An unforgettable trip


As a part of the theme post for this week, we have to come up with a photo from the past and the memories associated with this. There was a host of photos to choose from. Finally I decided to go with one taken at a trip to Nagarjuna Sagar dam.

This is a view of the river Krishna from the hotel Vijay Vihar at Nagarjuna Sagar, Hyderabad.




This trip done way back in August 2007 holds bitter-sweet memories for me. It was amongst the first trips, aside from the honeymoon, of course, that the husband and I undertook as a newly-wed couple. We were three families on this road trip from Hyderabad: Us, V-K, also newly-weds and U-N, an older couple with a 3 year old toddler. All six of us squeezing into a tiny Alto car was an experience in itself!

Most of the particulars about the trip are a blur for me now, except our return journey. N was driving the car and the rest of us were singing and chattering away when we saw a small boy with a stick in his hand crossing the road dangerously, even as we came speeding along. Although, N had slowed the car sufficiently in anticipation, we were brought to an abrupt halt with a loud THUD! I closed my eyes tightly, heart beating rapidly. I thought the boy was killed. The men got out. Thankfully, the boy was alive and only injured. The loud noise was of the stick breaking. We wanted to take the boy to a nearby doctor but what we didn't realize was how much difficult this was going to be.

We were soon surrounded by a crowd of villagers and relatives of the boy, screaming and shaking their fists at us. Some women crying out loudly as though the boy had died. No amount of pacifying could have them even listen to us. We were sorry and aghast at what had happened but the fact remained that the boy was crossing dangerously without adult supervision and above all was injured and needed to be taken to the hospital pronto. There was needless chaos created with people concerned and not concerned talking and screaming  in a regional language that only U and N could understand and speak. That, we were accepting responsibility to take the boy to a nearby hospital, see to it that he was attended to and also pay for the medical expenses, was simply lost to the milling crowd that seemed to get out of control. We even asked them to call the police to sort the situation out but they weren't too keen on the police too.

It then dawned on us that the people out there were only ganging up against us in a bid to extract as much money as they could, the condition of the victim notwithstanding. By cornering us and attacking us thus, they were trying to intimidate us with their sheer number. It was then N decided to take things into control. He is an influential business man with a strong social network. Being a business man also meant, he was equipped to handle people and adverse situations in more ways than one. Even in that far-flung remote area, he managed to find a known guy who also happened to be a doctor. It was agreed that the boy would be taken to that doctor in a local autorickshaw with one of us accompanying the villagers. We also thought it necessary to file a police complaint. The husband decided to accompany N and the villagers to the local doctor while the rest of us were to file an FIR and proceed home.

The silence during the rest of the journey is still fresh in my mind. That, I was shaken is to put it mildly. Amongst all thoughts that were running in my mind was that my husband of 6 months was still in the company of those roughians, albeit with the resourceful N and help at hand. V, who drove us back home, tried his best to lighten up the mood and kept reassuring me and the rest of us. U, a strong personality herself, seemed fairly in control, either because she was sure of N's mettle in such situations or because she saw it as her responsibility to keep calm. However, I breathed easily only in the wee hours of morning when N and the husband returned home safely.  



24 comments:

  1. I love the place ..its so peaceful and serene!

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  2. God, that sounds like one bad experience but the place looks so peaceful..can't say the place was worth it..but it would have definitely calmed you down. *hugs*

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    1. oh..the experience was on the way back, Aparna, so we had already had our share of good times at the place :-)

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  3. That's scary Uma, can imagine just a little bit of what your feelings were like. We had an experience of an accident with a 2 wheeler, and one of them was thrown off and hurt. Not badly, but still, until we knew he was ok, we were holding our breath.

    Things were very different though, with the locals being really nice and realizing it was the 2 wheeler guy's fault, and the ambulance arriving really promptly!

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    1. more than the mishap, we were shaken by the attitude of the people..they were simply bent on creating a hue and cry when none was required..

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  4. Hmm..quite an eventful trip then! But it is good to know that you did not let the bitter experience on the way home affect your memories of your holiday!

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    1. eventful indeed, Nidhi..but all's well that ends well.. :-)

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  5. Shoot, that must have been scary and esp when there are so many people ganging up!! :( But good at least it got all sorted out :)

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    1. yes, it was scary, Simran..thankfully all was OK in the end.

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  6. oops... ! but life is made of such bittersweet memories.. but that pic looks so serene!

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    1. yeah..a serene pic to go with a murky tale :-)

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  7. Scary! Glad the boy was largely unharmed. This mob scene is what really scares me.

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    1. we were glad too that the boy was not badly injured but the apathy shown by the own clan seemed absurd..

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  8. Mobs materialize from nowhere and their bullying has nothing to do with the actual case. My nightmare too.

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  9. Lovely photo and bitter sweet memories. My dad was an engineer so we lived very close to a dam project, this pic reminded me of that time :)

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    1. ah..did you live close to such wonderful surroundings too?

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  10. The photo is very nice but the memories are mixed.... !

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  11. Quite a scene! Shaky and scary...Well it becomes an unforgettable trip for all of you.

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    1. Indeed, one that I cannot forget, Swathika!

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  12. Wow! that picture is indeed very beautiful and so serene.
    You know a similar thing happened to us also while driving to madras, a lady who was hesitant, and two minds whether to cross or not suddenly crossed the road and despite putting break she fell down, and before we could see what happened and take her to the nearby hospital a big crowd gathered, and all this crowd was interested was how much compensation we could give her, although none were related to her, nor were they bothered about her condition. My husband also is very firm when it comes to dealing with an unruly crowd, and he too is a business man and he just took her to the hospital and since she was not hurt badly , with just a basic first aid she was released, and we gave her some amount. However those few minutes are really terrifying, when faced with a crowd of job less people.
    I can truly relate to your post.

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  13. Great! it's lucky to visit like these places, to make the mind very coooool! : )

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