needs an papers from the cops for that. I said its not like that and since the driver is so keen on playing rough let law takes its course and that I have all my papers and stuff in place along with the number of the Ace guy. I also told the Santro guy "You can look at a criminal charge for wrongful restraint." He says "Go ahead." So again I wait for the cops to come and soon most of my colleagues starts ringing me up and this makes the Santro guy a little nervous. The calm guy and he talks something and then the calm guy comes and says " Pay him 500 Rupees and let us be on our ways. "
I looked at the Santro guy and he was now sitting beside his car looking at the damage,tears in his eyes. Now this really made me feel bad. I tell the calm guy "Okay I'll give you 250 rupees since I have only 350 with me in person in all."(I had tanked up the Omni,did some shopping and had to pay some money at our Cochin office for filing some matters at the High Court and I couldn't even get a penny out of my account too as I was over the daily limit and I need at least 100 bucks in hand in case of an emergency.) More over it was not my fault, Maybe in a sense since I was on the left and rules say you should not overtake through the left. Well it was a traffic jam scenario and so maybe I am at 50% fault. I dont know.
I told him that they could go to the showroom and tell the guys there that some body bumped the Santro while it was at a parking lot and that they will fix the damages and that they will get the full repair costs back from the insurance company. I also told him to give me his address and phone number or his bank account number and that I will transfer another 250 rupees or send a Money Order for 250. I told them that I meant this and that they can trust me if they can. I go and try to calm the Santro guy sitting on the ground and tell him that the amount I pay up will cover a portion of his NCB loss too or that he can get it fixed for 800 rupees at the maximum without an insurance claim at all. He gets up and says "Okay then send me another 500 along with the 250 you gave us." I said thats too much to ask and if thats the case then I'd be better starting my own insurance company for the cars I use instead of getting them insured. I says to take it or leave it. The calm guy intervenes and he makes the other guy to agree and I told them to wait.
I call back at the office and get the number of the police station and tell them that the matter has been settled. The cop who answered the phone had got down my number incorrect and he had dialed me some 20 times and the reply he got was that the phone was switched off. He asked me whether the santro people misbehaved or assault me. He thought they had took my phone and had done something to me. He was trying to trace my location and was also trying to contact my senior colleague. But he was on his way to get to me and he did not see the calls coming.
I also tell the calm guy to take the wheel since the other guy was almost still under a shock and unfit to drive at the moment, He obliges and we part ways with no hard feelings at least on my side.
Anyways it was not very bad. The Omni also was fine, Dont know about the Ace guy who took off, But he wont care anyways. And its no use trying to go after him with a case. One day he will learn things the hard way maybe.
I also dont know whether I had to pay the Santro guy anything at all, But me being an automotive lover, It hurt somewhere inside when I saw him sitting on the ground with tears and looking at his first ever car and the fact that I was the one who hit him.
![[:)]](https://www.theautomotiveindia.com/forums/images/smilies/Smile.gif "Smile [:)]")
. I know how you feel.
![[cry]](https://www.theautomotiveindia.com/forums/images/smilies/Cry.gif "Cry [cry]")
![[;)]](https://www.theautomotiveindia.com/forums/images/smilies/Wink.gif "Wink [;)]")
.
![[evil]](https://www.theautomotiveindia.com/forums/images/smilies/Evil.gif "Evil [evil]")
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I can't stand the sight of that,it really hurts me when someone recklessly damages another person's ride. 