All Hell "Bakes Loose"

When I reached home last evening, my kid cousin brother wanted to go out for a drive and so we did. Old faithful recently restored and painted red Maruti 800 was our ride for the evening. Yeah as though I have an Aston parked in the garage too. Yeah but a Maruti 800 is the best car for Kolkata. Whatever!!!

So we head out and take the road around the house, drive till the Park Circus round about and hit Theatre Road. Half way down Theatre Road and approaching on of the many intersections, I hit the brakes. Half an inch down, there was a small jerk, a snapping noise and the brake pedal plunged right down to the floor. I calmly turned left to Rahul, he already had it figured out, but as though to confirm his fear of the worst, I informed him that the brakes had failed.

It’s as though time stood still for three seconds, while I noticed Rahul pull back deeper into his seat and his hands clutched the seat, till I involuntarily snapped back into fast-forward mode, my left hand shifting into 2nd gear and pulling the hand brake all in the blink of an eye.

The car pulled over to the left of the road, engine still running, I switched on the blinking hazard lights and weighed the situation. Rahul was a bit out of words, but that’s OK for a kid his age with his first experience of being in a car with the brakes failing. OK, mine too, but I was driving and knew things could’ve ended up much worse. I decided to drive back home at 10 kmph and with the hand brake lever in my left hand all the time. We reached back home without much incident, I have got to admit.