…. this morning.
It was a normal Friday morning. Got up bright and early to get to college. Finished lectures. Began driving from Sophia College to Bandra.
Just as soon as you get out of the main gate at Sophia, you drive down a narrow winding road to get to Warden Road – then Worli, then Bandra. Usually it is fairly smooth driving.

When i got to the end of the narrow road, the road had narrowed to 1.5 lanes. there were trucks parked on the right of the road – construction trucks – that were brining building material. Some of the old bunglows on this road are making way for high rises.

There was a signal, a few cars ahead of me, and I was waiting for the lights to turn to green. In the side view mirror I saw a truck rolling back. There was no place to move. The only place to go was ahead, and there were vehicles there. I pulled the hand brake. And waited.

Crunch. I heard glass go crunch. Trust me, it is a scary audio effect. The video was worse. A few tons coming down slowly against your car. And suddenly it stopped rolling. Someone had obviously pulled the hand brake on the truck. I could hear my heart thumping, my hands shaking and my brain slightly off kilter.

The lights changed to green. I moved out. Turned onto Warden Road, pulled over and checked for damage. The body of my car is fine but for a dent. The rear lights on the drivers side, and the tiny window on the rear were shattered. The truck was coming down at an angle -would have probably hit the driver. Was terribly lucky.

The shakes came later. I drove for a bit. pulled over at worli sea face and sat in the car for around 20 minutes till i came back to normal. Then i drove home to leave the car and get to work !

Sometimes, it doesn’t help just being a good driver, or even a safe one. It’s also a matter of luck…. Today I got lucky.

p.s. it is a good job that the Tata’s build their cars like tanks. 🙂 the Indigo Marina (that i drive) is a battle vehicle. we should possibly send it to the front !