Mangaluru: All it took for a physically challenged person, stuck in muck near a river, was a phone call to the DSP of Nilakottai in Dindigul district, Tamil Nadu, to get help in just five minutes. This was after his call for help made over five hours in the pouring rain did not elicit any desired response from local police. He almost drove into the Vaigai River, thanks to Google Maps. However, rain rescued him by having his scooter stuck in the muck. Later, the very Google helped him out with phone numbers for rescue.
The rescued person is Parashuram Madiwalappa Agasara, 25, a resident of Baikampady here. He left for Sabarimala on Nov 15 via Kerala, but took a different route to return as his three-wheeler (a scooter) had issues with an under-construction road in Kerala.
Parashurama, after reaching Madikeri via Ooty and Mysuru, told TOI: "When I reached some place (near M Vadipatti near Batlagundu) at 7pm on Sunday, there was a fork (divided road) ahead. As it was a new route, I put on a Google Map and took the shorter road, which got narrower as I proceeded. I got stuck when rain started, and the mud turned slushy. I reached out to police searching Google. Though they assured me of help, nothing happened till midnight. I googled again, and got another number — that of a higher official — who sent me help in five minutes."
One major constraint Parashurama faced was the language barrier. First, he connected with Kerala police. After looking at his location, they said he was in Tamil Nadu, and asked him to contact TN police. "At least Kerala police could converse in broken Hindi, but their TN counterparts could not. Kerala police, through many exchanges of voice messages, made TN police understand my problem. When help was still elusive, I called the official (DSP Senthil Kumar), and he sent inspector Silaimani to the spot."
TN police had noted down his address as ‘Mangalapuram, Vaikkampadi, Bangalore' and his scooter number as ‘KA51 HU0339', which falls under Electronics City RTO, Bengaluru. Parashurama, a food delivery executive for two years, said the govt had given him the vehicle under a beneficiary scheme.
He is grateful to the TN police officers, who ensured that his vehicle was removed from the slush and helped him with accommodation and food till the next day. "That one call ended my ordeal. Lest I shudder to think what would have happened to me," he added.