After the accident

Perhaps it was the shadow of the previous day's film ambience. I'll never know that, but the other day I contrived to find myself in the middle of a chowk as one of the two parties in a collision. I might say a little hesitantly, not wanting to tempt Fate, that this is the first in my 6 years of driving that I was so disposed. The exact details of the "incident" are hazy as regards the causes, but fortunately, neither the two guys picking themselves up nor me were hurt in any serious way apart from a bruise or two. My vehicle didn't seem to have come out of it too well, but the other had.

There was an inevitable verbal tussle that followed the action, and my interlocuter swiftly claimed moral high ground by alleging that I had been driving at a higher speed than was necessary. He contrasted it with the speed that he claimed to be at. I didn't think the former was quite correct, and also spotted the problem in the argument about the speeds, as both the vehicles were now stationary and it was difficult to prove anyway. Nothing came of it, and we both departed the scene - me with a bent key that mercifully could restart the stunned vehicle accompanied by a increasingly shrill sound from the front wheel area.

Sometime later, I recalled an incident that occured about two months ago during which Harish and I witnessed a car making a desparate getaway on the wrong side of the road, a few metres ahead revealing another car which had come off worse. It led to us discussing how difficult it was to accept that one is wrong. I wondered if the same was true in this case; despite my reactionary state of denial, was I to blame? Try as I might, I couldn't pinpoint the cause of the collision. Perhaps I was day-dreaming as I was prone to do so. Perhaps I did not apply the brakes fully. Perhaps he did speed into the chowk without looking out (that the accident occured proved that I wasn't quite alert as well). All those possibilities existed, but what may have prompted my self-defence mechanisms to get worked up was that the other guy flatly ruled out any possibility that he may have been at fault, which I thought was quite incorrect.

I guess you can try to follow rules etc and keep a careful eye out, but sometimes minor lapses in these might be the one time such a thing happens. Wonder if I'll have the guts to own up then.