ZIP ZAP XING By Dr Ashok V Khanvte
Every Mumbaiite may remember 26th July 2005 as the day of deluge but I shall remember it, as the day one man understood the real value of his machine. The man is none other than myself Dr. Ashok V. Khanvte & the machine is my darling Santro Xing. At 5.30 pm, when I and my assistant Yazad got into my Santro Xing at Lower Parel, the water level was much above the door height. As I opened the car door water gushed in & I wondered what would happen next! The ignition was switched on & like magic, I steered my Xing motorboat through the water, ensuring that we did not cause inconvenience to the multitudes wading through the waterlogged road. As we approached Worli Naka we saw taxies and different car models stalled on the road. I was confidant of my Xing but I think the real test was when I steered Xing through the inner roads of Shivaji Park where I saw a couple of huge station wagons deserted by their owners in the middle of the road. Xing was going great guns. I picked up a lady friend at Dadar around 7.45 pm & headed towards Hinduja Hospital to pick up my daughter Keya. Traffic was very heavy & moving slower than a snail’s pace. At about 8.00 pm, I finally picked up my darling daughter who had taken shelter at a good friend’s home. Now as we started our final lap towards Bandra, I saw that Veer Savarkar Marg & even L.J.Road were just overflowing with stationary cars. That is the time my GOD guided me through the inner by lanes of Mahim & we were right at the signal of St.Michael’s church, I had easily saved about 2 hours of driving. Now I felt we had nothing to fear as we were breezing along the beautiful reclamation sea-link. As we took the downward slope we had the shock of out lives as there was a huge traffic jam & most of the cars had stalled. I had no choice but to drive through the deeper left hand side of the road. Our adventure through this deepest stretch of water continued beyond Leelavati Hospital & MET campus. There was almost six inches of water inside the car & yet this machine, my darling Xing continued without a jerk or a splutter. Its only mission was to take its master to his destination, his home safe and sound along with his friends and daughter. I dropped Yazad and my friend at their home & proceeded to Carter road taking a safe road through Chimbai village, or so I thought till I herd a submerged drain cover suddenly coming to life as my Xing drove over it. The metal cover forcibly hit the underside of the car. I thought something will definitely breakdown now. As a patient of mine had his gearbox damaged in a similar accident a fortnight ago. But that was not a Xing it was a tallboy from another company. In spite of the drain cover battering, the onslaught of the incessant rains, the water logged streets that were blocked by different models of A, B, C, D category of cars & busses my Xing was powering ahead carefully, not even touching the crowds that had spilled on the submerged Mumbai streets. As I reached the deserted Carter road for the final dash home, the sea had spilled on to the road & I thought I saw another car driving up to me on the right side. I rolled down the glass to see the smiling face of another Carter road regular in what else his Santro Zip. I yelled “ZIP ZAP XING” and took off reaching home safe & sound. My daughter Keya asked what Yazad had said as he got down from the car. He had said, “Doc, you are now really our captain.” I thought I would take that compliment as long as GOD continues to be my navigator and I get my darling Xing as my motorboat, I beg your pardon, my motorcar.