Of course we all know what happens on Bangalore roads when it rains. But I was the least prepared for the events to unfold that night. After dinner with friends at Indiranagar I set off towards Koramangala. It had been raining for around an hour but I didn’t really realize how bad things were outside.

The Intermediate Ring Road had gotten fully water logged. Worse still the water on one side was sloshing over like huge ocean waves into the other side (the side I was on!). As a result, there were cars trying to move through higher than knee deep water on the same side of the road in two different directions. In Bangalore, traffic is disastrous enough even on different sides of the road. So you can imagine the scenario.

In front of me, stretched an endless stream of vehicles all trying to negotiate the high waters and not having much luck. Some vehicles had gotten stuck adding to the woes of those behind.

Suddenly, I felt a gushing sounds inside my car and realize that water had begun to enter the vehicle. I decided that panicking would not be the right thing and weigh my options. Going ahead and getting stuck in the water with no way out of the car. Or jumping out of the car and letting it go down instead. Smartly, I decided on the latter.

I tried and park the car somewhere on the side though there was considerable water there. Some chaiwallas were having a great time laughing at what was happening around. What did they care? I looked with slight dismay as the car started getting submerged with the water rising every minute.

A guy who was at the chai shop helpfully pointed out a lane just behind me and suggested I should try getting back into the car and reversing into it. A smart suggestion in hindsight. I dove back into the car, now with water covering the base of the car, and said a small prayer. The car started and I reversed quickly into the lane. Thankfully, there wasn’t any vehicle immediately behind me.

I found higher ground and decided to stay put for a while. This was a dead end lane and there was really no way out. It was past midnight now. I looked out into the main road : cars still honking, and utter chaos as people were getting stuck everywhere. I decided that I didn’t want to get back there in a hurry.

Just inside a lane, I found a few service apartments and one of them let me use their rest room to freshen up (I had also gotten drenched after all my adventures). A friend called suggesting I try and reach her place in Koramangala. Another friend gave me his colleague’s number – she happened to live across the road (but I couldn’t even think about crossing the road!).

There was absolutely no way to get out. Finally at around 1 am I decided to stay put and got myself checked into the Golf Inn which looked like a decent place. From my window I could get a glimpse of the chaos that still ensued outside.

At around 6 am in the morning, I checked out and finally drove home. My Zen didn’t let me down and actually started even after the night’s lashing. The ring road bore a rather worn out look with garbage scattered everywhere.

It was relief to finally get home!

After hearing of my rainy night adventure, a well meaning friend (instead of rescuing me from my night stranded out!), said I could avoid what happened by getting this instead.