Sooner or later ...

I just knew it had to happen sooner or later! Indian roads and driving are totally insane. There's incessant honking ... if there's a space to maneuver, whether into oncoming traffic or on the shoulder, they'll take it ... speed is their friend ... they take no prisoners ever! But surprisingly in all that chaos, I had yet to see any accidents ... oh, there's the little fender brushes here and there, but they don't seem to count.

So there I was going for a lovely afternoon stroll along the Mumbai waterfront, waiting for the light to change, and girding myself for a street crossing undertaking. Mumbai, being such a westernized city, actually has working street lights. But, I've been here long enough to realize that street lights although not strictly decorative, are somewhat loosely defined.

And sure enough it happened ... maybe five feet right in front of me. I couldn't really tell you who was at fault. I think it was a matter of the policeman jumping the light just a wee bit and the Domino's delivery boy, just a young kid, running the light just a wee bit. Together ... wham! And double bad luck for the kid crashing into a cop!

Now what? Amazing how all my not-so-uptodate first aid memories come rushing back. Both were just lying on the ground, not really moving. Each had a bike wheel crushed. They'd been going at a pretty good clip and I was thinking the worst. Oh wait, I almost forgot, I'm in India!

Passerby's start to gather, and they pull up the two from the road, trying to get them to walk it off (hmmm, I don't remember that first aid technique). The cop is staggering around running into people, nose bleeding, and obviously with his head ringing ... he wasn't wearing a helmet. The kid was out cold, but fortunately was wearing his Domino's helmet. He eventually came to and I gave him my water bottle, while they tried to get him to walk. One of the passerby's spoke a bit of English and looked at me like I was nuts when I asked about medical care!

But take care of that pizza! The box on the back of the delivery kid's bike had snapped open and the pizza flew across the road. One of the passerby's carefully picked it up, dusted off the box, and gave it to the kid. And even more amazing ... no ambulance or medical care, but before either were even coherent, another Domino's pizza kid comes roaring up on his motorbike to deliver the pizza. How did that happen? Had to chuckle though ... their nametags prominently state "Domino's does not penalize its employees for late/free deliveries". I suspect that pizza was a bit misshapen upon delivery!