5
A quest...
8th January 2009, 7 AM, at home:
Was reading the newspaper, came across the news that civil supplies minister says that there is no reason to panic we have enough stock of fruits, vegetables & all other essential commodities for the next 1 week. Hope the strike will be withdrawn soon. I thought what happens if its not withdrawn soon & stocks gets over.
1:15 pm, at a hotel in Kullathur:
I was having lunch with The pilgrim, suddenly my mobile rang. It was mom, she asked me to fill full tank petrol in Activa cos there is a shortage of petrol in the city, i took it casually and said ok. After lunch i dropped The pilgrim at home & was returning home, heavy traffic block at Kesavadasapuram. Somehow managed to tackle the traffic & crossed the Kesavadasapuram junction, i saw a huge number of cars, bikes & a big crowd infront of the petrol pump, even there were a of lot of police personnels. Out of my laziness i thought i will refill in the evening. Same scene was at pattom also. Reached home & had a nap.
6:10 pm, Pattom:
Started my activa & the indicator was pointing towards E( Less than half litre of petrol left in tank). Oh my god...!!! I must refill it now else i would have to push the Activa all the way to home. Thinking that i went to the petrol pump in pattom, not the same scene as it was in afternoon, but the density of people have increased a lot from what it was in the afternoon. I thought for a whie, there a lots of petrol pumps in the city na, so will get refilled from any one of them.
6:45 pm, Petrol pump at Althara Junction:
After visiting many petrol pumps in the city, i reached Althara junction. There was hardly any petrol left in my activa & if i didnt get the fuel from here, i have to push the vehicle from here. No way...!!! i will get the petrol from here, with this attitude i went inside. My jaws went down on seeing the long long queues of people standing with empty bottles & cans. On one side a big crowd of motorists & another side long queues of cars stretching for about a km. Another problem arise then they were giving petrols in bottles only & i dont have one. I stood there scratching my head, just then i happened to see an old friend of mine, some how with the help of that guy i got one bottle. Then i also joined the queue, just then a fight started between police & motorists. Then police dispersed the queue [people carrying the bottles] & started filling on the two-wheelers. Then another fight broke out & a new queue was formed & i was pushed back from my former position...!!!
After about 1 hour, i was still in the queue. The queue was hardly moving. The queue consisted of youngsters, auto drivers, office workers & all kinds of people. It was a nice experience waiting in the queue, i think i have never stood in such a queue for more than 10 mins. There were usual scenes of jump queues, exchange of words, small fights etc. People were really frustrated & agitated. Two wheelers were honking, people were also making sounds, passing out comments, those who got the petrol were celebrating like anything. The atmosphere was really at high energy level. At 1st they were giving people the amount of petrol they demanded, later it became Rs100, Rs80 & finally became Rs50 of petrol. At about 9, a few employees of petrol pump came & measured the stock of petrol left. Just 500 liters was left. I felt little satisfied to know that, cos i was 10th or 11th in the queue & there was cent percent chance that i would get 0.98 litres to reach back home. Finally by 9:20 i got the petrol , what a feeling it was...!!! I fled the scene as soon as possible and reached home.
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Was reading the newspaper, came across the news that civil supplies minister says that there is no reason to panic we have enough stock of fruits, vegetables & all other essential commodities for the next 1 week. Hope the strike will be withdrawn soon. I thought what happens if its not withdrawn soon & stocks gets over.
1:15 pm, at a hotel in Kullathur:
I was having lunch with The pilgrim, suddenly my mobile rang. It was mom, she asked me to fill full tank petrol in Activa cos there is a shortage of petrol in the city, i took it casually and said ok. After lunch i dropped The pilgrim at home & was returning home, heavy traffic block at Kesavadasapuram. Somehow managed to tackle the traffic & crossed the Kesavadasapuram junction, i saw a huge number of cars, bikes & a big crowd infront of the petrol pump, even there were a of lot of police personnels. Out of my laziness i thought i will refill in the evening. Same scene was at pattom also. Reached home & had a nap.
6:10 pm, Pattom:
Started my activa & the indicator was pointing towards E( Less than half litre of petrol left in tank). Oh my god...!!! I must refill it now else i would have to push the Activa all the way to home. Thinking that i went to the petrol pump in pattom, not the same scene as it was in afternoon, but the density of people have increased a lot from what it was in the afternoon. I thought for a whie, there a lots of petrol pumps in the city na, so will get refilled from any one of them.
6:45 pm, Petrol pump at Althara Junction:
After visiting many petrol pumps in the city, i reached Althara junction. There was hardly any petrol left in my activa & if i didnt get the fuel from here, i have to push the vehicle from here. No way...!!! i will get the petrol from here, with this attitude i went inside. My jaws went down on seeing the long long queues of people standing with empty bottles & cans. On one side a big crowd of motorists & another side long queues of cars stretching for about a km. Another problem arise then they were giving petrols in bottles only & i dont have one. I stood there scratching my head, just then i happened to see an old friend of mine, some how with the help of that guy i got one bottle. Then i also joined the queue, just then a fight started between police & motorists. Then police dispersed the queue [people carrying the bottles] & started filling on the two-wheelers. Then another fight broke out & a new queue was formed & i was pushed back from my former position...!!!
After about 1 hour, i was still in the queue. The queue was hardly moving. The queue consisted of youngsters, auto drivers, office workers & all kinds of people. It was a nice experience waiting in the queue, i think i have never stood in such a queue for more than 10 mins. There were usual scenes of jump queues, exchange of words, small fights etc. People were really frustrated & agitated. Two wheelers were honking, people were also making sounds, passing out comments, those who got the petrol were celebrating like anything. The atmosphere was really at high energy level. At 1st they were giving people the amount of petrol they demanded, later it became Rs100, Rs80 & finally became Rs50 of petrol. At about 9, a few employees of petrol pump came & measured the stock of petrol left. Just 500 liters was left. I felt little satisfied to know that, cos i was 10th or 11th in the queue & there was cent percent chance that i would get 0.98 litres to reach back home. Finally by 9:20 i got the petrol , what a feeling it was...!!! I fled the scene as soon as possible and reached home.
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