Or is it possible that it is not the lack of time that has affected my blogging activity but just that I am empty of any imagination to think of anything worth writing? With so much going on, its gives us little time to think and ponder("idle away our time"). Only the quality of my next blog will tell whether my imagination is dead or if it is buried alive. We just have to wait for it.
Friday, October 09, 2009
Dead or Buried Alive???
Looking at the last post on this blog makes me wonder whether all the creativity and imagination (or just the will to write) was lost with the whacking I received many months ago. I always wanted to write something with ideas coming up now and then but never actually got the time to sit and write anything and put it to paper. Maybe its because life has become so hectic with so many things to do. I have to worry about my seminar, prepare for the project, study for CAT/XAT, study for university exams(including the supplie(s), i hope its not plural) and I also have to lie around doing nothing, just watching movies and stuff. Where is the time for all this?
Sunday, May 31, 2009
The Incident
Prologue
May 7. It started as any other day. I got up late as usual. I wanted to play around with the components I had bought for my project. So I called up my project partner and told him to come to the college. Just then I realised that there was a hartal on that day and the college probably would not be open. I cancelled my plans and was sitting at in my room going through the pages of the new ACD textbook that I had bought just a few days ago. That was when my roommate told me that the labs at the college were open. So I called up my friend again and we met at the college. After fiddling with the components in the lab for about half an hour, it was time for lunch. My partner and I left the college and went to the Green Park hotel behind the college which was open. I had half of a vegetable biriyani (I was not feeling hungry) and a Maa (for which I still haven’t paid for. The guy didn’t have any change so I told him that I would pay for it in the night). After that I went to my partner’s house which is located near the Kingani hotel. I sat there till about 3pm after which I left for home alone via the MH road.
Just Before
It was about 3:15(I found out about the time later); I had crossed the MH ground and was near the new Comp. Sc. Building, where a mud road goes to the right. I saw a bike with two people approaching me from the main road. The driver saw me and told something to the pillion rider. He looked at least 30-35 years old. I thought that they were about to ask for directions, so I slowed down and turned around to see them stop behind me. That’s when it all began. The gut sitting behind got down and pulled out a stick as big as a tube light and called out “EDA”. I knew then that I was in trouble and started running towards the main road. Unfortunately, very unfortunately, I tripped on something and fell.
The Assault
The guy followed and started whacking me with the stick. Initially I shouted out, asking him not to hit me, telling them that I was a nobody (at that time I thought that this was because of the hartal). This was like a reflex action, since on thinking back on these events I never felt my brain giving the commands for me to shout and scream. I had probably got two or three hits then including the one which broke my left forearm. Doctors say that the first instinct when you are about to be hit is to raise the arm which you use for everything up for self protection. I being left handed raised my left arm. I was rolling on the ground when I got my first hit in my face, on my right cheekbone. I fell silent at that point. I could only hear a ringing sound. I stopped feeling pain. Even though I was fully conscious, I didn’t feel any of the subsequent hits. The attackers left me on the road.
The Aftermath
I was able to get up though I was very unsteady, I started to walk towards the main road hoping to reach the Emmaus hostel to get help. I was bleeding heavily through my nose. I called up my roommate who I knew was in the college. I told him that two people had beaten me up and asked him to get some vehicle from somewhere to take me to the hospital. He asked me whether I was telling the truth to which I replied affirmatively with a couple of abuses. I reached the main road. I was holding my handkerchief to my nose to stop the bleeding. I saw a man standing in front of the Meter Testing Office there. I asked him if he could help me. He said that he could try stopping any cars on the way. Knowing that cars would be few it being a hartal I left him and ran inside the Emmaus hostel and went towards the first room I saw shouting for help. I told them what had happened and asked them to do something. The pain had not set in yet. I sat on a railing and looked at my hang. It felt broken. I thought that this was the end for my exams. I then went to a bathroom and got the first look at my face. It was really gruesome. My first reaction was “WOW”. The right side of my face had bloated up and was almost like a football. I was bleeding through my nose and from a cut above my eye. My jeans were soaking in blood and so were my hair and feet. My shirt was deep blue so there was nothing much to see. I washed my face and went back to sit on the railings. I told one of my friends there to take a photo of mine. But unfortunately or fortunately for me, he was more cared for my health and got busy elsewhere. I was then moved inside a room and sat on a chair. Someone got a huge piece of ice which I put on my face to stop the bleeding. I told someone to call my father up and tell him about the incident. I talked to him but thanks to the amazing luck I was having, the reception was not clear and he understood very little. My friend had been playing Mafia Wars on Facebook, it was on the computer beside me. My roommates had reached by then. Some others had got bikes. But I felt that I could not get on a bike and reach the hospital in one piece. Then luckily someone got an auto and climbed into it with two of my friends and was rushed into the Casualty wing of the medical college. The pain was starting to grow while I was in the auto.
Medical College
Getting to the casualty wing requires us to go round the statue of a mother and a baby. I was thinking that more serious cases would probably end up dead by the time they reach the place. Finally on reaching the place I went in and sat on a wheelchair, while my friends completed the formalities. It was really an unlucky day for me as the wheelchair I was sitting on didn’t work. I grumbled and uttered some more abuses. My friends pushed me inside and I was taken one by one to various places where some different type of doctor would check on me. They gave me some glucose drips through a needle stuck on my right hand. Some other friends had arrived by then too. I asked one doctor who checked my hand to tell me that it was not broken and I had an exam to write. But he was silent. Once they took of the drips, I started to shiver violently, and it took some persons to hold me down. I was telling everyone I saw to give me some anaesthetic or drug to remove the pain, but it seems that everyone thought that I was a superman of sorts and could endure any amount of pain. I was then taken to another doctor who put stitches on my face. The nurse told me that I would feel the sting of the needle going into me. This made me laugh, of course I was going to feel a needle and thread going into my face. An X-ray revealed that my hand was indeed broken. My ulna bone was in two pieces. A person put a huge cast around my arm which made it almost impossible for me to move. I was shifted onto a stretcher and was being pushed around everywhere. My local guardian, my aunt was called and she had arrived by then. The medical college police had also come and they took a statement. I told them the entire story in detail which they took down.
They told me that there was some scuffle between the MHites and some locals previously on that day. The attackers probably thought I was an MHite since I was walking down that road. I put a sign in the FIR with my right hand which came out really goofy. A lot of my friends came to see me though I remember very little. My staff advisor had also come. After some more X-Rays, a CT-Scan and more pushing about in the stretcher, I was finally admitted into the Casualty ward where I fell asleep. I was being given oxygen and fluids were being pumped into me. I couldn’t open my jaw completely and the movements of my right eye were restricted though I could see properly. There were multiple fractures on the right side of my face. The ophthalmologist felt that fragments of my skull were probably in the muscles and nerves of my eye which were restricting its movements. An orbital CT-Scan was required to get a more accurate picture. I slept rather uneasily that night, making friends with some cockroaches which were
I woke up the next day and found two of my aunts there. I was told that my father would be arriving from Ahmadabad that evening. I was being attended to by my friends and relatives. I was told not to eat as I had another scan that afternoon. I was still being filled with medicines and stuff intravenously. I probably had more visitors that day than the rest of the patients of the ward combined. I talked to some of them and also sent a few messages. I was able to sit up and look around. One person was screaming out in pain. My bad luck had still not left me, I was taken in a wheel chair for a scan only to find out that due to some problem all scanning had been pushed to the evening. My dad arrived in the evening and I told him the story too.
SP Fort Hospital
Finally that night I was taken to the SP Fort hospital by my father and two of my classmates where a Faciomaxilliary Surgeon came to have a look at me. On seeing the scans he said that there were multiple fractures on my face. I had probably got two impacts on my face and because of that my cheekbone had got flattened inwards and was resting against my eyeball because of which I couldn’t move my eye completely. There was a blue spot on my eye which was due to a lot of blood. I was told to get a 3D CT-Scan and an MRI scan. The MRI scan took almost half an hour to complete and it was really noisy. I was told that my forearm would be operated upon the next day, while the one my face would take time since it was still the size of a watermelon.
The Operations
The operation on my hand was done under general anaesthesia. It was given via a mask. It works really fast. Before I knew what was going on, I was out. The fixed a metal plate inside my arm. By the time I woke up I was being taken back to my bed. I had a crepe bandage on my arm.
The operation on my face took place on the 13th of May. It was a complicated surgery. I went into the operation theatre at about 10:30am and came out at about 4pm. It took about 6 hours. The anaesthetist gave me an injection. It took a few seconds to take effect. My eyes went blurry and slowly I lost consciousness. I had 3 plates fixed inside my face. There were some more sets of stitches. One was right under my eye, another beside it and one inside my mouth. The doctor had to push out the cheekbone from the inside and use screws and plates to hold the thing in place. It was a complete success and my eye was functioning completely. The blue spot had reduced into a red spot.
Epilogue
I was discharged on Saturday the 16th of May. I went with my parents to stay at my aunt’s place. I had spent 10 days total in two hospitals and couldn’t do more. I was told to come on another day to remove the stitches on my arm of which I took a photo when the attender had removed the bandage. I had one giant scar on it. I also had to cut my hair. I was forced to cut it since it was caked in blood and full of all the crap from the medical college ward.
Thoughts
Prologue
May 7. It started as any other day. I got up late as usual. I wanted to play around with the components I had bought for my project. So I called up my project partner and told him to come to the college. Just then I realised that there was a hartal on that day and the college probably would not be open. I cancelled my plans and was sitting at in my room going through the pages of the new ACD textbook that I had bought just a few days ago. That was when my roommate told me that the labs at the college were open. So I called up my friend again and we met at the college. After fiddling with the components in the lab for about half an hour, it was time for lunch. My partner and I left the college and went to the Green Park hotel behind the college which was open. I had half of a vegetable biriyani (I was not feeling hungry) and a Maa (for which I still haven’t paid for. The guy didn’t have any change so I told him that I would pay for it in the night). After that I went to my partner’s house which is located near the Kingani hotel. I sat there till about 3pm after which I left for home alone via the MH road.
Just Before
It was about 3:15(I found out about the time later); I had crossed the MH ground and was near the new Comp. Sc. Building, where a mud road goes to the right. I saw a bike with two people approaching me from the main road. The driver saw me and told something to the pillion rider. He looked at least 30-35 years old. I thought that they were about to ask for directions, so I slowed down and turned around to see them stop behind me. That’s when it all began. The gut sitting behind got down and pulled out a stick as big as a tube light and called out “EDA”. I knew then that I was in trouble and started running towards the main road. Unfortunately, very unfortunately, I tripped on something and fell.
The Assault
The guy followed and started whacking me with the stick. Initially I shouted out, asking him not to hit me, telling them that I was a nobody (at that time I thought that this was because of the hartal). This was like a reflex action, since on thinking back on these events I never felt my brain giving the commands for me to shout and scream. I had probably got two or three hits then including the one which broke my left forearm. Doctors say that the first instinct when you are about to be hit is to raise the arm which you use for everything up for self protection. I being left handed raised my left arm. I was rolling on the ground when I got my first hit in my face, on my right cheekbone. I fell silent at that point. I could only hear a ringing sound. I stopped feeling pain. Even though I was fully conscious, I didn’t feel any of the subsequent hits. The attackers left me on the road.
The Aftermath
I was able to get up though I was very unsteady, I started to walk towards the main road hoping to reach the Emmaus hostel to get help. I was bleeding heavily through my nose. I called up my roommate who I knew was in the college. I told him that two people had beaten me up and asked him to get some vehicle from somewhere to take me to the hospital. He asked me whether I was telling the truth to which I replied affirmatively with a couple of abuses. I reached the main road. I was holding my handkerchief to my nose to stop the bleeding. I saw a man standing in front of the Meter Testing Office there. I asked him if he could help me. He said that he could try stopping any cars on the way. Knowing that cars would be few it being a hartal I left him and ran inside the Emmaus hostel and went towards the first room I saw shouting for help. I told them what had happened and asked them to do something. The pain had not set in yet. I sat on a railing and looked at my hang. It felt broken. I thought that this was the end for my exams. I then went to a bathroom and got the first look at my face. It was really gruesome. My first reaction was “WOW”. The right side of my face had bloated up and was almost like a football. I was bleeding through my nose and from a cut above my eye. My jeans were soaking in blood and so were my hair and feet. My shirt was deep blue so there was nothing much to see. I washed my face and went back to sit on the railings. I told one of my friends there to take a photo of mine. But unfortunately or fortunately for me, he was more cared for my health and got busy elsewhere. I was then moved inside a room and sat on a chair. Someone got a huge piece of ice which I put on my face to stop the bleeding. I told someone to call my father up and tell him about the incident. I talked to him but thanks to the amazing luck I was having, the reception was not clear and he understood very little. My friend had been playing Mafia Wars on Facebook, it was on the computer beside me. My roommates had reached by then. Some others had got bikes. But I felt that I could not get on a bike and reach the hospital in one piece. Then luckily someone got an auto and climbed into it with two of my friends and was rushed into the Casualty wing of the medical college. The pain was starting to grow while I was in the auto.
Medical College
Getting to the casualty wing requires us to go round the statue of a mother and a baby. I was thinking that more serious cases would probably end up dead by the time they reach the place. Finally on reaching the place I went in and sat on a wheelchair, while my friends completed the formalities. It was really an unlucky day for me as the wheelchair I was sitting on didn’t work. I grumbled and uttered some more abuses. My friends pushed me inside and I was taken one by one to various places where some different type of doctor would check on me. They gave me some glucose drips through a needle stuck on my right hand. Some other friends had arrived by then too. I asked one doctor who checked my hand to tell me that it was not broken and I had an exam to write. But he was silent. Once they took of the drips, I started to shiver violently, and it took some persons to hold me down. I was telling everyone I saw to give me some anaesthetic or drug to remove the pain, but it seems that everyone thought that I was a superman of sorts and could endure any amount of pain. I was then taken to another doctor who put stitches on my face. The nurse told me that I would feel the sting of the needle going into me. This made me laugh, of course I was going to feel a needle and thread going into my face. An X-ray revealed that my hand was indeed broken. My ulna bone was in two pieces. A person put a huge cast around my arm which made it almost impossible for me to move. I was shifted onto a stretcher and was being pushed around everywhere. My local guardian, my aunt was called and she had arrived by then. The medical college police had also come and they took a statement. I told them the entire story in detail which they took down.
They told me that there was some scuffle between the MHites and some locals previously on that day. The attackers probably thought I was an MHite since I was walking down that road. I put a sign in the FIR with my right hand which came out really goofy. A lot of my friends came to see me though I remember very little. My staff advisor had also come. After some more X-Rays, a CT-Scan and more pushing about in the stretcher, I was finally admitted into the Casualty ward where I fell asleep. I was being given oxygen and fluids were being pumped into me. I couldn’t open my jaw completely and the movements of my right eye were restricted though I could see properly. There were multiple fractures on the right side of my face. The ophthalmologist felt that fragments of my skull were probably in the muscles and nerves of my eye which were restricting its movements. An orbital CT-Scan was required to get a more accurate picture. I slept rather uneasily that night, making friends with some cockroaches which were
I woke up the next day and found two of my aunts there. I was told that my father would be arriving from Ahmadabad that evening. I was being attended to by my friends and relatives. I was told not to eat as I had another scan that afternoon. I was still being filled with medicines and stuff intravenously. I probably had more visitors that day than the rest of the patients of the ward combined. I talked to some of them and also sent a few messages. I was able to sit up and look around. One person was screaming out in pain. My bad luck had still not left me, I was taken in a wheel chair for a scan only to find out that due to some problem all scanning had been pushed to the evening. My dad arrived in the evening and I told him the story too.
SP Fort Hospital
Finally that night I was taken to the SP Fort hospital by my father and two of my classmates where a Faciomaxilliary Surgeon came to have a look at me. On seeing the scans he said that there were multiple fractures on my face. I had probably got two impacts on my face and because of that my cheekbone had got flattened inwards and was resting against my eyeball because of which I couldn’t move my eye completely. There was a blue spot on my eye which was due to a lot of blood. I was told to get a 3D CT-Scan and an MRI scan. The MRI scan took almost half an hour to complete and it was really noisy. I was told that my forearm would be operated upon the next day, while the one my face would take time since it was still the size of a watermelon.
The Operations
The operation on my hand was done under general anaesthesia. It was given via a mask. It works really fast. Before I knew what was going on, I was out. The fixed a metal plate inside my arm. By the time I woke up I was being taken back to my bed. I had a crepe bandage on my arm.
The operation on my face took place on the 13th of May. It was a complicated surgery. I went into the operation theatre at about 10:30am and came out at about 4pm. It took about 6 hours. The anaesthetist gave me an injection. It took a few seconds to take effect. My eyes went blurry and slowly I lost consciousness. I had 3 plates fixed inside my face. There were some more sets of stitches. One was right under my eye, another beside it and one inside my mouth. The doctor had to push out the cheekbone from the inside and use screws and plates to hold the thing in place. It was a complete success and my eye was functioning completely. The blue spot had reduced into a red spot.
Epilogue
I was discharged on Saturday the 16th of May. I went with my parents to stay at my aunt’s place. I had spent 10 days total in two hospitals and couldn’t do more. I was told to come on another day to remove the stitches on my arm of which I took a photo when the attender had removed the bandage. I had one giant scar on it. I also had to cut my hair. I was forced to cut it since it was caked in blood and full of all the crap from the medical college ward.
Thoughts
- Thinking back on all that had happened, it was truly a terrible but great and somewhat weird experience.
- I was beaten up by accident due to mistaken identity.Some MHite was supposed to get what I had received. But this is CETlife. Probably not the CETlife we imagine but this is one thing about the four years in college I would never forget...The attackers only had the intention to hit.
- They came, They whacked, They went. Thankfully they didn’t steal anything. I still hope a coconut falls on their head and they die.
- The pain was not that immense and even though I had a bunch of broken bones and whatnot, I was still able to stand up and run to safety. I got a bunch of scars and now I have metal on my skull \m/. Due to some twisted luck, there was no damage to my brain(no way of finding out!) or my eye.
- I only missed one exam, it was a choice between one suppli or writing 12 exams together in the next semester, which would have probably given me a whole set of supplies. Writing with a broken hand is not easy.
- It put a certain things in perspective. Like pain. And the times we laugh when we see on TV people crashing in cars and bikes doing stunts and breaking a bunch of bones.
- My hair was among the big losses I faced. Not to forget the medical costs which came to more than Rs.1.15 lakh!
- A broken right ulna and a tripod fracture on the right side of my skull with a large segment of bone depressed inwards. I have a total of 4 metal plates in me with a bunch of screws. Who would have thought I would have recovered in just 20 days!
Monday, May 04, 2009
A Kazha Mootha Adventure
May 02, 2009: This was today four of us, KMG, TGT, TVT and myself N5 decided to explore the darkness that lay beyond the much heard but little known region called Alathara. We began our journey following the road not much travelled by CETians, going towards Alathara. On the way we passed big towers that were coming up, tall in defiance of the countryside, great structures looking out to the sea. Onward we walked, without a target, following the same worn out road, leaving behind the hills which had great castles and palaces of the rich and famous lying in between the shacks and hovels of the downtrodden. A lot more of them were coming up here, leaving us amazed at how crass capitalism was destroying our countryside.
Then as we turned around a bend in the road, we caught our first sight of the great Akkulam Lake, glistening in the sunlight in all its majesty. Alas, for we were at a junction with two choices, to go either left or right. We searched for any signs which would tell us the way forward. But then the blistering heat of the high noon took over our mnds with the help of our kazha and we took the beaten road to the right. We advanced forward, ambling along the shores of the stately Akkulam Lake passing by many wonders, natural and manmade alike.
Soon we found our beaten track merging into the great NH Bypass. The road that carried vast amount of traffic at high speeds which left us amazed. We satiated our thirst at a wayside shop with lemon juice and soda and rested our feet. The keeper of the shop was amazed to hear of our journey till now but we told him that it was just the beginning leaving him dumbstruck. Others bid us good luck for our adventure. We bid them goodbye and turning south walked along the Bypass till we reached the bridge crossing the Akkulam Lake. A long bridge was this, spanning over 369 metres and built over six years, the construction being led by a woman chef engineer. We traversed the bridge slowly, marvelling at the beauty of the mighty Akkulam Lake. And slowly and steadily we had finally crossed. We looked back and the beginning of the bridge gleamed far away in the distance. We rested a little in the shade of a mango tree. Its branches were teasing us with bunches of its fruits hanging just out of reach. With the heave kotor traffic of the NH Bypass road to give us company and protection, we strolled ahead, viewing the many factories, car showrooms and other sights alongside the dusty road. We had a small lunch at a decrepit hotel offering only rice meals after which we walked till we reached another junction. 5
But there was a road sign here which read:
Kovalam 19 k.m.
Veli tourist village 2 k.m.
We were well aware of the limits of our kazha and with a sea wind cooling our minds, we turned west again, walking towards the other greater lake, Veli. We first reached the Kochuveli Railway Station. This was from where many long distance trains started. We found the Kochuveli-Bikaner Express lying at the first platform. We were now walking right on the railway tracks, filling our eyes with the majesty of the grand Indian Railways. We crossed the tracks and after a right turn and then a left turn we stumbled upon Veli. We entered the park and saw the various carvings and sculptures it had on display. With a little more rest we moved towards the beach and stood facing the wide open Arabian Sea. We strained our eyes hoping to catch a glimpse of any big ship but to no avail.
Our Kazha took us further south as we walked towards the beach of Shankumugham. We ambled along the beach with our pants folded up to our knees and our footwear in our hands. Befriending the dogs basking in the beach we moved forward, sometimes sighting crabs and other creatures in the beach. Littered along the beach were many bottles of alcohol which we tossed into the sea. Regrefully, we also found a few persons depositing their feaces in the sea. Inspite of al these distractions, we were progressing slower than we expected since the sand obstructed our speed. But we walked onward, crossing small creeks that joined with the sea. Finally we were close to our destination. We had reached within viewing distance of the Indian Coffee House building at Shankumugham. We found a bottle of red paint which we used to mark our presence and of our college’s on the new seawall constructed to protect in face of anther tsunami.
Sunday, May 03, 2009
My first attempt at a song
This one's about the recent case of death caused due to corporal punishment in a school
Welcome to my place
Take your seat
Don't you even dare to speak
I am the king here
You do as I say
This is the only way
Dont move from your seat
Dont utter a single word
You just have to do as you are told
I an here to teach
Your A B C D
Repeat it after me
I love my students
So innocent and young
Abusing them is so much fun
I can slap them and kick them
I do as I care
I am their teacher and its all fair
Beat them, thrash them
Then they'll learn
I am the best teacher in this world
Don't you see that
This is what they need
They'll grow to be strong like me
Come and recite your A B C
Dont you know what comes after D
Akick in the stomach is what you need
Respect me fear me
I am your God
Without me, what chance have you got?
The world is cruel
And I am too
What I do is for your own good
Tough love is what I show
A ruptured ear drum, a bloody nose
That means I love you the most
-NitishN5
Welcome to my place
Take your seat
Don't you even dare to speak
I am the king here
You do as I say
This is the only way
Dont move from your seat
Dont utter a single word
You just have to do as you are told
I an here to teach
Your A B C D
Repeat it after me
I love my students
So innocent and young
Abusing them is so much fun
I can slap them and kick them
I do as I care
I am their teacher and its all fair
Beat them, thrash them
Then they'll learn
I am the best teacher in this world
Don't you see that
This is what they need
They'll grow to be strong like me
Come and recite your A B C
Dont you know what comes after D
Akick in the stomach is what you need
Respect me fear me
I am your God
Without me, what chance have you got?
The world is cruel
And I am too
What I do is for your own good
Tough love is what I show
A ruptured ear drum, a bloody nose
That means I love you the most
-NitishN5
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