Hi friends

It was a few days ago that I recieved e-mail from fellow Ilander exhorting about living life as it comes each day. Along with it was a clip from some traffic police collection in some other country where a person was crossing the road,  near a 4 way crossing,after taking due precautions , looking both sides. And suddenly from nowhere he was hit by one of the vehicles which collided with another vehicle at a great speed, upturned and crushed this person, giving just no time to react. It was a meaning ful mail to emphasise the point that we should live in today as no one knows whether he/she is going to live beyond the next moment.

This set my mind back to two such instances when I was 'almost gone' from this world, due to my own faults, on both occasions

The first one was when few of us had gone to a hill station on a picnic. There was a place where water fall was dropping onto two small hillocks and the gap between the two must have been couple of feet. As I was enjoying the shower, tried to cross from one hillock to the other and slipped into the gap. Friends who later pulled me out said that I must have been in it for over a minute, as my head appeared , probably due to upthrust of water. well!! the gap could have been deeper enough to make me a news item like the one out of so many when one of the students, who had gone on school or college picnic, drowned. For quite some time I was shaken up, as to me it appeared 'Punarjanma'.

Second happening was more scary but of shorter duration. It happened in a city in middle east. I was in my car with my family. It was a road with very little traffic and I was at a T junction where I had to turn right. Now in those places, as the traffic is opposite to what it is in India, to turn right on a T junction one does not have to cross the T as you are driving to the right half of the road. I stopped on the light and when it turned green, crossed the T and turned right. Suddenly I saw traffic coming towards me at a great speed from the opposite direction.Fortunately I could keep my nerves and the vehicles coming were little far and I had just enough time to pull to the side of road turning my car at 180 degrees.It must have been over in about 15 seconds, but I was saved by a whisker.

I get goose bumps even today as I narrate these two instances.

I think it is well said, 'Plan as if you are going to live for ever and live as if you are going to die tomorrow' !!!!

Wish you all a happy, refreshing and rejuvenating Sunday.

Take care, my friends