I think my worst fear while driving is that one of the wheels on my car is somehow gonna detach itself from it's parent vehicle and roll off into the horizon. And like every other phobia and mental dysfunction I possess, I can clearly trace it back to my childhood.
It was a time when my dad used to commute to work in a company tempo, and one day he returned home and told us this amazing story, quite possibly fabricated in its entirety, of how that day he had been relaxing during his work commute, looking out through the window at the countryside passing by when suddenly he observed something that seemed to be strangely out of place. He saw a wheel with no car attached to it racing by, making pretty good speed for something without an engine. And then, with horror, he realized that it was the rear wheel of his own vehicle which was moving along at a pretty fast gallop.
Sadly, I cannot remember the rest of the story. For example, I don't remember how, with only three serviceable wheels the tempo came to a halt without causing bodily harm to it's occupants. Also, no matter how hard I tax my imagination, I just cannot envision a tempo losing a wheel and still cruising along at the same speed without crashing, with the only physical reminder of its handicapped status being the visual spectacle of a wheel racing along by its side.
So as I said, looking back, I now tend to believe that my dad fabricated this story, but still, no matter how much I try to convince myself of that possibility, every time I drive on the interstate, I still keep a sharp lookout for any orphan wheels in the lane next to mine.
6 comments:
Thought you see it from very deep inside, from this ignorant-of-you point of view, the post makes a story in itself, and it´s beautiful.
I have personally seen a tempo wheel disengage itself from home base. We call them "Matadors" here. The vehicles, not the wheels.
Luckily the wheel went on the shoulder side of the road - and went into some bushes, and the matador screeched to a halt. None of the stuff you see in movies and all those cop shows happened. No sparks from the naked axle, no weaving and twisting and turning, no passengers screaming for help. I must say though that the matador must have been doing a full ten kilometers per hour with four wheels on.
This entire episode was about 5 seconds long. But that's no fun. So story forms, of an orphan wheel, leaving home offended that someone asked it ki kya chakkar chal raha hai, and perhaps even joining back when even the passengers say bacche wapis aa jaa, nahin to gabbar singh aa ke tumhari maa ko...
I watch too many stupid movies.
That's funny because I think in my dad's case also it was a matador. So he might not have been making up stories after all.
i was 18. travelling between bangalore and tumkur in a matador with my friend. the matador lost control on bangalore-pune highway as it was raining, the highway had a slight curve. It flipped. The old lady next to me died and her limp body still haunts my mind. I walked 10 kilometres after that as i was scared to get into anything that was an automobile. I took an auto the rest of the way as it would go slow and i had the option of jumping off. Your post reminded me of that incident.
We seem to have an undiscovered Ford Explorer situation here with the Matador!
anjali
After reading the spaceman spiff episode, it gave me goose bumps that:
Maybe it was the same matador.
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