All tensed up!!

It was a dull afternoon in March 2009. I was about 8 months old in CS and I had the keeda of driving a car. My friend's Nigerian friend had rented a Chrysler cruiser and he was good enough to give it to Ashish Deshmukh, my awesome friend. My friend drove the car around and we went to several places. Man, my adrenalin jumped in joy. I wanted to drive too.

I requested my friend to lend it to me for an hour so that I could go to Walmart for grocery shopping. My sincere request and innocent face forced him to give it to me. I was happy. I drove around like a pro, taking turns at the most acute angles. I felt like Sebastian Vettel. I reached home safely and then my friends called from McD which is about three stone-throws away from casa del sol. I wanted to show off. I picked them up.

Kunjan Majmudar, Shreyas Bedekar, Ameya Rao and Aditya Joshi sat in the car, trusting my driving skills completely. I peacefully drove to Normandy Square to drop off Kunjan where a thing happened.

I had to take a sharp right against oncoming traffic to park the car on the shoulder of the road. I was aware of the 1 feet deep pothole in the parking spot. So I hit the gas.....MUCH TOO LOVINGLY.

Bammm... I was in a state of shock. I knew I had hit the pavement in front of the car forcefully. My friends looked at me as if I had killed them. I did not want to move. I just wanted to rewind the last 8 seconds of my life. But the damage had been done.

I was left with a broken radiator, damaged bonnet and a badly drowned feeling. Why? Because: 1) The car was neither mine nor my friend's. 2) I was not added as a driver while renting the car 3) Was the car uninsured? I easily could guess the damage to be worth 1500$. Where will I get the money from? What will I tell Ashish? What will Ashish tell his friend?..... The whole world seemed to diminish.

I decided to drag the car somehow in from of my Casa 212 apartment even if the engine got red hot. That way, I could make a story and reduce the blame on myself. A gathering of friends pooled up. I made a few phone calls to a few PhD car owners. Everybody gave different degrees of torture. After 2 hours of public gathering and 200 different points to ponder, I decided to call Ashish and explain him a false story that was a bit more believable than my rugged driving experience. He was shocked and stunned. It was about 2AM then and we finally decided to take care of that the next day.

As with several other problems, a good night's sleep solved it all. I literally dreamt that The Nigerian had indeed taken complete insurance of the car. Next morning I checked the car thoroughly to look for papers. I found them. I, Ashish and his Nigerian friend were very relieved but there was a strange silence in the air. I felt sorry and conveyed it to them.

The final 6 mile drive to Enterprise rentals needed 20 pit stops for refilling coolant. Ironically, Enterprise did not even notice the problem when we returned the car as the damage was underneath. We returned happily and had a drink :)

Moral of the Story: 1) DO NOT drive cars that are not in your name. If you run out of luck, you may have to face dire consequences. 2) DO NOT panic as I did. Time solves all problems. 3) Take advice from 2-3 trustworthy people. Or you will run around like headless chicken. 4) You can either take liability insurance or complete damage waiver while renting a car. Its expensive but advisable to take CDW if you are a fresh driver. 5) If you have done something wrong, do not mention it to rental cars if easily possible. Once you leave their premises, they cannot blame you. So run before you get caught!