July 2012
VALUE
LIFE
Her 7 year young son
implored “Amma, get up, Amma wake up. There are several people who have
come to our house wanting to see you. I don’t know why they all are
crying. Amma, please wake up Amma”. His Grandmother sat close questioning
inconsolably, “Why did it have to happen to my daughter, What wrong has she
done…” while, his Grandfather was seemingly wandering aimlessly holding himself
from shedding a tear, making arrangements for what was to be his daughters
final journey….
Minus 4 days to that
day, Sujana got on to her 2 wheeler to run an errand for her son, a ride close
to her house. She would have been making around 30 km/hr or less on the
busy Filmnagar-Jubilee Hills checkpost road, when an auto hit her from behind.
Losing balance, she fell hitting her head on the road median. She was
immediately rushed to Apollo Hospitals, where the doctors sutured her head up
and informed that there was a good loss of blood and only a miracle would save
her. The cut was deep into the base of her skull. She was kept on
life support systems while we prayed our hearts out. With no progress
seen, the doctors advised the family of the dreaded option of removing the life
support system since, she was in a brain-dead state.
I often gaze at her office cubicle, right across where I sit…how I
miss the ever smiling face, the busy self, the neat composure and wonder on the
cruel twist of fate. It just took less than a second for the event to
happen on the fateful day. Thinking, how donning a HELMET could have
changed everything. How things could have been so very radically
different, how her son would run into her arms, when she returned home from
work, how her family would huddle together for those evening dinners or the
weekend get-togethers, how her son would not question his
grandparents…”Ammamma, you told me that Amma will be back after getting a new
brain…when will she be back…I want to tell her what all I did in school
today….”
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I am hoping that you will share the above article with your
friends. Perhaps, it will drive sense into atleast 10% of the
readers or their families that it wise to don a helmet while on a 2 wheeler,
wear a seat belt whilst in a car, drive slow and safe. I for one, have
decided not to take calls when I drive. How often I came close to hitting
someone in front, while I was busy looking at “Who called my cell”. I
recognize that a simple nudge to a 2-wheeler can have disastrous effects.
Prasanna Meher Nori
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