Fog of Unpredictability

Anil was going home on his bike. The evening breeze soothed him as he was riding his bike at an average speed. "Mom would have cooked a tasty dinner today," Anil thought. He took a left turn and waited at the signal of a main road. "I will have to practise tomorrow. The cricket match on Sunday will be a tough game. What time should I call Shantanu though?" Anil wondered. "Most of the guys will get up late since its a Saturday. Maybe I should practise with Shantanu in the morning. I will practise with the rest in the evening," Anil thought.

The signal light turned green. Anil started his bike and moved ahead. While Anil continued to ponder over his thoughts, a car dashed him out of nowhere. Although the car was not moving at a high speed, the impact was hard enough to knock Anil off his bike. He landed hard on his right hand and bounced a bit further on the main road. All the traffic on the main road came to a halt. People were shocked by what had transpired in front of them. After a brief moment, everyone gathered around Anil who was unconscious and bleeding on the road.

......................................................................................................................................................................

Anil slowly opened his eyes. He was lying on a hospital bed. His head felt heavy. He tried turning his head. He looked towards his left and saw an open window. Its was dark outside the window. Anil couldn't hear anything and the night was silent. The lights of the room he was in was hurting his eyes. He closed them for a moment. Once his eyes adjusted to the light, he looked towards his right. He saw his mother sitting on a chair and sleeping with her head on his bed. Anil tried to get up but his right hand felt heavy. He wondered about it and tried to move it. A sudden jolt of pain rushed through his hand and head. He screamed in pain.

Anil's mother, Savitri was woken by the screams of her son. "Don't move too much son. Relax and tell me what you need," said Savitri. Anil looked towards his mother. She was wearing the same yellow kurta and white pyjama that he had seen her in earlier during the day. "How long was I unconscious?" Anil wondered. His mother looked tired and he could also clearly see the kajal stains on her face. "She must have cried a lot," Anil thought.

"I want to sit up Maa," Anil said.

"No you don't. The doctor wants you to rest as much as you can. Are you hungry? You haven't eaten at all," said Savitri.

She then called out to her husband and Anil's father, Ramu. Anil's father entered the room in a hurry.

"Are you ok, Anil?" Ramu asked hurriedly.
"Yes Dad," Anil said.

Ramu was wearing a blue shirt and black pants. "Tell the nurse to bring some food for Anil. Also call the doctor and tell that Anil is awake," Savitri instructed Ramu. "Its 3 am in the night. Where will we get food from?" asked Ramu. "They will have something in their fridge or some vegetables that they can cook. Just check with them," Savitri replied back in a irritated tone. Ramu nodded and left the room.

Savitri looked towards her son who was surprised by the fact that he was unconscious for almost 8 hours. "Anil you shouldn't make any sudden movements. Your right hand is fractured and you have some head injuries. You're lucky to be alive. Now take some rest, we will get some food for you," Savitri said.

......................................................................................................................................................................

Over the next few days, Anil was informed about how a rash driver had jumped the signal and hit him. While he was unconscious and bleeding, the driver tried to run away. Alert onlookers caught the driver before he could escape. Others took Anil inside an auto rickshaw towards the closest hospital. The car's impact was hard enough to permanently damage his bike.Savitri and Ramu weren't worried about the bike as much as they were worried about their son.

Anil's elder brother, Tushar had cut short his holiday trip and was on his way to the hospital. A police case was registered against the driver and Anil's statement was also taken. The police officer who took his statement had informed that Anil would be notified when he would need to appear in court along with other witnesses.

It took Anil sometime to digest the events that had taken place in his life. His right hand would take atleast a month to heal. This also meant that the last month of his summer vacation was going to be spent either resting in the hospital or in his house. Anil had planned to spend the month playing cricket matches, deciding upon which graduate college and career he should pursue, books to be read and movies that he would like to see. While he received many visitors including his relatives; Anil never saw his junior college friends visit him.

"Its ok man, everyone has something or the other to do," said Shantanu.

"Yes but I thought they were close friends like you," Anil said.

Anil was discharged from the hospital after 6 days of rest. His parents had payed for the hospital fees and treatment with the money they had saved for their vacation. "Its alright Anil. Your Dad and I will go for our honeymoon next year. You're more important to us," Savitri said while helping her son get down the stairs. "Don't worry Anil. You won't get too bored in the house. I am there to trouble you now," Tushar joked. Anil smiled but had no idea how he would spend the summer other than resting in the house.

......................................................................................................................................................................

Anil was sitting on a garden chair. His right hand had almost recovered and he would be able to use it  normally after some more days. His summer vacation was coming to an end. He watched as his friends were playing cricket, shouting instructions at each other before every ball was played. When the cricket match came to an end, Shantanu sat beside Anil to rest.

"Wow, that match was tiring," said Shantanu.

"You'll played really well. It was a tough series," Anil said.

"Yeah the teams were balanced because you weren't playing," Shantanu joked.

Both Anil and Shantanu laughed. "Well it was really thrilling to see you'll play. Never thought that I would enjoy it so much," Anil said.

"You didn't believe in a lot of things happening up until this point right? How did this last month go?" Shantanu asked.

"Well I have got to say it went pretty well. I thought the entire summer I would only be resting in the house doing nothing. But Tushar bhaiya made sure that there weren't any dull days in the house. We saw a lot of movies on his laptop. Mom and Dad were also watching some movies with us. After a longtime I felt like our family was close to each other.

I also got enough time to decide upon which college to apply to. Bhaiya helped me fill the admission forms for the colleges that I wanted to apply for. Dad also helped me out in deciding which career I should choose.

Luckily, I got to go out of the house after a week of house rest. You'll called me here and let me coach the team too," Anil said tugging on Shantanu's shoulder with his left hand.

"Yes Sir, we definitely needed a coach like you," Shantanu said sarcastically.

Both Anil and Shantanu were looking towards their friends who were exchanging jokes among themselves while resting under a tree.

"So what about your college friends? Did they ever call you or try to meet you?" Shantanu asked.

"Oh yes they did. Through Bhaiya's laptop, I found out that they had left me 'Get Well Soon' messages on my Facebook wall. Rohan also came to visit me in my house to know how I was doing. Most of them were out of town when I was in the hospital so they couldn't visit me. They are planning to visit me next week," Anil said.

"So what do you plan to do next then?" Shantanu asked.

"I don't know man. A month ago I never thought I would even be here in this kind of state. I had plans to go for movies that I never got to see, play cricket matches that I have not been able to play and decide on a career path that I don't find interesting at present," Anil said.

"What was the career that you wanted to take up?" Shantanu asked.

"I thought I would become an engineer. But when the results came out and I didn't get the required percentage to get in the engineering colleges, I decided that I would take up photography. Dad also wanted to be a photographer but he couldn't do so. He has helped me take some really good photographs," said Anil.

"Are you sure you want to take up photography as a career?" Shantanu asked.

"I am sure that its something I really would like to do. But you never know what might happen next. I guess I will have to go with the flow of life," said Anil.