Innocence and Bliss

Sometimes, it is good enough to know you have been through something, than actually experiencing it.

With winter peaking, temperature here was falling by the hour when disaster struck. I got up early last monday to find my jacket stuck to the heater pipe, and a gaping hole formed in it in the process. I guess i had carelessly swung it across, the previous evening. Having no jacket to wear, i struggled the rest of the week on my way to the office.

Colleagues later in the week decided to do some shopping at the factory outlets 70 miles off our city. Come saturday afternoon, we were on our way to the outlets. After an hours drive, we reached the place with a slight drizzle accompaining us. After about four hours of running around shops we decided it was time to head back home. I had found myself a Jacket after scavenging quite a few outlets and was only too pleased to put it on immediately.

We were ahead of schedule and hence decided to visit a temple that was on our way back home. The unplanned detour would take away from us 2 hours of time, which at that time we didnt know we required. Nevertheless, excited about the sumptuous food at the temple, we zoomed our way to the temple, with frequent showers keeping the wipers busy.

Curd rice sitting steady after the meal at the temple, a sudden announcement warned : "Warning ! Freezing rain ! Please be on guard! ". I had no idea what a freezing rain meant until the droplets of rain hit me on my face, freezing on impact ! Running into the car, i cuddled into the back seat, with the public address system still shouting hoarse asking people to drive safely. We started towards our city when the clock ticked 7:30pm.

With five of us in the car, it was only too easy for me to doze off while the others entertained each other. My new found jacket was warm enough to support my cause. After listening to the discussion about the sudden change in events, the curd rice had worked it's magic on me. With conversations slowly giving way for a sound sleep, my decreasing consiousness was aggravated by the shopping i had done earlier in the day. In no time, i was sound asleep, unawares.

After what looked like a really long sleep, i woke up. Our car was neatly parked on the highway shoulder, with rain still pouring. With my mind only half awake, i asked my colleague : "Why have we stopped ? there isnt any traffic signal here!". I got a few glances, or that's all i could make out, but not a voice from anyone. Strange as i felt, my slumber got the better of me, and i went back to sleep. We reached our house, when i was woken up with a shudder. Walking into the house, i looked at my watch.

It read 1am. in sometime we were all asleep with noises outside i had never heard before.

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PS : Colleagues say we 'escaped death' twice that night, when our car lost control in the icy rain with near zero visibility, and skidded all over the state highway. The sudden storm was one of the worst in recent times.

I wouldn't know.

(.....did i mention i got a good bargain on my Jacket ?...well, yes i just did.)