A shocking relief !!!!!

     If something happens to you for the first time, especially when it’s said to be a dramatic one, would never fade off from your memory that soon.

It was exactly 5:15PM, when my phone buzzed with ‘The dark knight rises’ theme music, to alert me of a phone call. I knew it was him. I was expecting his call for a longtime and at last it turned up. The call lasted not more than 20 seconds. All I wanted to hear was ‘Ashwin, I have started and I will be in your place in another 5 minutes. 

Though it was getting late, we might reach our destination just in time, even in case of heavy traffic. I was ready and was standing in the balcony, waiting for his arrival. He was on time to pick me (A sigh of relief) and I quickly came out to avoid any delay. I always loved Goutham’s TVS Apache and hence relieved him from driving and made him occupy the backseat.

Vishal had booked 8 tickets for the movie ‘Pizza’ which was scheduled to start in another 1 hour. I always tend to be the last one to reach the place in such occasions, but this time it’s going to be the other way round, as I would be in theatre on time.

That was a pleasant evening and the comfort in driving ‘TVS apache’ was truly luxurious. It was around 6 PM and we should possibly be in theatre in another 10 minutes, well in advance of the start time.

At 6:10 PM, I had parked the bike. Not in the theatre, but in the middle of the road surrounded by nearly 30 people.

There was an accident in that place. A child, not more than 4 years of age was walking along the road holding her mom’s hand. It looks like her mom was reluctant to get her an ice cream for a long time. Maybe that’s why when she saw an ice-cream shop on the opposite side of the road, she released her mom’s clutch and started running across the road for ice-cream. That’s when she was hit by a bike, TVS Apache. 

Yes, it was me knocked down the girl.

It all happened in the wink of an eye. I saw her coming, and I instantly applied the brakes, but it was too late. By the time I turned back to see her, she was lying on the other side of the road. Since she was already running across, moment the bike tyre brushed her, she was lifted above the ground a bit, somersaulted to land up on the other side of the road.

Goutham and I couldn’t believe our eyes. My heart literally stopped beating for a moment. All I wished was that the girl should be fine which looked far from reality, considering the way she was thrown to the other side of the road on impact. Goutham started saying ‘machan, iniku namba katha mudinjithu, sema adi vanga porom’ which further increased my fear. The girl’s mom already started crying and we rushed to see what happened to the girl.

She was still lying on the road and a couple of men lifted her up. Initially, we could see a swelling in her forehead and the girl didn’t allow us to touch her as she was crying. Then her mom checked her for further injuries and would you believe it? There was just a scratch on her knees along with the swelling on her forehead. It was really a miracle to see the girl with such minor injuries.

Though I was relieved to see the girl fine, I sensed as soon as they finish checking her for injuries, their next task would be to pounce on us fiercely. As expected, the girl’s mom and a few others started yelling at us and I was trying to explain them that it was not my mistake, but the girl’s, who ran across.

Thankfully, the majority of people who had surrounded the place were in favour of us, especially a gentleman who said, ‘I saw the entire scene and it was the girl’s mistake and the boys are not responsible for it’. You badly need at least one person like this to calm the gathering.  Then the crowd decided to let us go saying, that if anything worse had happened to the girl, our approach would have been different. 

I was quick to apologize to the girl and her mom and left the place as I thought, ‘the sooner I leave, the better it is’. Though there was no mistake of mine, in case if a bus or car had come in the opposite side when the girl was hit, she would have been in unimaginable danger. The girl and I were really really lucky, but in a completely different way. This incident was flashing my mind quite frequently and I had to make some conscious effort to let it go from my mind. 

Even after this dramatic incident, to everyone’s surprise, we were in theatre on time as the entire traumatic drama lasted not more than 5 minutes. But more than reaching the place on time, the fact that the girl was not injured severely, gave us a lot of satisfaction and a sigh of relief.