One small decision change my life……

Not exactly a split second decision but everything happened within 2–3 seconds.

Some Background:

This is an incidence during my graduation. I graduated from Pilani. Most of you might not heard of this place because it is essentially a very very small town that houses my college BITS (Birla Institute of Technology and Science) and has absolutely nothing outside campus for entertainment. We, being in our prime of youth, often planned trips to nearby cities (closest one being 250 Kms)….At least one per semester.

On one such occasion we planned a trip to Kasol . Since we were around 8 friends, we decided to hire a SUV and driver for entire trip and started our journey. I was really excited as this was my first ever trip with friends.

Anyhow, we totally enjoyed our 3 day trip and started our journey back to Pilani on 4th day. Since it was around 600 Kms travel, we started 8 AM in the morning hoping to cover majority distance in daylight. Majority of the journey was uneventful until suddenly it wasn’t…

Little more background before the incident….majority of us were hungover (driver wasn’t). We were still about an hour away from Pilani and were in some village. It was around 2–3 AM and roads were almost empty. Our driver was in hurry as he had some marriage to attend to next morning (He did not tell us this before the incident). And we were driving at about 80 kmph on wrong side of road as traffic was diverted because of road construction. I was seating on front seat and was trying hard not to feel asleep so as to ensure driver doesn’t fall asleep behind the wheels. Suddenly we saw a huge trailer (must have at least 18 wheels) approaching towards us from a perpendicular road on the next cross road. We must have been hardly 50 meters from it and the driver and I both realized applying brakes will not help as it won’t stop the vehicle and chances of skidding were to high. Loosing control of the vehicle could have caused more damage.

The Accident

We both had about 2–3 seconds to react and there were lot of things going through my mind. How do I inform everyone about the impending doom, should I apply handbrake, what will I tell my parents (I had not informed them about the trip), but most importantly is that it for me?

What I ultimately ended doing was shouting bhe#@$#d loudly to alert everyone while putting my knees against the dashboard to prevent my self from flying out the front glass (Of course I wasn’t wearing seat belt….who does that). I also covered my face with both hands. Luckily, driver ended up turning the vehicle ever so slightly that we smashed the wheels of trailer instead of coming in between wheels and Bang! Everything went silent and I kind of blacked out for what seemed like a long time (must be about 30 seconds).

At first, I wasn’t aware of my body and was shocked to see everything around me. The entire front side of car was reduced to 1/4th its original size (We were travelling in Innova). Driver’s head was lying on the steering wheel and looked like he was injured a lot. Couple of my friends seemed to have head injuries because of banging their heads. But other than that, everybody seemed okay with minor scratches. As for me, I had minor scratches but that was until I tried to move. My knees were killing me and my hips ached so much when I tried to move. But I knew I am okay, compared to what could have happened I knew I was okay.

Aftermath

There was a dhaba (small restaurant) nearby and the locals came out to help us. They offered us place to sit and some water. Meanwhile the driver of the trailer had disappeared (Although I don’t see any reason for it, mostly it was all our fault). Some locals were having some sort of party nearby and offered us drinks and smokes (which to be honest one of my friends kind of went and asked them for it). One of those person was actually a policeman (Inspector if I remember correctly) and were celebrating his promotion. On seeing our condition he asked all of us to stay at his place for the night. He also sent his friend to hospital so that two of my friends and driver could get receive immediate medical attention. By then, we already called for another cab (through original vendor). I was unable to walk (without pain) for almost 3 months. 1st of which was absolutely terrible. But seeing how bad the driver was injured, I was okay. Till date, I fear seating on the front seat of vehicle. Never learned driving (I am okay with my bike).

So, putting my knees against the dashboard probably saved my life, certainly changed my life!!