Thursday 14 January 2010

An accident of a neighbor I witnessed, but couldn't recognize


This incident happened in 2002. I was coming home from Dindigul. It was the first time I was coming back home after joining RVS Engineering College. I think it was a Friday evening. There were many of my classmates and seniors with me. We were all going home for the Onam vacation. From Palakkad we took a superfast bus which was going to Triruvanandapuram. It would have traveled for around 30 minuets. Suddenly bus stopped. It was near to midnight.
I saw another bus on the other side of the road around 20 feet away from my bus. I was not able to see the road properly, but from the expression of the people standing in front of me made me to pop out of the Bus. I could see a car in the light of both the busses.

It was an accident, by this time many people got out of the bus. I got up and ran out of the bus to the car. It was a KL 02 registration Maruthi Esteem of cherry colour. It was hit by the bus which was coming from the other side, which was a tourist bus. Suddenly light from the other bus was switched off. I turned to that side to see the driver is missing.

No one was approaching the car. I went near the driver. It was a direct hit. The front glass was totally broken. When I looked at the driver, what I saw was horrible. A person little dark completion, with a black rope around his wrist, fallen on the steering wheel. His head was open and brain was visible. I couldn’t take that vision so turned away.

I heard a small sound from the car. It sound to me as a sound made out of pain by some one who could not open mouth. I got back to consciousness hearing the sound. I tried to open the rear door. It was locked. I tried to break the glass by stamping on the glass of the door behind the driver. But it was too strong. I tried three times. Suddenly the rear door on the other side was opened from inside. A person in his fifties got out of the car. I believe the stamps I made on the car would have woken him up to consciousness. I rushed to the other side of the car. By the time I reached, few people who were on that side carried a lady in a greenish blue saree out of the car. She was unconscious. She was a thin lady. I reached inside the car to get the next person out of the car. It was a boy aged around in 24 was also in the rear seat. He too was unconscious. I and Riyas, one of seniors, carried him out of the car. By this time there was an ambulance. It was an Omni van. It had one long table and a long chair. We carried the boy on a structure and placed him on the table. I am not sure if the boy was alive. I rushed to the car. There was one more person next to the driver in the front seat. People were trying to open the door. The door was jammed and was not getting open. I entered the car from behind and adjusted the seat by pulling it behind.

It was a boy around  sixteen years, wearing a shorts and a t-shirt. I and Riyas pulled him out he was very heavy. I shouted at Riyas to hold him strong. We reached the ambulance. The man who came out of the car was standing near the ambulance, He seemd to be the father of the boys and the lady there mother. . He seems to be blank. We carried the boy to ambulance. The lady was by now layed on the long seat of the ambulance. It was a foldable one. We layed the boy on the road. I asked someone there to take her off the seat. Once they took her out, I folded the seat and asked them to place her on the floor, and they did so. I unfolded the seat again so that she was safe in the space under the seat. I along with Riyas and Nidhu tried to lay the sixteen years boy who was not on the road on the seat of the ambulance. But we failed.

We placed her back on the road. I approached the driver. The man sat near the driver of the ambulane. I told the driver to go fast and come back so that you can take the other boy too. Ambulance rushed to some hospital. I turned back to the boy, he was lying there. By this time some one brought a big can of water. I suspect it was from the tourist bus. The seal of the can was not broken. I saw some one opening it. I kept the boys head in my lap. I got some water and poured it in to his mouth. I am not sure if he was alive. I checked his pulse. Out of all the emotions that were controlling me at that time I was not sure if it was my pulse or his I was getting. I asked Nidhu Jorim , my classmate, to check the pulse. He checked and said that there is no pulse.

By that time there were lot of local people. We got back to the bus we came in. I was wearing a pink cotton shit. It was full of blood. I changed my shirt inside the bus itself. We continued the journey and I reached home. I told about the incident and went to sleep. Next day morning I was woken up by my mother. She was holding a news paper. She said that the people in the incident I was talking yesterday was the manager of Jos Studio, a photo studio in Alappuzha, and both the children were dead, and the mother is in hospital.

Next day the burial happened but I did not go for it.

1 comment:

  1. Hi there,

    Renjith C D, was the guy who u believed to be of an age of 24, I am afraid. He was one of the most cheerful and enthusiastic friend of our group. we were together since kindergartens. I still clearly remember the day. It was on Uthraadam, and that day was my chechy's marriage.

    By the way, I would like to really appreciate your brilliant effort to save them, though it went vain, in that disaster.

    Once again I would like to extend my deep condelensce to the family.

    Regards,
    Pranoob S.Menon

    ReplyDelete