The Accident

It has been just over a month now and I finally received Suchi's driving license from The Police in Guidny, but I will never forget the call, made immediately after the impact from Suji who called in on the Sunday afternoon at around 2:00 P.M. All she said was "Subash can you come...I have met with a big accident.... Although I feared for her and mother who were in the car something was telling me that they were perfectly alright. Before I could even ask her for details she just told me where the accident had taken place. I couldn't believe that after seeing so many accidents (or the aftermath of accidents) on that road our car would also one day be involved in one. I dashed to the accident scene as fast as I could on my scooter. Suji and mom looked severely shaken but hardly hurt. I thanked God immensely for his protection. There was a huge crowd. The accident was almost head-on. An overspeeding share-auto had hit them head on. The car was damaged on the front side. It had all happened in a fraction of a second. Our car turned 360 degrees and hit the median. The overcrowded auto meanwhile tipped and went dragging on its side for about 10-20 metres injuring several people in it. Two of them had fractures. By the time I was there the injured were being rushed to the hospital. Sathish, my brother also immediately joined us. After dropping off mother at our home on his way back an auto hit him too in his rear and sped off without stopping. Sathish's new car had yellow marks on the rear bumper of his car.

Our ordeal had only begun but at the end of it all it has been one big experience that shook us, enlightened us and even philosophically expanded our minds and vision. Though the traffic constables, the investigator found fault with the auto driver (before I arrived at the scene the people who gathered around were roughing the guy), at the Police station the entire blame was put on sis. What happened afterwards seemed even comical at times. I will not go into details for several reasons but to make it brief every accident seems like a new business venture or a lucrative sales lead for many people. The Police station, the police, the RTO, the courts the people who come there, and all the things that go on here make you wonder if there is a method to the madness. On what basis is the entire system thriving and going ahead? Has the human concience ceased to exist? Can we call this Human existence a civilized one? Can we even call it an existence? Looks like animals are much better off.

I am thankful to God that we are out of it although we pleaded guilty where we had no other choice. We just have to wait for the car to be back in good shape.