Crash

It seemed like just an ordinary day. Cousin was leaving to go back to his air-base at Bidar. We had had a nice weekend. We partied a lot, some heart to heart talk took place, blew a bit of money and we were all set to bid good-bye.

I was riding him back to bus stand.

An annoying truck was leaking water from its top and was spitting unbearable black smoke and incidentally we were riding bumper to bumper behind that truck. If you ask me now, I would still say, “I thought I would make it, just in time. Overtake the truck before any vehicle came from the other-side and sail smoothly after that.

I agree I made a dash and what I didn’t account for was, the truck might just shift a bit to its right and the girl in a green top and brown skirt walking close to sidewalk, might just decide to swing her basket right to left and drift towards the road. As we dashed closer, I realized it wasn’t to be, I won’t make it.

I screeched onto my breaks. Emm…we were in moderate speed and there were enough tiny granular particles on the road to skid the bike when I clinched onto breaks.

I don’t know what exactly happened. I fell on my right side, with the bike, sliding a little bit further into the mud towards side-walk. The whole thing came to stand-still for me when my helmet covered head rested on the ground, with my body parallel to fallen bike and nose right opposite to spinning front wheel. That was the moment when I closed my eyes. Exhaled and realized what had happened and then opened them again.

I could see a couple of men running up towards us. I didn’t know yet what had happened to my cousin. I found out later he had a tiny bruise and he was a little luckier, he didn’t fall down. No, my entire life didn’t flash before my eyes. One is too shocked in a situation like this for the whole life to flash by. When you fall down and the shock waves pierce through your tattered clothes, bruised skin, hampered tissue layers and through your bones, up until your senses, you often take a while to realize what has happened. Until the blood from my elbow dripped onto my sandals, I didn’t realize I was bleeding. But when I did, it was time to hit back home asap and clean up.

Well, bleeding didn’t stop, we rushed to hospital. As I walked limping towards Dr. Bevin, he probably knew, there was something up my sleeve. Well, there was, a bleeding wound. I couldn’t even shake hands properly; he just raised his eyebrows and adjusted his specs to have a better look that meant I spill the beans…

He asked me to go to ER and requested a nurse to clean me up and he shall have a look.

Turns out, I’ve a puncture wound. To help me understand, he said “It is like a Gun shot. Just that you went and jumped on the stand-still bullet (foreign body) at the speed of 30-40kmph.”

I’m waiting now, to hear from the Surgeon on further course of action.

As much, I’m worried about bruised knees, tainted black-bluish-reddish shoulder, my puncture wound, worried but angry parents, pending projects at office, solitary confinement in my apartment for coming days, I’m more worried because of the certified rash driver that I’ve become.

Neo