I am not a superstitious person. But I was convinced that my car is jinxed.
The very first time I took it to the parking lot in Charlottesville , the tire gave away with a loud bang…loud enough to make me think the whole car was about to blow up. So there we were ..Subha ( the nervous instructor who was more scared that Atha would yell at her than the fact that we were all alone in a deserted parking lot miles away from other people…with a broken down vehicle) and me ( feeling half smug and with an “I knew it” expression…always knew that cars=trouble).
I should have known then that was just the beginning..and disowned the car pronto but foolish me chose to believe the soothing words mouthed by people far less percipient than me.
It behaved beautifully for a few more days allowing me to get on with the farce of learning driving and acquiring a permit to display my skills to the unfortunate people in Virginia. But it started its mischief soon after when Subha,Atha,Seejo and myself went on a drive to nearby Scotsville and drove itself straight into the welcoming arms of Bambi. Now some might blame the deer for sauntering across the road at that moment but me: i know better…It was another of da car’s effort to make my life more exciting. In the process it managed to wreak its hood, and a few other of its body parts and making me spend good money trying to make it in a running condition.
I should have disowned it in the mechanics shop then but i was stupid enough to listen to the so called experts( read Atha and Seejo) and bought that contraption back home.
To be fair to the car all its antics were not major ones. There were also a few minor scares in the next couple of months like some of its innards falling off on the road during a casual drive ( which we stashed away in the boot deciding that if the car runs without it, it probably does not need it), some weird noises emanating after it acheived a certain speed and other sundry things. The radio stopped one day and then them some rubber linings of the window joined the metal part in the boot.
I should have tried to sell it at that moment but I was naive enough to listen to Atha who said that these were minor troubles a second hand car brings and that the car still runs well enough.
I finished my graduation,got a job,shifted to Maryland. I managed to drive to work for a few days before it was upto its old tricks again…And the car is intelligent enough to choose the right day to perform its mischief. One rainy evening when i was trying to drive home…the darkness and rain already made driving a big challenge when the front right wheel decided enough was enough and got itself punctured leaving me stranded on the road…I dragged the car to a nearby parking lot and waited for Seejo to get me home
I should have removed the license tag and dumped the car right there but I was gullible enough to get fooled by Seejo ‘s observations that it would be illegal and irresponsible to do that and his promise to fix the wheel
Finally called AAA and towed the car to Seejo ‘s apartment and left it there till the weekend to repair the wheel. But some intelligent management person was appalled by the anesthetics of the car and thought (rightly too) that with a mangled hood and punctered tire the car was in no state to be driven and very kindly asked the towers to tow it far far away….I know the car wanted to get itslef towed away…don ‘t ask me for logic..just put it down to the famous feminine intuition!!
Which meant i had to go to the junk yard on Monday morning, help Seejo fix the flat tire ( it joined the rest of the innards in the boot: more parts of the car seemed to be in the boot than ON the car), and PAY 118$ to get the car out of the towing people.
I should have said “to hell with the money , you can keep the car”, but I was moronic enough to think that the car befitted a better death.
I decided that the car had given me nothing but trouble and it was time to dispose off the car. Luckily, there appeared a buyer on the scene….an laid off from work software professional who had just got a new job and had no money at all….Sold my car for half the money that i bought it for…bad tire,broken hood and all…. Now let that poor guy suffer….
As for me i am carfree and carefree again!!
