The accident..

It started off with a jolt; felt as if everything was coming to an end as the horn kept blaring in the background. I kept swearing until I fell off my seat. It seemed like an “AXN – scariest videos” moment. I thought we were falling off a cliff. I was on all fours by now and I knew that it was just a dream and that nothing more would happen – or so I believed until 2 drops of blood fell on my hand. Alarmed, I tried getting up but this time again the whole bus started tilting to one side. Immediately I went down again. Now I was pretty sure that we were hanging on the edge of the cliff. The horn was still blaring. I wanted to call up home but I was not able to move my left arm. So many things were flashing in my mind.

Someone was swearing very loudly. He seemed to be in pain. I tried getting up again and this time I had no problems. I realized that I was completely disoriented earlier. Amidst all the chaos, I just found the nearest empty seat and sat down with my head tilted backwards to stop the bleeding. I was completely shaken up as one of my friends continued screaming his lungs out asking all of us to evacuate the bus. Most of us were clueless, and I could hear some girls groaning. My legs and nose were hurting badly – I desperately wanted to cry out loud. But I guess I just did not want to add to the decibel levels. As I tried getting off my seat, a pain shot up my right arm. But I was able to move it – it was not a fracture, thankfully.

I went to check on my friend who was sitting 2 seats away. He had broken his toe nail. It was hanging by the tiniest scraps of skin. He seemed to be least worried though – he wanted to know how the others were. And that particular moment- that was the first time in months that I felt like a kid. I guess not everyone is gifted with maturity. As I moved towards the front portion of the bus, I witnessed some gut-wrenching scenes which would be etched in my memory for quite some time.

Later we were told that the driver had dozed off during the journey and had rammed into a truck which was parked by the roadside. Quite a few suffered multiple fractures. I thanked my lucky stars as I escaped with a few cuts and bruises. We made it to airport just in time to catch our respective flights. Everyone was pretty disturbed by the turn of events. As soon as I landed in Hyderabad, I was relieved.

And I had not yet called up home and told them about these things. It makes sense not to tell them over phone because they’d be worried sick. But then, if you get this feeling - that you’re going to die all alone without any of your near and dear ones by your side, your brain gets all messed up. After reaching home, I showed them (not to be confused with showed off!) the wounds and told them calmly what happened. I think dad was proud of me acting all grown up; mom was slightly worried and wanted to get me a tetanus shot! I guess all moms are like this – this is what makes them so lovable! :D

PS1: I’ve been having these kinds of dreams since childhood – I fall from skyscrapers and cliffs and err.. I just keep falling. Nothing happens!! :-??
PS2: This is not a short story. It occurred last Friday on the Mysore highway at 4:30 AM.
PS3: No casualties. We all were quite lucky.. :)
PS4: Returning on Sunday evening.
PS5: Whole schedule got messed up.. :(
PS6: And I am blogging from home! :D More on the same in my next post.