Friday, September 19, 2008

Thanking Aadi man for his heroic efforts…



Almost two weeks back, I had been to Udupi to attend my friend Shree’s wedding. After a long time, I was with my friend & ex-roommate Rohini and her family. It was wonderful tour. Shree had arranged for our stay in Kediyoor hotel.

After Shree’s wedding, we were traveling back to Bangalore. Sugama agency had changed the driver at the last moment. Driver was rash and had made us fly inside the bus throughout the journey. All of a sudden, around 5 AM in the morning, bus started moving in zigzag form. I heard people screaming on top of their voice and Meerakka Screaming “Chandhu…” (her husband’s name). Everything became dark within seconds. I don’t remember much about what had happened in next few minutes. Loss of memory :-).

When I got my sense back, I was outside the bus. Rohini was holding my hands. I saw Aadi (Aaditya - Rohin’s brother) shifting luggage from Bus. I could’t remember why and where I was standing. I asked Rohini why we were standing there. I could figure out that our bus had met an accident. But, I could’t remember where we were going and if my family was with me at that time.. When I asked Rohini the same question, she asked me to relax for few minutes. She tried to tell me that we were returning from Shree’s wedding. There was a house in front of the accident spot. Everyone in the bus stood or sat down near the house. I sat quiet watching people searching for luggage and a few of them helping others to get out of the Bus. I got my memory back after a few minutes and could remember that we were returning from Shree’s wedding.

The story of the accident goes like this.. Driver was in high speed and had dozed off which resulted in an accident.. It was a blind curve near Kunigal. Chandhu had got up from his seat to request the driver to stop the bus in Kunigal. When he reached driver’s seat, driver couldn’t even notice that someone is approaching him. At that moment, Driver had suddenly woke up from sleep and was trying to control the bus. But it didn't fetch any results. The bus turned towards Udupi again, moved to the corner of the road and toppled on right side (our side). Including driver, all the people who were on right side of the Bus had more injuries. Beds collapsed along with people on us. A baby from front seat / bed came rolling near our seat. Rohini found the baby near our legs and she gave the baby to her mother it seems.

Aadi was sitting in the last seat and Hadn’t slept when the accident took place. The moment he got to know that bus is not in control, he held some rod tight. That helped him avoid getting injured when the Bus toppled. Once the bus toppled, he broke open the emergency exit behind his seat and helped people to get out of the Bus. It was great Luck that Chandhu wasn’t in his seat when the bus touched the road. Maximum damage had happened near his seat. Due to the collision of bus against the road, there were sparkles it seems.

People pulled the driver out and he fled away. Though ambulance came after 40 minutes to the spot, there weren’t any first aid kit inside the ambulance. And the people from the hospital weren’t ready to give the stretcher as the place where we were waiting was not clean.
A lady had got severe cut on her legs and another person had his leg stuck inside the bus. Apart from those two, all of us had minor injuries. A rod pierced through Vishwas’s hand. He was the one injured to the maximum in our group.

Though the accident is a serious thing that can happen to anyone, there were funny scenes as well. A fat lady was sleeping on the bed above the seats didn't get injured in the accident. She was crying for her lost slippers that she had bought for Rs. 1000/- . In fact, there was one guy injured heavily coz, she fell along with her luggage on him :-).

Aadi was brave enough to break open the emergency exit and pull people out. His presence of mind and the way he patiently searched for luggage and handed them over to the respective people should be appreciated.

And.. one more family to thank is.. the people in the house situated next to the accident location. They helped all of us a lot. They switched on the lights at home which helped us in finding our way out of the bus. They refused money given by one of our group member. For them, any help they do to us would help them if they get into similar situation. If the accident would have occurred in Bangalore, first thing that could have happened is loss of luggage & jewels. I remember stories that people stole ornaments from dead bodies. Thanks to all the help they provided and let God keep them safe.. always.

By the way, I forgot to tell about Aadi. He is student of RV Engineering college, Bangalore. A bright student admired by all. A very bad singer.. (he use his singing talent to get his work done from me ).
I have a suggestion to people who travel long distance - especially during night times. If you have a choice, please choose Government Buses. There will be enough rest given to the drivers of Govt. buses and they will have speed limit. If anything goes wrong, there will be someone from the department to attend you or they can send you another Bus if required. In case of Private buses, drivers will not be given adequate rest and this leads to maximum accidents. I am not sure of other states, but KSRTC is doing good job here in Karnataka.

This blog entry is dedicated to Aadi man.. for his heroic effort in helping all of us. Thanks Aadi.

Friday, December 28, 2007

BSNL Customers.. be ware of fake Sales Reps

Yesterday, my Father-in-law told me something that made me to write this entry. A neatly dressed BSNL Sales Rep came to our house yesterday. He forced my Father-in-law to look at the new telephone instrument with new features.

The new instrument was nice one with additional features. The scheme was something like this. – Immediately the BSNL customer has to give Rs.1000/- cash to the Sales Rep. Rep will take the instrument to BSNL office and the customer will get Rs. 800/- refund on the old instrument. In this way, for just Rs. 200/-, customer will get new instrument with good features. But, my father-in-law wasn’t insterested. Sales Rep left without any returns.

Then, next day my Father-in-law went to BSNL office to pay the telephone bill. There, he found a board alerting its customers to be aware of cheaters coming home as BSNL sales rep and cheating people telling that the old instruments can be exchanged with new one. They had mentioned that they don’t have any Door-to-door sales reps as of now!!!

So.. if someone comes home telling that the telephone instrument can be exchanged with new one with less cost, be careful. Contact your nearest BSNL office.

Thursday, December 27, 2007

Thinking while riding…

It takes almost 1 hr 30 min to my office and almost same while returning. That is my Meditation time. I had read that while meditating, one starts getting random thoughts and then, the person has to tame all off them and start concentrating on one thing.. This is something similar. When I ride my Activa, I get so many thoughts. I want to write a few here.. Have fun reading them.

  • Life is like the Roads.. that we ride vehicles on. Some times, everything goes fine - like you get green signal everywhere. Some times, you have to stop at every signals, which makes you frustrated.. but finally you reach home - however big the signal time or Traffic jam is.
  • Life is uncertain. Even if you are not at fault, there is lot of chances of meeting with an accident. I will not be sure of returning home till I step inside the house.
  • All that I preach cannot be followed. I used to advice people the same when I used to ride Scooty which never used to cross 40. The moment I reach 40, it used to make such a sound that I would get scared and control the speed. Now, with Activa and empty road (sometimes) ahead, its really tough to control the speed. I test my patience..
  • Being happy with whatever I have. When I leave my home or office, I feel bad about the distance I have to travel (18 Km). But, the moment I start my Activa, I feel as though I am a permanent Rider and my feet never touches the ground.
  • I see the real world when I ride. Especially in signals. There will be so many people around.. like me. Total strangers. Few will be watching others. Few talking over phones. Few trying to make others move a little further in the tightly knit traffic jam. And a few trying to irritate others. Funny world!!!
  • I understand politician’s mentality when I ride. Yes.. The Bus drivers, Auto drivers and all those who drive.. most of them (say most of us) think the Road is our private property. When riding or driving a single vehicle can get you "so much attitude”, how about Politecians or Govt. officers? They have power in hand.. Isn't that enough to cool you down if you are burning within, seeing the politics around?

    I know these are funny to write. Being crazy, some times make you feel good. What say?