Do Not Try This at Home.

Author's note: The following sequence of events did take place but I'm not proud of what led to it. In my defense, I claim to be have been of unstable mind (foolish, idiotic and stupid to go with it) when I undertook what I did. I highly discourage anyone who'd like to do the same, cause it'll lead you to one thing for sure, whatever else the outcome. Soup.

It was a Saturday evening and I'd received devastating news of not making it to the University I'd been vying for. I had been working towards cracking the entrance for quite a while so was thoroughly let down when I didn't make it. Imagine going to the extent of having to learn Math (a subject I've loathed from the deepest realms of my soul) and even changing my writing style (one that I'd previously been proud of) to suit the criteria of the exam.
It's at times such as these that the brain, or atleast the part that makes sense, completely stops functioning. Not that I can honestly brag of it being well oiled at other times, it's just a valid excuse for doing what I did later that day.
From my earlier blogs, I may have made it evident that I'm thick pals with a few friends. All of them were very supportive and sympathetic of what had happened and one even came home with a pizza to "celebrate" the University's loss of not having me as a student. That night, another bestie invited me for dinner outside, followed by a sleepover.
What should've been an innocent night out with a close friend turned out to be nightmarish, yet funny in parts. I hold only myself responsible for it and before I plunge into the details, I'll give you a brief overview of my pal's background. It's of great importance in the story I'm about to tell.
She hails from a very conservative, large joint family. Partying and staying out late is frowned upon, wearing clothes that might be a wee bit revealing is scowled upon so presently, I'm scared to think what going for a drive in the dead of the night and being followed by a bunch of lecherous men would be!!... I'm saying that because (I'm sure you've guessed by now) that is just what happened.
Call it a brainwave, streak of rebellion or just a bad idea. At around 2 am when my pal suggested we snack on something, I told her of a 'brilliant' game plan that I'd devised: Of driving out of home, picking up another friend along the way, going for a spin in the car and then coming back. Initially, she shot the idea down with "We'd be made minced meat of" and "I'll be skninned" statements. But none of her pleas that her dad would turn a taxidermist, seemed to affect me. I just wanted out and I didn't care what I was risking. (Bad idea #1)
So I got in touch with the fellow nocturnal we'd planned on inviting and she was quite surprised too. But it wasn't so difficult to convince her and soon my bestie and me were preparing for our adventure. Rasmalai for the journey, some good music for the drive, and good footwear in case we had to run from her folks. Car and house keys in hand, we set off.
It gave us an adrenaline rush to be sneaking out of home at 2.30 am doing the cartoon character walk on our toes while keeping our eyes and ears alert for any movement or noise. The coast was clear, we left home.
Driving to our common friend's house and picking her up wasn't eventful and I religiously stuck to the speed limit while we were still in the housing colony. Once out, we raised the window glasses, brought out the dessert, switched on good music and I broke all barriers and drove like lightning on the empty and smooth roads.
Nothing gives one a kick like doing all of the above. Yet, one has to be prepared for a kick on the rear for behaving so irresponsibly too. I've learnt this now, that with mountain peaks come the valleys. Always. We just should've been prepared for it.
After a nice long drive and exhausting our 'sweet' supply, we decided to call it a day and head home. We dropped the common friend at her place and I was about to put the car in reverse gear, when my bestie insisted on another drive.'Best friend' time she said. I didn't need too much convincing and off we went again. (Bad idea #2)
The drive was excellent and we were on our way back when I noticed something amiss. There had been a car I could see in the rear view mirror that had been tailing us for a while. I didn't want to hit the panic button so I tried feinting. I switched on the indicator to take a left turn and they did too. Just as they were about to make the turn, I threw the car in third gear and went forward leaving them in a mid-turn. But looking in the mirror again, my heart sank. They'd backed out from the turn and were following us. My bestie who'd been the silent nervous spectator all this while suddenly took on the role of a self apponited GPS. In between giving me directions she tried in vain reciting the Hanuman chalisa and various other mantras.
Suddenly, that car gained speed and drew level with us on the passenger side. The driver rolled down his window and waved. He then overtook our car and switched on his indicator. So he was finally done coming after us, we thought. My bestie and me heaved a momentary sigh of relief.
He took a right turn but on realising we weren't following him I think, (we weren't up for playing his silly game of tag at 3 in the morning!) he reversed with the speed befitting a James Bond car and was at us again. The horror!
My bestie began hyperventilating at this point and it didn't help that she saw the car had 4-5 menacing guys in it. I was scared too, but maybe cause I hadn't seen them first hand I didn't get hysterical. I kept my eyes fixed on the road while trying to follow her incoherent directions. Since we were within the contours of her housing colony, we snaked our way between the lanes and managed to squeeze our car between some others. We switched off all the lights and sat in stunned silence.
During the chase, their car had lost us in between the gullies. We sat huddled together praying, and cursing 'our' stupidity (although I was solely to blame). Few minutes passed and we hoped that they'd lost interest. After waiting some more time to give them a headway at finding something else to engage their fancy, we decided it was safe to move.
Just then I saw those dreaded headlights appear in the mirror again. To say it was intensely distressing would be putting it mildly. We did the only thing that occurred to us. We ducked out of view.
In retrospect, I think it would've been more sensible on my part to have removed the seat belt before doing it, cause not only was it highly uncomfortable but more because viewing a seat belt hanging in mid air is not common place. They passed our car and reached a dead end. Reversed, and slowly glided back.
We had every saints name (living or dead) on our lips. Just then, my phone beeped to life with a text message and the interior of our car lit up. My bestie nearly fainted with tension.
Luckily for us, the guys must've figured that we didn't like their game (that had gone form Tag to 'Peek a boo' in the last 20 minutes)... They left us alone but not before honking repeatedly and making us jump outta our skin.
In any case, after waiting some more time and ensuring that they'd gone for good, we made our way home quietly. It was only after reaching the safety of her room that the gamut of emotions came loose.


I know it's something we're all taught by our elders. Don't stay out late; Keep someone informed of your whereabouts always; and most importantly, don't do anything on an impulse. I've most certainly learnt my lesson.
I don't care if I'll never know that a flyover looks like a freeway at night, or that you can introspect best on an empty road. At this point, the only way I understand those things is: That they spell TROUBLE.
My advice to anyone who wants to take it. Stay home and stay safe. Better sad than sorry!