Sadaiv Satark

Sadaiv Satark or Always Alert is what keeps one alive not only in the battlefield but also in the swish civvy street.

This incident happened very recently. I'd to go down to city 'H' on an official visit and was accompanied by Ms. 'D' and Mr. 'M'. On their insistence, we booked a CHT (Civ Hired Transport) for ourselves.

These CHT's are considered very safe & the best way to cover long distances as one need not get unduly worried about keeping a constant watch for unwanted visitors.

We boarded our CHT at 2130 Hrs on an evening when the heavens had amply opened up with all their wonderous delight. We'd hardly travelled a few miles when news trickled in about the twin bomb blasts in city 'H' with many fatal casualties. A sordid pall of gloom descended upon us at this mindless violence. I fail to understand these Jehadi minds who are hell bent on creating utter destruction where-ever they go. I dont understand why people cant adopt the policy of 'Live & let live'. Is harmonious coexistence so difficult?

Anyway, we continued with our journey even though the threat perception level was at an all time high. Ms 'D' & Mr 'M' joked about people in city 'H' giving me a jazzy welcome. Twin blasts with lots of fatalities, it looked like a bad omen.

Mr 'M' was constantly on the phone with his beloved and as Ms 'D' was sitting next to me, the task of distracting her mind from the blasts fell upon me. The CHT we were travelling in had a video console and we ended up watching an old hindi flick. I was mighty amused to see one of the biggest hits of the early 90's after such a long time. The moves & shakes of the onscreen actors seemed very funny & Ms 'D' & I ended up having a hearty laugh watching the movie. With garish make-up, clothes that can give you eye sores, cliched dialogues & a storyline that seemed to lead nowhere, I started wondering as to what nadir the Indian movie industry had fallen to during the 90's before it resurrected itself post Y2K like a Phoenix rising from the ashes.

Sometime after midnight, we pulled up at a roadside dhaba where a lot of truckers were taking a pit stop on their seemingly endless journey to their destination. In India, one thumb rule to make out a good wayside joint is to count the number of trucks parked outside. The more the number of truckers eating their food at a particular joint, the higher is the possibility of finding tasty food inside.

Ms 'D' was not really hungry as she'd been to a McDonald's before we started our journey. Mr 'M' was slightly hungry & as for me, well, I'm somewhat like Jughead Jones. I'm perenially hungry, and not just for food! LOL! So while Ms 'D' stuck to her favourite cola drink, Mr 'M' & I digged into some spicy chicken gravy along with an endless stream of that quintessential of all chicken accompaniments...butter naan. Ms 'D' was charming enough not to object while we guys chomped down our food. Once the chow session was over, we moved back to the CHT and started the trash hindi movie from where we'd left it before going for dinner.

Mr 'M' found a cosy spot in the CHT & was beaming side to side on having found a strong connection on his cellphone even on the move. And then he went back to the object of his affection. Love can actually drive people crazy, notwithstanding the huge roaming bill that you incur on the move!

So it was back to Ms 'D' & ME all over again. We discussed a lot many things that night. As the CHT moved forward into the dark night with the crap songs from the same old hindi movie blaring out of the speakers, the heavens, which had been taking a breather, opened up again. It felt wonderful hearing the pitter-patter of raindrops lashing against the window. And my discussion with Ms 'D' continued even further into the night.

Sometime late into the night, Ms 'D' drifted off into the dreamy world. Mr 'M' had already been asleep for the past couple of hours. Apart from the driver, I was the only one in the entire CHT who was fully awake. With the sleep fairy acting coy with me, I couldn't even drift off to the dreamy world the way my friend Ms 'D' did. So I just closed my eyes & started thinking about some random things.

After sometime, I felt a sudden urge to get ready for action. Now that was a strange feeling because it had been ages since I last vanquished any enemy elements. However, years of gruelling training & tons of experience years told me otherwise. My instinct was very much intact & so was my reaction time. In a split second, I became acutely aware of my immediate environment, opened my eyes & started sensing around to see if something was wrong. That very moment, I saw something very large looming over my head from the window & at the same time, I saw very bright headlights appear ghostlike from the front.

In a nanosecond, I sensed that something major was going to happen & that too from the window side. My reaction kicked in & I instinctly took Ms 'D's' head in my hands & tucked them under my shoulder. A fraction of a second later, the whole window shattered to a million pieces with most of the glass pieces flying directly towards me. Ms 'D' & I had borne the brunt of the impact and suddenly after that, the whole CHT lifted up in the air, became airborne for sometime and came crashing down with a defeaning thud.

All of a sudden, the whole place became quiet. I swear you could have heard the sound of a cotton ball wafting down to earth. It was the deadly silence that followed the severest of tempests, the peaceful calm that is left behind after a storm.

I physically lifted Ms 'D' out of her seat & picked out glass pieces that had got embedded into her clothes. After ensuring that she was safe & after having checked out Mr 'M', I became aware of a sharp, throbbing pain in my arms. Under the Indiglow illumination of my wristwatch, I realised that glass pieces had got deeply embedded into my skin.

Mr 'M' had woken up with a start & I told him to move out of the vehicle. We collected our gear & notwitstanding the pain, I brushed off the scattered glass pieces & helped Ms 'D' come out of the CHT. I did a rudimentary inspection & was glad that nobody had been seriosuly hurt. I was bleeding from several places but managed to dab out the blood fairly quickly. My adrenaline was pumping fast & the pain & discomfort of having glass pieces embedded into my skin was the last thing on my mind.

It was a beautiful night, we were on the upslope of a hill, a nice gentle breeze was blowing & the entire place was eerily lighted up in shades of blue & brazen gold with the sunrise just about an hour away. On closer examination of the CHT, I found the chasis broken & the entire left side of the vehicle dented with the whole window portion smashed away. The CHT stood on the road like a lighthouse rooted to the shore amidst a sea full of fury.

At first we thought that we'd been hit by IED's but on inspecting the surrounding environment something else transpired. While we were climing the hill, a tree branch fell down right in front of the CHT. Our driver swerved to avoid the branch but due to high speed ended up hitting the tree itself. The whole tree shook in mighty fury & came crashing down on us through the window. Ms 'D' & I bore the full impact & thats when the window broke & glass started flying everywhere. Due to the momentum which was imparted now, the driver tried stopping the CHT but ended up hitting a 10-wheeler truck coming from the opposite side. This was the second impact & it lifted us up in the air.

The tree came crashing down through the window into the exact spot where Ms 'D' & I had our respective heads & had I not ducked & pulled Ms 'D' under me, our heads would have been blown to smithereens. I dont know whether it was luck or something else that saved us that night, but had it not been for the quick reflexes, both Ms 'D' & I would have been on our way to heaven. And then everyone would have prayed R.I.P. for us!

Ms 'D' was still in a daze & though she was taking everything in her stride, she was majorly shaken up. Thats when the feeling sunk in that we both could have easily died in that freak mishap. I have traversed through minefields, walked down trails full of IED's & Jumping Betty's & would have been really disappointed had I gone heavenward in a stupid road accident.

However, we'd a job to do & so after minor repairs to the CHT, continued on our journey. What happened afterwards is an event in itself & I shall cover it sometime else.