On our way back from Blantyre; Malawi, I and my wife
Suneeta got unnecessarily delayed in Lilongwe. When we started off from
Blantyre in the morning the plan was to reach Chipata, Zambia by 18.00 hrs. The
total drive was around 550 Kms and we were sure that we can reach Chipata as planned. But then, Madam did not like the food at the
restaurant where we halted for late lunch. We scouted around and found a
Restaurant called Gazebo, which offered us lovely Indian food. We thought it
was worth wasting two hours looking for good restaurant.
We reached Malawi border at around 18.00 hrs, quick customs,
stamping of passports and we proceeded to Zambia border post at Michinji.
Suddenly, weather drastically changed and torrential rain started pouring down.
We were not much worried as Chipata town is only 40 Kms from Michinji, and such sudden weather changes were quite common. We were further delayed by nearly 1 hour due to rains and congestion by trucks at customs. It was really
dark and was raining very heavy. Those who have travelled in Africa can
understand that in Africa, being 40 kms away from town is like being in middle
of thick wilderness. The visibility was nearly zero due to heavy rains. I could
not see the road ahead. I drove looking at white lane-dividing line in the
center of road and my wife was looking at the grass line at the edge of road.
We were barely driving at 25 Kms per hour. Suddenly my wife saw an old African man
standing by road side asking for lift.
As natural reaction, she shouted, “Stop!” I jammed the breaks thinking I must have gone
far too much to the edge of the road. Then she told me about the old African man. We
were in dilemma. It was far too risky to offer lift to anybody or even to stop
the car in middle of nowhere. But then, we could not leave this old man alone.
We backed up about 20-25 meters and asked the man what could be the problem.
The man said, “Bana, my car broke down about 2 Kms back. My wife
is admitted in Cipata General Hospital. I thought of walking down but at my age, it is very difficult to walk this distance especially when it is raining so
heavy”. We did remember seeing a car
parked by road side few kilometers before. We offered the old man lift. Took him to
the hospital and drove to overnight halt, feeling very nice about what we did.
Three years passed and once again we were driving from
Lukasa , capital of Zambia to Chipata, en route to Malawi. We were three of us in the car, I, Suneeta
and my 1 year old son. 300 Kms from Lusaka and nearly at same distance from
Chipata, there is a place called Kacholola. We had our lunch at Kacholola and we
proceeded towards Chipata. All of a sudden, something happened and car stopped
firing. I tried my mechanical skills with on effect. Suneeta was sitting down
on the rock by roadside, hoping I shall manage to get the car moving.
Hardly 10 minutes had passed and a shinning Land-Rover, stopped
by with loud screeching. One elderly person from the Land-Rover, Zambian man, got down and asked me what could be the problem. Then he asked, “ Bana, don’t
you recognize me? I am the man whom you gave lift in the night when it was
raining heavily. I stopped because I recognized your wife sitting by the road
side”.
He told his driver to do the needful. The driver took out a big knife from the vehicle and went into the bush. He came back in few moments with
bunch of vines in his hands. He made good strong rope, tied my car behind his Land-rover and towed my car for next 270 kms, safe and sound.
What were the odds???
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