A MEMORABLE ROAD TRIP

That day as I was seated reading the news paper I called out to my wife who was in the kitchen, When she came I said “Reena it says here that the amusement park CALGARY has opened with a big ,roller-coaster besides other attractions. It seems it is the first such park in India.”

She said “That’s at least 100 kilometres away.”

“Yes. Our car is new and we could easily reach and return by the evening.”

She said “You never let me drive the new car whereas I was free to use the old one.”

“You see the roads here are narrow and besides there’re many potholes on the road. And I’ve noticed you drive very fast.”

“Allow me to drive and I’ll go with you to CALGARY.”

“Okay. Today is Friday. Let us go to CALGARY on Sunday.”

It was now summer and we were close to the real dog days. I opened the garage and the car door. Reena said “I must drive first.”

I allowed her to take the wheel.

I said “You must drive cautiously as we won’t be on a national highway. Also there’re sharp bends at certain points. We’ve another disadvantage. Our car is very big and could block very narrow roads.”

She said “Don’t worry. I’m an experienced driver since I’ve been driving for as long as you.”

“It’s now 8 in the morning. We should be able to reach CALGARY by 11 latest. It’s already very hot.”

She said “The ac is now on. In minutes it will be cool inside.”

As we proceeded we came to an old bridge and a lorry was coming opposite. The bridge wouldn’t allow both vehicles to pass at once and we waited before we could proceed.

I said “See the problem we face. We can only go slowly.”

“Sit back and relax. Perhaps you would like to listen to some music.”

“Leave it to me and concentrate on driving.”

Soon we had crossed a village on the way and Reena was driving very carefully. Despite it a tyre on our car burst and we halted. I said “It will take a few minutes to fix the spare wheel as I’ve never used it in this model of car. Meantime the traffic on this road seems to be growing. Let us move the car to near that lane.”

She said “That isn’t a lane. There’re a group of houses there. Still it would be safe to jack the car there.”

We were able to find a sanctuary for the car and set about jacking it up. I noticed the vehicles going past at speed. It had become very hot. I got out the spare wheel and bolted it down. When I lowered the car on the road I saw the spare wheel was low on air. I said “Reena, this wheel needs to be inflated. Let me find out where the nearest petrol bunk is.”

I asked a couple of passers-by and a man selling water melon on a cart, but they couldn’t give me the information. A passing lorry driver was kind enough to pause and say the bunk was about half an hour away. I got into the car and said “Reena, let me have a cup of coffee before we again set off. The changing of the wheel has made me long for some stimulus.”

I took the coffee leisurely and threw the paper cup away. Reena was about to start the car when I said “Give me two minutes. I need a comfort stop.”

“There seems to be no place for it. You should’ve exhausted your bladder before we left. You also had a long swig of cold water from the fridge before that. And now the coffee. And you men do it everywhere!”

“Just don’t worry. See those bushes there? I will have enough cover as there’re no people around.”

She said “Wrong!” I saw a group of women come together and stand exactly where I wanted to use.

Reena saw my plight and going towards the women spoke to them. She was back and told me “Those  are employees of a garment factory waiting for the bus to take them to work. It’s expected in 10 minutes.”

“Alright. Let us wait as this seems the most convenient place for my purpose.”

I kept checking my watch and saw it was 15 minutes and there was still no sign of a bus. I noticed the women also seemed anxious and I saw one of them making a call. I nudged Reena who said “You should be ashamed. Getting me to find out when the area would be clear for pissing.”

“Please Reena, find out what those women are saying.”

She went, spoke to the women and returned. She said “It seems there was an accident on the way and the bus is blocked. The women have been told it would take another 20 minutes for the bus to arrive and they should wait.”

“God damn!”

I got out of the car and asked a couple of people around if there was any restaurant nearby. They didn’t know and finally an obliging lorry driver said there was a Wayside Inn about 20 minutes away. He offered to take me in the vehicle and I was tempted to agree. I thought I would call her from the Inn and tell her to come over. Meantime the lorry driver got a phone call and set off without me!

I went back to our car and said “Reena, there’s no way except to go to a restaurant. You should drive fast....”

She said “The spare wheel has less air. We would’ve to coax the car carefully along.”

I said “Start and go without jolting as my bladder is almost overflowing.”

She said “I sincerely hope you won’t dirty this new car inside!”

On the way we saw the petrol bunk to access but I said we could come back. We reached the restaurant and running in at speed signed to a waiter seeking toilet access.

He said “The gents toilet key is with the owner who is overdue. He has locked the room as some users had inscribed latrinalia!”  I signed to Reena and she came and spoke to a female staff. Reena came and said “The ladies toilet is open.”

Seeing my drawn face Reena spoke to the woman staff and gave her tip. She allowed my using the toilet with Reena and herself guarding the door. I leapt in readying the fly! Luckily the toilet had only a single position. I was getting ready when I found there was no light inside and knew it was impossible not to make a dribbling noises with females just outside the door. I let go and it was some time before I could come out as I had been locked in!

I was now breathing freely and was light as air. We quickly had snacks there and went to CALGARY. We had no other incident on the way. It was indeed a very memorable trip.

END