11th January 2007, 10 am
Myself and my friend Moon were in a hurry to Majestic on my Pulsar 180 to book the bus tickets for going native on coming weekend. It was all fine till we were waiting for green signal in Corporation circle. As I thought, I started first to rash through the road towards Majestic Bus stand. I was leading a long way from other bikers and vehicles @ 60 – 70 km/hr . Suddenly I noticed a guy crossing the road from right to left (referring my view). It was the time for my brain to do some critical real time calculations for a very few seconds.
Sequence of Events
Input from two eyes through my short sight power glass was registered into the brain.
Brain's eye input decoding system recognized that he was not looking at the vehicles while crossing the road. (May be he was thinking that still it was Red signal for the vehicles !!!! )
Reflexes started to do its job. My finger pressed the horn button.
Second input from the eyes confirmed that the man is not hearing the horn or not paying attention to the blowing horns.
Checking the depth of perceived image, brain concluded that it has two options
One option was to apply a sudden disk brake (since it is available on Pulsar 180 cc)
Other option was to change the direction of the bike so that it will not interrupt that guy.
Since taking risk is my instinct and every body follows newton's 1st law of motion, (myself and my bike are the bodies here which move at a uniform speed along a straight path !!!) I decided to go for second option.
My hands changed the direction of the bike slightly towards right side so that it will not come across the man who is moving towards the left side of the road (referring my view again)
Input from the eyes confirmed continuously that everything is fine
Here the glitch while decoding image from eyes !!! No, it was not a glitch.
Brain confirmed that the man is looking at the vehicle !!! And he stopped his walking too !!! Oh god!!!!
Image depth calculator done its work by giving the information that the guy is 8 or 10 meters away from the bike.
It also told brain that the current position of the victim is in – line with the desired path of the bike.
Now one and only one option is left. Apply sudden brake and wait for god's mercy to not touch that man with my bike.
Neurons worked faster than light, here the front disk brakes are getting triggered, And vehicle is stopping faster than expected !!!
Neural network informed that my body is not in proper position on the bike. Because of the sudden stop of bike, body is moving forward from bike !!!!
Black out !!!!! Complete darkness !!!!
Flash back as on 11th January 2007, 10 pm
I was about to sleep in one of the rooms of St. John's Hospital looking at the ceiling. 12 hours gone faster than light giving serious impacts on my body. I was re gaining my consciousness at actuals even though I had a blurred one from 1 pm (I am not quite sure about this).
In St. John's hospital I met my friends, colleagues and relatives in Bangalore. I literally got frightened when I saw my face in the mirror, ya it was really bad with lots and lots of scars and blood shed lips and nose. I managed to talk to my parents on phone, making them feel that I am still alive and active. I was well assured by nurses / doctors and friends that I am perfectly OK with minor injuries. I was happy to hear that my friend Moon also is OK. Somebody told me that the old man I hit was also admitted in the same hospital with some injuries. Even though I was feeling bad, I am not going to be depressed, and off course I will wake up tomorrow with new new adventures
After one year .....
The frequency of our long group bike trips went down like anything.
I am a little bit concerned about rash driving, Rajeev_Vermacially if somebody is sitting behind me. 3. I have paid / paying my road taxes, insurance and other levies on time.
I stopped taking pictures of my speedometer @ more than 100 km / hr.
I am avoiding highly risky zig – zag driving and over taking.
