Accidents are a part and parcel of life. They happen all the time, with everybody, in the world. The only difference lies in the way these accidents affect our lives. Some minor accidents escape our notice soon enough, while some stay with us in some way or the other.

I have faced a number of minor accidents in life – once the door of the tanker ( 🙂 ) I was travelling in, suddenly opened and I was lucky not to be thrown out of the vehicle. That was on National Highway 21 near Shimla. Another time, our gang collided with a speeding moped, and I was lucky to just get away with some minor bruises. ChickenPox also took me in its arms while I was in the middle of an important training schedule – but it also helped me know the reality of the ‘friends’ I had. Another incident that I can recall happened when I was visiting my friend’s house. I was hardly 5-6 years old then. We – my friend and me – were throwing stones ( 🙂 ) at the neighbour’s house standing atop a water tank, when suddenly the concrete top caved-in and I found myself getting drowned in the tank. Luckily even at such a young age, my friend had presence of mind as he immediately shouted and fetched help from nearby areas. Somehow I was rescued – but I still remember that scene when I was inside that tank, trying to somehow breathe.

Just as October is a special month for me, over the last 11 years, I have also formed a close bond with the month of March – not just because it happens to host the festival of colours Holi, but because it happened to be the month when another such accident happened with me, that changed the way I look at life. Till then I had never suffered a fracture before, and looking at people with fractures and the problems they faced, I always prayed that I should never get one. But alas……

I still recall the day very well – 21st March ’97. (For the more historical-minded people, they were days when the musician Yanni had come to India to perform in front of Taj Mahal 🙂 .) In those days my dad was posted in Calcutta while mom, my brother and myself were in Lucknow, and our common meeting place used to be Patna. The occasion being Holi, we were supposed to leave for Patna that evening. While mom was busy with all the packing work, my brother and me decided to have a blast at the nearby park. We took our cosco ball and planned to play a bit of catch-catch. Light showers had made the park’s mud slippery. While we started playing, someone came along with a dobermann dog for a walk. Usually I wasn’t afraid of dogs, but suddenly when I saw the dog rushing towards me, I started running to avoid it, and in the process fell down on a few bricks. And as soon as I got up, I knew something bad had taken place – my left hand was completely twisted as a result of the fall. I felt as if I was in a dream and my eyes were playing tricks. But the accompanying pain ensured that I realized it was for real – my left forearm had taken an ‘S’ shape.

We immediately returned home, and I told my mom what had happened, and showed my left forehand to her. As soon as she saw it, all hell broke loose – she started sobbing, and then I was immediately taken to a bone-specialist. I knew it was something serious…a couple of neighbours who joined us also told me that perhaps I might lose my hand altogether. Some words of comfort, I should say 😦 .

Luckily the doctor was good, and he immediately began his work – stretched my hand and performed a a number of other activities that were so painful, I was shouting and howling all the time. Thankfully the ordeal ended within 90 minutes or so, and I was left with a plastered left hand. What had actually happened was that the 2 bones that form our forehand – radius and ulna – were broken, and so the forearm had twisted.

Anyways, after everything was settled, we returned home, and believe or not continued with our plans to go to Patna that very night 🙂 . As the days passed, my arm and the X-rays were shown to a number of specialists, and only after their assurance, we were convinced that I was indeed on my way to recovery.

The plaster lasted for exactly 3 months, and was finally opened on 21st June. But those 3 months were a living hell – I could not even scratch any itching inside the plaster. Plus there were a number of other physical difficulties. In fact I even gave my school exams in that plaster, and even got fifth rank 🙂 . Not only that, we even visited Calcutta, and once while travelling in a crowded local bus, people gave me their seat because of my plastered hand 🙂 .

Those 3 months taught me a number of things – living a handicapped life was indeed tough. We don’t value our human body as long as it is functioning properly. The moment something goes wrong with some part, we realize the importance of a healthy body. But more than that, I was also witness to my mother’s strong will power and courage, and how she managed everything at that time, with dad being away.

As this incident completes 11 years of occurance, I fondly recollect those days, and realize how lucky I was to get over that phase of life. Accidents will come and go, what’s important is the right kind of grit and determination you show in the face of any accident.