The accident

I guess all of you know what happened on the 16th of November. There was this elderly person, riding his bicycle on the road near JU, when a bus came and hit him. We didn't see that part. Bony, her friend, Rupsa and I, were crossing the road in front of her college, when I noticed a red-colored jeep backing and a cycle lying on the road, right in front of it. The tyre was completely twisted. Thinking that somebody was hurt, I started running towards the scene.

I started running towards the man who was sprawled out on the road lying in his own blood after the jeep had moved away. Bony and Rupsa, were right behind me. Everyone else started running away. When I reached the place, the sight was so gruesome, the victim was horribly hurt and his trousers were torn and legs were completely in a mangled state. A lot of blood was lost. I and another lady who, after seeing me, also came to help carry the man towards the pavement which was barricaded... Everybody else present at the scene started disappearing.

My sister was trying frantically to call the ambulance, police, and other emergency numbers. Would you believe what they did?! Some of the calls were answered, most of them were not. And those who did answer, while taking down the details, disconnected the calls. This kept happening for all the toll free emergency numbers. Meanwhile, I was able to gather his belongings, his cell phone, spectacles, his bag, all strewn about in all directions. Some passers-by helped me with the bicycle which was in a mess. We tried stopping three taxis, the drivers of which, after taking one look at the victim, fled. An emergency car with "call for assistance" message written all over it, with a uniformed policeman inside, was driving by on the opposite foot, when I and some of the other onlookers tried calling them to help. They all saw the scene and sped away in another direction.

My sister called up her friends, who were still in college, and they arrived at the scene almost immediately. A taxi volunteered to carry the victim to the hospital! We were so relieved. They carried the man onto the taxi and took him to the nearest hospital. His family was also informed immediately, and arrived at the hospital very soon after the victim was admitted. His cycle was collected as were his other belongings and a nearby shopkeeper volunteered to keep them with him till someone from his family came to claim it. The lady had been very smart and had sent a car after the bus who hit the man. His number was taken down and an FIR lodged against the driver's name.

He is in the ICU till his operation gets over by today. Bony had called his son a while ago, he is still undergoing a surgery. His legs had a very deep flesh wound, and his shoulder dislocated. But his condition is otherwise stable.

After everything was over, the blood cleared up, a police jeep came packed with 6 armed policemen, {after one onlooker volunteered to go over to the thana, less than a bus stop away} to question us, oh-so-politely, "Apnara kichhu dekhechhen?"

Arrgggghhhhhhh...

If it had not been for my sister's quick thinking and her amazingly resourceful friends and the lady, the guy would have just bled to death there on the road.

I'm so glad that I happened to be there at that time, otherwise, everybody I saw, when I was running towards the man, were running away in the opposite direction. It was only after I and the other lady who came to help, had carried the man off of the road, did other people start coming to look for taxis, etc. He had lost a lot of blood and was in excruciating pain. God! I'm so thankful to Bony and all her amazing friends, who did everything - starting from carrying the man to the hospital, informing his family and getting the man into the  OT on time, by dealing with all the red tape-ism in the local hospital.

I'm so glad that not everybody is completely heartless. By the time they started arriving I had begun to feel so sick, I couldn't think at all. My sister's friends are really amazing. I was feeling so helpless, no one wanted to do anything. No taxis were helping, no one was taking any initiative to carry him to the hospital; the police and the ambulance didn't care. The boy who went with the man to the hospital, missed his birthday bash to help. I am so thankful to all of them.

My personal thanks to Saptarshi (Happy Birthday, brave boy!), Deboleena, Avinash, Samik, Somak, Rupsa, Kalyan, Soumya and Mrs. I. V. Bharadwaj for all your generous and bold efforts at having succeeded in reducing the list of the victims of hit and run cases by at least one name. And no thanks to our able police force and the emergency units!

Cath-arse-is

Here I am, on a journey on the expressway, giving words to my thoughts, to my feelings; something I've not done since I was in class VI. And my constant reference to class VI and way things were back then, is something you all need getting used to. Not only was that my favorite year but also the only time I actually felt I had achieved something: if not fame, notoriety :P

This is a bit new to me, so I feel at a loss for words. I wouldn't know too much about blogging. I was recently introduced to this trend by my younger sister who is an avid blogger, with fans all over the world. And with good reason. She's a prolific writer and has an amazing grasp on her ideas and use of words; she can clearly communicate the thoughts running through her pretty head, quite unlike me. It is exhausting to me to give form to my thoughts; unless they are plans of revenge.

So I will begin with myself and what I feel about the world. I ought to have arrived here a decade or two earlier. Don't get me wrong, I'm not out of sync with the modernities of this era, but, I do find it hard to keep up.

To me the world is a crazed place. Where people in the name of justice, hunt "corrupt policemen" down and kill them in cold blood in the most gruesome ways possible (unimaginable by the sane, unless they see the front pages of the daily newspapers to affirm their worst nightmares). "Corrupt policemen" is in quotes because it refers to the by-standing jawans, doctors and sweepers of the police station. Perhaps, because they're the easiest to get at?

And the erudite, including a Booker Prize recipient, a renowned film maker, social activists, students, lecturers, not to mention our enthusiastic politicians (ladies, playing a big part here, mind you- probably supporting the "woman's cause" * - I will get back to this later), are not only condoning these brutalities and acts of terror, but in fact encouraging them and justifying the wretchedness of it all.

Further, there are certain political parties (obviously in power thanks to people exercising the Universal adult franchise) which threaten nationalized banks to not hire people outside their state-proclaimed linguistic groups. Then there is another group of religious minorities who find it a great injustice to sing the national song in the language it was written, and prefer to sing it in their own tongue. Of course, one mustn't miss out on the turbulence in some of our wild, wild east states where martyrs are sacrificing their lives for the cause of independence! All this while some spend crores of rupees on making thought-provoking, original movies like Golmaal, Om Shanti Om, Heyy Babyy and Page 3, and get ample returns on them. This, in the world's largest "democracy".

People here are bound by an intricate web of rights and duties. Our cultural diversity, which each student in our country learns about, not only promotes tolerance but also instills patriotism. At least, it ought to. But the instances that I have stated in this post would illustrate a few things happening in my country that prove otherwise.

So there you have it. I'm all out of breath and need to go take a quick shower to chillaxxxx... lolzzz :D