Libre Magazine

Once, in a cold summer night of 2005, we were on our way back to Abbotabad from Naran valley in northern Pakistan, after a tiresome but wonderful journey. Even in summers, it was as cold as winter. We were driving the jeep as fast as we possibly could because we couldn’t bear the chilly winds as we were clad in our summer attire.

All we could feel was the blistering cold winds and all we could see was the darkness and hints of that zigzagging road. Suddenly the jeep slowed down and finally stopped. The only wire to the accelerator was broken. We couldn’t find any help in the vicinity of a dark hilly forest. One of us figured out a solution; he put a small piece of stone into the accelerator so that at least moved the jeep but with a bit by bit velocity.

As we were moving, we heard a police siren behind us. Two of the cops stepped out of the vehicle and asked us to stop. We stopped the jeep but as the accelerator was still on and making noise, cops thought we were trying to irritate them. We had an argument but finally we had to switch off the engine.

When we made the situation clear to them, the policemen left. We started the engine again and carried our slow journey like a crawling insect. That was irritating too. We had to figure out some other solution to our problematic situation.

Suddenly an old pair of jogger shoes in the back of jeep gave us an idea. Why not to tie the two laces and fix it with the accelerator. That seemed quite useful. We did it but the problem we had was how to tie it with the accelerator pad. As we were thinking, the next scene I saw, my cousin started the jeep and said, lets drive. He was driving like a crazy racer, with his right hand on staring and left holding the laces and accelerating the jeep by hand. That was the first and only time I saw someone accelerating the vehicle by hand. Finally we made to Abbotabad. The next morning we bought a new accelerator wire along with an extra one.

Cops, laces and the accelerator are the most outstanding memory of that wonderful night.