One Accomplishment I am most proud of!

This happened to me in Bangalore. It was one of those rainy days in June 2015. I was on my way back from office on bike. It was drizzling and messy. My Office is in Prestige Tech Park, Marathahalli. I stay in Koramangala. It takes almost one and half hours to reach during heavy evening traffic. Just like any day, I take the road under the Agara Flyover adjacent to the lake. I don't know what intuition I got that day, I decided to take another road (the one which goes to left in front of giant Hanuman statue).

I was riding and there was an Auto in front of me. It was moving along a zigzag line. Out of nowhere, a bag was thrown out of the Auto. I felt something fishy and decided to check it out. I increased speed and tried to overtake the Auto, I saw the Auto driver groping and harassing the lone woman inside. I had a moment to make a decision. In a second - a stream of thoughts flashed through my mind. Should I do something? Is it worth the risk? I am not a localite, so if Cops come to know about it will it create a serious problem criminally? The deciding thought was - I too have a Sister! That's it.

I shouted at the driver to stop in Hindi. He sped away. I accelerated and then the chase began. There was very little traffic on those roads. I was able to finally overtake from front, apply sudden brakes and he hit me from behind. I fell down. He came out, and kicked me before I could even get up. There were nearby huts and two more guys came running and hitting me too. I had one eye looking for the woman. She stood there shouting and screaming for help. Few moments of running and falling and utter chaos passed. I hit back at them, they gave me blows. Three of them were pretty strong and huge for my size. My body was in pain. I shouted at the lady to run towards the main road for safety and get some help. She was too scared to do it.

Out of sheer luck or God's grace or miracle, two military soldiers happened to see the brawl (There is a military post nearby). They came and started hitting the goons. The goons ran away after looking at their uniform. One of the soldiers knew Kannada, he dialled the cops and they arrived after 10 minutes. We were able to retain one of the goons as he had fainted. The lady told us that the auto guy stole her gold chain by threatening her with a knife. She got scared and tried to jump, that's when her bag fell down and the driver started sexually assaulting her. She was shivering and in tears. There was a hell lot of commotion and a huge crowd now. We went to the Police station to register an FIR. The cops congratulated me on my bravery and said that I had helped them nab an important accomplice of gold chain snatching racket. I was happy, it made me immune to the pain for the moment at least. Later, I thanked the Military guys for saving me. We had tea to calm our nerves then, I dropped the lady to her place safely. I told her not to worry too much, everything is fine.

She said to me that she felt helpless and thought her life is over, just then she prayed to God to save her and that I was like an angel that He had sent. It was a miracle she said. I felt good when I was riding back, my body was in pain, but I felt proud that I have been really fortunate to do my role as a responsible citizen of this country.

P.S.: I feel good to have shared this on Quora. As a matter of fact, I haven't shared this incident yet with my family. Just for the fear that I will get blasting from my parents as they love me a lot. There is a saying in Marathi - "Shivaji should be born again but in neighbors house". I am no hero, I am just a simple guy working in IT. It just happens that life sometimes throws tough things our way. I have pondered over 'What if I had not chased' aspect of this incident. I don't know the answer to that, but perhaps if I hadn't stopped and did my thing, it would have been a regret. Sometime ago, someone had saved me from a similar situation in Train (You know how weird the eunuchs are for guys!) I believe, I just paid it forward. Again thanks a bunch to everyone of you. God Bless You!

Originally published on Quora: Here is the link: https://www.quora.com/What-is-one-accomplishment-you-are-most-proud-of/answer/Rahul-Kulkarni-23?srid=tGdb