Monsoon Season, 2003.
I ran through the ground into the back entrance of my college. Everyone was staring at me as I was completely drenched. It was raining heavily and they thought I was mad enough to run in the rain and come to attend the class after the break. I turned to check whether my friend KK is still there with me, and yes he was there completely soaked in water just like me.
Suddenly one of my seniors came and asked ‘What Happened o you guys?’ ’We need first aid, his hand is bleeding’ I replied pointing to KK. The senior questioned, ‘How did this happen?’ We were shivering, but somehow both of us managed to reply ‘The…the…boat flipped and almost drowned.’
My college was located near a coastal area, especially the hostel which faced a beach. It is a breathtaking view from the top of my hostel. The food was served in the mess near the hostel but the funny side was that our college was located on another side which was separated by a small canal or backwaters to be precise. Unlike other college students who traveled in buses to go to their colleges, we used to travel in our college boat to the college. There were 2 boats which ran on motor and had a covering on the top to avoid rain. They were pretty big enough to hold 30 -40 people at a time. But the local commuters other than the students take the local row boats which cost 1 Rupee for one side travel. It was fun having a boat ride to the college daily until that day.
During our lunch time which was one hour, we take the boat, reach the other side have lunch and again come back in the boat. So on that cloudy day as usual I went to the boat-jetty along with my friends to catch the boat for lunch. The jetty was a small projection from the land which did not have any shelter to protect from rains. As the first boat came almost everyone standing there got into it except a few like me. Most of my friends were in that boat and they asked me to join. I told them that it so crowded and I will take the next boat. a few of them stayed with me.
The next boat arrived and we slowly climbed into it. We cracked some jokes to the boat driver who was popularly known as the ‘Duck’. Inside the boat I sat on the side opposite from the entrance. A cool breeze was there and it started drizzling slowly. I really enjoyed the climate and as put my hands outside the boat, I felt that the rain was getting heavier. When I looked onto the shore I saw a huge crowd standing there.
A heavy down pour came and the crowd standing on the banks had no choice other than to jump inside the boat for shelter. The boat was already full and ready to go and the rope which was connected the bank was untied. As a lot of people jumped the weight of that side increased and the boat slightly tilted towards that side. Initially I did not take notice as it usually happened, but slowly it started tilting towards that heavy side. I heard a creak and then it was all on a sudden I saw the water level reaching my knee level when I shouted ‘no’ and then it reached my chest level when I left out slightly bigger ‘Noo’ and as the water level reached my neck I gave out the loudest ‘NOOOOOOOO’ which broke off abruptly as water entered my mouth, it all happened in 2 seconds. As the boat was flipping I saw the driver ‘Duck’ Jumping on to the shore and trying to block the boat with all his strength. That was the last thing I saw before going into the water.
For a few seconds my head was inside the water I struggled, I could not breathe. With all my strength I prayed to God and pushed myself upwards and I saw that side portion of the boat was open. I pushed my self again and caught hold of one of the bars on the side of the boat and put my head outside but I could not see anything as I was partially drowned and my spectacles was completely wet , also when I looked up I could not see anything other than heavy rain. My mind went blank and I could feel death.
I had blurred vision through my spectacles as it was raining but I saw an orange object tied to the side of the boat, it was a life buoy. Struggling hard I managed to get inside that and that was the time I started hearing cries and shouts of other people from the boat. I found that boat has flipped to one side but has not drowned completely. Most of them were screaming at the top of their voices. The water entered the boat and the only opening was the side portion which I was holding on. I found some more people in my same position. My friends were moving towards the rear entrance of the boat which was also open.
Suddenly one of my friends shouted ‘Heyy man just free yourself from that buoy other wise the boat will take you with it when is drowns as the buoy is strongly tied to the boat, here there is way out here through the rear entrance’. Somehow I freed myself from the buoy and went to the back side of the boat along with my friends. By catching the edges of the boat we managed reached the other side. There it was shallow and hence we were able to fix our foot and moved to the shore. By that time there were some people on the shore who was pulling the one’s in the boat. Those people helped us climbed onto the shore.
On the shore I somehow stood on the foot shivering from the shock and saw the real situation. The boat was flipped to one side and there were a lot of row boats and local people around. Some of them jumped into the water to rescue the people who went under the boat. The people who sat on the ends of the boat escaped like us but the people in the middle mostly girls drowned. Then I saw the se boat men diving into the water picking up the unconscious bodies of students from under the boat and moving them on to their row boats. As it was raining heavily, the rescue operations were difficult. Then my friend KK told that his hand had cut from the fiber of the boat and it was bleeding. So we ran towards the college for first aid.
The rescued people were taken to hospital immediately. The whole episode lasted not more than an hour . Everybody was fast in their actions; hence they were able to rescue all of them. We did not have classes on that day. The authorities came to the hostel and took the attendance to check if anyone was missing. There were some minor injuries for some students but nothing was serious. Luckily all the lives were saved.
Even today I shiver when I think of this incident. On that day I chose the second boat instead of the first without having a slightest idea of what will happen. Luckily god chose that we should live, hence we all survived. In the process he showed us how important our Life is, it can be changed within seconds. He showed me the thin line between life and death and made me realize that life is so unpredictable; every second has a million possibilities. When we face a failure we understand the importance of winning, when we starve we understand the importance of food, similarly when I faced death I knew what LIFE meant.
Suddenly one of my seniors came and asked ‘What Happened o you guys?’ ’We need first aid, his hand is bleeding’ I replied pointing to KK. The senior questioned, ‘How did this happen?’ We were shivering, but somehow both of us managed to reply ‘The…the…boat flipped and almost drowned.’
My college was located near a coastal area, especially the hostel which faced a beach. It is a breathtaking view from the top of my hostel. The food was served in the mess near the hostel but the funny side was that our college was located on another side which was separated by a small canal or backwaters to be precise. Unlike other college students who traveled in buses to go to their colleges, we used to travel in our college boat to the college. There were 2 boats which ran on motor and had a covering on the top to avoid rain. They were pretty big enough to hold 30 -40 people at a time. But the local commuters other than the students take the local row boats which cost 1 Rupee for one side travel. It was fun having a boat ride to the college daily until that day.
During our lunch time which was one hour, we take the boat, reach the other side have lunch and again come back in the boat. So on that cloudy day as usual I went to the boat-jetty along with my friends to catch the boat for lunch. The jetty was a small projection from the land which did not have any shelter to protect from rains. As the first boat came almost everyone standing there got into it except a few like me. Most of my friends were in that boat and they asked me to join. I told them that it so crowded and I will take the next boat. a few of them stayed with me.
The next boat arrived and we slowly climbed into it. We cracked some jokes to the boat driver who was popularly known as the ‘Duck’. Inside the boat I sat on the side opposite from the entrance. A cool breeze was there and it started drizzling slowly. I really enjoyed the climate and as put my hands outside the boat, I felt that the rain was getting heavier. When I looked onto the shore I saw a huge crowd standing there.
A heavy down pour came and the crowd standing on the banks had no choice other than to jump inside the boat for shelter. The boat was already full and ready to go and the rope which was connected the bank was untied. As a lot of people jumped the weight of that side increased and the boat slightly tilted towards that side. Initially I did not take notice as it usually happened, but slowly it started tilting towards that heavy side. I heard a creak and then it was all on a sudden I saw the water level reaching my knee level when I shouted ‘no’ and then it reached my chest level when I left out slightly bigger ‘Noo’ and as the water level reached my neck I gave out the loudest ‘NOOOOOOOO’ which broke off abruptly as water entered my mouth, it all happened in 2 seconds. As the boat was flipping I saw the driver ‘Duck’ Jumping on to the shore and trying to block the boat with all his strength. That was the last thing I saw before going into the water.
For a few seconds my head was inside the water I struggled, I could not breathe. With all my strength I prayed to God and pushed myself upwards and I saw that side portion of the boat was open. I pushed my self again and caught hold of one of the bars on the side of the boat and put my head outside but I could not see anything as I was partially drowned and my spectacles was completely wet , also when I looked up I could not see anything other than heavy rain. My mind went blank and I could feel death.
I had blurred vision through my spectacles as it was raining but I saw an orange object tied to the side of the boat, it was a life buoy. Struggling hard I managed to get inside that and that was the time I started hearing cries and shouts of other people from the boat. I found that boat has flipped to one side but has not drowned completely. Most of them were screaming at the top of their voices. The water entered the boat and the only opening was the side portion which I was holding on. I found some more people in my same position. My friends were moving towards the rear entrance of the boat which was also open.
Suddenly one of my friends shouted ‘Heyy man just free yourself from that buoy other wise the boat will take you with it when is drowns as the buoy is strongly tied to the boat, here there is way out here through the rear entrance’. Somehow I freed myself from the buoy and went to the back side of the boat along with my friends. By catching the edges of the boat we managed reached the other side. There it was shallow and hence we were able to fix our foot and moved to the shore. By that time there were some people on the shore who was pulling the one’s in the boat. Those people helped us climbed onto the shore.
On the shore I somehow stood on the foot shivering from the shock and saw the real situation. The boat was flipped to one side and there were a lot of row boats and local people around. Some of them jumped into the water to rescue the people who went under the boat. The people who sat on the ends of the boat escaped like us but the people in the middle mostly girls drowned. Then I saw the se boat men diving into the water picking up the unconscious bodies of students from under the boat and moving them on to their row boats. As it was raining heavily, the rescue operations were difficult. Then my friend KK told that his hand had cut from the fiber of the boat and it was bleeding. So we ran towards the college for first aid.
The rescued people were taken to hospital immediately. The whole episode lasted not more than an hour . Everybody was fast in their actions; hence they were able to rescue all of them. We did not have classes on that day. The authorities came to the hostel and took the attendance to check if anyone was missing. There were some minor injuries for some students but nothing was serious. Luckily all the lives were saved.
Even today I shiver when I think of this incident. On that day I chose the second boat instead of the first without having a slightest idea of what will happen. Luckily god chose that we should live, hence we all survived. In the process he showed us how important our Life is, it can be changed within seconds. He showed me the thin line between life and death and made me realize that life is so unpredictable; every second has a million possibilities. When we face a failure we understand the importance of winning, when we starve we understand the importance of food, similarly when I faced death I knew what LIFE meant.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteme and sachu met after 7 months..
ReplyDelete