Hail the Helmets...

At the outset, let me tell you that it's a similar account of experience of one of my juniors that propelled me to write this up myself. For both of us, a smooth ride one fine day could have turned out to be fatal, if not for this wonderful thing called 'helmet' (the one which many in the city fail to wear even after it has been made compulsory). So, here I am writing this piece, as a simple tribute to this simple, life-saving stuff.

The day started quite lazily, with me getting up late, only to see the clock strike 8. Though initially hesitant to go ahead with my hair-cut plan, I decided not to procrastinate it for another day. Luckily, there wasn't much of a rush that day and I was able to get ready for college much quicker than I had thought.

It's normal for me to toss between the bike or the bus to travel for the day. It depends on the work that I have. On that day (u may call it fate), though I didn't have much of a work in store, the laziness that had crept in me since morning, pushed me to take the bike key. So, as the clock struck half past nine, I took my bike out with my helmet put on and started my journey towards college.

For those who know Chennai well, I normally take the Poonamallee highway route that gets me quickly to Vadapalani via Koyambedu market. Everything seemed to be going quite well until I approached the right turn on the highway that takes me to the market road. Being an un-policed, unsignalled junction, one has to be careful while taking the turn, as the speed levels can't be expected to be within controllable limits.

That day, I had to negotitate some auto-wallas who were criss-crossing me, travelling in the opposite direction. As I proceeded to the fag end of the turn, I could suddenly see a mini-van (carrying some vegetables) speeding past me along the turn. It was like a bolt of the clear blue sky and within fraction of seconds, I was at the mercy of the driver who didn't care to allow me any space as he continued overtaking me from outside, along the turn... It was virtually like a Formula 1 scenario, where a driver caught on the inside of a turn is crampled for space.

So, as I put my brakes in vain, 'THUD' came the sound of my headlight hitting the rear-end of the van and the next second, I was thrown to the left and my bike to the right... The momemtum just swirled me 180 degrees as i just went sliding down the road on my back for a couple of meters.

Many thoughts (actually people) flashed in my mind during those couple of seconds. But, the first thing I thought as I got up was, "Thank God, I had my helmet on. So, no head injury". That was the only sane thought I could think of for that moment, as people came around to help me and my bike.

Like in an after-shock, I would say my mind went into hibernation for couple of minutes. I could hear voices around me... some saying my good time nothing happened; some asking me to check where i have been injured and then the driver, a Sabarimala devotee complaining as if people wearing helmets don't see to their left. (Come on man, you should watch your right and drive). But, I couldn't respond to any one of them... either to fight or even thank those kind, unknown hearts who took time to see I was well. As i said, my mind was totally switched off then.

In hindsight, while it was fortunate that nothing untoward happened, I would say I was lucky to escape with only some bruises on both of my elbows. Otherwise, I couldn't have hushed up the incident as much I have done to my mom or would I been back to normal by evening, after some injections. Ofcourse, the internal injuries did force me into hardships for a couple of days. Like for instance, the sprain in my left ankle gave me hell a lot of pain whenever my entire weight had to be supported by it. So, I had to control myself while getting down from a running bus or say dancing to the tunes of my hero's upcoming flick, 'Vettaikaran'.

Major or minor hardships... this entire episode has made me realise the importance, these helmets have in a rider's life. It's not uncommon to see someone overtaking you from your left, rashly. And if your day is bad, you might end up in a helpless situation within a split second. Helmets will come to your rescue in all these situations and to continue enjoying the gift called 'LIFE', please hold on to these wonderful entities...