ESL Blogs

‘I want all the exam-copies on my table within two minutes’, the Principal ordered. So I rushed toward the teacher’s room to collect the copies. Only after unzipping my bag, my heart sank and I came to realize that I did not bring the copies with me on that day. They were left on my reading table back home. I changed my bag on that day and forgot to get the copies in my bag. Oh my God! So I went to the Principal’s room again and told her about my mistake. She was not happy at all and I could not blame her for that. How could I afford to be such an irresponsible! She ordered me again to get back home and bring the copies as early as possible.

It was an odd time and the office car was not available. The day was hot and I had been standing on the road for almost half an hour under the glaring sun. I was in a hurry but not getting any transport. I was completely at a loss and I did not know how I would reach home. Then a CNG driven auto-rickshaw halted abruptly in front of me. It was a ‘public’ auto-rickshaw, which carries five passengers at a time. I never ride on these vehicles because of safety matters. But on that day I eagerly got into that auto-rickshaw.

The road was empty and the vehicle was sprinting through it. I had lots in my mind. So I was sitting on the vehicle and being absorbed in my own thoughts. Suddenly the small vehicle started to fly. For a brief second it was in the air and then it came to a halt with a tremendous force. I was totally unaware of the situation. I only understood in that time that the passenger who was sitting right next to me was almost on me and somehow I hurt one of my toes. And though the vehicle was about to topple but somehow it managed to stand still. The driver of the auto-rickshaw was sitting still on his seat with his head down on the driving handle and the other passengers were also sitting on their seats, nobody was moving an inch.

I was so numb and totally speechless. I was just standing there and staring at everything without seeing or understanding anything. I was not realizing why people had been rushing toward us or why they had been helping us to get out of the vehicle or why they had been asking if we were hurt again and again. Nothing was making any sense to me. Maybe for two or three minutes or more, I don’t know exactly, I had been standing on the road like an unmoving statue and then I started realizing everything I had just experienced a while ago. The front wheel of the three wheeler was somehow broken and it was nowhere to be seen. The auto-rickshaw was standing on the right lane of the road like a hunch-back, though it was following the left lane. The huge area beside the left lane of the road was a low land. The road was about 15 feet higher than the land beside its left side. So if the vehicle flew toward that direction instead of flying toward the right lane of the road, it would jump down 15 feet from the edge of the road, and we all would turn into a pretzel!

We all could die. At least we all could have serious injuries. But there we were! Safe and sound! On that moment I realized that the distance between life and death is only a fraction of time! Tears were in my eyes after realizing that I was actually alive. On that moment I realized that only being alive is meaningful and rest of all is just meaningless………