Story 19: Homecoming

Part 1

Statutory warnings (as usual):) 

1) This is an Abir story, not Mishbir

2) Put logic aside for a little bit

3) Thoda Bollywood hai, adjust kar lena please

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SCREEECCCCCHHHHHHHHH!...... CRASSSHHHHHHHHHHH!

The bus slammed into the tree with terrifying force, throwing all the passengers out of their seats. For a few minutes after the impact, there was an eerie silence inside the mangled vehicle, broken only by the groan of metal as the bus rocked back on its wheels. And then cacophony erupted as the terrified passengers began to wail, scream, cry out for help.

Even seated close to the back as he was, Abir Rajvansh had not escaped the impact fully. He had been thrown forward with vicious force and the side of his head had slammed violently against the iron hand hold of the seat in front of him, leaving a nasty deep gash and blood running down the side of his face. He blacked out for a few seconds and when he managed to open his eyes, squinting against the hammering in his head, he saw chaos all around him. Pushing the pain aside, he staggered to his feet and looked around, trying to assess how bad the situation was.

Miraculously enough, the bus's driver side portion was relatively in one piece, the other side almost crushed in. Heart in mouth, Abir picked his way to the front, ignoring the relatively unhurt passengers at the back who could get themselves out of the wreck, once they were out of shock.

The driver was slumped over the wheel, covered in blood and Abir's attention was fixed upon him. Quickly he called out to the few young men in the bus who were beginning to get to their feet dazedly and recruiting them for the task, he got the driver out before climbing back into the wreck to help the others.

By the time half an hour had passed, even as Abir and a few others were getting the worst hurt people out of the bus, people from the nearby village had begun to arrive to help. Almost everyone had sustained injuries at least from the glass windows that had shattered on impact. There was blood everywhere along with personal belongings strewn in and outside the bus. Abir had no idea where his own backpack was but thankfully his phone was in the pocket of his jeans and as he started a Google search for a nearby hospital to call, he heard the locals call out in relieved voices "Doctor sahib, aap aa gaye??!!"

Looking up he saw a tall figure stride towards the accident site, dressed nothing like one would expect from a doctor. A fairly worn white shirt and dark pants, no doctor's satchel in hand, just a cloth bag... Was he really a doctor?? Could he actually help? Abir took a closer look at the man himself- a full head of salt and pepper hair, broad shoulders, an absolutely calm demeanor despite the situation. It was the last that convinced Abir that this man COULD help. The locals seemed to have great respect for him anyway and in minutes the new comer was right in the thick of things, assessing the injuries of those who had already been brought out of the bus, taking care of them.

When Abir carried out an elderly lady over to him for first aid and eased her down on the ground by him, the doctor caught him by the wrist as he straightened.

"Wait, let me take a look at that head wound of yours too. It is quite deep" he said.

Abir's head WAS pounding hard but a deeply ingrained lesson from his childhood would not allow him to put himself ahead of others, to step back as long as he was bodily able to contribute something to a situation. The oft repeated story had laid the foundation for Abir's approach to life itself and he recalled it now as he did almost everyday of his life '... and surrounded by the enemy Abhimanyu still went on fighting, not giving up until the last. When you find yourself facing adversity, you too must never give up, you must do as much as you can, for as long as you possibly can...'. The memory of the story also brought up bitter memories of the man who had turned out to be a fraud and along with it an overwhelming grief. Abir quickly, deliberately curbed his thoughts from racing off in that direction. No, the man who told him the story was wrong but the story, its lesson was not...