July 18th 1999. It was late in the evening sometime around 7; my brother, who was two years younger than me, was returning home after his interview for the Electrical Engineering scholarship at Thimphu. He was then in dilemma whether to choose doctor’s training which was his childhood passion or the Electrical engineering which was his new interest brewed after the recent conversation with his friends. We had completed our ISC in March from Sherubtse College, Kanglung the same year. The two pre-university years at Sherubtse had been a sensational adventure in the beginning and as the year worn down it was a strenuous rivalry in an attempt to mince every line of the mammoth task of studies that would go long into the night and oftentimes to the early dawn.
Pema arrived at the Samdrup Jongkhar bus depot around 4.30PM from Phuentsholing. On his way to the market he met Ten Dorji, the driver of Khaling School for the disabled, who told him he was leaving for Khaling the same evening after a brief shopping. Pema was relieved and joyous. He was going to be home soon. He already felt a strong longing to meet mother and father who were unaware that he was on his way home.
It was about 5.00 PM when the five of them began their late journey from Samdrup Jongkhar. In the front was a teacher of school for the disabled; at the rear Pema sat on the left window side with two visually impaired students. The darkness came in soon after they crossed Deothang town and they began to doze off.
The old Land Cruiser seemed to snail lazily up the mountainous terrain. The carriage was loaded full at the rear. Two hours later they were negotiating the Melongbrak road in the fog and mist. The vehicle bumped against the culvert with a screeching noise. At that moment Ten Dorji yelled, ‘Sorry sir…’ And then they were falling down the cliff at an incredible speed. The car rolled over several times before halting against a thick foliage and climbers.
When Pema gained consciousness he was still in his seat. He called for the teacher and driver but there was no reply. One of the visually impaired boys who sat across him asked him, ‘Ata Pema, are you all right? Anything happened to you…’ Pema felt fine, he did not feel any pain, ‘I am alright, where is sir?’ The boy winced in pain as he tried to move his legs, ‘I think my leg is broken…and my friend is not moving…’ he said. Pema saw that the other student had become lifeless. At that moment he heard the teacher’s voice calling from somewhere above. Pema’s legs were stuck between the seats and were unable to move. He asked the boy to climb out of the window and help sir. The boy clambered out and crawled up the cliff. ‘Ata Pema! Wait here I will call for help.’ were the last words he heard. He sat there in the dark with a lifeless body of the other student.
He tried to push the seat forward but it wouldn’t budge. At that instant a sharp pain streaked through his neck. He was then unable to move his head. He remembered father and mother and longed to be home soon. He mumbled some prayer feeling lonely. He heard the teacher call him. ‘Pema…Pema…Are you alright?” Pema tried to yell back but felt dizzy. Minutes later he fell unconscious and never arose from there again.
The following morning the visually impaired boy reached the road which was some hundred meters from the fateful car. It was a total miracle that the boy who had his left leg fractured and visually impaired could climb the cliff through the thick jungle and soggy foliage. The teacher who had been thrown out of the car on the first impact suffered a fracture in the lower backbone. The driver was dead and slumped in his seat which crashed over him.
The fatal accident at Melongbrak left us bereaved of our charming brother, the one son whose dreams remain unwoven until today. We are sorrowful more because he died a painful slow death at an early age of twenty one. Life as it reveals is an unpredictable cosmic phenomenon.
No comments:
Post a Comment