Like any other law abiding citizen my wife stopped the car at the red signal. Five seconds went by silently when there was a loud thud and our car zoomed forward. It took us a minute to realize what happened.
Rewind.
We stopped at a red signal where the counter was at 27 seconds. The bus which was way behind us did not however stop. He simply crashed into us.
I checked if everyone was fine my kid and brother who was sitting in the back seat. Everyone was fine. Wife was shocked, but fine.
I got out of the car to check the damage the crash caused. To my dismay my back windshield was broken, the rear lights and the bumper was broken. I took some snaps with my phone.
I walked to the bus driver and asked
“Enna chetta” What happened brother?
“Brake kittiyilla” I applied brake but the bus did not stop.
I took a snap of him and the vehicle number. It was a KSRTC. The conductor came to me and said “It was not red, why did you stop suddenly?”.
“It was red” I replied.
“No it wasnt” he said.
“Are you the driver?” I asked. “Let the driver speak. How would you know?” I said.
“Chechi alle odichathu” Its the lady who was driving right?.
“SO? She has a driving license. Moreover you crashed in from behind. ”
I dialled 100. To my surprise it was ringing and someone lifted the handset after 10 rings. Good enough I thought.
“Sir, a bus just crashed into my vehicle at the Manorama Junction” I explained.
“Is there a traffic block?” He asked.
“No there isn’t” I replied.
“Move the car to a side and DONT cause any blocks” He asserted.
“Okay” I replied. “Would someone come down here?” I asked.
“Yes someone would be there in a minute” He said. “Okay” I said.
I was about to hang up when he asked “Wait a min, is anyone hurt?” he asked.
“No we are all fine”
Click.
At least he asked. I thought.
Next I called my dad and told him what just happened.
He asked ” Are you all fine?”
The rest of the day went bargaining for an out of court settlement and things along with others pitching in to comment on the incident, people who weren’t even there. People commenting on me taking photographs of the car and the driver. People looking at the car and the commenting “The signal was not red !”. “Payyan car ayittu irangiyekkuva. Entha cheyya.” . The young lad took the car for a spin, what else to expect?, an autodriver volunteering to become our witness. No, he was not there at the time of incident.
There is an old saying in malayalam
“Arandade ammekku brandhu pidichapol kanan entha shelam” roughly (rudely) translated as “If someone else’s mother is running around crazy, its fun to watch.”
THE CRAPBOOK 
Oh, you had a bad start to your year Xylene!!?? But thank goodness you or the family wasn’t hurt.
With KSRTC in the line I’m not sure how when you’ll get your dues. And you in Kerala now?
@Scorpio
No we just managed to get a small amount from the driver. I am back in blore but the car is still in KTM.
Oh crap – in the Crapbook.
Ignore the lame pun here!
I’m surprised the driver agreed to pay up though!
thank goodness u and your family are fine.
Good that there wasn’t much damage done.
And at least your 100 call was answered. In Delhi sometimes their would be no response to 100.
Also, good to know that the driver owned up and paid up for the damage.
so in the end wat happnd?
everything fixed?
did the come? the Dial 100 teams 😀
good to hear that nothing went wrong to ur famly
driving in India, is like creating a new e-mail account…inevitably, however careful you are, someone’s going to spam you… it is pure madness…
@Nishchita,
Yeah but still I would have to shell out some more. 😦
@Reema,
Thanks god we are.
@Ameerkandesi,
Yeah I was surprised as well. But it works.
@Chelakandu poda,
Yeah 2 policemen showed up and wanted to know if we are going to file a case.
@Vishesh,
Exactly. Its crazy out there. If we follow all rules, we are doomed. Should I stop at that signal again? I am not sure now.
Dude it’s Kerala, if you don’t know the union leader/’party’ leader of the neighbourhood they’ll just keep commenting and do nothing =/ I know, the place sucks when it comes to such things
Glad you are both okay. I’m surprised, though, not only at the 100 response but also at the fact that the bus driver did not try to threaten you physically. I suppose that’s because there are zero repercussions for him?
be glad that at least they picked up the phone !!
hey, what happened to the driver and the bus after this, did someone come from the police station ? write an update please !
Yep they did come. They wanted us (me and the bus driver) to discuss and settle out the issue. They just stood there waiting.
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