Time Slowed Down

Was it 1989 or 1990? I would think it was 1989. It was our first trip to Guruvayoor in the bike. Yes, Hero Honda 100 CC – the good old bike. As you can guess, bikes weren't as popular as they are now. The traffic was not as bad as today either.

My parents were in their thirties, the society had started accepting the inter-caste married couple. The kids were small (I was 7, my sister was 1). The new house was planned/under-construction. The midlife crisis hadn't started. Altogether, it was very good time.

Hey, I am deviating from the topic. So, we went to Guruvayoor in our own new bike. While coming back, we visited my mother's colleague and our family friend Venu. The plan for the day was over. We (my father) were riding back home.

We entered the main road from the small pocket road. We crossed the main road and we were already on the left side. There was this "Ambassador" car which was overtaking some other vehicle. It happened to be on the same side of the road as us, but in the opposite direction.

Let me move to present tense… [I am going through the event-accident]

I can see the car coming against us. I am the one who is sitting in the utmost front of the bike (literally speaking, on the fuel tank).

The time is slowing down. I am seeing the car, it is sure that the two vehicles are to collide very soon – just a matter of time (a few seconds). They are colliding… head-on.

I am flying in air, just a free flight… towards the car. My head hits the front glass-pane of the car, I can feel the hit but I don't feel pain at all. Now I am on top of the bonnet rolling towards the front of the car. And finally I fall from there to the ground. I feel that the glass is broken and I can see blood flowing from my head….

Back to past tense … back to my explanations..

Yes, I saw and felt all of it … very vivid. What happened after that was just usual – a good man appeared from the crowd, took us from the accident place to the hospital, 2-3 days there in the hospital and finally back to home. We all had injuries, with the exception of my mother. There ends the story.

I have many times explained the whole thing to my mother and she never seemed to believe that I really could see all these so vivid. Yes, all of it happened in a matter of fractions of seconds. But I only knew that I had seen all this really well. I too was not able to explain how do I remember all this so clearly … that too when the situation was really tensed.

Now, after realizing that mind (brain) has the ability to slow down the time during high adrenaline situations – it makes sense that I had really experienced the above explained in full detail. The brain makes it all look like a slow-motion movie or something similar – when adrenaline is pumped in.

And in my case, I remember all of this. :)

Brain is simply great, isn't it?

Signing off, Sands.

PS: I was down with fever for the past 3-4 days and to be honest, it was one hell of an experience. I don't remember being in such a bad situation in the past 3-4 years. :(