Quote:
Originally Posted by ankan.m.blr I have a horrible accident in nanjangud on way to mysore. Car smashed totally. Please help with the number of the Maruti helpline. |
Hello Team-BHPians,
I have finally gathered enough courage to share the details of an accident that happened to me on 21st Jan 2013. In the hope that finally I get a closure on the incident and start leading a normal 'automotive' life again. More importantly, to request fellow T-BHPians not to repeat the mistakes that I did. It might save ones life.
Before I start, let me confess what I feel is the truth: I consider myself responsible for this accident. Please read on.
Background : Nov-Dec 2012 was very hectic in my professional and personal life. My office made me work more than a month without a break, work related stress was high. In the last week of Dec-2012, my mom fell ill and was admitted to Manipal Hospital ICU for 6 days. I was not getting enough sleep for a long period of time. The pressure of professional and personal life took its toll on my health too. By mid-Jan 2013, I was over-worked, over-stressed and was on the verge of a breakdown. I couldn't take it anymore. Decided what anyone would decide at this point: to take a break from the grind. 19-th Jan 2013, started for Bandipur, with my wife and a friend couple.
The holiday was great. I really enjoyed spending time with family and friends in the middle of nature. With only 'one' glitch. I didn't get good sleep here too; the world I left behind in my office cubicle was pricking my sub-conscious.
The accident : On 21-st Jan 2013, a beautiful sunny Monday morning, I started return journey from Bandipur. By 10:00 am, we reached Gundulpet town and decided to have a breakfast stop. During my holiday, I didn't get a chance to check emails, as there was no Vodafone mobile signal inside the jungle. After 2 days, when I was checking pending emails, I received a shocking email sent to me from an acquaintance. Although personal in subject, the email conveyed a bad news for me: I have suffered some heavy personal financial losses during my holiday due to a friend of mine. This made me very angry. I wanted to reach Bangalore as soon as possible. I was not thinking logically ; a blind fury was circling inside my head. After breakfast, when I started driving, I was pushing 100+.
This was my first mistake.
The Gundulpet-Nanjangud-Mysore road is undivided National highway with village crowd coming on the roads. Slow moving bullock carts, 2 wheelers and pedestrians merging to the main road from small village roads. One should be very careful while driving on this stretch. Which unfortunately I was not. At the outskirts of Nanjangud town, I was passing an area where there was paddy fields on both sides of the road. The fields were around 5ft below the level of road surface. A bike was slowly moving along the shoulder of the road on my left. Another bike was coming slowly from the opposite direction.
When I was about to cross the bike on my left, that guy abruptly decided to come on the road from the shoulder. there was no indicator or hand-signal. I was cruising between 80-100 and was taken aback. Even if I apply panic braking, I knew I was going to hit the bike. There was no space to overtake, as I had another bike incoming. I took my car on the shoulder on the right side of the road.
mistake #2: Should have slowed down and go to left shoulder
The shoulder of the road was a good 4 inches below tarred surface. From the shoulder on the right, I again tried to get up up to the main road.
mistake #3: Should have slowed down or stopped on the shoulder
As soon as I got back on the tarred surface, I realized I don't have control on the car. The car veered to the left alarmingly. I tried to correct steering by turning right; to my horror, it over-steered to extreme right. I tried to brake. The whole world seemed like a movie playing in front of me; the screen being the windshield. Time froze. Everything was hapenning in slow motion. The car fell on the paddy field 5 ft below and rolled over 3 times, finally landing turtle. Villagers nearby rushed in, rolled the car back on its wheels. To my surprise, both the left tyres were burst. Till this date, I am not sure what is the exact sequence of events. Did the 2 tyres burst while getting up from the shoulder? There were some very sharp rock edges protruding where the tarred surface ended and shoulder started. This I noticed later. May be that's why I lost control (this is what I believe). Or maybe, the tyres burst when the car fell on the paddy field.