Joseph got some first hand experience with the dangers of travel in India when we travelled from Kavali to Gudur.
We were running late and Joseph needed to be back to Gudur by 4.30 for his sitar lesson. Cousin Joshua was riding in a separate car and was about to leave so Joe grabbed a ride with him to get back earlier. The rest of us took the mini bus.
An hour into the journey we saw Joshua’s car on the side of the highway surrounded by a bunch of people. There was a mob and motorcycles in front of the car and everyone was yelling. Padma was out of the minibus before it even came to a stop as she feared Joseph was in an accident. Somehow, Ammama who can never descend the bus unaided managed to get out of the bus herself and plowed her way through the fighting men and came crying to Joseph so scared that something had happened to him.
We found Joseph sitting safely in the car.
We slowly pieced together what had happened. Joshua’s driver, Ravi Kumar (pictured), was driving normally when some men on motorcycles forced him to pull over. Under some pretense, they coaxed Ravi Kumar out of the car. Joseph watched as four men attacked Ravi Kumar. They ripped his shirt pocket and grabbed his wallet and two men fled while the others continued to attack Ravi Kumar.
Ravi held his own according to Joe and he punched one man and sent him over the guardrail and rolling down the ditch. Meanwhile, Joshua was unable to get out of the car due to some central locking mechanism. He did manage to get out eventually and lent some support to Ravi Kumar.
At about that time we arrived and Sampath and Ravi were able to help to calm down everyone. Police arrived and did nothing and even an ambulance arrived as Ravi had taken some blows to the face. Some more police arrived and they packed everyone up and drove to the station.
Several hours later everyone returned and Sampath shared the story. The wives of the men had come in and begged forgiveness as their husbands were drunk. Ravi Kumar, who is also a Christian pastor as well as a driver, accepted their apology and forgave his attackers.