Samaritan in a jam
I woke up at the last possible moment, quickly showered, gobbled my breakfast, kissed my daughter goodbye and as usual, slammed the door on the way out, having had yet another argument with my wife. Looking at Google maps, I braced myself for a long, jam-filled commute to office. So, a typical Tuesday morning.
Within 10 mins, I was caught in said jam. For the next 20 mins, I sat idly, thinking about our argument over and over again, my emotions swayed between anger and regret with each repetition of the event. Before I could conclusively decide that it was her fault (it was), the traffic finally opened up and I managed to hit the third gear for about 15 minutes. And then, the traffic crawled again. Having driven this route for over two years, I was surprised to see a jam at this spot. This road led to the business district so the traffic is largely one way in the morning. There’s no oncoming traffic and the absence of a divider means that cars zip through, frequently driving in the wrong lane for the entire stretch.
Today, however, this precious piece of road too had become one with rest of the city and the cars refused to outrun a snail. As I moved forward, I realised that the traffic was only moving forward from the wrong lane and those who refused to move from the right side, were stuck. So, like any right thinking person, I steered my car in the moving-but-wrong lane. Within minutes, I could see that there was a breakdown in front which was causing the holdup. Soon enough, I was parallel to the broken down car. I had assumed that the car must’ve been in an accident and out of curiosity, peeked to check the extent of the damage. Instead of a smashed window or a burst tyre however, I saw a man slumped in the driver’s seat of an unscathed car.
“Is he having a stroke?”, “Is he breathing?”, “Is he even alive?” — questions flooded my mind along with panic. Something you should know about me is that I am the selfish kind who never stops by an accident site to offer help. In fact, I am so indifferent that I do not even slow down the car for a fleeting glance, as seems to be natural to most people. Today, however, I decided to step up. Even if for nothing other than to gain some moral superiority by sharing it with people and writing a long Linkedin post about how saving a life is more fulfilling than being punctual.
I had already begun forming the outline of said post by the time I manoeuvred my car to park right in front of his. Hurriedly, I stepped out of the car and raced towards his. I frantically banged on the window.
Here, the story breaks in to two alternative routes since I could not pick between the two.
Sleeping Beauty
I frantically banged on the window. With a jerk, the driver woke up. With all the annoyance of a man roused from sleep at 2 AM by a howling cat, he shooed me away. Disappointed, I dragged myself back to my car, resolving to never make the same mistake again. The Linkedin post too was not an option because however practical, because realism works but idealism sells. By the time I was in my seat, Mr. sleeping beauty was in his elements and honking incessently, asking me to move.
Irritated, I pressed the pedal and zoomed away, trying to put distance between me and him, hoping that that may alleviate some of my frustration. But the driver had other plans and kept on my tail, trying to gain any inch on offer. His urgency reminded me of the time when I myself tried to squeeze my way through traffic because I was late for an interview. Ironically, that day, I was late because I had overslept. In. My. Bed.
Cut to present and I debated giving him the way but (another thing to know about me is that I am petty) I took this as an opportunity to offload my chagrin and decided against it. Not that I was actively trying to slow him down but I just turned into a 55 year old man, insisting on his right of way. However, as we came to a turn, he tried to overtake me and I, stubborn as ever, tried to cut his way. In a flash, I went from a Linkedin post about kindness to a newspaper obituary about a professional driving rashly because he was late for a meeting.
Distress Call
I frantically banged on the window but he did not budge. I banged harder but to no avail. All thoughts about a Linkedin post evaporated and I was suddenly in flight or fight mode. The panic, though, did not last as I was not the one fighting and hence, could be brave. I nervously took out my phone and called an ambulance. I was instructed to break the glass and check for pulse while the ambulance arrives. I wanted to help but what I wanted even more was to not hurt myself. So, I picked a rock from the side of the road and hurled it towards the window, fully aware that the glass shards may fall on him. “The man is probably dead. A few scratches wont hurt him”, I reasoned. The glass scattered through the car, some landing on him, giving him several cuts. I wriggled my hand in and checked for breath. I could not be sure but it was running. To be certain, I blocked his nose and mouth and began counting seconds. At 10, he unconsciously jerked to free his nose. He was alive! As if on cue, I heard the siren.
Soon, the ambulance was in view and I waved at them to reach quickly. It zipped through and came to a halt right behind us. Two serious looking men rushed towards us, gesturing me to move and give them space. In this chaos, I moved across the wrong side of the lane and heard a bit too loud honking. I turned around and saw a fast approaching BMTC bus.
Good thing the ambulance was around to carry my body. The Linkedin obituary written by my company spent 3/4th of the ink highlighting their core values of kindness and selflessness. Silver linings.
