I've been trying to find the courage to write this since yesterday. Every time I start to recall what happened, I get incredibly painful headaches. In fact as I wrote this, I got up twice to clear my head and get drinks of water.
It was the second day of Eid (the major Muslim holiday, like Christmas) yesterday and I was driving back from my grandmother's house with my sister sitting in front. Since it was a holiday, the streets were a bit less crowded, which made it easier to drive. I was on the area's main road that had various cuts on either side leading inside to other areas. I eventually saw my cut coming on the left, so hit the indicator, and slowed the car down virtually to a standstill.
I checked the left rearview mirror and saw no vehicle approaching. With the car still not in motion, I turned my steering wheel towards the left and before I could give the car gas I felt something hit the car's left rear end violently.
Immediately I thought, "Oh my god, a car just hit me."
But just as that thought had ran through my head, I saw a motor cycle zoom past on my left and crash on the ground past my front bumper with some velocity. It landed with a sickening CRUNNNNNNNNNCH.
My next thought was,"Its probably some guy. He is surely OK."
Again, just as that thought entered my head, my sister said out loud,"Uska khoon nilkal raha hey." (rough translation: He/They is bleeding.)
I was in a bit of shock, and saw people running towards the scene from all directions. The thing is, this is Pakistan. It is a place where you don't want a crowd to gather, especially if they see a poor person collide with a richer person's car, no matter whose fault it is.
I composed myself and stepped outside. I wasn't ready for what I saw.
The motorcycle was on the ground on top of two adults and as many children. One of the kids was about four, and had landed on a side of his face. On his face where he had landed there was blackness from the dirt mixed with his own blood. His nose was bleeding as well. He wasn't crying, which I thought was probably because he was in shock. (The fact that he landed on the side of his face and not his head would be something I would be thankful for later.)
The other boy was about nine, and was in pain, yet I can't remember him crying at the time either. He had landed on his right elbow and seemed to be in obvious pain.
The father slowly got up. He was thin, in his mid thirties and had a mustache. He started to shout profanities at me as the crowd looked on.
The mother was the one who had lost it completely. She was screaming, and crying, but like her husband didn't seem hurt.
The husband screamed,"Tum haree kee gultee hay!" (it is your fault)
I told him that I had stopped the car and gave the left indicator.
Without anything else to say, he shouted back,"Rokh lee to kya whooa?" (So what if you stopped the car?)
The crowd got involved as well, and many screamed at me to take the family to the hospital. A lot of the poor people that had gathered seemed to be shouting in his support, while the more educated people appeared reasonable. It was a nightmare, especially as my sister was in the car and I was really worried for her safety.
At the time I just wanted to get home, and initially refused to take them to the hospital. Some taxis had gathered and I offered to pay for their transportation.
Look, I am not an evil bastard, and in any other situation I would have immediately taken them to the hospital, but I was under a lot of stress purely because of the fanatical crowd.
However my sister asked me to take them, so we put the family in the back and drove to the hospital.
While in the car, the mother was near hysterics, despite the fact that her children were remarkably alive. I was really worried for the little kid, as he wasn't crying and just staring ahead. The only person crying and shouting was the mother, and finally I told her very calmly to be quiet, as her screaming and crying would make her kids ill.
By that time I had relaxed as well, and was in control of my emotions. Earlier I had been visibly nervous, and perhaps a little timid.
At the hospital the couple and their kids were taken to emergency. My sister and I went inside with them, where a nurse came to examine them. The mother unfortunately continued to cry and create drama, and my sister looked like she was ready to bitch slap her.
The children were still quiet, and that was something that worried me. However as soon as the doctors came in with their equipment, the two children started to cry like there was no tomorrow. I guess nothing, not even a life threatening car crash can worry a child as much as a doctor with a needle.
They received shots and the younger one started to vomit while the elder one appeared to have most definitely broken his arm.
Meanwhile the mother continued to scream and shout like she was being slowly tortured. The doctor eventually had enough, and told her off angrily.
As I watched the scenes, I was tapped on the shoulder. It was the supervisor of the hospital, who told me that a cop had come. The supervisor seemed like a nice enough person, and was very calm and kind through out the whole ordeal.
The cop came and took all my details, and even took my license. He heard my side of the story, and then spoke with the other party. He then came back to me and took me outside. Meanwhile I had called my cousin and explained to him what had happened.
When we got outside, both of us examined the car and noted that it had been struck on the left side near the rear bumper. There was a bump and an ugly red scar from the bike. The cop told me that from his analysis it looked like it wasn't my fault.
Those words were so sweet to my ears. The cop told me that he would help me, by preparing a document that said as such, and that he would have the person driving the bike sign the document agreeing that he didn't want to pursue police action. He said in return I could try and help the family with their medical bills. Not because it was my fault, but because they looked really poor. I instantly agreed.
Meanwhile the hospital supervisor came out with the husband of the family. I went up to them and the supervisor told me that he had gotten the man to admit that it was his fault, and he would sign documents to that effect in return for help with the hospital expenses. I agreed, and took a digital image of the document as soon as it was written up.
We went back inside where the x rays revealed that the elder of the two boys had a dislocated as well as fractured his arm. The hospital couldn't handle that sort of thing, so we drove to another one, where we were told he would have an operation and that the nerves in his elbow were perfectly fine. I asked him what the success rate was for such an operation, and I was told it was 100%.
I was relieved by this and paid for the operation before leaving.
The operation cost was extremely expensive as you can imagine, but I am not going to bother thinking about it for now. I am just glad I am home.
Note: I apologize for any spelling or grammatical mistakes, but I am not going to bother proof reading.
