BAPTISM BY SNOW

In the year of our Lord 2010
February 5. Notably a Friday.

4:20 PM:
Much against the advise of my best friend, I feel the urge to drive almost 300 miles north west to Detroit, Michigan to meet an old mate who is in the US for the weekend. I must admit that I have butterflies in my stomach. I have shared my travel itinerary with the experienced road warriors at my work place and they reckon that this is a leaky and dodgy boat to cross the ocean. I check the weather radar and I fully understand a that a snowstorm of unparalleled magnitude is striking SW Pennsylvania amongst other places. That this disastrous blizzard will spread its fangs to Ohio and Michigan is unknown to me.

4:30 PM:
I misuse the uncertainty to my advantage and turn on the ignition of my Toyota Corolla 2002. I'm still undecided if I should take the 30 minute drive back home to Shadyside or pull out my GPS gizmo for an address in Detroit. I look at the brand new FM transmitter than I bought this afternoon at Walmart. I look at my industrial boots specially worn for the trip. I feel warm in my new American Eagle olive green jacket and I watch outside my windshield and it seems that all the snow from the Arctic and Antarctic are competing to hit the Pittsburgh ground with unequivocal ferocity. This is by far threatening to be the most nasty snowfall I can imagine at 40 degrees North latitude.

4:35 PM:
I munch on a Hershey's cream and cookies and feel bad about Cadbury's being bought by Kraft as my car gets heated and its time to get on the drive gear.

4:45 PM:
I am driving with the stupid thought that I might beat the storm as I head away from Pittsburgh. Contrary to my belief, it only gets worse. There is an instant and growing accumulation of snow on the pavement. The winds are strong enough to change the course of the vehicle and the snow has already made me lie at the mercy of treacherous skids, spins and may be break dance.

5:00 PM:
I am driving, rather, driving very cautiously past Beaver county and thinking if a U-turn will be a good option. Practically speaking, yes it will. I call my mate in Detroit and give him a brief on the weather extremes. He leaves it on me to make a decision.

5: 15 PM:
Only fools and horses will want to continue in this weather. I would like to think that I'm adventurous, resilient and brave. But perhaps, at this stage, these don't matter. I belong to first category (fools and horses) and I don't know which one of the two is more apt.

6:00 PM:
I am scared and on the ball. At the ropes. Holding to my steering wheel as if it were controlling my very existence and my legs are very sharp on the brakes. I cannot see any lanes, since the snow invasion has taken over the road. The damage is lock, stock and barrel.

6:30 PM:
Visibility ranges from a few meters to may be a kilometer. I should be talking in miles though. The snow has been howling producing sounds best suited for horror films. I discover that I'm among the handful of brave men and women who are driving on the road. For miles I see nothing except darkness and snow hitting the car at break neck speed. My windshield wiper has been working tirelessly.

7:00 PM:
I realise that I am driving in Ohio. Conditions have worsened. I have to stop the car since visibility is near zero as snow storm and wind gusts have made me question my survival chances. I put on a blue tooth device and answer phone calls from two friends who try to help me navigate and provide succour.

7: 30 PM:
I am driving with great difficulty and risk at nearly 35 miles per hour in the middle of the three lane road. The lanes markings are covered in heaps of snow and are invisible. So I don't know which lane my car is on. I encounter black ice and I try to apply brakes as a truck in front of me suddenly screeches to a halt. As I apply brakes, my vehicle skids and starts spinning to the right and I figure that I can't control it. I am now almost at a 180 degree to my original orientation. I find a 18 wheel truck almost at a mile away, heading towards to me. At good speed. Sweet mother o god. That's almost like death and me vis-a-vis. The truck shows no signs of deviating from its route to avoid a head on collision. I am close to getting bonneted. I gain control of my vehicle, turn on my high beam flash lights and accelerate towards the approaching truck at an angle. I accelerate to almost 45 miles per hour within seconds to avoid the monster truck hitting me. The monster and my car head past each other with a hairline separation and I almost ram into a massive mound of snow (nearly 4 feet) accumulated on a road divider. My car comes to a halt. The temperature is well below zero. Almost minus twenty degrees (-20 C) Celsius and I can feel sweat trickling down my forehead and spine. I take off my driving gloves, wipe out the grime on my eye brows and wonder about the mess I am in.
I turn on the two way blinkers and walk out of the car to inspect any damage.

7: 45 PM: I whisper a little prayer for some luck and I recall that I am supposed to live till 86. That's what many astrologers have told me. I take solace in the fact and evoke my spirits to get me going.As I slowly drive in the middle of the road, two huge trucks (18 wheels each) drive past me, on the either side of my car. I am certain that their speed was four times that of my car and they were engaged in a race. I felt dwarfed when the two of them simultaneously drove past on either side of the car. I am at a loss of words.

8: 15 PM:
I'm sipping some sort of coffee at a Starbucks in a plaza close to Cleveland, Ohio. I have to visit the loo multiple times for god knows what. After two large cups of coffee, the road warrior in me drags me back to my car. Once out of the plaza, I witness the tremendous pandemonium. The blinding snow dust is piercing into my eyes, so I have to cover them using my palm and run towards my car through a pile of snow. A lady, ahead of me, trips down as she tried to run towards her car. I try to lift her from the heap and she is more than thankful. I rush towards my car, try to clean my windshields using my handkerchief as fast as I can and rush to the petrol station to fill my tank to the gunwales.

9:50 PM:
As I am still reeling under the snow and trying not to die (reaching Detroit is the secondary objective), I answer a phone call and that affects my control on the vehicle and it skids again only to get hit into a divider, which is of course, covered with heaps of snow. I try to start again but I find that my vehicle is almost stuck into the snow rut. I come out of the car and try to push it whilst its on the neutral gear. I look helpless and pale as the winds and snow destroy the geography of my bare head and face. I try to look around for help. Not a soul. Not a passing vehicle. I feel like a small boat lost in the dark high seas without a glimmer of hope. I hit the bloody snow mound with my shoes in frustration. My hands feel numb and cold beyond human tolerance. I get back to my act again, with renewed energy. I try lifting the car from the bonnet side but its futile. I try pushing it with a lot of muscular force as I try to invoke the heavens, skies and celestial planets and beseech them for help. I crush my teeth against each other, my muscles go taut, I feel the nerves in my neck and forearms will pop out any moment as the west wind and snow continue to blast my face. I realise that all my force has gone down the drain and no work has been done. I take a deep breath and then I see a vehicle driving past and I try waving but he doesn't want to stop. I decide to launch one final effort before dial-ling 911. This time, I push the the vehicle in fits and starts instead of continuous application of force. The vehicle starts budging and my intensity and adrenalin burst makes the car change its stoic attitude. I reckon I'm ready for the next lap.

11:00 PM:
I must be in Michigan now since I read the speed limit is 70 mph. It begins to dawn on me that the worst might be over. I feel the intensity of the blizzard has died down and I see landscapes around me that are not painted in white. I begin to feel confident. I can see signs of human civilisation as they gradually appear. I turn off the windshield wiper after it got into action many hours ago.

11:45- Midnight:
I am within Detroit city limits. I am driving at nearly 65-70 mph, almost with a vengeance. The roads are clean, clear and lighted. Snow flakes are flying off my vehicle, though not completely. My screens have a layer of hard salt on it.

12:30 AM:
My car finally halts at the Westin Hotel, Detroit Metropolitan Airport. My mate is waiting there with few of his friends who know that I'm coming. He unmistakably spots my car with a lot of snow inflicted injuries on it. The speedometer finally reads zero. By now, I have seen nearly one dozen accidents in a window of 300 miles.

I walk out. Light-hearted . Relieved and glad to be alive. This is not baptism by fire. It was the baptism by snow.

Amen