The unbeaten road!

Torrential rain was blinding the windscreen of my car as my wipers struggled under the weight of water. The speedometer read 70mph and I was scared to death, as neither could I see the road clearly nor I knew where I was headed.

The evening of that spring, in the land of Brits, was one of my worst nightmares. I agree, that boredom is the inspiration of all adventures but that evening, my boredom was coupled with exhaustion; and it definitely was not the correct recipe for an adventure.

I lived in a city called Milton Keynes about 50 miles north of London. It was not so common to get indian sweets in my city and so I decided to drive to a new shop that had opened just outside the city to buy some nice Indian sweets. I had never driven there before but I was excited to discover this new route.

 At sharp 5.30 I left my office, rather in a hurry as I knew the shop would close at 6. As I entered my car and opened the left compartment, I did not find my Sat Nav there. Damn! I had forgotten it at home or may be my husband had it in his car. Never mind, I still decided to embark upon the journey. I took my iPhone out and searched the postcode on the Google map, tracked the path and started the engine with the key.

The weather was pleasant and my heart was cheerful.  As I drove from roundabout to roundabout, my confidence grew and I started relaxing. The countryside now looked even more beautiful and I was pleased with my decision of discovering this new route. In almost 10-15 minutes I reached my destination. I was euphoric, first for my achievement and second in anticipation of buying sweets! I shopped for good half an hour. I bought many Indian delicacies’, sweets and savouries. Just when I was about to check out my hefty purchase, it started to rain outside. I exchanged some common wonders and disappointments about the British weather with the shopkeeper lady. She agreed with my sentiments without giving me any discounts on the purchase.

I almost ran to my car with shopping bags to avoid getting wet and decided to head straight back home. I was now confident I knew the road and did not bother checking the route again on iPhone. The digital clock in my car blinked 6.30 PM. I was happy, I had not wasted too much time shopping and could still reach home in reasonable time. I drove through the small roads and headed towards the big roundabout. Generally a roundabout has 4 exits. But this one was huge, it had 6-7 exits and few signals in between. It is a tough job to  count the exits ,read the sign boards to identify your exit, change lanes in time , monitor the signals that suddenly pop up in your way and while doing all this drive sensibly without hitting any other car.

Invariable, I missed my correct exit and took the wrong one. Immediately, I understood my mistake but there was no way to turn back or stop the car (Its not India)! So, I carried on. I spotted a left turn saying ‘Local centre’ and I took the opportunity. I went inside the local centre and parked my car in one of the car parks. Cool it Sayali… Cool I said to myself. Much is not lost. It happens. I took my iPhone  out, checked my map ,cursed myself for not having the Sat Nav application on my iPhone.  When I checked the map I realised that the road that I was referring to as ‘Monks Way’ is called as ‘Road A422’ in this area. But essentially, it’s the same road that will take me home. I was filled with new enlightenment.

By now, the rain was pouring down in buckets. I was squinting my eyes to get a clear view through my splashing windscreen. Luckily,I successfully emerged out of the narrow lanes of parking and the local centre. I put the gear on the fourth now and with the car my heart too jumped its speed.

As I approached the same round about again in no time, I reminded myself- look for A422 on the exit signboards. I remained on the rightmost lane of the roundabout so that I can complete a full circle. The rain and the signals were making me anxious as I circled the big roundabout. There was no time to change lanes when I would identify my exit, I was supposed to know it beforehand. That’s the way it works. One Exit gone, 2 exit gone, third one read something closer to A---. I could not read it due to rain but I had to decide quickly. Decision taken and suddenly I changed to left most lane and took the exit. The moment I took the exit , it connected me to a slip road which was taking me to a very big A road called A5. A5 was one of the major roads connecting many cities in the Midland area of UK.

I screamed ‘Noooooo Wayyyyy’. How Could I be so stupid? How could I take the wrong Exit again? A5? A5 was a dual carriage way with cars running at speed of 70mph or more. I had to increase my speed to gel in with other cars. There was one big truck in front of me. Due to the sheer size of its tyre, it was throwing a whole lot of water on my windscreen than the rain. The road was 90 per cent invisible to me. I was driving on my instincts of straight line and relativity to other cars. I was getting impatient now. This was clearly not the plan. When will I get the next Exit? How will I take a U turn? A5 could have taken me to my destination but to my dismay I was driving on the opposite direction. Driving in the wrong direction gives you a feeling of utter helplessness. There is nothing you can do unless your destiny reveals an exit or presents you with another roundabout.

 I drove almost about 2 miles and then reached another roundabout. There it was. There was a chance for me to do the penance. I was determined to go the right way this time. I changed the lane to the rightmost, so that I can go round the roundabout and take the same route in opposite direction. I was very tired now. The whole days work at office compiled with this tension put me into wrong gear- Panic . Panic is such a state of mind which compels you to do mistake even if you know you are doing one. You feel like you have lost it, now nothing can ever go right.

This one was again a very big roundabout. I counted my exits as I drove with my perspiring hands. And just when I thought I was right I had already taken the exit just before the correct one.

I could not believe myself. I just could not believe it. So many mistakes in one day , in one journey. What was wrong with me. I had read only half the sign board. I thought it was A5 but it was A508.

A508 was a single carriageway country road which takes you to Northampton and other small vilages. I suddenly started feeling drain of energy and rush of heat. I felt so hot that I switched the heater off in my car and started the A.C. This could not be happening with me. When will I reach home? The digital clock was mocking me with 7 PM on the dial. Tears started rolling down my cheeks before I knew it. I wanted to go back home in this stormy night. I wanted to go back and see my 1 year old son’s smiling face. I wanted to call my husband and tell him my problem. I wanted to call mom and dad. But Alas! None was possible. I could not stop the car and so could not call anyone. In my mourning, I missed two right lanes that could have fetched me way to go back. Suddenly I became aware of my situation. Time was precious at this moment. I could not waste even a single minute. It would mean few yards of distance lost. Every minute will take me away from my home, my son and my people. I needed to go back and I needed to go fast.

I wiped my tears and concentrated on the road again. There was a beautiful countryside around me. It was more like a jungle. But Now it all looked rather ghastly to me. Mocking me of my failure.

Soon my fate , rewarded me with a right turn for my bravery and my patience. That’s it. I went for it, took a U turn and went straight back on A508.  1 enemy down, 2 more to go . I had corrected 1 of my 3 mistakes. Now I repeated in my mind, when I come back to the roundabout I need to take the leftmost turn as that was the exit I had missed. It would take me to A5 but towards Milton Keynes. And so I did. Hurray!!!! 2 down 1 more to go. A5 was a long road. I drove carefully through the torrential rain, never leaving the leftmost lane. As I did not know which exit to take. I kept reading the exit signboards through my watery eyes and watery windscreen. Now I was nearing my very first mistake. The evil roundabout of A422 which drove me to all this mess. The exit signboard said ‘For North Milton Keynes’.  It surely was a bad omen to me so I decided to give it a miss. Something inside me was telling me to continue on A5. I knew that A5 can take me to central Milton Keynes, and I knew my way perfectly well from Central Milton Keynes.

So I kept on going. I finally got an exit for ‘Central Milton Keynes’ .   Phewwwww……..all my tension melted away at that point. I took the exit but was still unsure of the internal roads. I went slowly on all roads reading signs for known roads and eventually managed to grab my everyday road H5 which could take me to my home. Till the moment I reached my home, the grip on my steering wheel was so tight that the palms of my hands started aching. I was shivering uncontrollably and then I realised I had kept the AC on and forgot to switch it back to heating. I parked my car in my home car park, got off and ran to my house. The rain was still pouring but the warmth of my house reached me immediately as my little son came running to hug me .He could not talk but he looked worriedly at me. I hugged him tight and told him ‘Don worry, Mamma is home now and she will always be!”