Almost Hell-met

12/07/2007. I had just returned from an awesome day at work. I threw myself on my sofa thanking my Yamaha Libero for forgiving the 6'O clock Friday evening Hyderabad traffic. I was sharing my day's experiences with my mother and sister when my friend Vamsi called me on the landline. It was about 6.45 PM then.

Vamsi, a tall, dark guy is better known as IAS (Invisible After Six) in our group. He worked in his brother's firm about a mile and a half away from my home. He was leaving for The United States in about a weeks time and wanted me to accompany him for his much awaited "USA shopping". I took a quick shower and took leave from my mother and sister. My mother warned me about reckless drivers from our second floor apartment window. I smiled back at her and zoomed out. I parked my Libero beside Vamsi's Splendor in his company's cellar. A generally passive Vamsi seemed very active that night. We planned our shopping spree in a small roadside Irani cafe' and started off on his splendor. Our money spent per unit time gradient on that night was the largest of our lives. We were done shopping by 11.30 PM. We spent Vamsi's left over cash on gas, aaloo chat and pani puri. I decided to stay at Vamsi's place that night when he told me that his mother had made spicy Andhra chicken curry.

Vamsi's house was located on the city outskirts, fifteen miles away in a serene military area. Riding with Vamsi made that route more enjoyable. We reached his place at around 12.45 AM. And as they always did, his family greeted me warmly. We hogged on the chicken curry, omelet and rice made by his mother. We  then decided to meet a friend Naveen aka ringu who stays two miles away from his place. I took over  the charge of his bike. Vamsi warned me about the worn out brakes but did I care?

Naveen, Vamsi and I rode triple-seat to a Chinese food cart and feasted on hot manchurian and egg noodles. I dropped Naveen back to his house safely only after having scared him with my wheelie trick three times on the way back. Vamsi was not scared. He had seen me do that enough number of times not to be scared. The road back to Vamsi's place seemed really boring after a fun-filled evening. I removed my helmet and balanced it on the gas tank between my laps. I took my hands off the handle and started playing tabla on my helmet. I was loving the cool breeze graze on my face. Vamsi got a bad feeling and asked me to put the helmet back on. I was reluctant but he insisted. I listened to him.

60Kmph..65Kmph...70Kmph.. The splendor was cruising on the A.S.Raonagar highway when suddenly a young kid riding a 220cc black Bajaj Pulsar entered my vision from the left side of nowhere. He was taking a left turn from a narrow bylane. Unable to control his speed, he took a larger radius of curvature. He got too close for comfort but I had already committed to my speed and the brakes were lousy. The pulsar drifted closer towards me and I had to drift closer to the concrete divider on my right side.  I was only about two feet away from the divider. I had to take a decision. Three lives were at stake. I had to either ram into the stationary divider sideways or dash against the pulsar at almost zero relative speed. Option two seemed to have a greater chance for our survival.

I prayed to God to freeze any heavy vehicles following us, pulled the brake lever with all my strength and Bang!!!

The sight of Vamsi flying over my head and rolling on the road for about 20 feet was really frightening. In the first millisecond, I prayed that he should be able to take that flight to America. In the second millisecond, I saw the Pulsar sliding on the road, sparking away from me. I hoped the kid was not under it. In the next millisecond, a virtual video of my whole life flashed across my mind at super fast speed. I felt I had already died.

I did not feel the next few minutes pass by until Vamsi helped me sit on the divider. I was very glad to see him. Because it proved that both of us were alive. Sitting on the divider with my helmet still on, I saw the disfigured splendor and the stunned faces of the tens of onlookers. Two of them handed me a napkin. I was bleeding inside my helmet. The adrenalin prevented me from knowing the exact bleeding zone as I could feel no pain. Vamsi helped me unstrap my helmet and I tried feeling any open wound on my skull but could not feel blood anywhere. Vamsi pointed at my left cheek. The helmet had compressed and pulled my skin so strong that it tore my cheek while sliding on the road.  We somehow stopped the bleeding. But problems were still far from being solved. The kid, who was later found to be only thirteen years old was making scary noises. I had never heard scarier noises until then and I hope I will never ever hear those voices again. Most of the onlookers just stood there standing and staring at me as if I were a murderer.

The police arrived soon and that was the worst thing that could happen at that time. The cops removed the accident vehicles to the side of the road. A cop carefully carried the kid into his jeep and then grabbed me by my left wrist and pulled me into his jeep. It was the most excruciating physical pain of my life. Vamsi accompanied me voluntarily. They took us to Poulomi hospital, which was infamous for accidental deaths.I really did not want to go there.

The next half an hour is still missing from my life. I do not remember anything that happened to me until I found myself sitting on a chair in front of the kid's bed. My cut was cleaned and dressed up. I pulled out my phone and took my pictures even in that state of trance. The hospital room broke out into laughter seeing me do that. But I had to capture those moments as if I knew I was going to use them in this post.

A tall, well-built guy barged into the room. He claimed to be the owner of a cellphone showroom where the kid worked as a cleaner. He collaborated with the doctor and I had to pay them 1000 Rs. to stop troubling me. I was physically and mentally in no position to argue. Then police smelled meat too. They started asking us for money and warning us of dire consequences if we did not comply with their demands. We got really angry, made a few phone calls to our "political contacts" and got them out of picture. Things then settled down and we both found space to breathe. We walked out of the hospital laughing at each other.

It was about 3.00 AM and time to go home. But we went to a children's park, sat on  a bench and tried to join the missing links together. During our conversation, I realized that my left canine tooth had chipped off  and  it suddenly started hurting. Our jeans were torn and Vamsi was bleeding in his left knee. But things were much better than I had feared.

We went back to his place to give his family the shock of their lifetime. Though it was majorly the kid's fault, I was guilty of riding too fast. But Vamsi decided to take the blame on himself as he did not want my impression on his family to be hampered. He faked that we skid on a sandy patch of road while he was riding the bike. After emotions calmed down, we finished the left over chicken and Vamsi dozed off as if nothing had happened. The pain in my left arm was getting unbearable. I spent the night sleeping on my right side.

Next day, Vamsi dropped me back to my bike. I painfully rode back home. The expressions of my mother on seeing me are unforgettable. She hugged me tight and did not ask me questions. I could not feel any pain while I was being embraced. She just mentioned that I did a mistake of not calling her as soon as I met with the accident. But I knew that would have been bad for her.

The next six days saw me going to doctors and dentists to fix my body. I was too stubborn to get an X-ray done on my left arm. I thought it was a minor muscle tear. But when the requests from my mother turned into anger, I got an X-ray done on my left arm and even the doctors were amazed to know that I was living with a completely broken left collar bone since the accident.

After a few days I learned that the kid was discharged with minor injuries to his left heel and elbow as soon as we left the hospital. I request the readers to not let your kids and any other kids you know to ride on the road unsupervised.

I myself learned a lesson too. If I had not payed attention to Vamsi's request to wear the helmet, I may not have been in a position to post this. So guys, please wear your helmet. They are not just fashion accessories.

Please stay safe.