Most Unforgettable July 4th

I took the most uncomfortable two and half hour flight to finally reach Indira Gandhi Domestic Airport, Delhi (uncomfortable because some bratty little child kicked the back of my seat the whole way). I picked up my luggage and headed out the door only to find some man holding up a piece of notebook paper with my name scribbled on it in highlighter. I was too excited to be scared about getting into a car with a complete stranger who spoke absolutely no English. The man didn't say two words to me. He just threw my luggage into the trunk, motioned for me to sit down in the car, and we took off. The familiar Bollywood tunes playing on the radio were slightly comforting, but I still kept my eyes on road signs making sure we were headed towards Faridabad. We made a quick stop at Fortis Escorts Hospital to pick up a man who plopped himself in the back seat. Fifteen minutes later, as we drove up to a house, I came to know that that "backseat" man who had said absolutely nothing to me at all was my host father.... His first words to me were, "This is your room, Roopaji. There is a Japanese boy who will also be staying in this room with you." I didn't know how to react to the fact that I was going to be sleeping in a room with some boy/man I had never met before, but I figured I would cross that bridge when I reached it.

The other volunteers returned from their respective placements and I went upstairs to their room to introduce myself. They were all so nice and welcoming. They immediately filled me in on what my daily routine would be like and invited me to go along with them on some their activities. Being July 4th, they all wanted to celebrate "Western Wednesday". I'm not talking about cowboy hats, boots, and line dancing, rather a day where we would choose to do something very "Western" or "American" instead of sticking to the usual schedule. We all decided to go see the new Spiderman movie at the local mall. I hesitated a little to go considering I had just arrived about an hour before, but figured this would be a great opportunity for me to make friends.

We walked to the main road and flagged down an auto rickshaw. The autos in Faridabad are much larger than the ones I am used to taking in Madras. These fit nine people as opposed to the smaller ones that only fit three.

The first auto that pulled up to us had only three spots left but the driver, seeing that we were all foreigners, insisted that he could fit the nine of us volunteers in there. We of course said "Hell no" and approached another rickshaw that had pulled itself over. This auto was empty and the driver agreed to let each of us pay ten rupees for the ride. We piled in and the driver started taking off. At this point there were the nine of us volunteers plus the driver in the auto. Then while driving, the driver picked up two other men who sat beside him. So, yes, at this point there were twelve people crammed into this three wheeled contraption. Thinking the situation to be hilarious we started taking pictures of ourselves in the auto.

We were but two minutes into our ride when the driver abruptly swirved to the left to avoid an oncoming vehicle. All I remember at this point was seeing the dirt road come closer and closer to my face. We flipped. A 270 degree flip. I, who started off on the left side facing front, was suddenly lying on top of a heap of human beings, the other volunteers, inside of this crumpled up auto rickshaw. In desperation, all of us tried to climb out of the vehicle, but as we tried to do so, bystanders started to flip it right side up. Bad decision. On my part, my shirt and pants got caught on some rod, ripped, and for a moment I was standing in public with my shirt over my head. The other five volunteers inside the auto with me continued to get scratched up. We soon realized that those of us on the inside had it easy. One friend who had sat in the way back (facing backwards, feet hanging off the vehicle) had it the worst. Poor thing had hit her head during the flip, blacked out so she wasn't able to protect herself, and we found her lying on the street with blood pouring from her head and knee. Most of the volunteers ran to the side of the road in fear. Another volunteer stayed back with me in order to attend to our badly hurt friend. Using the very, very, very little Hindi that I knew, we got her a random cloth to wrap her head, picked her up, and asked random passerbys for a ride to the nearest hospital. Finally, one Good Samaritan piled us into his car and drove us to the nearest hospital, Ghai Hospital. No gloves, nothing, at this hospital, but they were able to stitch up my friend's head, knee, get a cast on her arm and bandage up any other cuts. I was able to pick up a brace for my left knee... which I had dislocated in the accident. And the other volunteers were able to receive the appropriate care for their injuries.

Looking back at the what happened, we all laugh. But truth is that we could have all easily lost our lives that day. There are no seat belts, let alone doors in these autos! We could have easily hit our heads or snapped our necks during the accident... but I guess that wasn't meant to happen :). Thankfully we have all fully recovered and now have quite the story to share!