It was 19th January, 2001. It was a Saturday and the clock read 4pm. I was watching a movie on doordarshan in my apartment, at Goregaon. Suddenly the phone rang, I rushed to pick it up. The caller inquired about a scooter with the number BLQ 3029, I kept him on hold and called my mom who was in the kitchen. I handed the phone to her and continued watching the movie insouciant about the call. The expression on my mother’s face plummeted down and I felt as if she was about to cry. Now the movie didn’t matter to me, I was more concerned about the part of conversation on the other side. My mother’s disconsolate voice told me that my dad had met with an accident and was in a local nursing home. I immediately burst out in tears while my mom noted some address. I could see my mom discombobulated; she hardly knew what to do next. The next moment I saw her move out with her purse ignorant about the cash she had in it. She knocked the next door and apprised our neighbor about the mishap. Soon our neighbor (uncle) and my mom left for the nursing home.
I was shocked, I didn’t know what to do, and I felt very lonely. I immediately called my uncle (relative) and told him about what just happened. I couldn’t restrain my tears and all bad thoughts started vexing me. Aunty (neighbour) tried to console me and gave me assurances of his recovery. Uncle came back in some time, he had my dad’s office bag and a bag of vegetables. He seemed to say something to aunty which definitely didn’t seem positive. The brown office bag was painted red, this was unsightly for a 11yr old kid. I was again in tears but aunty tried to pacify me again. Soon uncle rushed back. I came to know that my dad was being taken to Lilavati Hospital. I didn’t have a slightest cognizance of the seriousness of the situation.
Two long hours had gone now, I saw two khaki uniform men looking for our house. They were seated at our neighbour’s house. They had come there to explain the case, to us. They had a theory which seemed blatantly ridiculous especially after having a look at the scooter which was brought back home by uncle. They said that an auto-rickshaw bumped my dad because of which he fell down and dashed himself against a stationary stone. They bolstered this theory by stating that they found his hair near the stone. Ridiculous! My dad has wispy hair and there isn’t much to fall so that it remains conspicuous on the ground. This was clearly made up. Well I didn’t think much then. Our neighbor signed a paper and they left. The scooter didn’t have mote of scratch on it. No part of the scooter seemed to be bumped even by a cycle.
It was 7 30 now and my mom called me up to inform that my father’s CT scan reports were out and he is out of danger. This news palliated me and I felt much relived but still I wanted my dad to be home soon. I also learnt that my dad was sitting injured besides his parked scooter, on the highway, and profusely bleeding. Thanks to a gentleman- Ravi Gupta-who took my dad to the nearest nursing home and informed us. By now my relatives had reached the hospital and uncle (neighbor) had come back. I was told that my father was fine and his head injury was just less than a centimeter away from turning fatal.
My dad’s elder brother took me to his house. I stayed there that night, restless. The next day I went to the hospital to see almost all of the Achar family there, I was hoping to see my father but the hospital authorities denied me an entry saying they didn’t allow children in the ICU. There my mom told me that dad was conscious and was recuperating. I came back to my residence with my maternal grandmother.
My dad came back home in 4 days. He remained weak for weeks because of heavy loss of blood. The way my dad met with the accident was still a mystery. My dad didn’t remember anything about the accident. It was only in the ambulance-on the way to Lilavati- that he opened his eyes for a few minutes. That is all he remembers about the accident. He just suffered a head injury and the rest of his body was unscathed. Only a head injury with no scars on the scooter and the police coming up with an apocryphal theory made things quite suspicious.
We made our own assumptions-someone hit my father, on purpose, as a result of mistaken identity, something fell on my dad’s head from the flyover above. The latter seemed more convincing as the scooter was parked and he lay besides it injured. Probably some heavy object fell off from the flyover and hit my father, and this instantaneous blow made him park the scooter himself on the road side in supor. This could have been a reason why the police came up with the story. Well we still aren’t sure about what exactly happened.
Many days have now passed and this incident has made its way into the oblivion but it is still a mystery. Thanks to the gentleman because of whom we three are happily enjoying every moment now. God bless him and all who helped us then.
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3 comments:
It was rily touchin mate..
I was totally engrossed in it..
U are a wonderful writer.. i ms say..
keep up da gud work.. :-)
i never knew there was a writer in you ... but you seem to show that there is.. your writing style is characterized by simplicity of thought and honesty of expression ... just the same way that you seem to come across as a person!! keep it up! a truly touching story
felt as if i cud c u as a kid..those innocent and helpless feelings
expressed very well... :-)
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