Finally, Fooled By Randomness!
Well, it's hard to stay away from the blogging world and here is my next post.
*******************************************************************
It was a typical March night, neither too hot nor too cold, giving refuge to a calm weather with stars twinkling in the sky. The ethereality of the night was compounded by soft and soothing winds, blowing just to make you feel relaxed. All you had to do was to give a free reign to your worries and go for a refreshing walk.
He was coming back from somewhere when he realized what a wonderful weather it was and wouldn’t it be a good idea to go for a long drive and that too all alone! Damn! That was where he was wrong. Decisions taken at a blink are good but not every time. But he couldn’t care less.
And so, there he went on a highway which runs past the place where he lived. The moment the car hit the highway, he butted the accelerator pedal to the floor and lo the car was racing along the highway. At times the car was doing 130 km/hour and still he would curse it that it was not going any faster when theoretically it could. There was heavy traffic on some stretches and he just loved it because the heavier the traffic, the more he would get to zip-zap-zoom past heavy trucks and trailers. In the blink of an eye, he covered around 50 kms when he decided to head back home. The journey back home was equally thrilling but wildly unpredictable! The fatal bullet was about to puncture the serene randomness.
On the way back, the car did around 15 kms when he stopped to get the petrol tank filled up. He stepped down from the car, looked up into the sky and basked in his solitude. The cool breeze was blowing into his face and he was enjoying every moment of it. His mind was blank and he wished if somehow he could freeze the moment forever. Suddenly, the attendant broke his monologue and asked for the money. So, he paid for the petrol and got inside the car. The tyres squealed and ferociously kicked the dust behind and before the attendant could even count the money, the car was already burning rubber on the highway.
He was very well aware of the perils of driving too fast but he reasoned that if something had to happen it would eventually happen irrespective of the speed of the car and this ‘something’ meant accident in this case. The faster he drove, of course more alert he was but this time he missed out on something. Or it was just that he was so fast that in a jiffy, after another 10 kms, he was at an intersection where he shouldn’t have been, and reached there a little too early or a little too late! Actually, there was a truck in front taking a U-turn, coming from the opposite lane to his lane and in the process occupied the entire left lane laterally. Somehow he realized this when his car was only 30 meters from that truck. He slammed hard on the brake and when his car stopped, the truck had already gone and he was sitting inside all alone. When he hit the brake pedal, the car was doing a little over 100 km/h.
Everything had happened too fast. All he remembered was that the car swerved to the left, switched directions and slammed onto a concrete structure. In fact, what had happened was that due to the sudden braking, the car swerved to the left away from the tarmac, hit a kiosk, spun 180° and collided sideways with a samadhi (a concrete memorial). The impact was so strong that the entire kiosk lay in tatters fifteen feet away from where it originally stood and the samadhi stood shaken off its foundation. All the while, amazingly he was very calm. He waited for a while for the dust to calm down and then simply unclasped the seat belt and got out of the car from the front passenger door. Fortunately, he was unhurt.
He tried to think of the reasons why he came out unscratched. The most conspicuous one was that he was wearing the seat belt. Another plausible reason was the presence of kiosk. When the car hit it, it absorbed much of the car’s momentum. Had it not been there, the accident would have been real bad. Apparently there was one more reason. Later that night, he came to know that in the last six months at exactly the same spot, four major accidents had taken place and miraculously every time no one was hurt. According to a folklore, sometime ago a monkey had died. He was buried there and a samadhi was built by the roadside. So, it was this monkey (Hanuman ji) who was saving lives.
In the end, he refused to believe any of this. There was only one reality to it that he was just plain lucky. He was simply fooled by the randomness.
Au revoir
*******************************************************************
It was a typical March night, neither too hot nor too cold, giving refuge to a calm weather with stars twinkling in the sky. The ethereality of the night was compounded by soft and soothing winds, blowing just to make you feel relaxed. All you had to do was to give a free reign to your worries and go for a refreshing walk.
He was coming back from somewhere when he realized what a wonderful weather it was and wouldn’t it be a good idea to go for a long drive and that too all alone! Damn! That was where he was wrong. Decisions taken at a blink are good but not every time. But he couldn’t care less.
And so, there he went on a highway which runs past the place where he lived. The moment the car hit the highway, he butted the accelerator pedal to the floor and lo the car was racing along the highway. At times the car was doing 130 km/hour and still he would curse it that it was not going any faster when theoretically it could. There was heavy traffic on some stretches and he just loved it because the heavier the traffic, the more he would get to zip-zap-zoom past heavy trucks and trailers. In the blink of an eye, he covered around 50 kms when he decided to head back home. The journey back home was equally thrilling but wildly unpredictable! The fatal bullet was about to puncture the serene randomness.
On the way back, the car did around 15 kms when he stopped to get the petrol tank filled up. He stepped down from the car, looked up into the sky and basked in his solitude. The cool breeze was blowing into his face and he was enjoying every moment of it. His mind was blank and he wished if somehow he could freeze the moment forever. Suddenly, the attendant broke his monologue and asked for the money. So, he paid for the petrol and got inside the car. The tyres squealed and ferociously kicked the dust behind and before the attendant could even count the money, the car was already burning rubber on the highway.
He was very well aware of the perils of driving too fast but he reasoned that if something had to happen it would eventually happen irrespective of the speed of the car and this ‘something’ meant accident in this case. The faster he drove, of course more alert he was but this time he missed out on something. Or it was just that he was so fast that in a jiffy, after another 10 kms, he was at an intersection where he shouldn’t have been, and reached there a little too early or a little too late! Actually, there was a truck in front taking a U-turn, coming from the opposite lane to his lane and in the process occupied the entire left lane laterally. Somehow he realized this when his car was only 30 meters from that truck. He slammed hard on the brake and when his car stopped, the truck had already gone and he was sitting inside all alone. When he hit the brake pedal, the car was doing a little over 100 km/h.
Everything had happened too fast. All he remembered was that the car swerved to the left, switched directions and slammed onto a concrete structure. In fact, what had happened was that due to the sudden braking, the car swerved to the left away from the tarmac, hit a kiosk, spun 180° and collided sideways with a samadhi (a concrete memorial). The impact was so strong that the entire kiosk lay in tatters fifteen feet away from where it originally stood and the samadhi stood shaken off its foundation. All the while, amazingly he was very calm. He waited for a while for the dust to calm down and then simply unclasped the seat belt and got out of the car from the front passenger door. Fortunately, he was unhurt.
He tried to think of the reasons why he came out unscratched. The most conspicuous one was that he was wearing the seat belt. Another plausible reason was the presence of kiosk. When the car hit it, it absorbed much of the car’s momentum. Had it not been there, the accident would have been real bad. Apparently there was one more reason. Later that night, he came to know that in the last six months at exactly the same spot, four major accidents had taken place and miraculously every time no one was hurt. According to a folklore, sometime ago a monkey had died. He was buried there and a samadhi was built by the roadside. So, it was this monkey (Hanuman ji) who was saving lives.
In the end, he refused to believe any of this. There was only one reality to it that he was just plain lucky. He was simply fooled by the randomness.
Au revoir
posted by Ankur Shanker @ 8:26 PM
3 Comments:
Nice ending..good post..Liked reading it, and finally found out all the answers I was seeking out from you. And welcome back to the blogging world !!!!
Randomness, yeah...!
Miracle, yeah to some extent...!
Nice ending, good post, yeah, but what we would like U to elaborate more on would be...something that one shall ask oneself, what is this solitude, and why does one crave for it? Solitude is as they say a state of mind, it originates from many a reasons, but which one is the trigger in this case; a need for speed, a need to detach oneself, a feeling of Euphoria or maybe all of those...!
In the middle of all that "proved U wrong", hehe! what can we say, we didn't do that, U did it for urself...!
[Zubin & Gangadhar] Thanks
[Anonymous] Hi! i think u can get answers to all your questions by going to this link below:
http://solitarymeanderer.blogspot.com/2005_08_01_solitarymeanderer_archive.html
Let me know if you need to know anything else :)
Post a Comment
<< Home