"What! are you insane!..You @#$%%$#!...You Bloody #$%#$%..what made you say so...how dare you utter such words..,may all curses I make today on you come true"
It was the night before Christmas in Pune during my 5th semester in college. It was biting cold and very foggy. My friends and I had dinner after a hard evening's volley ball play and then just dispersed to our rooms. I was doing my routine stuff of reading news on the internet, check emails and then settled down to watch a movie..half way through the movie I was hearing someone talking in the corridor. I thought it must be someone from the adjoining rooms and then got my concentration back on to the movie. 3 or 4 min later I heard more people talking and they were familiar voices. I thought it was my friends who got togethter for a routine night out (hang out in the corridor discussing non sense upto 4 or 5 in the morning), I had no mood to go out and spend time with them as the movie was so intruging. However I just thought I should go and come back in 15 min and opened the door.
I was a little surprised when I found most of them standing right at my door and had a worried look over their faces, I apparently had no clue of what was going to come and asked them what was the matter. They said my friend Anil had met with an accident and no one knew his whereabouts. A few min of enquiring with all his acquaintances we came to know that he wanted to celebrate that night as he got a job in the morning in one the companies that visited the campus and was dead drunk. He was drinking since evening and around 11 PM in the night he wanted more so he went out to buy some more liquor with another guy. Despite being warned by the security people he didnt heed to them and was adamant on going out, And so he did!
Later the guy with whom Anil went out came back injured saying that they met with an accident about 3 km from the college and wasnt able to find Anil after they fell from the bike as it was pitch dark and foggy. He searched for about 15 min and then came back running to the college.
10 or 12 of us left to the accident site immediaetly. Police had already reached the site and there were about 8 or 10 people already searching. The accident happened on a small bridge. The bike on which Anil and his friend were riding hit the support railing of the bridge, Anil could have ejected from his seat and fell straight into the drainage stream flowing below the bridge. The fire dept was called in but it never came, everyone were looking into the stream but were not able to see anything. After waiting in vain for Firemen to come one of my friends climbed down the bridge into the stream. As he moved around in the stream below I could see that it was difficult. His movement made a lot of noise..probably innumerous stones on the streambed and iron junk. He could finally locate Anil and tried to move him, probably a hopeful attempt to wake him up but that didnt help. He managed to get hold of Anil's shoulder and pulled him out, there were fwe others who helped to lift Anil out of the gutter on to the road. I saw panic striken faces when Anil lied there unmoved. Frantic attempts were made to move him, give him artifical respiration and a lot more but nothing helped. Finally the policemen who were watching the drama standing on the railing of the bridge offered to give a ride to the nearby hospital. We immediaetly rushed him to the hospital. I drove ahead and woke up the hospital staff. Thankfully they were ready in less than 2 min. Within moments of the police van arriving Anil was shifted to the Emergency and frantic attempts were being made to revive his pulse. All the machines were attached to his body and measurements were being taken. All ways of reviving his pulse, heartbeat, breath were being made.
5 anxious minutes later the doctor came to me and asked me how was I related to Anil, I told him that I am his friend from college. The next words that the doctor said froze me completely..All he said was "I am Sorry, you were late, Anil is no more". It took me a couple of minutes to digest what the doctor said and get myself back to senses. Everyone had an unspoken anger on their faces. They were pissed off that that police were watchng the drama when we were slogging to get Anil out and the fire dept which never turned up.
It was now important to call everyone and inform about the unfortunate demise. I called up the college admin and informed about it. I went about the task informing his friends and college seniors whom we all were close to. Then I called up Anil's Home and the next fifteen minutes were probably the hardest in my life.
I dialed the number and few rings later a lady (Anil's mother) in a very tired voice picked the phone, it was almost 3 AM and never in her life would she have expected a call from me at that odd hour. I introduced myself as Anil's friend, suddenly there was anxiousness in her voice: I didnt know how and what to say..All I could say was " Aunty I am sorry to inform you Anil met with an accident and is no more".. She shouted on top of her voice and started cursing me, I could do nothing to calm her down. She broke down and cried loudly, My attempts to console went in vain . She asked me " There were so many of you, how could you let him die?", I had no answer for it. She was right, it was my irresponsibility as a friend to let him drink so much and allow him to drive in the dead of the night. But more than my self chastization at the moment it was important to control and console Anil's mother. I was worried that she may punish herself. Anil's father took over and it was a repeat of conversation with Anil's mother. The only difference..bigger curses and louder cries. Little I could do to control both of them, All I could say finally was " I will arrange to send Anil's body home after the formalities", I could hear them wailing even louder. I had to cut the call forcibly to attend to the formalities to claim Anil's body.
After an agonizing 4-5 hrs of formalities which included a post mortem and case registry etc. we were able to send Anil's body through an ambulance to his native place. I made another call to his home and informed his parents about it, They were in grief, crying internally after losing all their energy to cry. Anil's father managed to say " I dont know why it happened, its my bad luck. My son was supposed to be my pillar of strength and he just left so abruptly, whom do I blame expect for myself, Now it has happened, I will accept it. Will wait for his body to arrive". I had no words to respond to his anguish. I expressed my condolences and cut the call.
The Ambulance carrying Anil's body left the hospital. We waited until it left our sight and started back to the college sad, tired, disoriented...
