So it went for a few kms, until suddenly, to my horror, I saw them in my rear view mirror as they wobbled, lost control, and then crashed onto the tarmac...
Thankfully, while they were in the fast lane, the road was empty, giving them enough time to get up and get clear off the road onto the median. We stopped, reversed back the few hundred meters, and got down to help.
The next 2 hours were a wonderful experience of the warmth of small town India. Dozens of locals came over to help. We stopepd traffic, pushed the heavy bike to the side of the road. Another guy in a Skoda going the other way to Kolhapur stopped and got his first aid kit. A local called for a tempo, and after loading all their luggage into the Endy, and the bike onto the tempo, we took them to Satara, around 20 km away. The local emergency hospital attended to them, dressed them, and took good care of them. The doctor gave them a clean chit, and charged a pittance. The Maharaja Palace offered them a luxury suite, even though they had no money to pay for the advance. The tempo walla charged a minimal 600 for over 25 km of hauling (and going back the same distance!), and was helpful enough to find us the hospital, the Enfield workshop, and the hotel.
Finally, after 2 hours, with their bike safely parked in the hotel parking (the workshow was closed today, being a Sunday), their medical needs taken care of, and they safely ensconsed in the hotel room, we bid them Dasvidaniya (Ivan and Julia were Russians, two cute almost-teens, on the way from Goa to the Himalayas!), and continued on our journey, happy at having helped, and proud to be Indian!
5 comments:
Mr. Siddesh,
Was doing a search on Maharaja Palace. Your blog showed up. Disappointed to read. What show, fascination for rusian foreigners and Narcissism at it's best! Funny how we Indians don't get written about or wait....even helped when in need. Crowds gather for accidents to watch the fun but no fellow Indian will help me, so as not together involved as "witness". Have needed help before.
Mr Anonymous, your post is almost the type I usually ignore.. but I will make an exception this time. What is it really that disappointed you? That you don't get written about? That you weren't helped? That someone helped those foreigners? That Atiti Devo Bhava is something you rather not see, not hear about? Have needed help before... ?? Is that what this is about? How about, "I have helped before"? Could you say that? Because for all the narcissist I am, yes, I can say that too! Wanna hear about it? It's sad that from all the positives you could take out of that post, all you could get was disappointment. Should I say, this is what ails us Indians? That we still want to be sad, see the bad, and keep cribbing? Even when it is a private, personal post on someone's very private blog?
Think about it.
Mr. Siddesh,
Thank you for the reply. Frankly, I got the strange feeling... almost like you helped the rusies to write something different on your blog. Who would care in your blog, about a mere Indian being helped by another fellow countryman, if at all they help each other. But rusies? Go on, let's make a big deal about it. Ofcourse I'm unhappy and very bitter that no one helped me the time I needed help, the crowd just watched. Funny how people ignore their own and descend down like god for poor goras in need.
I really feel bad for you, looks like you have really suffered to have developed such a sad attitude.. to think I would help someone to write something on a blog that's really my own private diary that a few close friends really check out... to think that "mere" Indians don't merit help or mention on my blog... to think that helping someone in need, is an act of God...
And yes, maybe at some level, it was redemption time for me... thankful to the time I got helped by a Samaritan in a Belgian metro station...
But then, you don't really know that, neither do you care, do you?
After all, as long as we can criticize someone for helping a fellow human being, and wanting to write about the amazing experience it was... the rest is immaterial, isn't it?
Thank God that nobody needs to wait a single moment before starting to improve the world :-)
Well done, Siddhesh. I, for one, am tremendously proud of you :-)
Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better.
Instead of trying to find anything negative in an incident so heartwarming, I think each one of us should say: I will not let what I cannot do interfere with what I CAN do.
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