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A strange - R day to Remember!

by Aarti Sriram
(India)


( Photo by Val Vesa on Unsplash )


My toddler cried in pain when a balloon burst in her eyes. I called up my husband to inform but could not get through to him. He had told me earlier that for the evening event he would have to leave office early and hence would be very busy finishing all his meetings back-to-back.

Quickly, I had to buckle both my kids in their car seats and drive to the hospital. It was very helpful to have gotten an appointment that very day with their GP, a good kids doctor. There was a waiting time though, and it was difficult managing a tiny one who was growing crankier with pain. Almost two hours later we were able to consult. For a very worrying mother the sight of their paediatrician was very heartening. As always calm and reassuring she treated my daughter out of pain and dispatched us with quite a relief to my baby.

This event, a cricket match was on that same evening which my husband and his friends had organised to play. Over the last few weeks, we ladies had bought white t-shirts and repainted them to a blue colour with an emblem of the team for our husbands.

This was also an occasion for the families of the men to meet and get to know each other better. This was a new place where this new office project had just started for the men. And I was eager to go and cheer him and meet other ladies on this fathers play day.


I needed to arrive in less than half an hour to see the match with the kids. Since this doctor appointment had abruptly taken away our daytime I had just enough time to reach the grounds without a stopover at home. After the appointment, I had to reapply a soothing gel and do cold compress the second time, and we also quickly finished restroom and diaper change business before the drive to see the match.


It was a far-off sports facility and after a good 15 minutes drive, I discovered I had taken a wrong exit and a bad route. The new GPS (back in 2000) took a while to reroute, but I followed its directions. There were multiple highways, and I was new to driving and merging and exiting and rejoining new highways was something I was discovering the first time and trying to drive as safely as I could. Seeing the map, talking to my kids in between and following road signals I was a little tired and it felt like it was taking for ever to reach our destination. Almost an hour had passed.


That is when I found a man was following our vehicle. These were long stretches of lonely roads and suddenly I also was fearful to add to my confusions. I did not want to picture a lost female driver wandering and lost her way in the late evening. As I frantically kept driving my toddler had started wailing and sobbing and my younger kindergartner was helping her distract too, but I think it would be fair to remark that we had got ourselves into a bit of road situation by then.


As I drove, I saw some residential area approaching and I took the very first opportunity to exit and drive in front of a home where an old couple stood. They watched me drive in and noticed I was lost, or something was amiss. There were only a few houses and they figured out I did not belong there. When I waited near the parking lot the car following drove near and paused, a shady man lowered his windows looked out and briefly paused near my vehicle. When he saw me approaching that couple he decided to reverse and speed away.

That couple helped me figure out how far I had ventured from my destination and calmed me. I tried calling my husband but figured out he was deep in his sports and no one else were picking up their phones either. Surely the match had begun and there in the noisy place they were not checking or hearing their phones ring. After some time one of his friend’s wives answered my call and I told I was late and that I will take time reaching there and if she could pass on this message and ask my husband to call me back. Here, this couple offered me to come inside, but I did not want to disturb them. I told them I wanted to just comfort my daughter and halt briefly there before driving back.

Soon my husband called back and asked me to wait there and that his friend would drive him to my location and then we will go back home together in our car. My kids heard their father on the phone and were excited to hear their papa, which brightened their spirits during the long, grim drive!

When he arrived we were all happy to see each other and chatted about our baby and the wandering drive. That friend was telling me how my husband had missed having us cheer for him and how lovely innings he had played and that it must be organised again. My husband thanked his colleague and after he left we checked on our daughter again, she had gone off to sleep tired and with the medication working and its after effect. I was relieved not to have to drive back or navigate the roads, as my husband took over. Then we decided to have dinner outside and drove to a nearby restaurant and had a sumptuous meal.

On our return we were seeing the new area and the large homes that were prettily decorated for the approaching Christmas and New year. They gleamed with décor and fancy arrangements and lightings everywhere. Between the houses would be stretches of darkness and nothing in sight. Again, an old motel, a pub there and then followed by a row of houses at a distance. We had barely crossed a junction and entered a small lane leading to a fuel station where we intended to stop and refuel.

But short of that our car made a funny sound and we stopped to see what was wrong. We noticed we had a flat tire and went to change and use the stepney. It was dark there and our headlights could barely light enough to help us change the tires etc... Both of us with greasy hands and finally getting the flat out we were fidgeting with fixing the new tire when suddenly someone shone their car lights onto our vehicle. We looked up and saw a jeep had pulled up at the junction, with the driver trying to beam his powerful headlights lighting that area sufficiently only to help us. He signalled and we waved back. Quickly we changed and were all set to start driving. We went near to thank him, and he waved a thumbs up and went away.

That night as my husband drove and kids had slept off, I was so full of thoughts and wanted to talk it out. We filled in each other with the day’s highlights and so much to catch up on. How something could have gone very wrong that day and how nice family time would have been at the match and how lucky we were to have our daughter eyes not injured but a small hurt and were so lucky to get an appointment. The old couple seemed like gods help and calm me and how the car that followed felt so scary etc...

The return drive to home felt a little longer but was filled with varied thoughts and feelings … and these strangers help had added a good Samaritan touch that we remember it to this day. They reminded me of organisers at local events or gatherings we used to attend who were behind these fairs who fostered community spirit. The fear of that shady man had drained out with hopes of good people around as well and perhaps we could be one paying it forward to someone less privileged. May be charity events, fundraising or volunteering can make us aware to be a little more human in our eventful busy every days illustrating how people can unite for sports and fun also for some common good.

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