A Durban Adventure: Meeting Sanjay

One word: Adventure

Last week, I experienced one of my life's most unique adventures on a road trip which was meant to be a romantic and relaxing 5 days away from the norm. The plan was to get out of the city, get to the beach and RELAX. Little did we know about the roller coaster we were about to face in those five days. Before I get into the details of my exciting trip to Durban, let me simply repeat this scriptural quote:

Many plans are in a man's heart, but the purpose of the LORD will prevail. Proverbs 19:21

There was a need for me to constantly remind myself about this phrase because it was a perfect time for me to fall into some sort of slump and possibly even make life more difficult for my husband who was trying his best to have our wheels back on the road.

To make it more coherent, let me tell you about my adventurous Durban Trip in a time frame break down in parts.

Thursday 26 May

It was THE DAY! Since I started my current job in August 2021, I had not take some time out to rest or just simply chill and recuperate apart from the public holidays and long weekends this country has been blessing us with. The plan was simple. Before we hit the road in the morning, I prepared out favourite road trip meal, Pap and Chicken. It's easy and delicious to eat, those who know, know what I mean! After this, we were all packed up and set off but first we would pass by our tyre supplier in the City to get a spare (always make sure to have a spare), buy some snacks and supplies for the road to minimise stops unless of course the bladder called for it.

The day before, hubby had taken the car in for some touching up and prepare it for the road, so best believe, we were ready! Once we got to Davido, the tyre guy, as he was replacing one of the tyres he notices that they had been fitted wrong by the mechanics from the day before. We were obviously annoyed by this as it is a major safety hazard but we got it sorted and before you know it, we were off to Ethekwini (Durban) !

The N3

What a lovely route, with such beautiful scenery! There is nothing more soul quenching than knowing you're chasing freedom, relaxation and an opportunity to be one with nature. The landscape starts changing once you pass the Heidelberg area where Gauteng and Mpumalanga meet. You're greeted by friendly mountains before they start showing off their intimidating presence. The route swiftly places you in a different time period before electricity and plumbing were basic human rights.

The road kept on unfolding layers and layers of mountains that could tell you stories and to our far right we could see the icy peaks of the Drakensburg mountain range which stretches into Maluti, in Lesotho. The tunes were hitting just right with Mr DJ having plugged in a dope roadtrip playlist. At this perfect moment, I was certain we we were halfway towards another adventure for the book of '22.

The Smoke

While cruising, a sign written "Giants Castle" caught my husband's eye and he suggested we visited the area on our way back fro Durban. I was in disagreement because I highly doubted we would be able to see the place because of the way our "itinerary" was set up. He was so adamant about visiting the Giants Castle and I was refusing to add this location to "my plan" but as we were going back and forth about Giant's Castle, the car started releasing a cranking noise and we came to an immediate stop just after the Midway Truck and Family Stop in Estcourt. What a weird place to get stuck. So many HUGE trucks zooming past and here were in a car that had now started smoking up.

We looked at each other in confusion because this was the same car that had been taken in for some work the day before. We waited for a bit to brainstorm and made a few calls to the nearest towing companies in the area. Some of the companies reviews online were positive and others even spoke of tow truck drivers being competent mechanics who could diagnose the issue and possibly resolve in a matter of minutes. The first guy came and charged us R4500 to take us all the way to Durban and they were not looking at anything less than R7000 to tow to Johannesburg. First of all, where were we going to get this money after preparing and paying for our trip in advance? We were waiting for some payments but the timing was not concrete so we couldn't just make decisions the Anna Delvey way. Use now pay later? No ways! Hubby spotted some oil leaking and we immediately thought we ran out of oil! So, we googled the nearest gas station and he took off to get some oil about 1,1km away. It's not far but try it on a highway.

Sanjay from Jehovah

So while I waited in the passenger seat "guarding" the car, I decided to whip our my phone to catch up on the show I was bingeing on that week on Showmax – The Girl from Plainville. Before I could even zone into my series, there was a knock on my window. "Hi, My name is Sanjay. Are you okay?" asked this fellow as he finished off his cigarette before throwing it to the ground. I looked at him up and down, analytically so because I was not ready for any human interaction at this point. I looked at his towing truck he had parked behind our car and drew my eyes back at him, no paying my attention to his clothes. He was wearing green EMS uniform but driving a tow truck? Something was not adding up here. Noticing my confusion, he quickly told me, "I am a tow truck driver, well owner. I'm on my way back from work and I noticed you are parked in a very dangerous spot." He said several things to reassure me. "My husband is at the garage to get some oil anyways, how much do you tow?" I asked. "Let me wait for him, I'll sit in my car just behind you until he gets back." I say, "SHARP". It was this moment I said God... It is what it is. I gave my husband a call and he was curious to know how much the towing would be. I asked Sanjay again and offered to go and pick up my husband from the gas station he had walked to 1,1km away. He drove off and in a few minutes they were back.

They opened up the car added some oil and tried starting it. Did the car not sound like it was coughing?! It was clear that the engine was somehow busted but there was a glimmer of hope after adding the oil because the car actually started and it was moving. We were ready to go and but Sanjay was certain we would not go far. "I have a mechanic at my place, you can spend the night in my mothers house, you can enjoy some Biryani what ever you like, let's fix the car!" he suggested. We were just not sure about spending the night in Mooi River and we had already paid for accommodation in Durban. I was not about to lose that money and I was not prepared to spend the night in a stranger's home. We pushed to drive and he said, "Okay, go ahead, I will be right behind us just incase until my turn off home to Mooi River. " As we were driving, the car proved impossible to continue with and we had to stop. We talked to him about taking us all the way to Durban and he asked us how much we were offering to pay since the other towing companies were too steep for us. We settled on R2500. This could honestly only be God because Sanjay really got out of his way to ensure we got to our airbnb in one piece.

The Ride

As we were cruising, Sanjay turned out to be one of the most jovial human beings I had ever met. His life story was so touching and I can only believe that our paths crossing could only be fate. Sanjay opened up to us about how that day was his last day in his EMS job. When he found us on the side of the road he was actually on his way home from work and boom, there were were. He has also made the decision to take his towing business seriously since this is what he was going to be doing full time. He was no sure if he would even get any clients but it turned out we were the perfect clients for him because the drive to Durban became a little celebration for him. The man was fond of "tik toks" even though thats what he calls WhatsApp status videos. He played all types of music on his radio, if I say it was a boring ride I would be lying.

As we drove, I had a few moments of freaking out when my mind slipped into dark thoughts of being hijacked or kidnapped. If we were being hijacked, this would have been the most organised and messed up plan because who hijacks broken cars and if were kidnapped, they had both me and my husband, who would pay ransom? Ransom from people negotiating towing fees? That would be a waste of mental resources. It is safe to say, my mind played all kinds of games with me, I had many movies playing in my head until the moment we dropped off at out Airbnb about 7 hours after our out initial breakdown. We arrived safely, and had to make food arrangements which could have been easy but turned out to be an extreme sport because we were exhausted. At the end of the night/early morning of Friday we were chowing away at the saucy chicken Hubby got from the Amsterdam Pub in Davenport .

To be continued...