Nil Spill Hill Thrill

A young friend of mine, Ghosh, from Bangalore visited me up in Kodaikanal recently. I was pleased he wanted to learn how to drive in the hills despite being a newbie, because once you get accustomed to the hills, other driving becomes easier. So what we did was take turns driving amidst Kodai town in our family four-speed Maruti 800, with me talking through my driving and pointing out his mistakes.

Kodai roads are narrow and with steep inclines for the most part, so many times there isn’t room for trucks or buses to go two abreast. This often necessitates stopping and starting from an incline. I found that Ghosh would continually roll back and was in danger of getting the Maruti Service Centre’s finance manager rubbing his hands in glee.  “Use the handbrake so you won’t roll and release it only as you feel the engine power kicking in through the clutch,” I told him. “It’s a blessing we have handbrakes now." A far cry from the nostalgic Fiats and Ambassadors that required a hand stand to get them to work.

While driving around, unfortunately missing out on the pretty girls, Ghosh’s gear changing was obviously not suited to hill driving. He would shift up the gears too quickly into top gear just like changing in flat terrain, and I cringed because the car was struggling. I told him to downshift to a lower gear, third, because it was a moderate straight uphill gradient. He argued that the car would ‘drink’ more fuel, which is true to an extent, but I explained that a little more fuel consumed is much better than the long-term damage on the engine. After all, changing two gears, even three, uses far more fuel in reality, instead of choosing the right one initially.

After traversing a bit in town, we picked up some dinner and a couple of Kingfishers for the night. I drove the way back. Going home, mainly a slight downhill slope, required going down to third gear, not fourth (or fifth gear like some unknowingly persist doing). He asked why and I explained that it was to save the brakes, since rolling down a hill in a high gear using the brakes to constantly slow down allows dangerous brake fade. He was also a little bewildered to know why I was being so ‘nice’ and giving room to climbing vehicles at the narrow sections. "Uphill traffic always gets right of way." That night though, he showed me who was boss on the racetrack, on the world's greatest driving simulator, Gran Tourismo. Maybe it was the beer that caught me off guard. Ahem.

Image source: Unknown

 

The next day, I thought it would be nice to do what’s called the ‘ten-mile round’ in these parts for more driving practice for Ghosh. The road here winds through some lovely scenery and popular sightseeing halts. He was at the wheel and leaned on the horn when we got stuck behind a tourist bus. However, an experienced hill driver will tell you that you only need to toot to let the driver know you’re behind in a faster vehicle, and a thank-you-toot when he gives you room to pass. But Ghosh insisted on overtaking. “You can’t see more than a few feet ahead of you since the road is winding, dude, so don’t," I thought.  Needless to say, suddenly two cars appeared from the opposite direction and we narrowly avoided a metallic spill.

I took over the wheel, and we carried on down the road. Ghosh wanted to go a little faster, but before I did, I told him that this is when you have to be extra careful, especially during the day, since there are no headlights to warn you of an approaching vehicle, especially if the driver doesn’t toot his horn.

 

As part of the gear changing lesson, I accelerated a bit, and since most of the turns were pretty sharp, I told him you should always go down to second gear for sharp turns (as is true for most moderately powered cars), the first reason being the extra torque which helps the car grip the road better and prevent it from running dangerously wide towards oncoming traffic. Most accidents in the hills happen because inexperienced drivers are in racetrack mode and cut neat across their lane. The other reason for a gear change is so that you don’t lose power during the turn and hold up traffic behind you while you wait for the car to gather momentum again.

Later that day Ghosh left, after bargaining for three tons of homemade (or should I say home -mad) chocolate and eucalyptus oil, and caught the bus to Bangalore after an evening dosa. I hope he returned home a better driver.