Killer auto!

It was around 7:10 AM on Friday, the 11th of April. Vignesh and myself were on our way to the swimming pool at Gachibowli, on Vignesh's stylish and brand-new bike (you'll know shortly why I mention these adjectives :) )... Oh, and I forgot.. Vignesh was riding.

We were on the three-lane road to the pool, when we got behind a mini-bus on the right lane. There was an auto on the left lane, and Vicky planned to overtake the auto through the middle lane. Vicky being the careful rider that he is, (he never rides beyond 50ks), stuck to proper procedure, shifted to the middle lane, honked his horn and surged forward. We were then almost parallel to the auto.

That was when fate struck. The auto driver, for no reason, swerved suddenly to the right, virtually closing the middle lane. Vignesh tried hard to break and avoid the auto and was sure he'd manage to do exactly that. I being the experienced two-wheeler rider that I am ( 8+ years on a TVS XL super :) ) had no such false hopes, and knew that very instant that we would crash. Sure enough, the handle of the Apache hit the front curve of the auto's bonnet on the inside and the bike fell to the right. Vignesh was hurled to about 20 feet from the bike, and I, a few feet behind him.

We were on our feet fast, and I felt myself. No major injuries, just a couple of minor bruises. Vignesh seemed to have a suffered a few more bruises, on his arms, and there was blood on his teeth and nostrils. We went straight to the auto driver and started blasting him. What surprised me was his age. He would've been around just 14 years, and here he was, driving an auto.

No wonder then, I sighed and thought dryly. Being the young man he is, he would've seen an empty stretch of road in front and zig-zagged his way with glee, the way small kids do on their toy tricycles.

By then a crowd of around ten people had gathered and all of them supported us. I thought of calling the police, but the crowd suggested otherwise. One of them was concerned of the young guy's 'future'. That was indeed a stupid argument.. I wondered how many humans' futures he'd snuff out driving in such a manner. Anyway, being in a hurry to get to the hospital as quickly as possible, we took his keys (which we would realize later was a stupid move) and gave our contact number, hoping to get some money from him for the damage done to the Apache.

Vignesh rode to the hospital, and by then his right foot started aching terribly, so much so that he could hardly walk. An X-Ray was done, and the worst was confirmed; A fracture on his right ankle which would restrict his free movement for the next 6 weeks. The doc applied an orthopedic cast which would have to be in place for the same amount of time.

The bike had suffered considerable damage, and the adjectives that I used in the beginning no longer seem to apply to it now :) . The cap on the side of the accelerator had bent, the electric start and gear display weren't working, and there were numerous scratches and bent structures throughout the bike.

Needless to say, our ploy of grabbing the auto's key didn't work. On the evening of the same day when I was on my way from office, the auto wasn't there. We should've thought better.