All our lives are complicated and chaotic.. people take different routes to cope with the hurdles they come across in life. I have various mechanisms to get through with the rigmalore called life.
"I want some peace", my mind kept echoing. Temple it is, I thought. I decided to go to Kallahalli (Vishnu temple) my go-to place when am stressed, on Kanakapura Road, about 70kms from Bangalore.
Flashes of my mom in the ICU mushroomed my thoughts as I drove through the crazy traffic on Kanakapura road. A pack of cigarettes and my favourite set of old Hindi songs kept me sane through the journey and I finally reached my destination.
Trust me on this, this temple is like an anti-depressant, its serene ambience instantly calms you down. There was a sense of relief as I entered the main gopuram - it just felt like someone just hugged me and assured me everything’s going to be alright. My mind felt as light as a feather.
I was famished and all I thought about was breakfast, while coming back. I was driving at a steady speed, I was following all the rules and I was on my lane and then this happened near Harohalli on Kanakapura Road. A lady on a two wheeler in a nighty with no helmet and a phone in her hand came out of no where from a cross road on to the highway and hit my car bumper on the back and fell down.
I couldn’t stop immediately as there was too much traffic and a major road repair was going on. I stopped after a few 100 metres and was checking the status of my car. I was extremely annoyed after I saw a big dent on the back bumper.
There was this man on a bike who came to the spot and said “yen madam hit and run ah? Banni police hatra”. I was totally taken aback. I tried to explain what actually had happened and offered to take her to the hospital for first aid. He wasn’t ready to listen. He was just too adamant on me coming to the police station. I agreed as I knew there was no mistake from my end. The police station was just a kilometre away from here. He sat in my car as he thought I was going to run away.. duh!
We went to the police station and explained what had happened. The inspector asked for my license and car insurance and I handed it over. I realised my car insurance had expired the previous month and I was too busy to think about all this as I was stressed about my mom who was in the hospital.
I had to park my car in the station as this was an accident case. I went to the hospital to get this lady some first aid. They told me she had fractured her hand. There was a mob waiting for me there. I was shell shocked, I had not seen anything like this before. For no fault of mine, they were cursing me and two men were ready to hit me. I was in tears as I didn’t know what to do. I called few of my friends and they came but until they did, I was too scared to even move.
They thought I was rich spoilt kid and demanded that I give her 2 lakh rupees. The doctor and police, everyone was supporting her. Only if I had the car insurance renewed I wouldn’t have had to go through this shit, I thought.
PS: They filed an FIR against me for rash driving and demanded 12 lakh rupees (from 2Lakh straight to 12 lakh 😂) the case went on for 3 years and finally I won the case! The judgement said that the complainant will not get a single penny and this is purely a harassment case. I also got to know during the trial, that the lady neither had license or insurance but still her case got registered and I was totally miffed with the police for even registering it.
Moral of the story - always renew your car insurance and don’t be an ass like me🤪
