GOD SENT ANGELS
After finishing my Moscow visit, I was rushing to proceed to my next destination, in my attempt to cover the maximum distance in the day light. My visa was due to expire next day and the border between Russia and Kazakhastan remains open only in a day light.
I had to reach the border in the day light in just over 24 hours and about 1800 kilometres to cover through our chosen route. I had hoped to cover over 800 kilometres on the day.
My fuel tank was nearly empty so driven in to the petrol station before leaving the Moscow. It appears that in Russian you go and wait at the till whilst the person at the pump fills up your tank. Unless and until you are at the till they don’t start filling your tank. So I followed what I was told in sign language by a person at the pump. I told the person at the pump to fill it with diesel and showed him the Russian word for diesel on my phone. In fact the fuel tank has clearly written marking as diesel, despite all this the person filled the tank up with petrol. He then realised he filled the wrong fuel so he came to tell me inside the shop but could not explain. The lady at the till tried to explain but she could not. Few local tried to explain but no go. One gentleman used the translator, even though he was not as clear but I realised the issue with fuel. My heart just sank…..
I was aware that not to start the engine, which I did, but how to deal with situation seemed far from the reality, when no one understood what I was saying. 15-20 minutes went passed in my attempt to tell them to empty the fuel tank and call the mechanic to make sure all petrol is completely drained out but no go…..
This is when the god sent an angel. A man approached me asking in English “ can I help you at all”…. I said yes of course yes. You are a god sent angel for me. He acted as interpreter. The gentleman who had put wrong fuel rushed to the garage to bring the mechanic but he was told to take the car to the garage. I requested a tow truck which was not available immediately. The gentleman who had made a mistake called a taxi but the taxi refused to pulled the car. Time was flying by and I was feeling helpless. By this time it was nearly 2pm and over two hours from the time I arrived at the Petrol station.
This when another angel arrived. The Russian man who could not speak English or Indian language but loves India and Indian people. He had in fact visited India twice. He offered help and brought his van to provide assistance. With this gentleman’s greatness we managed to pull my vehicle to the garage. In return of his help he wanted some photos with me, which I happily agreed.
We arrived at the garage at nearly 30pm, only to be told that they could not do anything with my car until next day. My first angel friend attempted to negotiate with the garage owner, who then agreed that if we are able to request and convince his two customers before me to allow my vehicle to first then he would deal with my vehicle immediately.
My angel friend had to enter in to further negotiation with two customers. He somehow managed to convince those two other customers and they allowed my vehicle to be taken first. By this stage it was nearly 4pm. I remained in panic. I realised that there was absolutely no way I could reach the border in the day light after going through our decided route.
Whilst the vehicle was being dealt with I attempted to work out alternative route. I requested my husband to provide assistance in alternative route planning. We managed to work out alternative route but it meant that I would still require to drive until early hours of morning and cover at least 600 kilometres starting from same evening in order to reach the border in the day light next day.
The vehicle was fixed in at around 5pm. My angel friend remained with me providing me the support I needed at that crucial time. My angel friend and the gentleman from the petrol station went to the petrol station to bring some diesel, enough for the vehicle to move out of city so I miss rush hour traffic. By this time it was just after 6pm.
What an adventure of the day but what an example of kindness and humanity. It is amazing to see that such level of kindness still exists in the world. My angel friend remained at the garage until I departed out of the garage. He was and he will remain god sent angel for me. I will forever remain grateful to my angel friend in Russia………
The person in brown jacket and tie is my angel friend. One in red who put wrong fuel and one in blue T-shirt is the another angel who can with his van to pull the car to the garage.