The split second before an accident is probably the longest second of them all. You can see the accident about to happen – and then everything moves as though it has been slowed down, till the crash. And then the world comes back into normal speed.

Today the car I was in, met with an accident. No one was hurt – but all of us were, and still are, fairly shaken.

Today began like any normal Monday morning. Up at half past five, got ready for my lectures – travelled into Sophia. Taught the kids the differnce between Connotative and Denotative words with refernce to media and communication. Lots of examples, lots of cases – atleast I have got them thinking.

I finished the lecture at 9.40, and moved to Mahim – where a former collegue, friend, and business associate – Madhavi Mutatkar stays. She had fixed up a meeting with Times Television and we were pitching for their wellness channel. We finished putting together the concepts by around 12.30 and moved towards town for the appointment at 2 p.m. Madhavi was driving her Fiat Palio. Just outside her place, at Hinduja Hospital – some idiot with a L plate braked suddenly. The car behind him tailgated him and the next 4 cars banged into one another. Ours was the second last car.

I could see the accident happening even before it did. The whole world moved very slowly. Thank God for the seat belt. I would have gone though windscreen without it. There is really no doubt in my mind about that. The recoil really was something else. My head spun for atleast two minutes with the jhatka.Madhavi was not wearing a seat belt – but she i guess that she saw the accident happening before I did and her body adjusted itself to minimize the impact. The radiator of the palio, and the compressor went bust. But as the Mumbai Police told us – we were lucky. Lucky that no one was speeding. A former colleague of mine wrapped his car around a tree in the very same location a couple of years ago – he ended up in the ICU for a couple of days.
Afterwards, we picked ourselves up, put the shakes on hold and went on for the meeing. It wasn’t too bad but the Times media policy – especially regarding TV – leaves me cold. I can’t see a business model in it, and Times won’t run something unless it makes money.
On the way back home stopped off at Santacruz for another meeting that is for another project for another channel.
Ah the joys of a start up business. No time to get the shivers and the shakes.
Tonight as i prepare for the land of nod – I have a slightly different perspective of mortality that what I had this morning. All it takes is a split second. As Sister Rodrigues put it – it is all Leela and Maya.