KILLER WHEELS
I'm not much of a believer. In fact, I haven't been one since the time I was 12. It's a long story, narrating which would detract me from the post of the day.
It happened last night and it's had me believing that if there is a God out there, he was definitely watching over Bala, his good pal Dinakar and me. We were headed home after the Asian Festival of First Films award ceremony (a longer post on it will follow - it is truly deserving of one). The traffic light had turned red and while we waited for it to turn green, we were busy chatting away, the focus of our attention being the traffic light staring us in the face.
After all, dividing us and the road opposite us was a huge stretch of green, with a rather larger divider - something you would imagine would be hard to mount, unless one were speeding.
As the patient wait continued - sometimes traffic lights do keep you waiting- we were jolted out of our chat by a Mercedes that had not just mounted the curb, it had narrowly missed crushing a taxi along the way and looked certain to drive straight through us.
Call it our good karma, call it the will of God, call it what you may, but as fate would have it, the car stopped literally a hair's breath away from what could have definitely been the end of us, though in that moment of shock I was merely thinking of the car.
"So would this mad driver have had to pay for the insurance if he knocked us? " was the first of my many insane questions to follow.
"Yes, but we would have got to that only if we were alive", Bala calmly answered.
It was a good thing, I wasn't at the wheel because faced with a situation like that I was would have definitely been frozen. Bala, on the other hand, kept his wits intact, he got us out of there, I am certain with his heart in his feet.
It's strange how all the driving lessons you take drive you insane with the safety tips, then you end up hitting the roads and half the time it seems some of the seasoned drivers really should be back in school.
As Tripta rightly pointed out after I narrated this incident, "its always scary that even though you may be the safest driver, there are enough crazy drivers out there", let me add to that - who CAN get you killed.
If you happen to the driver, who almost spelt the end of us last night together with a couple of others on the road and if you do happen to read this post, could you please remember not to hit that pedal on the metal too hard - if not for yourself you owe at least that much to the others on the right side of the road.
It happened last night and it's had me believing that if there is a God out there, he was definitely watching over Bala, his good pal Dinakar and me. We were headed home after the Asian Festival of First Films award ceremony (a longer post on it will follow - it is truly deserving of one). The traffic light had turned red and while we waited for it to turn green, we were busy chatting away, the focus of our attention being the traffic light staring us in the face.
After all, dividing us and the road opposite us was a huge stretch of green, with a rather larger divider - something you would imagine would be hard to mount, unless one were speeding.
As the patient wait continued - sometimes traffic lights do keep you waiting- we were jolted out of our chat by a Mercedes that had not just mounted the curb, it had narrowly missed crushing a taxi along the way and looked certain to drive straight through us.
Call it our good karma, call it the will of God, call it what you may, but as fate would have it, the car stopped literally a hair's breath away from what could have definitely been the end of us, though in that moment of shock I was merely thinking of the car.
"So would this mad driver have had to pay for the insurance if he knocked us? " was the first of my many insane questions to follow.
"Yes, but we would have got to that only if we were alive", Bala calmly answered.
It was a good thing, I wasn't at the wheel because faced with a situation like that I was would have definitely been frozen. Bala, on the other hand, kept his wits intact, he got us out of there, I am certain with his heart in his feet.
It's strange how all the driving lessons you take drive you insane with the safety tips, then you end up hitting the roads and half the time it seems some of the seasoned drivers really should be back in school.
As Tripta rightly pointed out after I narrated this incident, "its always scary that even though you may be the safest driver, there are enough crazy drivers out there", let me add to that - who CAN get you killed.
If you happen to the driver, who almost spelt the end of us last night together with a couple of others on the road and if you do happen to read this post, could you please remember not to hit that pedal on the metal too hard - if not for yourself you owe at least that much to the others on the right side of the road.
posted by Read@Peace | 3:13 AM
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