A Twist Of Fate

It was 2004, 23rd of May. We were driving along the Mumbai-Pune highway in our old and rusty Maruti 800. We were coming back from Lonavala and I organized and funded the whole trip with my own money. I was very proud, and I believe, so were my parents. Some old Kishore Kumar song was playing from the casette player we had. Everyone were staring out, sucking in the beautiful Eastern Ghats around us.

"You've spent all this money uncessarily on this trip, Vidya," My mom told me.

"Yes, Vidya, you could've paid off another installment on that Jogeshwari flat," my Dad butted in.

I was pissed. Why couldn't they keep quiet? I had all the expenses already figured out. They had nothing to worry about.

"Did you enjoy the trip or not," I asked them, almost shouting. They both nodded. "Then stop worrying."

"Haan, leave bhaiyya alone," my sister sided with me.

"All that is okay, but when will he get married? You are already 23 and your hair is also falling. I keep telling you, if you don't get married soon, you won't fetch a good dowry," my dad said.

He always kept bickering about one thing or the other. It was his favourite hobby. I was getting angrier. I had no intentions of getting married anytime soon, or to accept dowry. And I had told him countless times too. He just wouldn't listen. Always wanted things done his way, even now.

"Papa, don't bring that up again," I said.

"If he is happy this way, let him be. A man has time till 27. Don't bother him with this now," my mom said.

"I want him to get married soon. Then, he'll be in control," my sister giggled. She was only 19, then. Doing her B. Com. She always made me smile.

"You, shut up," I said and laughed.

My mom was laughing too. My dad was sullen.

Some other old favourite started playing. My sister and mom started singing it.

"You women," my dad said and smiled. He was eased up a bit.

The Maruti 800 dragged along. The sun was behind the clouds now and a nice breeze was hitting us.

There was a steep turn ahead, and I took it, slowly. Then, I felt adventurous and raised the accelerator. There was another turn ahead, so I stepped on the brakes, maybe with a little too much force.

I heard a *click* sound and that was that. The brakes had failed and I was doing 60kmph. I panicked and screamed. I turned wildly to get the turn right. But it was too late. I remember a shrill cry by my sister, just moments before the impact.

The car hit a roadside streetlight pole and spun around. The driver's door flew open, and, miraculously, I had the presence of mind to jump out. I was knocked unconscious.

I opened my eyes in horror a few minutes later, after a passer-by sprinked some water on me. The car tumbled down the hill by a few meters. It was a wreck. I could see my sister's body lying beside the car, face down. No sign of my mom and dad.

I ran as fast as my legs could carry me and lifted my sister's body. Blood was oozing out from every flesh of her face. It was a horrible sight. I looked into the car and saw my mom and dad, both unconscious. But no bleeding. I could hear the ambulance, and was glad someone actually called them. I silently prayed for my sister.

-

As I write this, I'm sailing as a Third Mate, 4 months in. My sister's face has been disfigured. According to the Medical report, it was "Face disfiguration due to continous impact with a sharp object while falling down from a high altitude". Actually, I knew what happened. When the car spun after hitting the pole, both the doors on the front side opened. I fell on the roadside, safe, while my sister, sitting right beside me, fell on the opposite side, on to the mericiless Eastern Ghats, and tumbled down along with the car. In other words, she paid for my mistake, so I only think its right to pay back.

So, I decided she'll have a facial reconstruction surgery. I sent her to Sweden, to a renowned expert on Facial Reconstruction. He told me it'd take another 3 months of rigorous treatment to bring her face to any sort of normality.

He said this one thing. "She'll never get her old face back."

As for my mom, when the car hit the rock, her face hit the front seat and she suffered a mild concusion. Due to the impact, her left eye moved out of position. Now, when she looks at me, its only her right eye thats looking. The left eye looks somewhere else. Although its pale in comparison to what happened to my sister, it sickens me to know that the other eye cannot be fixed, ever. Another permanent scar.

My dad had the presence of mind to protect his head with his hands. Nothing really bad happened to him. Just a mild concussion.

The bills are piling up, too. Normally, I wouldn't worry about that but when my sister was in the intensive care unit, two month after the accident, after I was completely broke - what with the hospital bills - SBI sent hired goons because I was three months behind on my loan payment. They came to our house and roughed me and my father up, while my mother looked on tensely with her one eye. They said, "one more month. After that, your house belongs to us."

All the 1.5 lakhs I earn every month, disappears before the 10th of the next month and we still need more. Every phone call I make to my parents brings up a new bill, which sometimes even scares me to an extend that I keep postponing the calls.

I know I'm cribbing, that everyone has problems, and I need to man up and face my own. And I am. I won't hesistate to break the neck of anyone who says otherwise. No, that's not it.

What I'm trying to say, maybe, is that, even though I don't believe in God, I'm forced to acknowledge the power of fate, or destiny, or whatever that is that decides your life. How else can one explain the fact that, I, the driver of that stupid Maruti, escaped unhurt while my sister's face is disfigured? And just to put things in the right perspective, if say I did get hurt, which might've resulted in an injury impairing any one of my limbs, or sensory organs, my company would've kicked me out without looking twice and me, with my parents and my disfigured sister, would be begging on the streets. But no, this is the life fate decided for me. And I want to be an optimist and look at the brighter side.

My career has just started, and there is only looking up. More and more money will keep pouring in. Maybe one day, I'll look back at the fateful day and think, Yes, I handled that alright. Maybe that day I'll be happy.

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