Copyright@shravancharitymission
By Kamlesh Tripathi
Many years
ago, Rishi a friend of mine was returning from a hill-station with his newly
married wife, after his honeymoon. They were in a shared jeep—the old one, with
a superstructure and canvass top having two longitudinal seats at the rear,
facing each other along the length of the vehicle.
And, as
all hill routes of those times, it was an uncomfortable journey, especially because
of the narrow and single winding road, and that too with a plethora of hair-pin
bends, and many of them, even without railings. It was drizzling low key, that
had shortened the visibility, and it appeared, both, the vehicle and the driver
were not solely depending on visibility alone, to course through, and were even
delving some bit on their day-to-day, hands-on experience of the road, since
time immemorial.
In all there
were ten people in the vehicle. Three in the front, and that included the
driver, Rishi and his wife. Six in the rear seats, three on either side. They were
two couples, and two men. And, last but not the least a half standing and half
sitting, uncomfortable, restless, and a noisy kid of around ten to twelve years.
Even when
the jeep was meandering down the road leaving everyone fatigued, giddy and
somewhat tired the untiring kid was all over the jeep trying to reach up to the
driver, to fiddle the gear lever and the
steering wheel, and that was irritating the driver.
The
parents of the kid appeared quite bindaas, and were not even attempting to calm
their hyper-child.
After about
fifteen minutes the jeep halted at the midway, to the railway station, which
was a two hour drive from the hill-station.
Most cafeterias
and dhabas were located within a span
of about hundred metres on the straight road passing the midway, after which the
road winded to an immediate right, where on one side you had climbing hills and
on the other side a dangerous fall of about a thousand feet, where there were
no railings. The roadsides along the straight road were crowded, and so the
jeep driver took the vehicle closer to the immediate right and parked it there,
and quite close to the point where there were no railings in a routine fashion,
to announce a stop of fifteen minutes, quite sufficient to freshen up, followed
by a cup of tea and some hot snacks, tasting, tastier in the cold weather, with
those panoramic views of tall coniferous trees, in the lap of those tall mountains.
Everyone got
off the vehicle except a lady in the rear seat who preferred to sleep most
likely on account of giddiness that had set in her, and giving her company was
her middle aged husband.
The naughty
kid was the first to finish his snacks, and soon came and sat in the vehicle
without his parents. And soon from the rear seat he jumped over to the front
seat and started swirling his hands on the steering wheel.
The man
behind mildly warned him to return to his seat but that fell on deaf ears. Soon
the kid started enjoying the steering wheel when his hands reached the gear
lever, and unknowingly his foot to the clutch pedal, and with that the jeep got
into neutral mode and slowly started rolling. The man behind saw what had
happened, and so, he jumped and ran towards the dhaba to call the driver, perhaps he didn’t know driving himself. His
wife was still asleep in the jeep.
The kid
was still unaware of what had happened and about the ensuing danger. And as the
vehicle slowly moved he started enjoying the feel of the vehicle even more as
the steering felt light. The vehicle was now heading towards the fall.
Upon hearing
the shout the driver edged out of the dhaba
and with grim eyes saw his fortune rolling towards the steep fall. He darted and
jumped inside trying to push the kid aside to stop the vehicle, but by then it
was too late as the front wheels of the jeep had already waddled off the road,
where it overhung for some moments and off it went taking the unlucky trio
along with it. All the three had died in the mishap— The kid, the driver and
the lady behind.
We often
blame destiny for whatever goes wrong in our lives. But in this case wasn’t it a
case of default destiny?
For why were
the parents of the kid so unconcerned about their hyper-child? In that one hour
of journey they never reprimanded the child even once. Not even when he was
irritating the driver while he was driving. And above all, they let the child alone,
to the vehicle parked alongside a dangerous fall. So such parents who don’t reprimand
their children at the initial stages need to introspect about the ghastly consequences.
The middle
aged husband realising the danger did not attempt to save his wife first, instead
he thought of saving all— the kid, his wife and the vehicle but in the process
could save nothing. So should it be, help yourself first?
The driver
knew about the hyper-child, yet he parked the jeep close to a dangerous point
in all casualness. And he could have
stayed away from the vehicle in those dying moments yet he pounced on it. So think
before you jump.
***
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