Bang!!!
That was the sound i was supposed to hear, waking up at 5am in the APSRTC volvo bus. Instead, woke up wondering why people were screaming and how come I was getting wet in the rain.
It was a minute after I opened my eyes that I realised:
- Our bus met with a nasty accident
- A dead body lying at one arm distance away from my seat
- My leg was stuck, and hurting!
- There were only 3 people there to help in the bus, the remaining travelers disappeared
Soon I made sense out of the situation and understood that the Volvo had crashed into a stationary truck from behind. The truck came right into the front-left of the bus and was parked touching the feet of the front row passengers. With this impact, the front seats broke and got pushed behind, crushing my right leg. Consequently the four of us from the front two rows were stranded in the bus, screaming for help.
The 3 people in the bus were willing to help, but were actually helpless. They didnt know how to get us out, as breaking the metal seats were almost impossible. The next 45 to 50 minutes I spent in the bus felt like a few hours.
As fimly as this may sound, I was yelling for help. All those who stood around us said that they wanted to help, but could not think of anything to do. Thats when I realised that I had to do more than just yell! I started asking them to take effective action, like try to break the seat, bring a leaver and try up-rooting the seat, unscrew the seat with a spanner, or anything that is more productive than just standing and watching us probably lose our leg.
After an agonizing 50 minutes, I finally got my leg out. My right leg was numb and I was unable to step on it. Got into a stretcher and went straight into the ambulance.
We reached------ oh wait--- before this, I got a photo in the ambulance with my t-shirt red with blood. The guys around me though my injury in my head had made me mad, but I know this was a rare moment and worth capturing. :)
We reached the government hospital, where they took me straight into the room where a man, who looked like the attender, asked where it was hurting. Thats when I showed him my head and he said that there was a glass piece in it. I stayed calm, and asked him to remove it as carefully as possible. Now that the glass was out, he said he needed to stitch it. So in the next few minutes, I had three stitches on my head.
Leg was bleeding profusely, had to tie quite a few bandages to help clot the blood.
As more injured passengers were coming in, I moved outside the room into the corridor, finding myself some place to seat.
We had a helpful guy around, who arranged for a vehicle to take us to Bangalore. This was a 3 hour drive, that took over 4 hours in the morning Bangalore traffic. I had informed my cousins, who were all ready waiting outside Yashoda hospital. Soon as I got off, I was taken straight to the casualty, where I was told that another few stitches were required on my leg. So just before I got the stitches on the leg, I had another round of brief photographs! :)
So spent most of a day at the hospital and then went back to my cousins place, where I was for a week, before I moved back to Hyderabad.
I was in hyd for about 6 weeks, just resting.
Sometimes its funny, just when you think that you have got a hold of things, it all just turns around and surprises you.
A lot of things happen for the first time. My first major accident, first time I was admitted in a hospital, first time I used a wheel chair/crutch and many more. I do realise that none of the above incidents are achievements, but what the heck, they still are my first time.
Glad I am alive, and its time to party hard and live it up! :)
Here is the link to the snaps:
