Murphy's Law Takes Me for a Ride

Murphy’s Law—“What can go wrong, will go wrong”—has a nice ring to it until it strikes. Then you have no option but to be frustrated, and just when you think “come on, this can’t get any worse,” it does.

It hit me today just as I was about to leave to visit a few friends. I was in Koramangala, Bangalore, and right as I was stepping out, the weather gods decided it was time to pour. As always happens when it rains in Bangalore, Ola and Uber fares surge faster than the raindrops fall.

So the optimist in me decided to book an Ola Share. Destination was 30 minutes away per Google Maps, which by now understands Bangalore traffic quite well. Despite a plethora of cabs seemingly one minute away, Ola assigned me one 10 minutes out. Fifteen minutes later the cab arrived and I hopped in. Google Maps suggested a nifty shortcut, which we took only to find it blocked off for road repairs. After asking around, we reached Ejipura Signal, from where my destination was roughly 7 km away.

Then we had to take a detour to pick up a co-passenger 1.5 km in the other direction. We navigated the mains and crosses like seasoned pros (thanks to Google Maps), picked up the passenger, and set off again. We passed the exact spot where I had been waiting 20 minutes earlier, and this time, avoiding the botched shortcut, took the main road back to Ejipura Signal.

Shortly after, we had to turn right again because the co-passenger’s stop was 3 km down a side lane. Fifteen minutes later we reached the destination, only for the passenger to realize they didn’t have exact change and had to run inside to get it. Change sorted, we moved forward only to be told by a local that the lane ended in a dead end.

Now we had to reverse and turn around in an alley packed with parked bikes and cars. No clear spot was in sight. Finally, a kind resident allowed us to use their driveway to complete the turn. Just as I thought we were clear, a hatchback behind us stalled while attempting the same maneuver. Its driver was relatively new and struggled not to graze the bikes. A few friends helped push a bike aside while my cabbie offered unsolicited driving tips. The hatchback finally cleared, the friends hopped back in, and all seemed well.

Or so we thought—the bike they had moved now blocked our direct exit, and as we got out to move it, the rain returned with full force. Luckily, the owner appeared in the nick of time and saved us the trouble of wheeling a bike through a downpour. We set off once more, only to be blocked by a reversing water tanker. We waited patiently as the tanker supplied water to the neighborhood houses. Ten minutes later, a parked car pulled out, and my driver expertly squeezed our cab through. After over an hour in the cab and further from my destination than when I started, I pulled out my phone and began writing this post.

With continuous rain and heavy traffic, the journey stretched on for another fifty minutes. As my destination finally appeared within reach, my driver took a sudden wrong turn. “Sorry Sir, galti ho gaya” (Sorry Sir, honest mistake). We attempted a U-turn, but right turns were prohibited, forcing us to crawl to the next junction a kilometer away through gridlock.

Finally, we cleared the intersection and made it onto the correct road. Over two hours after setting off, I reached my destination. The rain had stopped. Everything was peaceful again. Or was it…