Distance between Life and Death is so small ...literally

This happened a couple of days back.

After a normal , monotonous and tiring day at office , I was on my way back home . Normally , the traffic at around 11 in the night is quite less but on this day , it was a little unusual. There were more cars,bikes and cabs than on any given day at this time trying to speed up to their destinations with no traffic policeman monitoring the traffic at the signals.

The moment I crossed the first traffic signal , I saw the roads getting cluttered with cars and two-wheelers and in no time everything came to a stand still. Some of them were following the sides to find a way to move ahead. It was getting cold and I wasn’t enjoying my ride on this cold day after a tiring day at office.So ,I followed the vehicles moving towards the sides. I was trying to see the road ahead , when I saw a Jeep parked, or rather abandoned, lying skewed on the road. I also saw some people standing in a gathering. It didn’t take me long to figure out that it was an accident . Normally, at least a dozen times in a month I find bikes banging into cars , skidding or auto rickshaws brushing the sides of the cabs . Eventually , things regain the normal course , like the great Raj kapoor said , “ The Show must go On!” . So I thought this would also be another “routine” accident . With all these thoughts hovering in my mind , I was trying to cross the site when I saw a policeman squatted on the road making a few markings with a piece of chalk and scribbling something in his notepad. I was anxiously watching the movements of his hands trying to figure out what he was trying to draw and then Goshhhh !!! , I saw this man , about 35 years old lying in a pool of blood,next to the policeman. This was freaking scary.A fresh accident which happened just a few minutes ago was what I witnessed. The skull was crushed badly as if someone had hit his head hard with the full force in this universe , on the road. The mouth laid wide open eyes gaping towards the sky and his brain had popped out and was lying on the road . You rarely get to see these unwanted, unfortunate and bloody incidents but when you see them , you are forced to realise the fact that death sometimes is so ugly and life is so bloody fragile!!! . For a few seconds, I went completely numb , forgot that I was riding on my way back home . Finally, the honking behind me brought me back to where I was and I somehow gathered my senses and moved ahead. Though all this while , I was frequently turning back to see that man.

Thoughts of all kinds were there in my mind. Was he a techie like me ?? What about his family ?? They must be waiting for his return. Though I was OK by the time I reached home , but while I laid on bed to sleep , the whole incident again came into my mind. You know what. All this made me realise that this gift of life doesn’t come with a warranty . Live life to the fullest. Live every moment of life like there is no tomorrow. Listen to your heart and do what you love to do.

The next day when I was returning from the office , I was passing through the same place where the accident had happened the day before. My eyes were constantly on the road to see that spot where that man lied dead. I could see a piece of cloth kept on the road with few scattered pebbles around it. It seemed to me the cloth was kept to cover something. Probably , it was the brain of the man who had died, lying on the road waiting for the municipality sweepers to come and sweep it of , to make the road clean again for the commuters.


That’s life !!!