“I remember my cousin telling me clearly, we’ll call you on the 19th and we can talk more. How was I to know that he wasn’t going to keep that promise…”(Cont.. from part, I suggest that you read part 1 before you proceed.)
I am back at work after all the New Year celebrations. It was the 7th of January, our office was relocating premises. I was busy coding all the computers and its wires and extensions. I was under the desk when the phone rang. I just let it ring, as I wanted to get this done. Sherrie who was at the reception popped in at the door and said “Uma why aren’t picking up the phone? it’s your mum on the line” Mum never rings me at work. Immediately my thought goes to Arj my four year old, he was not the healthiest of kids. I grabbed the the phone, mum started to slowly speak. She said “Uma it’s not good news…” and she paused. My mind starts racing and my hearts joins in too. Mum continues “In Canada..Rama…”, I thought it was my uncle, she finishes the sentence. My dear cousin had met with an accident and they believe he had passed away.
My racing heart came to a complete stop. So did my mind. It went blank. Other than that one voice that just kept interjecting “No way, Not true”. Brian my boss realised that something was wrong. So did the others. They made a cup of coffee and sat and talked me, they wanted to me to calm down before I started driving.
I start driving, I start planning my thoughts, I will go home and give a call to my sister in law to confirm the news. This news came from other people not directly from the family. They were still at the hospital as per the sources. I was convinced he has somehow pulled through. There was no way he could be gone. No Way. No Fricking way. He is only forty years old, his wife/my buddy is only thrity five. He has two small kids. No Way, No He Can’t Go. I just spoke to him to seven days ago. No Way, Not True”. My mind kept chanting those words.
I am in one of the back streets. I hear a big thud, I look through the rear view mirror. A big Gum Tree branch just falls millimeters behind my car. One millisecond earlier I would have been under that gum tree. Same, same slightly different. Force of the twins now attacking the kids?? Just a mere coincidence?? Maybe.
Between my cousin and me, I am the noisy one. He was the calm, passive and quiet one. He broke all those rules when he went. He sent shook waves through the entire nation, the family and extended family. No one could fathom what had just happened. But apparently that is life.
It just took one momentary lapse of concentration for that woman to drive through a red light and take out my cousin who was taking a left turn, to cause such carnage and misery. Some of us felt angry, some of us felt some kind of empathy but overwhelmingly all of us felt lost. I felt robbed. I didn’t have a sibling of my own and even the one that I treated as my own brother was now taken. I had to shun my emotions to soldier on Jan’s (my sister-in-law). I hope God wasn’t listening to me then, if he was he was he would have rather shocked at the language I was using at him. My personal observation here is that he screwed up well and truly on this case.
Time passed, his wife (my sister in law and friend) had accepted the sentence that ‘The Life’ gave her and of the sentence the court gave the other woman, the best way she can. His kids grew with the remnants of the memories of their dad, and his parents struggled on, watching their grand kids to get a glimpse of their late son. We blamed FATE for their destiny and moved on.
I had turned Forty the previous year in June. So I was forty and six months on the 7th of January 2006. I was on my way to my mum’s house with some essentials, bread, milk etc. She was returning from Sydney that night and I wanted to put these things in her house before her arrival. I was at the intersection waiting to turn right ( For those from the Americas, this would be like taking a Left turn for you), the lights change to green. After a quick flick of the head to the right I start to move. I hear someone’s horn, not sure which direction it came from. But there was a car coming at a speed from the right. It all took just a split second. I saw the other car driver right front of me. I was sure I was gone that day, that very minute. I felt jolt at the front, but the car drove off and I was still alive.
I was frozen for a few seconds. I am not sure how I managed to brake in time, how/why the car behind me didn’t hit me. I pulled into a side road to inspect the damage to the front of the car. My number plate was screwed up. That’s it nothing else. Not another scratch. But can you imagine how close the other car was if it had touched my number plate.
Both cousin and I meeting with a similar accident on the 7th Jan and we were both at the exact age seems a little bit more than a coincidence to me. Then again I don’t know if I am reading too much into it, to feel the connection between him and me.
I survived he didn’t, my uncle survived my dad didn’t. Same, Same but different seems to be the theme in our lives. It all has to be a mere coincidence.
The Universe is a one big question mark. Do we have all the answers? I guess in the scientific world most things can be rationalized as a mere coincidence and in the world of Mystic and spirituality it is Fate or a Miracle.
Daily Prompt: Coincidence
https://dailypost.wordpress.com/prompts/coincidence/
Uma's life and thoughts 