The Accident

      23 July - A regular Monday morning, in Bangalore, India - the kids were off to school, hubby off to the office and my chores at home all done. I needed to stock up on a few gifts and it was the last day of the half price sale in "My Favourite Shop", I was ready with my plastic money. Raju, my driver can pass off as a teenager with his slight built and perpetually cheerful face and very cautious driving was ready in my " midnight black swift" chariot. Off I went to get the best gifts for the best possible prices.

          Raju was driving through the Cubbon Park Road and the Kasturba Road junction on a green signal light, we were the last one to cross the junction a few seconds before the signal changed to amber. I went back to reading my Janet Evanovich novel to pass the time until we reach the sale, the next second there was a loud sickening crunch of metal meeting metal and I was thrown forwards and hit the front seat and the roof. I immediately looked out to see the terrifying sight of a man on a motorbike with the engine still running, spinning on the road and trying to stop. The car stopped immediately and I stepped out to see if the man was alright. Thank God! The man on the motorbike was not bleeding any where was slightly bruised and limping. I was carrying some first-aid Homeopathic medicine which I immediately gave to the injured man.

        I asked the driver to park the car on the side of the road so that we don't hinder the traffic. Though it was the fault of the motorbike driver, he moved on high speed even before the light turned green, I was mobbed by other irate motorcyclists and spectators started to surround us. They were blaming Raju, threatening to beat him up and then started insisting I pay compensation to the injured man.

        I tried to stand firm but there were just too many voices to drown, the traffic constable came over and told me, "Madam, if the injured party is willing why don't you work out some compensation. if you want you can go to the police station and complain". He cleared the spectators and walked away.

          I, foolishly before checking how badly my car was banged up, thought instead of prolonging a nasty issue lets just see if some compromise could be worked out.  I told them, "Look I'm going somewhere and not carrying more than Rs1500, so that is all I can give."

        The other motorcyclists literally pounced on me, "What! Madam  that man could have been seriously injured, the bike needs to be repaired, you can't walk away with just a compensation of Rs1500 nothing less than Rs5000 will do."

        The injured party was quiet until then, he started threatening me verbally and Raju physically. I patiently explained my stand, offered to take his address to send him money for repairs and give my address to reassure him that I will not renege on the deal. They were creating such a ruckus that I had to call my husband Arvind at office and ask him to send money. I couldn't give him more than the sketchy details of the small accident (I still didn't see the damage to the car) because (wouldn't you know it) the battery of my cell phone was low. He asked me my location and told me that he would send our manager along with some money.

      I told the injured that my manager was on his way with money, and then went to inspect the car. The damage was pretty bad, the bike had hit the rear door about 3 ft from the rear bumper and dented its way to the front bumper, hitting the front door, smashing the lights, cracking the windsheild at the bottom, the front mud guard missing.  I exclaimed in horror when I saw all this.

        The other motorcyclist who had stopped to harrass me comments, "Madam you are exclaiming about the damage to your car, the other man could have been seriously injured."

        Excuse me! I'm the villian here, just the chump who agreed to pay compensation for no fault of mine and my car repair bill would be in thousands.
       
        I replied, "I hope you noticed that I first made sure that nobody was seriously injured and everything almost settled before I checked my car."

          Sheepishly agreeing to my statement and realising that his job is done to a fellow motorcyclist by getting me to agree to give a compensation they all left. I waited for the manager anxiously because the injured man was getting antsy. I had just enough battery charge left to call the manager, who came in another car, and give him my exact location before the battery died.

        After he came and took over the negotiation of the compensation, I went and sat in the car for I couldn't contribute anything else.

        The constable walked up to them, took the motorcyclist aside near the car and told him, " It's your fault that you jumped the signal, take what ever they offer and be content." 
         
        He didn't see me in the car. I thought everything will be fine.

        The manager came upto me and told me, "Madam, everything is settled. You take the other car and go on  I'll finish up here."

        I thought it would be best if I went to the office to reassure my husband and also gently break the news of the extent of damage to the car. The way my luck was running that day, i was stuck in a traffic jam for 45 minutes, by which time the manager taking another route with the damaged car reached office. He assured my husband that i was really fine but the car badly damaged. My husband pounced on me and read me the riot act as soon as I reached, on how I misled him on the "small" accident, how my driver drove recklessly and the police constable told our manager so.

      I was shocked, I said, "But, how can that be possible when I heard the constable say that same thing to the man on the bike. He told him to be quiet because it was his fault."

      My husband replied, "Whatever it may be we agreed to pay that man Rs1300 and now such big damage to the car which costs around Rs35000 to repair and it is truly a waste for you to carry your cell phone when you can't give any proper information."

        I sheepishly told him about the low battery charge to which he gave me a truly exasperated look. Well I hope I never experience this again, I keep cautioning my driver to stop if we are the last ones on the signal and kick myself about agreeing to pay for something which was of no fault of mine. Only good thing about this whole episode was that nobody was seriously injured and no permanent damage to anything.