Once, when I was very small, we had gone to Malvan by our car. We stayed there for a few days.

While travelling back to Mumbai from there, we took Mumbai-Goa road. We call it Mumbai-Goa road because the construction of that road started from Mumbai and ended in Goa. It is now also known as National Highway 66.

Suddenly, we started feeling that we got lost somewhere. It was night time. This is because, it was a very isolated place. There were a lot of trees around, but there were no lights and no people around. Hence, we were frightened. We started thinking deeply about what to do to get out of this kind of situation.

As we all know, that nowadays, there are Google maps to search for any routes/roads, wherever we want to travel. But during those days, Google maps did not exist. So what exactly to do?

My father started thinking like this – we must find some solution to get away from here, as soon as possible and we will. But till then, we were very scared. Where to go? Will we be able to reach Mumbai or not? Or should we take a halt somewhere in a hotel or a resort, whatever is nearby to that lonely place, should we book a hotel room or a resort room to stay for that night? We wanted to quickly get out of that place. We felt as if we are lost in deep woods, in the middle of a thick forest at the dead of the night!

After some time, my father tried to find some solution. We traveled and traveled, and finally we somehow managed to out of that situation and the lost feeling due to that lonely place. We reached Mumbai very late at night.

I cannot forget this incident and experience even after so many years!