11 April 2015 / leggypeggy

It was probably inevitable—we had a prang

accident, Anand, Bhutan, Divine Madman, driving, police, prang, Prayaan India Overland, road trip

The policeman talks to Tek (our guide on left) and the offender. I decided NOT to get out of the van to take the pic

After travelling with Anand and Deepti for more than 15,000 kilometres across India and Bhutan, I suppose a prang was inevitable. Prang being the Aussie slang for a minor car accident.

Now before I go any further, I should say that Anand in a superb driver. He’s watchful, patient, polite and cautious (without being a fuddy-duddy). He observes the speed limit and other rules of the road, which is rare in India. In other words, both Poor John and I feel completely safe with him at the wheel.

That doesn’t get around the other nuts on the road.

While our particular prang was frustrating, the overall outcome was more than satisfying.

Here’s how it played out.

We were on our way to visit the temple/monastery of the Divine Madman (how appropriate) when some knucklehead decided to zoom past us. As he did, he sideswiped our van, startling us all and prompting Anand to pull to the side of the road.

Anand proves he can get out of tight spots

The offender pulled over too and jumped out of his van to start a shouting match. He was the only one shouting, because Anand and Tek, our Bhutanese guide, kept their cool.

We couldn’t hear the conversation, so I’m guessing as to the exact words, but we got a full report when the fellows returned to our van.

Offender shouting and with arms waving: Hey mate, what do think you were doing? You weren’t even in your own lane.

Anand, calmly but firmly: I was in my own lane. You chose to pass where the road was too narrow and you didn’t even beep to ‘ask’ me to move over. Even if you had beeped, I couldn’t have moved over without hitting the guard rail. Surely you could see that.

Offender still behaving badly: Don’t give me that. You weren’t in your lane.

And then a taxi arrived and out stepped an off-duty policeman, in uniform.

Offender embarks on his rant again when the policeman interrupts: I saw the whole thing. You shouldn’t have passed when you did. There wasn’t enough room. This man, pointing to Anand, was completely legal. You were wrong.

Offender went purple. He wasn’t about to give up so easily and argued on. It soon became obvious why he was so insistent on transferring blame. He was driving someone else’s van and he was going to have to explain the accident and pay for the damage. If only he could shed responsibility.

The policeman said he was unable to press charges because he was off-duty, so if Anand wanted to claim insurance both drivers and both vehicles would have to go to the cop shop.

The offender had a huge scratch down the side of his van and the wing mirror had broken off, but he wasn’t keen to have the accident reported. After a thorough inspection of our van, Anand decided the damage wasn’t too bad, and much less than he feared. So he let to it go.

Besides, we had a more interesting Madman to visit. More about that fellow soon!