AN ACCIDENT

More often than not, we keep hearing about a lot of train accidents happening due to various reasons, causing an unfathomable loss to human lives, nature and property. Sometimes, there is no way it could have been prevented, although people play a blame-game in the aftermath only to cleanse their hands. I am writing this story in the wake of a recent train accident that happened only recently. When such incidents happen, sadly, people measure its badness based on the number of people killed and injured. But isn't a loss of life, a loss of life after all? It is so weird that people who die in bomb blasts (common man) are remembered more often in the media than the people who die in accidents (also a common man) ! Is the value of our life decided by how we die? Why then, a differential treatment exists? Through this story, I shall make an earnest attempt to bring out the various feelings and emotions that run through people when, like a bolt from the blue, they are in the jaws of death.


It was going to be a big day in his life. He had to go to Cochin for a meeting with a client to propose and sign off  a deal with his company. If it came through, he would be richer by a million rupees and so it was an all important one and perhaps, the biggest opportunity he had ever got. He had worked a lot on it over the past few days and barely talked to anyone. The meeting was in the evening and so he had decided to leave by the first train in the morning, which was at 6:30. He had slept very little, thinking and probably even excited about the new turn that the day might bring to his professional life. He had kept all the required things in order, on the previous night, to ensure he wont miss out on anything at the last moment. Before leaving home, his wife gave him a hug and wished him luck. "I will come back with good news" he smiled and said, his voice filled with confidence. He looked at his young daughter and kissed gently on her forehead, so as not to disturb her sound sleep. He waved to his wife as he hopped onto a taxi to the railway station.

The train left sharp at 6:30 and he was seated comfortably in his compartment. Since it was a weekday, it wasn't over crowded. He was surrounded by 4 more co passengers; two of them were a young couple with a small baby, a senior person and an young man. Half an hour into the journey, the people selling food from the train's pantry started coming by and everyone took the choice of their food; it was a long journey of nearly 12 hours and one had to depend on these sources for food, no matter how good or stale it is! The young man sitting beside him looked lost in thoughts, staring blankly outside the window for a long time. He looked at him and asked "Are you a student?", casually. "I completed my degree an year ago and am looking for a job. Am going now for my 15th interview!", the young man said coldly, avoiding eye contact with him. "Why are you looking sad?", he asked . "How would it matter to you?", the young man said, spontaneously and rudely. He was taken aback by that kind of reply from the young man. True that it was none of his business, but it gave him all the more reason to believe that he was under some distress. You do come across such people, who cant ignore a person in grief and dont mind crossing their limits to make him or her happy. He was one such kind. "You will lose nothing by sharing it with me. I am no one to you and we might not meet ever again. But trust me, it will help you feel little relaxed. So please do speak of it" said he. The young man started in a tone of melancholy; his was a story like most of the cinemas. A poor family, his father spent all his earnings on his education and had led a retired life. His mother was ill and with him being the only child, he had the responsibility of earning and taking care of family. However, things had not turned out as he had wanted and he had to bear the pressure of the societal tag - 'unemployed youth'. He further went on to say that all he wanted was a simple job that would give his family the basic needs and that he was, deep down the heart, hopeful, that he might reach it one day; There are people who aspire to reach the moon, and then there are people who are happy to even simply look at its reflection in water. Listening to the story, the old man who was sitting opposite to the two men added "Never lose hope, son. Believe in destiny and believe, that God will always lead you on the right path. You may not realise it now, but one day you will surely look back and feel the greatness of the path that you walked", as if to share a thought from his own experience.

Meanwhile, the couple who were seated in front of him and beside the old man, were in their own world, speaking ever so softly, giggling often; as if dreaming about a colourful future. The baby that the lady was holding was asleep all this while and woke up suddenly and started crying, until it was pacified by the mother and it flashed a toothless smile. Everyone looking at it, smiled too. A baby's smile is truly infectious :) He had forgotten all about his meeting and the all important deal. He saw what an irony life was; he had seen all the phases and faces of life in a small compartment of a train! His train of thoughts wandered off to God, misery, karma, love, life and destiny.

There was s sudden jerk, as if to wake him up from his dreams. The train began to lean to the right, and everyone began to hold each other's hands, panic stricken. Before they could realize what was happening, the train tumbled to its right and due to the speed with which it was travelling, it crash landed heavily onto the rocks beside the track. The impact was such, there was a big smoke of dust rising up and the two sides of the compartment had almost compressed into each other! He lay on the ground, unconscious, didnot know for how long he had been there; someone had pulled him out of the debris His eyebrows were profusely bleeding, and it pained to even open his eye. His vision was blur and he couldnot stand, he had badly twisted his ankle. He saw the young man, dead. There were no signs of the old man. The couple had miraculously escaped with very little injuries, but they were inconsolable as their baby was no longer alive. The cries of many people echoed in the air. There were many villagers from nearby places who had rushed into the spot and were pulling out people from within the train. They brought in water in buckets and pots and also called up ambulances. Despite all the diversity that exists, when in crisis, humanity always unites! He did not know who had rescued him. He was still dizzy and his last memory was of him being carried away on a stretcher.

3 days later, his wife and his daughter were at his bedside when he became fully conscious. He looked at his leg and saw a bandage from knee till the toes; just a hairline crack, he was informed. "How good a news you brought me!" his wife said, with her eyes filled with tears. But she didn't let it out. His little daughter climbed up and slept on his chest, hugging him. "I want to thank God, for he sent you back safely to me!" He smiled. I have seen the other face of God now, he said to himself. Destiny, you never know!
    

A MISTAKE, BY CHANCE!

Prologue :
R. K. Narayan, one of the most renowned writer in the Indian history, once said, "In India, you only need to look outside your window to find a character and a story". This saying, and the man himself, has such an impact on what I write. True ain't it? Observe your surroundings and you are sure to hit on some story that is being hidden in it. It was only yesterday that my best friend was asking about my blog, scolding me for not writing anything in a long time since the first story. Well frankly, I had never got anything that I can write about, since my first post! May be I wasn't being as keen an observant as I should have been, or may be I was reluctant to write a monotonous story. It so happened that on a lazy Sunday morning, I sat in the balcony of my house looking out, at nothing in particular. The streets wore a deserted look, with the exception of odd hawkers and street vendors marching along the streets 'singing' the names of items being sold. This story is about one such vendor, the fruit seller. (inspired by a real incident which I witnessed today. The story is fictious and so are the characters).


It is not uncommon to find people coming near houses to sell fruits, vegetables, vessels and what not! Most of them traverse the same roads at exactly the same time everyday. The residents too get accustomed to it and some are even familiar with their names and about their families! Shiva was one such regular fruit seller. Despite being an educated man, he had no job and had to find some means of earning his living; selling fruits is what he chose. The man, in his late 30's, was quite known in the neighbourhood for his all time smiling face and his friendly attitude towards people. His was a routine work. Start early in the day, buy fruits from the market and sell them through the rest of the day. He profited anywhere between 200-400 rupees a day and would occasionally suffer loss. His was a small family including his wife and his child. They couldn't afford even a habitual house and all they had as a 'property' in the big city of Bengaluru was a small four walled, room-like structure with a thatched roof (The rest, I shall leave it for your understanding). And yet, he had no complaints. He was a firm believer of God and always used to say "If this is what He wishes for me, then am more than happy to accept it". May be that's why he was always smiling. On one hand, there are people for whose dreams and ambitions, the sky is the limit and on the other, there are people like Shiva, who live a life of content despite having nothing and yet, always smiling.

Strangely, it is people who lead such lives are the ones who get tested the most, Shiva too had to come face to face with such a test. In his regular monotonous days, there came a day that changed his life for the rest of it. It was a bright and sunny day and Shiva had had a brisk business, with half of his fruits nearly sold. Pushing his cart laden with assorted fruits, he stopped at a house, when a woman from the house signalled him to do so. A little girl ran up to him from inside the house, with her mother standing in the balcony. The lady shouted out the names of fruits that she wanted and after all the bargaining and purchasing, the little girl handed him a note, took the change and ran inside the home as quickly as she had come. Shiva pushed his cart and away. The lady on the other hand got engaged in animated talks with her neighbour and had spent nearly an hour in talking about how price raise was affecting, what is for lunch etc. etc.. It was only later when she came to the house, she took the money left after the purchase of fruits and found that she was short of Rs. 200. Her face turned red with anger on the fruit seller and started cursing him for cheating her. She then called her little daughter and scolded her for not collecting the change properly. "What mathematics do they teach you at school? Don't you know a simple subtraction? Can't you collect a simple change properly?" The girl bothered the least, it was hardly her mistake, she thought. She simply made a strange face and went away to play with her friends. However, her mother still seemed to be raging with anger. "That cheater ran away with my money! I should teach him a proper lesson! I always thought him to be a good man, but did not know that an evil was hidden beneath his smiling face!", she kept cursing him. Well, that's people's natural attitude; believe in what is more evident, than thinking of an alternate theory. (Of course, everybody cannot be Sherlock Holmes!)

Shiva, was totally unaware of what he had done. He gave the girl the change and flashed his trade mark smile and had left. It was at the end of the day, when he accounted for all his earnings of the day, he found that he had an extra money of Rs. 200. Where did it come from? He realised that he had gone wrong while calculating the change somewhere and hence, he had that money which wasn't his. He was deeply pained by what he had done. How could he go wrong? In all his days of being a fruit seller, he had never ever gone wrong. "What if people consider me a cheater now?" he was anguished by that thought. He immediately wanted to go back and return it to its rightful owner. But whose was it? He had no clue; he did not remember where he went wrong. Which meant, he had to go ask in all the houses that bought fruits from him in the day. Since he had had quite a long day (I told you, brisk business!) he would have to visit too many places and it was already night. He thought of going tomorrow and asking at all the houses, if he had given wrong change. Despite all the poorness, he never had a craving for money which wasn't his. I needn't tell you how tough it is to find such people in today's world and yet, there was the lady cursing him, for what seemed to be his fault. He felt ashamed of himself. When he told his wife about it, her eyes lit up in happiness, not at the fact that her husband wanted to return it, but at the fact that he had got an extra 200 rupees. "We can buy a new dress for our child with it Shiva, why return it when the God himself has given you that?". Shiva did not reply and looked at her grimly. She realised she had said the wrong thing. But what can she do, she was a mother and a mother's mind and heart always thinks about the child first and only then comes everything else! "She thought a moment and said, "You are right. This money isn't ours nor is it God's gift to us. Using this is as good as using a stolen money. Please return it tomorrow". She felt happy about her husband's honesty, giving her all the reason to love him more and felt sad at the same time, for she couldnt buy that new dress for her child.

That night, after dinner, Shiva slept still cursing himself for his mistake. He couldn't rest until he had found to whom the money belonged and returned it. He felt happy that his wife, had been a true companion. They might have lacked all the basic amenities, but there was no lacking for love and understanding between them. He felt proud of her and his thought wandered off to the fact that he wasnt able to buy her anything that she wanted; not that she desired, but he felt its his duty as a husband. Lost in his sea of thoughts, he looked at his wife and his child and smiled; both were long asleep. He closed his eyes, never to open again.

The next day, the woman who had lost her two hundred rupees, waited for Shiva to come. She was still very angry. She waited all day, but Shiva never arrived. "I knew he will never come this way again! He dare not! He is cheat and deserves to be doomed in hell" she grunted a mouthful for a man who breathed his last, repenting for a 'Mistake, by chance'.