Reading through countless travel threads on PW I remember many posted mentioning that the Sindh Police are notorious for stopping drivers and asking for this and that, and just giving a hard time.
So when I was getting my license on Friday prior to my starting my trip I remembered this time to also get a road rule book from the licensing office.
Now I was perfectly planned for the drive and not at all worried of being stopped since I had all the required documents and original papers with me.
I had again filled Rs 500 worth of petrol the night before until I cleared Hyderabad and then would fill up there for the long drive ahead.
I began my journey in the wee of night at 4 am and was hoping to cross Hyderabad by 7 am, a three hour travel time as I had done in my previous trip. Now keep in mind it was pitch dark when I reached the Super Highway but to my surprise there was a fair bit of traffic on the highway. Mainly cars full of people and their pillows and sheets in the back window were visible indicating they were headed to their home towns for Eid celebration. It was a feeling I had not experienced in my last trip to see families and kids bundled up in the back seats sleeping away at this time of night. Naturally, I could not see through every car due to the blinders in some but the rear window was quite visible and their belongings indicated the purpose of their trip and my luggage on the back indicated mine as well.
I was doing approximately 80 to 90 kms / hour in order to make good time ahead and allow for plenty of resting time in the afternoon so as to not face the same problem with Heat Stroke as I did during the last trip. In my last thread although I mentioned I drank plenty of water in order to keep hydrated, I forgot to mention where all the water was going as I was not at all going to the washroom along the way.
What was happening, which I later found out through many discussions with people was that when you are driving although you may drink a good liter of water your entire body continuously perspires and in the wind your sweat immediately evaporates so you don't even feel that you are perspiring. Given the vast surface area of your entire body through which you perspire you lose a lot of precious water within an hour which far exceeds your intake of water.
So in essence although I may have been drinking close to a liter ever one to two hours, I was evaporating a lot more and as a result eventually felt the Heat Stroke coming. So the advice I got and would like to pass on is that if at all possible, rest it out under a shade in the heat if you must travel or avoid it at all cost in the summer heat. If you must ride in the heat then make sure you stop every twenty minutes to drink as much water as possible to keep up with the water loss through perspiring.
Now getting back to the drive ....
As I drove past many cars, no bikes at that time, I would notice there every now and then a white powerful flashlight come on from the side of the road on the left side in the bushes as I could not see what was on the side of the road due to darkness. I had no idea who was pointing a light at me as I passed and at that speed was not about to turn my head behind me to look back and just kept my focus on the road ahead.
I think it must be around 5:45 am when I noticed a fast moving blue Police Mobile on the opposite side of the highway rush to the center and cross over to my side of the highway ahead of me in the same direction and two officers with their faces covered with handkerchiefs hanging out the passenger side waiving me to stop. I quickly looked in my side mirror to see if any one was behind me because it could be they are stopping someone else. I saw no headlight behind me indicating there was no one other than me they wanted to stop so I slowed down immediately and stopped on the side of the road keep my bike headlights on full and putting it into neutral.
My first thought when I saw this blue police mobile was "Money Hungry Sindh Police". The reason I did a quick mirror check was in the event I thought they are stopping someone else and I don't stop they may just end up firing a weapon.
Before I could put my bike into neutral they were stopped ahead of me and three officers from the back jumped down and were standing in front with rifles. One asked said "Gari ke Papers dikhao" . As I began to open my front pouch for the bike documents another Officer asked, "Ap Pakistani Ho"?
I was shocked at this ridiculous questions and was also a bit upset and figured this is not the place or time to take a PANGA with these guys. So I just answered in anger "Zahir Ha" !!!
I gave them my bike document and then they asked for my NIC. I handed him that and had my license ready when they asked. The next question shocked me. "Ap kya kam karte han" ? I then got fed up and said "Ap ne muje Q roka ha?"
He said "ap bohat tez ja rhay thay or hame peeche se wireless par batay ha k ek tez bike a rahi ha os ko roko. Ham ne aj raat do bikes chori ki parki han". Then I voluntarily handed them my license and said, "ye chori ke nahi ha or meri he bike ha".
He asked again what I did for work, I refused to answer it saying, "me kya karta hu ya nahi karta is se apka koi matlab nahi ha. Ap ne mujhe shak ki bunyad par roka ha or ye bike chori ki nahi ha. Agay apka koi kam nahi me kya karta hu ya nahi karta."
He asked then "Ap kahan se a rahay ho" Me - Karachi se. "Kahan ja rahe ho?" I chose not to answer, and said by pointing my hand forward to the road ahead "Vahan ja raha hu". He then asked "Ap sawal ka jawab Q ni de rahe?"
I was already Pissed. I said "Ap ka ye haq nahi me kahan se a raha hu or kahan ja raha hu, meri chutyan han, me Eid mananay ja raha hu, mera saman peeche para ha, Or agay apka koi sawal nahi banta".
He just handed me the stuff back and said "acha ap ja sakte han, ap ke papers sahi han , koi masla ni ha."
I said "Masla ha, abi ap ne roka ha, agay ap k or bhai rokenge, mera lamba safar he" He said apko agray or koi nahi rokega, ap befikar rahen."
Then I just had to ask, "Koi chori ki gari pakri bhi ya nahi"? He said "2 pakri, ek par to lady pechey bethi thi, ap soch b nai sakte log kya kya sochte han."
That was the end of that and I was back on the road after a 5 or 7 minute stop. A bit furious but relieved it was over. But was thinking what LUCK? I didn't have a full license in my first trip and had a perfect license now. What were chances of being stopped in both trips? I just happened to be stopped in the second one when I had the license but was thankful to Allah (SWT) for getting me through this stop with ease.
I stopped somewhere before Hyderabad for Fajar and a bit of water and then carried on by 6:15
I came to stop at the very same petrol pump where I had fueled up on my last trip after passing Hyderabad. He didn't recognize me but when I mentioned my last trip and he suddenly remembered and asked how it went and if I was going there again? I said, no its to Kashmir this time. He wished me well and I was on my way.